Gerald Durrell. And Durrell's Mum - Louisa.

Gerald Durrell is one of my favorite naturalists and authors and I read all his books front to back at some point. I searched through the blog and found out that I almost never mention him and rarely post from my ongoing project "Portraits of my heroes". I keep it on a slow burner but it is a long list of people whose portraits I draw through every year to honor and remember them - and I will share more of them. 

Gerald Durrell was a human whose passion for the animal world continued from a very young age till the end of his life. It brought him to important work of conservation and preservation of wildlife around the world, he traveled the world, met and made friends with thousands of people and animals, and inspired generations of naturalists. His work continues to illuminate our world through Jersey Zoo (note Dodo in the logo) and through the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. But even more so through his writing which ignites a passion in people of all ages and from all backgrounds and connects them to nature near and far. His ability to tell a story simultaneously funny and full of interesting facts and make me fall in love with an animal I never dreamt I would see in real life is what made me a Durrell fan as a kid. And it continues to this day. 

This past week, on January 7th, was Durrell's birthday and he would have turned 100. I drew these two portraits - of Gerald Durrell and his mother Louisa Durrell - with the super quick addition of some of the animals that first come to my mind when I think about these two people. The story of a pelican and Louisa is always on my mind when I think of what one might consider to be a result of good parenting.

If you never read Durrell's books I suggest starting with "My family and other animals". 

Forest Bathing - My Report on the Holiday Break

Forest Bathing aka Shinrin-yoku is a great way to describe how I spent most of my in-between-holidays time this year: in nature, with minimum connection to the world outside, attending to what I hold dear, in good company. 

I hiked a wide range of landscapes, drew some on location, took naps, tried lots of interesting teas, cooked with new and well-tested recipes both, napped, drew some, looked at the sky a lot. Here are some of the sketches from this break:

Holiday Decorations

This year I got a new holiday tree: it is smaller, made with cheerful tinsel, and gorgeously reflects all the lights it can catch at different times of the day. We put it up with some old decorations (whatever survived a decluttering of the last year) and added a few new experiments too. I tried to draw the silver-ness of the tree and all the ways the light jumped from one sparkly tuft to another. But feel like the tree needs to stay till spring for me to make real progress :) As this is not happening I will have to start again next holiday season!

On My Table: Beginning of January 2025.

The arrival of the first of the month caught me in between moving between computers, tables, and years at the same time. In practice this means that at the moment work a lot "from my backpack" and am trying to sort through a lot of things before either taking them with me in 2025 or leaving them in 2024. The resulting disarray is displayed below it will tell you what I am doing right now - with comments - and without. 

Year in Sketchbooks - 2024.

Putting together a summary of a year takes time, and I start  this process in December and continue to January - because the year ends on December 31st and also just because it takes a lot of time actually to go over all that I planned to do, all that happened and try to see it objectively and subjectively: it in numbers and feelings. I enjoy knowing how many miles I ran, how many books I started vs books I finished, projects I did, and places I visited.  

One of my metrics is the number of sketches and also the number of sketchbooks. One of these numbers went down this year (number of sketchbooks went from 4 to 4 1/2 - I am about 2/3 through Sketchbook number 158 now) and another number did not actually change. I think these are the "fattest" sketchbooks I've ever had! The weight is usually gained from all the additional sketches that I tape and glue in - see the picture below! I think I was trying to slow down the rush of time and change that was happening in my life this year and it was hard to finish sketchbooks and move on to another one when so much of my life was still in the previous sketchbook - preserved in sketches of everyday moments.

I started way more personal projects than I finished this year but I did well on the client side of things and finished all that I promised. One of the clients projects was finally put up as a physical object in real life and I even got to visit it and take photos - I will be writing about it soon. I found a rhythm and a supporting wave of energy by drawing with people online regularly in several groups. I drew in person with my wonderful sketching friends quite regularly and met some of the artists who became my friends on the internet in real life which was super exciting! I traveled, took my parents to uncountable number of appointments and drew through it all. My gouache adventures took a slower lane with the move to a new studio during summer, but I developed my portable printing kit further - to a point where it became my constant travel companion. I went back to some extreme sketching with a bit of kayaking and scuba-diving adventures with a pencil in hand. I drew people and plants, buildings, and forests and enjoyed sharing my new experiments with people online and in person. I put up a little community art show at the end of the year and sent some work for consideration for shows and projects. And kept sketching every day so it's a win!