Another Direction

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Illustrator Jill Barklem of the Brambly Hedge series died recently. I love her work and when my kids got me this one and other books by her several years ago, I was thrilled. For hours a person can get lost in this magic. If you loved Beatrix Potter, then this book is a step beyond. The details of the interiors of these little mice’s homes all neatly tucked into the woods, and their little clothes and shoes and smiles….terrific.  Jill Barklem was amazing. She would spend years doing her research before starting on a book. In this one in particular she tells you how she does her drawings.

It was her mention of the pen outlines that really intrigued me. How could she be so sure as to where to put those permanent lines? And the lines always a soft walnut ink color. With the calligraphy nibs that a friend sent recently and a small pot of walnut ink waiting in the studio to be boiled down, I thought I would give it a try.

Another favorite book of mine is this one by Janet Marsh. I think I bought it when it first came out in the eighties. Another English illustrator. Janet went to a pond to document in the most beautiful watercolors what was happening there. I love this book and her dedication to documentation.

See the similarities? Look at those delicate marks and just how beautiful it all is.

Anyway, I got inspired (again) and decided to just escape into the fantasy with my own limited abilities. Giving myself limits of size and pieces, I decided to go about making a boat-like thing using only three things from the natural bits in my studio. Then the boat would be obviously afloat or well-grounded with the addition of some other thing.

Here is the first.

They are each drawn into a marked space of 5 x 7 inches. I loved having the bird in charge of the oar. Fun.

So now number 2. The drawing first.

I am using my new pencil.

An oyster shell, a nest and a quail egg….rock for an anchor. Likely this boat is not going very far.

Number 3.

This one is well and truly stuck on a rock.

And then Number 4.

A fish is helping this one along.

There will be some touch up work on them and certainly better photographs if I want them to have another life beyond Inga’s sketch book. But for now, they are quite satisfying. The size is small, as are the expectations. The challenge is simple….just go ahead and do it.

Think about Janet and Jill and just do the best you can. Simple.

Have a lovely holiday season.

I will be back later.

 

 

Still Unsettled

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I am still floating out there with my fish. Touch of snow still clinging. I thought it would be gone today. When you get older never read too far into the weather forecast on your Iphone. I thought it was going to be in the 50s today….that is tomorrow. So still cold. Still cloudy. Still waiting for hoses to thaw.

And still waiting for inspiration on something to keep me occupied artistically until company comes for the holidays.

I finished the eight small pieces. I tried to not do them all at once, but never mind. I just kept going. All finished, framed and on the wall with the other pieces, all made for an April exhibit.

Here is one.

All in black specimen type frames.

I think I added a touch of something to this one after I photographed it. Funny how something comes to you after you think it is finished.

Anyway, those are on the wall. And then to something else that these prompted. Going back to drawing some of the bits of Nature in the studio.

I found a lovely moleskine type sketchbook that Inga Hunter from Australia gave me a while back. Then I blocked out a section and picked out three things that would fit. My first thought was that I would do watercolors in light layers to build up color. But once I got the new Graph Gear mechanical pencil with a .3 graphite lead, it became all about the drawing, the shading, the building up. It felt good to get out my drawing tools.

The new pencil.

The other tools because .3 is not going to give a whole lot of darks.

A private student had the Graph Gear pencil and this lovely mechanical eraser. I bought them both together on Amazon…my store of choice and necessity anymore. Rummaging through my pencil box is always fun. I like the sound of those graphite sticks bumping into each other. And this Australian pencil box bought at an airport on my way out of the country is wonderful to slide open to find other treasures. I bought this large soft brush somewhere because I just liked the look of it. But it is indispensable in brushing away eraser crumbs instead of using an already graphite-covered edge of my hand. And those gummy erasers that make nasty dark dirty marks simply disappear somewhere in their bellies, never to be seen again. Magic. And a great tension reliever.

So here is how that drawing ended up. I tried to take my time. But less than two hours later what more can I do?

I have three more things that I will arrange and draw next. Killing time. Trying to stay focused. Waiting for someone to visit. Thinking way too much about things that I probably shouldn’t be thinking about.  Sending letters and faxes to selfish, incompetent Congress members who seem totally focused on lining their donors’ pockets as well as their own. When did we get so politically pathetic? November 9th, 2016 is probably the correct answer to that. We just need a November, 2018 to start getting it right again.

Anyway.

I have one more week before company comes. I could easily fill Inga’s book by then. I just ordered more graphite leads for my new pencil. To make the order worthwhile, I tossed in a few colored inks for intaglios. After the holidays I will get back to the press and try to work with color. It seems most of what I like doing has very little color….earth tones at best. And it is not my gloomy mood or the gloomy weather. I just like dull colors and bright people.

Til next week.

Trying to Focus

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I used to look out the window here in western North Carolina, see this, and think “lovely”.  Not so much now. It is cold. It brings electric outages. It limits access to an internet that all too many times I have become dependent on. It prohibits driving anywhere until it all melts off a sloped, curved asphalt driveway.

When did I not want to put on some mittens and go out to make a snowman? When did I start seeing only the icy patches where it would be easy to slip and fall?

So I stay in. Happy to have a gas stove to cook a lovely chowder on. Happy to have a generator that keeps the main necessities running. Happy I have an art practice to get back to when I can settle down and not let the weather control my mood. It should all be gone tomorrow. Good. Hopefully this was our winter and spring is just around the corner.

But the last few days I did ricochet off the walls looking for something to hold my interest long enough to see it through.

Like the chowder, it takes putting your hands on the ingredients. Then getting the right mix and your senses begin to stir and lift. How can you not smile when frying bacon bits, onions, celery, carrots, yellow peppers?  And then seasonings like smoked paprika, thyme, savory, sage added with cut red potatoes, corn and chicken stock. Finished off with a bit of flour paste and half and half and whatever cheeses can be rescued from the refrigerator. Just the right amount of everything can come together to pick a person up out of the doldrums. A single malt scotch late in the afternoon can also help. Especially when there is a sympathetic soul on the end of the line who understands your moods.

Things do get better. The holidays are coming. The gifts are wrapped. My cards are all made and sent out. Friends and family will be here for Christmas dinner. Some will replenish the scotch. And the sun is shining.

But all that aside, I worked in the studio yesterday on small framed pieces using bits and pieces that I love handling. Like the chowder, this handling of ingredients has been very uplifting.

it is the blending of tiny pieces of cloth, specimens in bottles, leaves, prints and stitches. Remember how we used to buy specimens of butterflies or large bugs in deep black frames? That is what these new small works remind me of. Each item placed just so to become a collection of evocative thought. Of course an isolated phrase from that old cut up romance novel is there to act as an identification of sorts. I offers a direction for the mind to go when viewing the small bits mounted and encased. As I hang them on the wall, I carefully move from one to the other and wonder what in the world I will do after all eight are finished. What can I do with all those bits and pieces left over?

One of my favorite things is the loosely woven cloth that was just a scrap dyed in a vat with other botanical contact prints made in Australia.

It is only about four inches wide and eighteen inches long and I love every square inch of it. Tiny bits get cut away and frayed and stitched into place. Or in one of the new pieces I put a tiny, very tiny, scrap into a very small cork stopped glass bottle.

I will work on more today. With the power back on it is also laundry day. There was no trip to the diner this morning due to the possibility of ice on roads. But there is always tomorrow for that. Folding laundry, ironing, putting everything away and having the last of that scrumptious chowder is on next.

Then back to the studio and finding just the right phrase in that browned and tattered romance novel. Making it relevant to the scattered bits of other things from different times and places.

Til later.

White Line Printmaking December Class

Posted on by Sandy Webster

This morning I finished teaching seven students how to make white line prints. It was only a total of two and one half days but they accomplished quite a bit. Here is some of it on the show and tell table.

Andy’s work above. And some details from the class.

Amy’s work. I think I have a convert here and we really loved her designs.

Carol’s little carved bird was a sweet image. Jill borrowed the pattern for her own carvings.

Pam’s first landscape. And below her candle cards and trees.

And then snow added to her trees in the woods. Lovely!

Pamela’s holly leaves.

Susan’s poinsettia block and print. She made several of this beauty.

And then her lovely still life.

I tried to get more of my Christmas cards pulled from the block. And now am working on a tiny scene of a pine in the snow with a small present and bow. More of that later. In the meantime I came home from class to find a happy face in the foyer.

Til later.