On an apple-ripe September morning*

The start of a new adventure

Welcome to my new newsletter!

As the sun shines through the kitchen window on this glorious September morning, it seems the perfect time for new adventures. September has always seemed the best time to start afresh, that new term feeling, full of possibilities, with a new pencil case and pens, ready for action.

I have a very dim view of August. Everything seems worn and tired, and the heat...yet when the calendar tips over into the beginning of autumn, I immediately perk up and see the full to bursting hedgerows, full of juicy colour, the trees ready to give their last hurrah and so begins my favourite time of the year when going out with my sketchbook is sheer joy.

This year is especially full of promise. I have my studio back, after many months, following a terrible damp problem, which covered everything in encroaching, green mould, but which is now dry (ish) and is a place where I finally can go and play. And a new printing press is on the horizon, after my converted mangle press decided it wasn’t going to play anymore, and this is a matter of great excitement – but more of that when it arrives.

So, what can you expect in this new newsletter? It will appear fortnightly in your inbox and I want to share with you my sketching adventures in the Norfolk countryside, with the creatures I see along the way, revealing my sketchbook pages and developing work, sharing my processes and materials and, hopefully, encouraging you too to go out, pick up a pencil and draw too.

These are difficult times and venturing out in the local wildlife reserves, walking with a tiny sketchbook and pencil in my pocket, has slowed me down, eased my mind and helped me focus on the shift in seasons and take notice.

Hence the title, “Still, sketching.” Drawing is my form of meditation and hope that in the coming months I will be able to convey some of that stillness to you and help you pause and enjoy the natural world too.

Thank you very much for reading my new venture here on Substack. If you have enjoyed it, please do share it. I look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks!

*On an apple-ripe September morning by Patrick Kavanagh

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