Artist's Date: The Public Library

It was yet another busy week at work so I didn't have much time to really step outside my normal routine. I did, however, discover that there's a sweet little branch of the public library just a couple of blocks from my office. So I headed over on my lunch hour and settled in a little nook in the children's section and fell in love with the illustrations in this gem.

Rare Books

For my artist's date I made an appointment at the Rare Books Collection at Wash. U. Incredible! If you have such a thing near you, I highly recommend a visit. If you're in St. Louis, call Kelly.

I spent a lovely lunch hour getting to hold in Chaucer's Tales in my grubby little hands. I took 45 pictures! Sorry these aren't the best quality but I was much more focused being there than on documenting appropriately.

These are just a few of the treasures we got to see. The lower collage is a hand-lettered, hand-painted  Book of Hours from the 16th Century. The last image are the notes, possibly written by it's owner.

Talk about inspiration!

Finding the Warmth

My first artist's date per The Artist's Way: the climatron at the Botanical Gardens.
Why? Well, it's freezing here!!!
Loved all the patterns. Really looking forward to drawing some of these.

photo credit: Henry