Thoughts with Pictures

Posted on by Sandy Webster

This morning on our walk at the dam. I love the subtle shades of blue as the hills recede. Here are just a few more pictures from our walk there the past couple of weeks.

I love the color of the boulders supporting the dam.

And the grasses along the paved walkway.

And these that we collected some of last year that were dried out so I could use them to make “trees” in collographs.

Lee is having a nap now so I can have time to write this blog. This morning we spread twenty bags of mulch…and I still need more. He did some weeder eating. I learned how to start his truck that the battery had run down on. I knew I should have been starting it every so often once it was removed from the garage, parked by the shed with a brand new battery, but I didn’t. Frankly I just did not want to add one more thing to the list. But I learned how to open the hood, find the battery, connect the right clips, find an extension cord, plug it all in, wait, start the truck, run it forward and then backward, park it again, put all the equipment away. The battery charger is heavy and I really hate having to learn how to do all these things….all these things that before his dementia I just had to ask Lee to take care of. Yesterday I had to locate the window washer fluid holder under my own hood and fill it up. So many things I never had to do before. It has been a tough realization that there is no one else but me. The magic fix it, how can I help man, is simply not coming by.

I will just add it to the rest of new things to look after. I will add it to changing the filter on the fish pond, refilling the fish pond, recharging the yard tool batteries, locating wherever he put the tools when he got tired. It is not an endless list but it constantly grows and I marvel that I can fit it all in and still get a good nights sleep and some of my own work done.

For those who did not see the posting on facebook here is the finished shirt. I wore it to the brewery yesterday for our weekly lunch out.

A detail.

I am not doing a lot in the studio but would like to try some more collographs next week. For now I need to clear the space of all the sewing things. Then I can start something new. And I have convinced myself that I can drop what I am doing, even covered with ink, and go start up the weeder eater or pull out more cord or go get the other charged battery without getting upset. It is a waste of time and energy to get bothered about helping Lee. It is also pretty darn selfish. I am the only one there is to help him right now and he is so pleased to get the small chore he has set for himself finished or at least part way finished. Every day he looks forward to “getting back at it”. He just needs a bit of help.

And I might even be having a student in the studio learning white line printmaking soon. He has been with me before and understands the limited time I might have but seems so pleased to be able to learn the technique. And I am really happy to have someone to pass on one of my favorite ways of making prints. I miss teaching.

Not much else going on. I bought two bottles of single malt scotch yesterday in case a fellow scotch person just happens by. But I doubt that will happen. So I will have plenty for later when the holidays come round. And there is always the every few weeks “scotch talk”  over the phone with my son. Sometimes just saying things out loud makes them disappear.

So til later when I might have a few new prints to show.

Finishing the Sewing for Now

Posted on by Sandy Webster

The past several days I have been altering the clothes I bought from Havana Blue in Melbourne, Australia. Mostly I don’t try things on…..just see if they are on sale and if the size looks right. And because I follow Havana Blue on Facebook just to see the cut of the clothes, I wanted to get to the shop while there. Then of course buy whatever would haunt me later if I didn’t buy it.

This white shirt was actually some kind of soft linen coat. I looked like a walking duvet cover when I put it on at home. At least one third of it is now in the “spare cloth” bin. Next I went to the pants that this was bought to go with. A navy blue or cobalt, not sure which because I only wear pale blues. They were quite roomy due to not only the cut but the rectangular opening in the side front. I closed that over and took further tucks on the inseam hem.

They actually look wearable now.

Next was another over-sized top from the same shop. I have to say here that the younger, very pretty woman who was showing me things in the shop, looked also like she was packing on some more than necessary pounds but managed to look very stunning in a blue pants, top and duster. I tried to talk her into just going into the changing room, putting something else on and letting me buy what she was wearing. She wouldn’t. But after a quick and yet discreet look at my body, she started pulling things off the rack.

The kind friend, Barbara, who took me to the shop was, as most Australian women are, kind. There were no comments like, “Sandy, you do not want to wear that.” Those comments are more like what I would hear here in the states, either verbally or with a look, or a decided shake of the head. So thank you, Barbara for your kindness and the opportunity to remake what looked like a good idea at the time.

Here is the soft grey open weave top.

And again, about one third is in the bin with the white linen. The necklace with this was inspired by my looking down at the floor and seeing all the small scraps from sewing the past several days. Unfortunately I spent two days thinking it was a good idea to stitch on all the squares…kantha stitches, and when I finished it was way too much….totally “goobered” as one might say. So I made another one  because there are so many scraps. I used a stiffening iron-on something papery and than hand stitched them closed around the linen like cord with matching sewing threads.

I like the softness of it and the practicality as it might just cover whatever I have spilt down my front. Here it is with the dark grey top.

And finally here is the label inside the Havana Blue clothing.

Of course I am supposed to wash it in cold water, dry flat, not wring it out….maybe I can just hose them off in the yard with a bit of dish detergent. Then a day later when they are dry go ahead and fish them out from under a tree, peel off the bird mess and then press with a warm iron.

And don’t you just love how it says bananablue. Now was this really made there in Australia, where the lovely women told me, “Right here in Melbourne” or somewhere where they had a hard time doing the translation of Havana Blue.

Regardless, I would not trade that experience of being there and buying these clothes for anything. She even managed to sell me a great linen scarf to “tie it all together.” It is a very usable white with lots of splotches of different blues on it. Lovely.

What is left to sew on is hemming a black pair of pants from a shop in Asheville….then I quit for now. What I have to get rid of are some blouses that never will fit and I never liked that I got on sale, therefore had to buy them. Those and two pairs of rayon slacks that for five years I have meant to hem but the pesky buttons up the sides seemed more trouble than it was worth. I have a taller friend who will get the lot later this week.

So that is it for now. End of sewing stories unless something spectacular happens.

Til later.

PS In the meantime I am staying out of shops.

Sewing and Drawing and Kudzu

Posted on by Sandy Webster

This must be the best year for kudzu to go unchecked! It hangs over the roads from branches of trees that it has climbed while burying bushes, fences, and likely any cow that stands still long enough. Too bad it is not harvested for something. Something that is not just the novelty of flour and making a few baskets. It is fascinating to look across the landscape and see everything covered with this virulent vine. It would make a good southern horror story.

Kudzu was brought over from Japan in the mid 1800s to control erosion and like cane toads being brought to Australia, someone was not doing their research first. The good thing is that the second it turns to a freezing temperature, kudzu dies back and we can see the trees, bushes and cow skeletons.

Aside from all that drama, I did two days of sewing. New top made from a pattern drafted from a favorite shirt and pants….both linen that I can no longer buy from fabric shops (because most of those have closed), but I can get linen online and hope that it feels like what I thought it would. I miss fingering cloth first hand.

The pants pattern has four darts on each leg at the bottom to give it what they call, “lantern cut” pants. It still did not tuck in enough for me so I did what I often do and that is take an extra pleat after they have been hemmed. This is on the outside seam.

Today I plan on altering a bunch of clothes that I bought, either here or in Australia, into something I am more likely to wear. You know how it is….something on sale and you just buy it for that reason and then hang it in the closet only to shove it aside to find the usual. We will see how it goes and hope that they are not destined to be shoved over forever….or until I just give them away.

Also I did have a bit of time to start the fourth Hands of Responsibility.

I had to hide Lee’s shaving equipment that required soap and a sharp razor. Now he can only use his electric buzzing one. I spent one whole morning unclogging his rototiller because he wanted to test it out on three foot high weeds. It is now cleaned up and stored away til spring. He has trouble getting his work gloves on the right hand. And now cuts everything on his plate up into bite size pieces. And all of it must be cut up before he will take a bite. Funny how our brains work….or don’t work as the case might be. Now he is out there somewhere using his weeder eater until it runs out of battery or string. I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about those outside tools.

This winter I will work more on the Dementia Shawl. It feels lovely in the hands and is so soothing to think I am holding things together.

That’s about it for today.

Til later.

Printmaking Me Pretty Much Finished

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Well this morning between constantly fixing the weeder eater cord for Lee I finished the left brain dormer. Tidier than the right brain.

Full of prints that took time and concentration. There is an order to doing these types of prints. Some contact prints are in the attic.

So here I am, Printmaker Sandy.

Now I have to clean the studio up for the sewing to take place. I still need to think about wheels for all of the heads but that can wait til a brainstorm hits me.

But what we could do is go back to the discussion about “art”. Using this piece to make my point.

First of all you could not say it is “well crafted”. What are the techniques even if you could label them…..mostly it is different glues and using found objects to talk about something.  There certainly are no perfectly processed prints involved. The books are pretty easily put together….no perfection there. And can we really say that have very well-placed wood chips?! They are tucked into all the cracks and shellacked heavily.

So whatever this object is, it does not speak of technique and specific materials. Even if we could say the stamps and books and head are materials…..each of them is in service to something else…..an idea.

So if it was in an exhibition, sitting up on a pedestal, the viewer would see that it is a head first of all. And that it definitely has two sides….one dormer has some things just stuck in and the other has definite order. Plus anyone can see that the “hair” is made of printing stamps.

So maybe, just maybe what they are looking at is a sculpture that talks about the left and right brain of a printmaker…specifically Sandy Webster because inside one of the books is her name. And of course the name SANDY appears in the center top front of her head.

So this work is an idea fixed in a visual form. Therefore to my way of thinking it is definitely art.

I am not saying it is “good” art….that is way too hard to define. But it is not decorative art because it was not made to decorate the body or a home. It is not a work of craft because just where is the craftsmanship?

So there is nothing else there but the question, “What is this about?”

My next one will be the “Homemaker” and I may need a tall house atop the head just to get all the bits of things fitted into the idea of my years invested in making a home.

Til later.