The National Basket Gathering was going on in Tasmania this week. I try to join them by working in my Gathering Book just to pretend I am with them. So many good memories that pull me back to all those with materials and such desire to share information. Anyway, I got my sketchbook out and started drawing some odd beads that I hung onto….just in case. Then on the next page a very old Mary Hetts basket of ash and oak caught my eye because of the attachment of handles. It felt good to just sit and draw.
Next I drew in one of the combination pottery/basketry pieces that Ted Cooley and I decided to turn into a workshop. The negative spaces were filled in with random strands of weaving materials.
Turn the page and a bit of sewing and patchwork that so many at the gathering do while together. A rock because it was handy to the page. The scraps of cloth came from Wafu Works in the Hobart area and my first stop when arriving in Tasmania. My most favorite hostess, Jude Walker, would fetch me at the airport and we’d head over there before stopping for a savoury muffin and a flat white.
The opposite page and latest drawing is another clay fish with woven fins and tail. And a scrap of cloth with bits of grasses peeking out. The conference has ended and they have all headed home. It was wonderful seeing the posted photos of so many familiar faces beavering away over bits and pieces of unruly natural materials, contact printed cloth, and dressing up stones.
It brings such calm to just sit and draw…and remember. Thank you.
And another bit of relaxation is a good gin and tonic drunk from the first glasses Lee and I made from wine bottles. This was a dreadful Corbet Canyon wine that had the best shape for fitting in the hand. We did very simple bamboo leaf resist shapes near the top. They fit the hand perfectly and are just right for a gin and tonic.
I was catching up on the latest alcohol book of labels. The new ones in the book are mostly from wine tasting events where I think a bit more of something good should be in the cooler or on the shelf at home.
Now that the latest and perhaps last political installation is in place, I will return to writing and drawing/stitching. A couple of lunches/dinners out with the friends I miss seeing, coffee with the fellows in the morning, and I have exhausted my social skills. I have accepted that ignorance has brought this country to new lows and it is likely to continue in a society of fear from retribution. I see a soulless-ness when I look into the eyes of those now in control as well as in the eyes of more and more of their supporters. Thank you to those who still protest to regain the rights we all fought so hard for years ago and now see eroding.
Sadie keeps me company when Dilly is busy napping. A cat’s purr is so comforting…
Til later…