In the Studio

I watched seagulls sweeping around the parking lot while getting time in on the treadmill at the gym the other morning. So I drew one for the bird book. Two days later I drew another bird in flight. It is way too early to see hummingbirds here but they make me think of Spring.

These mosses and lichens caught my eye. They appeared after two days of intense rain and just glowed in the sunlight. All attached to Japanese maples in the front yard.

I love the patterns, colors and textures in this last photo.

Then the very big news! The board shear is safely in its new home over in Tennessee. I could hardly bear to watch as the moving took place getting all that weight from my studio over to the truck. First, several pieces were removed, to go from over five hundred pounds to a more manageable four hundred, or there abouts. Getting it through the 42″ wide glass door opening was a challenge to start and then.

The ground is not in the least level and deep with damp leaves. An ingenious way to move it along on two pair of rails made to fit.

 

And finally in!

Next the large flat file was taken out.

And away they went!

It was so nice to get a confirmation picture of a happy guy and the board shear all put back together and working. A very good day yesterday.

I am working on stitching cloth into the large owl wood block print. It is going to take a long time to cover all the tree parts like this but it is the only way I can tell if I like it….just do it, no matter the time involved.

I really do like this detail. I am using chemically rusted tarlatan that I made up a very long time ago to use in mixed media pieces. The variations in color were a combination of using black tea, ferrous sulfate, and caustic soda baths in different orders to achieve different results. I learned this coloring process from Adele Outteridge of Australia back about twenty-two years ago.

At first I thought I would snip away at the fabric to expose more of the black ink marks. But then changed my mind and decided to put the black back in with lots of stitching using single strand embroidery floss. The doubled paper with a bonding between takes the abuse of needle and my gripping to get a good hold. I will see it through to the end, give it a good press, and then decide which of these prints I want to frame.

All the rain caused there to be no slab being poured at the new house this week. But a nice chat with the builder over coffee and an assurance it will be done this coming week of many sunny days. I don’t think the move can happen until June at the earliest. There are still supply issues involved.

That gives me plenty of times to finish the throwing out of what little is left and packing up more boxes. Patrick will take one more trailer load back to Michigan before the house is shown. Then Lee’s shop will be washed and repainted.

I keep arranging furniture on the floor plans of the new house to make sure all of those decisions have been made and the moving in will be an easy chore for me and the movers.

There is not much else to say. Now it is stitching or drawing or working on a short story for the rest of the day.

Til later….

 

After working out at the gym early this morning I tried to take a walk at the dam. This is as far as I got and turned back. A very bitter wind as I started across.

The last couple of days were busy getting the equipment I am giving away ready to go. The board shear in the studio is broken down to make for easier loading on Saturday. The big metal flat file is cleaned out with spare papers bundled up for loading on Saturday as well. AND all the gym equipment is gone from the office and into a new home. It is wonderful to see so much empty floor space.

Several days of drawing in the Bird Stories Book.

Owl nest in a tree.

And baby owls in a tree.

I think they are so cute.

And this morning, waiting for the realtor to show up, I finished a baby bird and added a Robin.

The realtor loves the house and will get back with me on her estimated asking price within two weeks. She agrees with me that the only thing I need to do before showing is clean and repaint Lee’s shop and adjoining half bath. There is just an amazing amount of dirt/sawdust/grime clinging to walls and floor. I have two months to get that done.

Also as far as the yard goes, just the spread of pine straw the first part of April.

I told her I wanted to take my refrigerator, washer and dryer with me…and from the yard my Japanese stone lantern and all the round smooth rocks family and friends have given me. She had no problem with any of that and made a note.

Did you know that in real estate terms a bedroom cannot be classified as a bedroom unless it has a closet? I said we never wanted one in the guest room because Lee and I thought no one would be staying long enough to need a closet. So she is putting it down that there is a designated closet in the hall by the spare room. Then she pointed out that the shared wall between the bedroom and office could be turned into closets for each room because there was plenty of space for that to happen. There could be two guest rooms downstairs and my studio space would make a very nice big family room. She saw possibilities everywhere. She’s a good choice.

I think what she liked the most was that the house and apartment/shop are all stone…something she says you rarely see now.

Lee has tested negative now for Covid and has been returned to his room.

I am going to drive down to get the mail and then fix a hot chocolate. It is one of those damp, grey listless kind of days.

Tomorrow I will go to the gym and drive by the house site to see if the slab has been poured. If so, I can do another drawing in the New House Book.

Til later…..

Only two days this past week were good for getting to the dam. One sunny and cold and the other cloudy and cold.

And that morning these ice crystals on the surface. They were gone when I returned twenty minutes later.

The cloudy day.

There seems a sadness to seeing a loon all alone.

And these most favorite colors under my feet.

It was a good week for drawing.

A silly Burrowing Owl and his feathers.

And this morning I think my last owl for the Bird Stories Book, Great Horned Owl.

The sun is finally melting the snow. But earlier this morning the pond showed ice on top.

One group of ten turkeys came and left.

And Dilly sat and watched the next group of fourteen,

Sadie was more interested in rolling in some catnip.

As for me today it was laundry, poaching some chicken breasts, drawing, reading, thinking about what to draw when the Bird Stories Book is finished. Maybe nothing but illustrations for a fairy tale. I could put all those fairy doors in trees to good use and make up what is happening behind them.

As far as I can see the slab has not been poured for my new house. It is that weather thing again.  But a Caribbean Fare food truck was there yesterday so fish tacos for dinner last night.

I have invited my realtor to come take a look this coming week to tell me what else I need to do before the house goes on the market. Tidy up in the apartment with old photo boxes found in trunks now gone north. Sorting the last of papers to go to a shredder. Getting the last of studio equipment going to a new home ready for loading. Trying not to make more owl woodblocks until I figure out what to do with the ones I have. I did take the one with too little ink and fused it with a fabric bonding to the one with no added papers. Then I went through some bits of cloth to maybe hand stitch onto the trunk and limb of the tree. This one.

It should keep me busy and give me an excuse to thread a needle. Why not? If it doesn’t work, well the good part is I get to ink up and start again.  I might frame the one I like the best. My driveway is safe enough now to drive down and get the mail. But I may just read the book some more and take the trash to the dump later today and pick up the mail on the way back in.

Til later….

 

 

The not-so-good news is that the care center called today and Lee has tested positive for Covid. He has been taken to a different area with four others who tested positive. He is still eating but has a cough. He has had his vaccine and booster so there is no way to know what happens next and how severe it is.  Omicron seems to get in anywhere. Even where there are strict controls. I did notice this morning at the dentist office only I wore a mask in the waiting room. It was sad enough before with all the self-educated-through-the-internet who became anti-vaxxers, but now add those into the mix who are just so tired of the Covid alterations to our lives, and you have a perfect storm for more infections. It especially hurts the very vulnerable but god forbid we think of anyone but ourselves and the inconveniences of caring for others. It is the most selfish of times I can remember in my lifetime and the most willfully ignorant.

On a better note I have my art work to take my mind off things. I especially love this barred owl in the Bird Stories Book.

And another double page of bird feet.

Following up on my wood block of the grey owl, my new brayer arrived.

I got the block all lined up yesterday and rolled the ink on.

I am starting out using a lama li paper with some fibrous inclusions. The first one had not enough ink but the second one was better. It took some getting used to the new beautiful brayer and loading up the ink.

Looking at this print I decided that the feathers over the feet were too straight across…sort of like a fifties boys haircut administered by his mother and a bowl. So I cut them into a more realistic angle toward the tail.

See what I mean? The third print I used a chine colle techniques to add contrast between the owl and tree and background.

I used my not-so-good contact leaf prints on tai kozo for the background hill and a Lokta paper for the tree. I also stuck on a white lace paper over the face. To get chine colle to work I had to make up a corn starch paste to carefully brush over the backs of the added papers to the block. That way those papers will stick to the sheet they are being printed to. It is a bit messy as the papers want to stick to the brush and shift in their positions. I was so much better at this in under graduate school in the nineties. But I persevered and did a fourth print using added papers only on the tree.

What happened on this one was too much paste and too much rubbing so that I lost some of the lights in the trunk. I don’t mind it though and may use it as one to stitch into. Right now I have to wait for the ink to dry. But here they all are laying across the board shear.

You can see on the one with the “hill” that it was not a good idea to add the lacy white paper to the face. It only captured more ink and made the space between his eyes darker. I don’t mind it though. When I look at these and other prints of mine, I am careful not to be too critical. And I think of an elderly poetry teacher I had, Gene Hirsch, who said, “There is no such thing as a bad poem.” My prints are “poems” that need looking at in a different light and maybe, just maybe, need a bit of touch up. I will make more prints of this owl just to improve my technique, and because I love the sound of that big fat soft brayer rolling over the ink and then the wood.

I meant to mention in my last blog that the other day at the gym near my new house, I walked into the court area pulling on my boxing gloves. I wanted to just knock the crap out of something. There was a big man off by himself singing. Closer to me and my punching bag was a man with a cap on his head that had a spinning propeller on top. I asked him why he wore it. He grinned and said it was to make people smile. I smiled and said that I was glad it was not to acquire some super natural intelligence. He smiled back and asked how my punching was going and if I could put more punch into it. I said I’d like to knock the bag way across the room. He smiled, in fact he never stopped, and asked if I would like to try using his racquet to join in a game of pickle ball (a game like tennis but easier). I told him no, but thanks, I just was not much of a team player. He turned away and I called him back to thank him for wearing his hat. I hope he is a regular, and I hope the singing man is too.

Til later….