He often says that drawing is his way of listening — a kind of mountain language. This sketch was made on rough paper at the edge of the studio porch, where the ridgelines fold into one another beyond Union County.

What I love about Appalachian Sketch is its humility. It isn’t trying to impress; it’s simply recording what the eye feels and the hand understands. These gestures, light and unguarded, hold the rhythm of a lifetime spent observing the same hills through changing seasons.