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The thin blue line shimmered, linking land and water as the sky dimmed to twilight.  Clouds blossomed rosy with light and then dulled as the sun lowered, but the thin blue line continued to flicker along the shore.

My paddle board sketch kit.

The drama in the sky was beyond my skill as a watercolorist to capture in a sketch so I turned my attention to the blue line to describe the atmosphere of the lake’s edge on a summer evening.  As I painted the fading landscape from my paddle board, I felt thankful to have another memory captured in my book.  I am reluctant to take a camera out when paddle boarding, but this is not a hindrance. There are nuances of color and value that are lost in a photograph.  How often have we felt inspired by the fleeting beauty of the landscape, snapped a photo, and then at a later time thought “why?”  Photos are valuable tools but too often we rely on them to supply all of the information needed to re-create our inspiration.  A sketch book is different.  When you are sketching you are deconstructing the landscape into visual language.    A camera ignores subtleties that delight the eye and sends mid-tones into light or dark masses.  The blue line of light would be lost to the starkness of contrast.

My sketch pages are moments of study.  There are no masterpieces, but ideas and bits of truth that I can revisit.  When I look through the pages, I am transported back in time. Keen observation helps create lasting memories. Sketches recall atmosphere and light because of the effort if takes to describe your surroundings.  It is a gathering of ideas to harvest later in the studio. This winter I plan on revisiting my summer haven to re-create in pigment memories of an evening paddle on my favorite lake.