Can You Still Smell the Smoke?

As chief fire-maker in the Ott-clan, I can. But - I have more important things to do than to shower the scent of campfire from my hair - I must post some drawings! See what I go through for you people? Aren't you lucky?

The weather was SPECTACULAR in the Smoky Mountains over the weekend, people. I mean - really phenomenal. The kind of weather you pray for when you are going camping. Downright chilly at night (and perfect for a roaring campfire and delicious s'mores) and a little cool during the daytime. The sky was that kind of cobalt blue that only happens in the fall, the leaves were just starting to show us some color, and the visibility was wonderful.

It was so clear, in fact, that we decided to head up to Clingman's Dome as soon as we set up the casita. We could see all the way to Mt. Mitchell, which is something like 83 miles away. Amazing. Too often, it's hazy and hard to see to Mt. LeConte, a mere 7 miles as the crow flies.



On Saturday morning, we got up to go ride the Cades Cove loop, but when we got there we found out that it isn't closed to cars on Saturday mornings any more. Last weekend was the last Saturday for early morning biking without having to worry about cars full of tourists running you down. At least until mid-May when they start shutting it down again on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. We were disappointed, but drove around anyway - hoping to see a bit of wildlife. We saw plenty of deer and turkey, but no bears this time. We did witness one really amazing thing, but you'll have to wait until November to find out what it was, because it will definitely go in my photographic review for NaBloPoMo. We headed to Townsend, TN afterwards, and rode their bike trail instead. Six miles instead of the eleven we had planned, but it was fun anyway.

I had a chance to sketch a couple of drawings - one of Dr. SmartyPants after he went to sleep, and one of a leaf that had just gone gold. I had forgotten to bring the boys' sketchbooks, and picked up a park newspaper for them as a surface on which to draw, and decided to try it out for myself. Both were done in my watercolor Moleskine sketchbook.





I'm compiling a list of everyone who is participating in this month's draw-a-thon, so if I haven't heard from you yet, send me an email or leave me a comment with your name and blog address. I'll be putting a box in the sidebar with links to everyone's sites. I'm really enjoying seeing what everyone is doing - and meeting some new artists, too!

Happy Artober, peeps!