Moving On

Posted on by Sandy Webster

This photo is from walking through the meadow to get to the gym. I like this early walk and having to change shoes when I get there because my hole-less Crocs are covered with sticky wet buttercup petals.

They are such a lovely yellow.

And more blooms of asters and blackberries.

And the trees at Spikebuck Indian Mound are finally leafing out.

At last week’s poetry meeting I was again encouraged to send work for publication.  It all seems so ego-involved, and I am getting older. But it did get me to thinking that maybe I need to organize poetry into a book that can be read by family later when I am gone. And then there are the short stories and essays that need to be somewhere beside the blog and website. So the last few days have been locating and organizing my writings.

There seems to be much more than I thought…and on a broad range of subjects. I get lost in remembering what caused the words to be written down in the first place. Especially the Australian inspired poems/stories.

Last night my builder asked me to come to the early wine tasting along with the two young girls from the bank, that he usually has at his table. The sommelier chose wines from the Southern Hemisphere. A nice Pinot Grigio from New Zealand and a couple reds from the Yarra Valley in Australia. Then two more reds from Argentina. I ordered some of each. I will sit and sip from Australia and New Zealand as I do some final editing on the stories inspired from down under.

I wonder if I should illustrate the two books. Why not? There is research to be done on how to take on this project, but I can get there. So many self-made books appear to be done on some site where they can be ordered or where I can just buy a bunch myself. I will ask my new poet friends if any of them have undertaken such a job. Mostly I think they look for recognition in poetry publications. I am going to be seventy-nine next month and don’t much think I want to wait for the nod from editors/publishing houses. I will be on my own with this.

In the meantime I think it is time to start sewing again. The clothing choices out there are dismal at best with the clingy knits that grab onto body parts as they find their way to hanging freely. So here is my 100% linen, washed up and waiting to be cut out.

The rich tealy-blue in the back and the lotus green in the front are a medium weight for pants and the white in the middle, a lighter weight for an asymmetrical top.  I will start cutting tomorrow and look for threads. I also feel like getting out some hand sewing again. Maybe add to the shirts in the closet I have been ignoring. Sure wish I had half the sewing knowledge of my friend, Jude, in Tasmania. But she did help me make a pattern of my favorite shirt that I have used many times.

I put the river dragon scale book aside for a bit until I come up with what goes on the opposite side. Still thinking of a writing about the river and time. Need a good think on that. but at least I have my work table back to get to drawing in the various sketchbooks.

Til later….

Strawberries and Colored Pencils

Posted on by Sandy Webster

One over-filled gallon box of fresh-picked-that-morning strawberries. And the field is only about a quarter mile from me. They are beautiful, sweet and so many big ones!

Now most of them are in the freezer packaged up in servings for one.

The last few mornings have been frosty walking to and from the gym.

And now back in the studio and the struggles with the dragon scale book illustration. I tried, I really did, to get the right colors and mood with the colored pencil collection that I have, And when I put the guide drawing up to follow for the next section of several half inch exposed fore edges, I realized the plain graphite was better…somehow better….

So I took my kneaded eraser and daubed at the pencil drawing of the first full page over and over again to take the color back, way back.

The softness of the image seems to go with the softness of the paper. It felt more “comfortable” for me. Odd choice of words but if I have to spend so much time sitting over a project I set up for myself, I might as well be comfortable with it.

Putting color in only to take it back out was driving me to think the whole idea was beyond where my capabilities now lie. But for right now I am going to blame the colored pencils. Some just have too much pigment in them and you don’t realize how much until the mark is made. The whole bunch will be put away as soon as I see this through.

Then I went back in with the oh-so-much-better graphite pencils and finished it up. Anyway, I think finished. But on this side only.

It is a dreamlike image of the river flowing by. BUT what goes on the back side when I flip all the folios back to the left? The larger page will be on the right…opposite the way we “read” left to right.  Should there be something on each page if they were turned individually like a normal book? Seems like a dumb idea for this binding designed for continual movement.

I thought of making the “backside” a long image of what is under the water. Decided not to. Too much drawing! So maybe, just maybe the large exposed full page when flipped to the left will be a poem about the river. That appeals to me if done in cursive, using a graphite pencil.

Now, how to present it? I will likely do what it was intended to do in the first place, and make it into a scroll. And if I only have the poem on the back side, having another long image expected to lay flat will not be an issue.

But best of all, when I finally finish this I will have learned the following:

  1.  Pick your challenges carefully.
  2.  Keep your limitations in mind when you make the decision in the first place.
  3.  And never, never quit until it is seen through.

I will write the poem over the weekend and roll it all up with a tie to hold in place. Then I will get my table space back to work on something new and SMALL.

Til later…