Walking over to the new house the past couple of days have had good results. I have met more new neighbors including the man next door who moved in three weeks ago, and two women who were most welcoming. The heat and air ducts have advanced a bit and the electrician will likely be there today. Talked with my builder and he says likely mid August for a move in date.
Even the meadow grasses are adding new interesting things to catch my eye.
I have spent quite a bit of the day with the two realtors involved, new owners and the house inspector. He is still here now going over the shop and apartment. He arrived at eight o’clock this morning. A most pleasant fellow. I promised the new owners that I would quit feeding the deer as of now. They are planning on doing lots of gardening and the deer have eaten so much of the plantings the yard man has put in. I just kept doing the early dawn feedings because it was something Lee and I always did. Time to stop and let them go elsewhere for handouts.
Since I do not have to worry so much about showing the house, I have begun to address the things on walls and shelves. The first to get down was the long African textile that hung in the stairwell. I bought it from a textile author and importer who came to textile forums in Australia. I just had to have it because I had never seen one this long….a Kuba skirt length from Zaire. At the time Australian dollars were somewhat depressed so he was offering very good prices in sympathy with the economy of the time. It even became a better deal when I offered US dollars in cash which were much better for him to use internationally. It has hung in every home since.
I had to get help to take it down so I could unstitch it from the stained and framed cloth.
Then the unpicking of stitches….
Then a quick rinse to remove dust before hanging out on the deck to dry.
I have pressed all nine plus feet of it and rolled it onto a 2″ carved wooden dowel to move to the new house and fill a wall at the end of a hallway.
Now I have something to talk about that hit me as just plain wrong…not school shootings, not the pathetic ignorance we suffer from, but something else.
A few weeks ago I was asked along with about twenty others to send images of my shifu works for a new book that would be coming out about shifu threads in artwork. Because I was busy with house matters, I neglected to get onto it immediately. And of course I looked up the author requesting images of the works. The other day I had time to send pictures and hoped I was not too late in submitting them for her book.
Within two days here was her response:
“Hi Sandy,
Thanks so much for the photos of your lovely artwork! Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I won’t be pursuing a book on this topic. The artists I’ve contacted all have beautiful pieces, but everyone has chosen to work with neutral colors and the book would be too monochromatic to garner attention from potential readers.”
I was dumbfounded and wrote back that I found that the most bizarre reason not to pursue publishing a book that I had ever heard!
Her response:
“I know. Wish it were different. This would be my 5th book so I know what publishers like and don’t like. Sigh.”
Good grief! It is not colorful enough to warrant being published! Thank goodness these shallow requirements did not apply when Susan Byrd published the definitive book on shifu, A Song of Praise for Shifu.
I am not sure I would be interested in purchasing a book that only existed because of it’s brightly colored images and not the information it might offer the reader. If this were a true criteria for publication there would be very few books on drawing, printmaking and many other arts and crafts that do not rely on color for the recognition they receive.
Pathetic!
Til later…..