A dear family friend has inspired me to sketch more while home in Seattle. Typically I’m prolific with my sketchbook while out on expeditions and at home mainly hunker down in my studio to work on larger projects. Especially with summer here, I’m enjoying my sketchbook (a well-loved Art Toolkit) as a place to explore and express my experiences in Seattle. Last night I went out to see my friend Josh Deutsch (on trumpet) play with a jazz quintet; in spite of the dim light, I painted the band:

After completing that during the first set, my husband suggested I let myself experiment and just react to the music. This whimsical sketch was my reaction to what turned out to be an original composition by Josh. I was delighted to learn that that title of his piece is, “Can I Play?” which is entirely appropriate for my drawing.