Here are two more of my sketches from the Sketchbook Project... The first one is a drawing of the barn in which I am blessed to have my beloved studio (in the front part of the barn). I used several pens for this – a black ink pen for the lines, and then two or three brush-tip felt pens in light and dark gray to give a nice sense of tones.

The subject of the second drawing is the direction signs just down the road from my home (I call it "Country Directions"). I love these signs, some so worn over time you can hardly see the names or addresses. I love living in a rural neighborhood....

Here are a couple more sketches from my Sketchbook Project book. Going to the Hydro, above, I drew from a photograph I took in downtown Calistoga. I'd planned on taking the photo of the Hydro building – but then this nice couple ahead of me began walking across the street, and suddenly it was really all about them, going to the Hydro. I loved the long, late afternoon shadows they cast as they walked, too.

From two people in love crossing the street we go down the block, to the Tree of Past Loves at Indian Springs Art Gallery. The tree is an olive tree, and people have written the names of past loves on tags, and tied the tags all over the tree. Some tags are new, and have a nearly-coral color; others have been there longer, and have faded to a pinky-cream color, a little like memories.

There are more trees than only this one. Each tree has tags hung from it dedicated to something different....

More from my Sketchbook Project book... in a sketchbook about Calistoga and the area around it, I couldn't leave out a Brannan cottage, named for Sam Brannan, who originally developed Calistoga as a spa town, and who built these sweet little cottages. Three remain; this one is part of the Sharpsteen Museum, on Washington Street.

Just down Washington Street a little, and across the street, is our City Hall, probably one of the funkier city halls in the state. I especially like the Christmas lights strung around the windows and across the top of the roofline and steeple. Although the lights are only on at night around the holidays, at the right time during the day, they cast wonderful shadows.

My sketchbook, entitled "Travel with me... to the Napa Valley," travels to exhibits around the country and beyond for most of the rest of the year, beginning at the Brooklyn Art Library (the sponsor and coordinator of the show), in Brooklyn, NY, from April 14th through the 30th.

It will come to San Francisco in June... and I see that when it goes to the Boston area, it will go to Lynn, Massachusetts (an old industrial town once, and long, known for shoe manufacturing). My ancestors on the Ingalls side founded Lynn (the third oldest town founded by Europeans in Massachusetts), so it seems like a nice kind of circularity.

I've also been working on a sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project, which I've got to finish and mail off today. I've sketched all kinds of spots all around Calistoga... here are a couple.

Today, I drew these three oaks in my backyard. I love how the two older trees curve, making such interesting shapes in the air (negative spaces, in artistic terms).

I wanted to draw them in particular since the middle tree will have to come down before winter, because it is rotting at the base. I'm hoping the little oak tree sprouting from its roots will grow into something as lovely and interesting.

Thursday, June 2 - during Calistoga's First Thursday Artwalk - from 5 to 7 - is the opening for my summer show, at All Seasons Bistro in Calistoga, California, at the corner of Lincoln and Washington Streets.

Unlike most of my shows, Simple Pleasures is a show of drawings and drawings with acrylic wash (acrylics used in a watercolor manner) - and the drawings are all of still lifes - simple compositions, humble subjects. I seem to be in drawing mode lately - a lovely place to be in. My brushes and wild color are calling to me, but the drawing cells in my body (surely I must have lots of them) are very, very happy. You can see some of the little drawings at my Line, Color, Paint, Joy blog at: http://karenlynningalls.blogspot.com/2011/05/simple-pleasures-show-at-all-seasons.html