Thinking About Books

I am back to drawing into the Responsibility Hands. This is the third left hand and the fifth one in the series. He uses the wrong side of the knife to cut and does not remember the food that needs cutting should be held in place with the fork. He can not remember how to use the toaster, puts his pill in the water instead of his mouth if I am not watching, is confused by where to use his electric razor (sometimes shaving his ears to the loss of some hair on the side of his head). And often gets his gloves confused, but since there are only two hands this is easily corrected. The velcro straps on his shoes are problematic a lot of the time. If I hear the buzz of his razor, I check to see what he is trimming. And we are still able to chuckle at some of these mix ups.

The last four days of Drawing a Day with Haiku. These are actually like a meditation time for me.

Someone went fishing

with their line all tightly wrapped.

Anticipation!

 

Short line with old hook

and sinker for four-fifty.

Cost of good stories.

 

Measuring circles

of any radius from

one to six inches.

 

An old jeweler’s notebook

is the last thing for drawing

in a filled basket.

And yesterday I finished up the four new sketchbooks to keep me doing these drawings and haiku through the rest of the year.

The other day I took in the rest of my framed prints with stitching into the Folk School Craft Shop. I will have to get back to printing to make any more. Not so easy when I can’t get to the studio for the length of time that printmaking requires.

While cleaning out my jewelry boxes and closet to pass things on to the girls in the craft shop, I found this shirt that I never could part with. Pure silk, dry clean only, size 12, that was always tucked neatly into my Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. That was at least forty-five years ago. I never thought I would wear it again, just liked the memory of it.

The back.

I hand washed it and am going to cut it into small sheets to stitch into, Those little woven-in hounds tooth checks can keep me in straight lines. I will bring up a small embroidery hoop to keep it from slipping around too much. It is something I can do while sitting with Lee.

And now I am going to return to the Wildflower Bush Book.

I actually like the dull old drabbiness of this book. I am thinking before I go much further I should draw stones and sticks along the bottom pockets.

Tuesday I will hopefully pick up all the sheets to cut and bind the animals Bush Book. If I like how well it works, I will likely have 20 more printed to bind and sell. Getting the color right is the biggest problem with trying to edition a book like this. And because the magic is in seeing the full length of all the pictures, piecing all the sections will be tedious. I will post how the first one looks….good or bad!

Til later.