After arriving at Revelstoke on Dec 14, we were caught up in a whirlwind of family activities, so I now have to choose my moments to note down a scene from each day. We take plenty of iPhone pictures, but I am training myself to remember what I see as much as possible. This scene from the cookie party took place while I was watching the baby and engaging in conversation with some of the mothers, and there’s a bit of a story here: the child on the right is a boy, clearly enjoying the dressing up as much as the girls are.

These are all memory sketches from the past week. I try to draw straight in with the pen, as it focuses my attention on the essential details. Sometimes I start with a fountain pen filled with sepia ink, so I can reinforce detail afterwards with a waterproof black pen. The watercolours are Cotman, from a small travel set of pans. I could only remember the colours on Leo’s pjs in the last picture because we discussed them in detail – emerald, viridian, turquoise, sap green and ‘tree green’.

The two drawings below are memories of characters I encountered on our daily excursions. The girl with the mermaid tattoo was at McDonald’s, a haven that our two year old is determined to reach through the thickest carpet of snow, for his ration of ‘hashies’. I used a photo to remind me of the background, but the figures are all sketched from memory.

This man at the Christmas market was very persuasive. The Haskaps – the fruits  he makes his compotes out of – obviously aren’t available fresh until the spring, but the way he described them I could imagine their taste on my tongue. So the fruits on the counter in front of him are just a photo!

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