ReArranging/Finding Things to Get Back To

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I am not walking today….the rain is refusing to stop. But I did get to the river a couple of days ago. Looking for Spring but you can see very little of it wants to come out.

Today I decided (since I finished my book) to sort out where I should keep the hand sewing. And what I still need to work on has found a place here in the studio.

I decided to add more stitching to these put-together scraps of print and cloth.

I am thinking that when I finish with the stitching, I will put it on a larger piece of mulberry paper and maybe get it framed.  There is still some wall space here in the studio.

Then I drew more in the book for basket gatherings. I thought it needed some basic drawings on the spun paper page.

I used a graphite pen that sits on the shelf…and within easy reach. I bought it from a man selling turned pens. It came with three large graphite leads and several more of different colors. I loved that he used a corn cob to turn this on his lathe. And the velvet bag and wooden box it came in made it irresistible.

It is fun to hold in the hand because it is quite heavy and feels very sure of itself.

I also found the three graphite drawings of animals with textiles.

Not sure what to do with them. But I did enjoy making them, so will likely do some more. No grandchildren and when I think of it, I don’t even know any little ones I could frame these for. But who knows…I might find one. I think a squirrel in an apron roasting nuts in a pan might be the next one. And once I think of something it seems only fair to make it up. She is sure to have a pocket in her apron. Something or someone peeking over the edge.

And while sorting the drawers designated for sewing things in my work table I found these. Handwoven sachets I did over thirty years ago. A glittery copper thread used with the copper colored mercerized cotton. And a green to make the overshot pattern. Not sure what the green was supposed to be but if it was trees, they are likely upside down. Anyway the price tags are still attached….$6.

I see it now…they are trees with overlapping bottom branches and a small tree stand below. I must have been quite pleased with them to still have these two.

And then these…postcards from two old exhibitions.

The one on the left is from my graduate exhibition of men in community. And on the right was a postcard from a local exhibition in 2005 I think. The piece at the top hangs in my bedroom with others that are similar. The crow on the bottom was the first to sell out of the exhibit. It was fun to find these tucked in with papers from my designated “Sandy” dining room drawer in the old house.

I think if I get the few projects mentioned here wrapped up and write the words for Burke and Wills, then I might start something new. Probably some carved wood blocks. Small ones that would run continuously through a concertina book. Nothing too big….

Just thinking here….

Til later

Floating on Too Many Surfaces

Posted on by Sandy Webster

The past several days I have been making an effort to finish something…anything. I went back to Burke and Wills in hopes of wrapping the story up. Three more drawings have been added,

So if these are the pictures, fourteen in all, then what are the words? And shouldn’t the words be in rhyme form? The pictures say, “children’s book” so easily read lines in vertical rows seems right. The pictures do not look like paragraphs should be next to them  So, I am trying to rhyme the story. It is not easy. In fact it is a pain in the backside to make it look as easy as children’s books usually are. Maybe I will put this on hold and dig out my children’s books to see how the writing is paced and spaced. Shel Silverstein would have gotten to the point with one picture and very few words that make the reader smile. Did Beatrix Potter write in rhyme? I will check the book shelf to see. Anyway I need to pause on this. But for me, once an idea pops into my head, I act on it. With no thought that it will have to be wrapped up somehow. A somehow for another time.

Later this afternoon I go to the poetry meeting. I will need to make copies of another one from the Trusting the Tether Line book. They appreciated the one I read before and seemed interested in more.

Yesterday I went to visit and tour the art department of Young Harris College. It was so good to be surrounded by artworks that mattered enough to to be completed. And visit with a few students busy making and building forms that tell their story. I found myself looking for more, but was reminded that this college offers a Bachelor of Arts degree – not a Bachelor of Fine Arts where more in depth study and producing is given more time.

But there was an etching press in the printmaking room with a couple of wood blocks. Tools are minimal. The classes are designed to be introduction level only. Senior year students have more exploratory time for what they were introduced to earlier. But in the meantime there are other classes that are required to get that degree and their time is divided. For me, it felt good to be in the spaces of art making and seeing a couple of permanent pieces from former art group members.

So back to laundry…maybe the vacuum. It only takes 15 minutes tops to vacuum the floors here, After the poetry meeting I think I will get a new bottle of wine. It seems to be the only thing I am short of right now after baking more scones for the freezer and a nice quiche.

Fresh farm eggs from a friend needed to be photographed. Such a luxury to have beautiful large eggs.

No walks this week due to endless days of rain.

Til later…..

Back to Drawing

Posted on by Sandy Webster

This morning walking back from the corner. My day started with the gym, grocery store and coffee on the corner with some fresh bran muffins.

Last Friday I had a delightful six hours with an old friend from the basket making world. I rescued a bunch of broccoli to make a nice creamy/cheesy soup to serve with my latest spinach scones for lunch before picking her up and bringing her home. Judy comes into the area once a year to teach and this was the first time she has seen my new home. Lots of chatting, finishing with a couple of scotches before I took her back. This Wednesday another visitor from the before is coming to visit. A student in several classes over the years is back in town taking another workshop and wanted to visit. I am excited to catch up with her.

In the studio the past few days I have been working on the latest book with basket samples inside. I finished up the double page drawings of a way to start a base.

A bit more writing with the sample…

Turn the page and start again…with some favorite materials of shifu threads and a tiny hammer I bought at a market in St. Andrews, Victoria while staying at Baldessin Press Studio.

I took all the spoke pieces and made an overhand knot in the center, then hammered it down to flatten. Next selected earth pigment colored shifu threads to weave the base. These threads were found in the bottom of Anna’s basket that I drew on the first page of this book. Again using a favorite tool from Wafu Works in Hobart, Tasmania. I used it for packing rows of weaving.

More writing and a window..

I was recalling that this group of basket makers in Tasmania used to mark off sections where the Native Hen had made deposits so I could rub papers to spin into colored threads later in the day.

So naturally I had to draw a Tasmanian Native Hen and put a couple scraps of the paper dyed with their beautiful green.

I never spun this sheet into thread…probably because dampening it brought back the smell.  So now it is folded back up and stuffed with other threads made using Tasmanian soils for color back into Anna’s basket.

Speaking of earth pigments, Thursday evening a friend took me to the opening of another art exhibit at the nearby small liberal arts college. It made my heart soar to see such massive canvases encrusted with local pigments. It was appropriately titled, “Place”. The artist is a woman who seemed to share the same passion for marking place in this way. I was glad I took one of my Earth Pigments books to pass on to her. She was surprised and happy to have it. We will hopefully get together and talk more about the thrill of working with gathered color.

Friday we go back to visit classrooms and see what students are doing. I did meet a few of them at the opening and it made me feel good to see such energy and passion in another generation making art. Two of the men in my former art group have affiliations with this college and I hope to run into them again. Oh, to share a bottle with those two and hear what they have been up to these past few years….

A glass of Madeira I treated myself to remembering these favorites from art group.

Then yesterday I decided I needed to get back to Burke and Wills. Judy encouraged me to read some of my stories and show her what I was working on. After reading The Stoat Story, Down the Rabbit Hole, and others, it caused me to bring out the Burke and Wills drawings. This morning I did another that needs to be painted, and started another… hopefully the words will come to put it all together.

Here Wills is getting too big to fit in the house Boris and Belinda, the river rats, left them when they moved south. Not sure where they go next before ending up in the elderly care home.

I must say that it feels good to just lose myself in the lives of an owl and rabbit.

Til later….

 

Busy Few Days

Posted on by Sandy Webster

The weather has been cold and the other morning I saw several mourning doves clustered around the stone pieces in the garden. Few birds come here because I do not have feeders.

This past week saw the passing of Judy Wilford, a master embroiderer in Australia. I was lucky to get this small piece of her work several years ago. It hangs near the front door with other artworks from down under.

She was a master of landscape and birds in small forms. Her third book was released last week. I don’t know fine hand embroiderers here in the states but Australia has several. Jane Nicholas also comes to mind as another Australian who has many books to her credit on fine embroidery techniques. I loved having both these women in my classes over the years. Just watching how they approached their projects was an education in itself. Their work reflects the consummate craftsperson and attention to the tiniest detail that seems lost in much of the needlework I see today. But at least we are still threading needles and feeling cloth between our fingers.

Tonight I am going to another art opening at the small college near me. I believe it has something with the use of earth pigments. It feels good to be back among the art makers. I will let you know how it was.

Two walks this week. The dam…..

And the river near my house.

My basket making friends down under finished with their gathering and are all back home. I told them I would keep my book going and when some of them gather again in April, I would maybe have a small lesson to share with them in my book.

Lots of work to do yet to make it more comprehensible, but I have time.

I missed writing and realized it had been some time since I added to my list of short stories. The past few days with pen in hand, I got something down on paper and will post it on my website sandywebster.com  –  short stories from the menu.

Thinking about enrolling in another writing class this spring but need a little more encouragement before making that phone call.

Now there are no lots left across the street. Houses on every one that was available. Now the builder will turn the corner and start up the other end. I don’t see any from my house…only when I walk past to get to the river or drive out of my garage. It is a very quiet neighborhood.

Tomorrow I pick up an old basket making friend who is from the Seattle area and in town teaching. We will spend the afternoon having lunch and a bit of scotch before I take her back to start her weekend class. We only see each other once a year so it will be fun to show her how all the things from my old place found a place here.

Til later…..