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This one has very little to do with our daily lives here. I will say Lee seems very satisfied with his new friend, Dillon. This is his second time here and they both keep busy moving rocks around. When I pulled in the driveway from picking up groceries Lee was on the lookout for some men who took things and needed straightening out. I said I did not see them but assured him I would take appropriate action if I came across them. I do wonder who these bad guys are and how he sees them. I only hear of them when he comes to report as best he can what they are up to…nothing good, I can assure you. There is a poem in the Trusting the Tether Line book that I can’t remember if I posted earlier…so will do it here.

Home Intruders

 

Other people are living here.

Their names are,

“That other guy”,

“The big one”,

“The bad guy”.

 

I look out the window.

No Sun.

That’s how these strangers

get in the house

and take up residence.

 

They need clouds,

greyness,

not the dark of night,

but greyness.

Then they show up.

 

Staying until

I can convince

not just them to leave,

but the one remaining

that they are gone.

 

They are now coming around on sunny days and often move around the property taking things. I would love to tell them to stay away but I have come to believe they are needed to blame for things missing. I will find them useful for some of my own forgetfulness.

Anyway on the question of ethics….and I really do not know why this bothers me to the degree it does. I read a facebook post from one of those “friends” you accept because you have something in common. He was reliving his life on facebook as a way to document it. That in and of itself seems a bit self indulgent. But aside from that one of his latest “chapters” was him as an artist.

He had no problem naming a professional artist whose work he copies and then publicly discloses the cost of the artist’s works only to let the public know that his are considerably less expensive. I could not just shrug this off and move on….it bothered me. So I asked in the comment section if he thought there was an ethics question with his behavior. His immediate and simple response was, “I do not.”

Of course, I am sure that because he mentions where a customer can buy the professional’s works, then he is doing that artist a favor….promoting his work. I think he is only promoting himself because he can’t wait to add that all of his own works have sold so far. There are others in the comment section not only feeding into this but asking to be notified when there is more of the less expensive copies available. Someone even asked if he was going to teach this technique.

In this age of “me first” I wonder if there is not a curve we have gone around that leaves ethics pushed aside for the sake of self aggrandizement. We seem to be in an age of “So what”. “Who cares?” And I am left wondering if anyone does care.

It takes its toll. I used to be friends in real time with someone who painted from someone else’s extraordinary photographs and then successfully sold those works. It is work to develop one’s own talent and vision. And we live in an age of instant gratification…often on the back or cost to someone else. And I get that we can be inspired by others and follow along when we address our own canvases. But when it comes down to making money off those influences by copying, a line is crossed.

So with that I will step off the soapbox and show some fairly lousy pen drawings in my Marks book.

Fun drawings of boats on indigo.

A visual contemplation on lousy handwriting. Maybe, just maybe I should have spent some time in a calligraphy class.

And I have a follow up today on my soapbox from yesterday when I started this blog.

This morning I read on the “friend”s facebook page where I posed my question about whether he felt what he was doing was an ethics issue, a reply was posted from someone who wanted me to know that artists consider copying the sincerest form of flattery and copying is how the very best artists learned their craft. I responded that I did not think that artists who have spent careers developing their signature work only to be copied and undersold would agree. I also said that there is a plethora of writings on this subject and the sad thing is that there even needs to be.

I wondered why I was not getting a notice that more comments were made. So I went to the page only to find I have been “unfriended”.  Probably a good idea.

Today in the mail from my daughter I received the tin box of 12 Derwent Graphitint tinted watersoluble graphite pencils, two boxes of three each Derwent permanent line makers in .1, .3, and .5, and three Cretacolor graphite watercolor pencils in red, green, and blue….all HB…they are very greyed down colors….perfect. I will try them out in my marks book.

We walked on the trail this morning so I will leave you with a picture from there.

Til later.

This is the view from the apartment window toward the woods. It is a cloudy day. Drizzly this morning. Lee has a new caregiver today. His first male who seems nice, young and willing to work with Lee on his rocks.

I walk past this gong and sculpture getting over here to the apartment.

Today friends who brought me scotch, bread and madeleines a while back return with sour dough starter. I have a box of Second Best Malted Cookies I Ever Ate for them and a poetry book. Seems the least I can do for their kindnesses toward Lee and me. Kent draws funny cat postcards to send to Lee weekly and Catharine gave me some of her indigo powdered pigment to turn into a watercolor. I am using some in my marks book as background color to draw into. It shows up on the pages after these latest ones using another friends pigment from Italy.

I liked doing the mobile. Not the chimes. I did not like the sketchiness of the flora and fauna on these pages so filled the white areas with dots. My daughter has sent me some graphite filled colored pencils so I will try those for color next. There is a boat sailing off into Catharine’s blue on the next page…likely I will fill it with stripes….anything to avoid too much emptiness.

Speaking of indigo blue, remember this boro coat that a friend, Suzy, gave me in St. Louis?

 

Then I added my own old clothing bits and made this shirt modeled by Ed here.

Now I have put it into a sewing basket and bought a blue thread to add stitching lines on all the patches. This will be my next stitching project because the night time animals are finishing up.

I am working on the bat.

I tend to drag my feet when I get to the last of something. But if I have a new project waiting and ready, it is not so hard to wrap things up. Now what am I supposed to do with all those night critters?!

Catharine and Kent just left. They brought not only the starter but a beautiful loaf of bread and a handwoven towel. It was such a good visit talking about everything from taking online classes, to mutual friends in Australia to our children.

Lee wanted me to check out the stone work he and Dillon have been doing. He is bringing more stones from down below to up by the driveway to finish his project. With this much energy and Dillon’s help, maybe I can get them to work on the trail stones next. Dillon is scheduled to return Wednesday.

Better stop now.

Til later…

 

 

This is the next book from Lorraine in Australia that she sent for me to draw into. I have two more after this one. Here I will put sticks and stones in among her Eucalyptus leaves and then hide bones in the pocket enclosures at the bottom. All of it will be using the stippling technique I have been practicing in my Marks book.

Here are the latest leaf images from that book.

And…

I don’t think I like using colored pencils. Their waxiness seems in opposition with the texture of the paper…no wonder they include that rolled up paper smudging tool that I do not use! I also do not like how I have to go over my sharp black lines because the colored pencil clouds them. When I turn the page it is going to be back to black ink in finer lines and put the pencils away. I tried. But it is my book and it is supposed to bring me peace. The pencils are just too aggravating.

Lee and I went out to walk the trail two days ago because it was so beautiful and warm out. It was the first walk there since late fall. The angle of the light late in the day was lovely to photograph.

So, in those images is a decided lack of leaves. Lee has blown what he is allowed to blow with his blower into oblivion. We are back to removing rocks from one place and putting them into another. He likes this but needs help with where to get them and where to put them. Last fall I could just tell him once and he would carry on…..not so much now. I get to help with my own suggestion.

Caregivers are still sorting out who comes on a regular basis. We had a substitute the other day who was very good at sitting and watching TV. I could tell Lee had hoped for more. ..we had our evening drink early that day.

Speaking of which…and this definitely has to do with leaves….remember my assorted bottles of infused vodkas? And how I thought I was told bay leave instead of basil?

Well, let me tell you that although none of us knows what the heck bay leaves taste like because we are told to remove them before eating….the infused vodka is nothing short of wonderful! I had to look up the flavor of bay leaves and found they were something akin to a mint in flavor. But beyond that I found a note of anise. I think that this is a vodka that will be sipped without adding anything to it. There are drink recipes online for bay leaf flavored vodka but it would be a shame to mask the flavor.

For my gin aficionados in Australia where they make the best ever gins at small boutique distilleries, if you have the time, give this vodka a try… three bay leaves in a pint of vodka.

Just got a call from the caregiver company and the schedule is set for next week….four afternoons of getting back to my short story, maybe some sewing and reading the book that was replaced for the one cut up. Might celebrate with a sip of vodka!

Til later.

I think this is one of my most favorite pages. Shapes separated by altering the marks. I think on a larger scale this could be made much more complex. You could not go much smaller because the thickness of line determines how tight you can make marks…but bigger! Yes!

A place to work large and the added time to even begin are just not quite possible right now.

And the next page. A cityscape and an idea.

I prefer the organic shapes of the landscape over the architectural spaces.

I started with just the puzzle pieces with fine diagonal lines. Then colored them in with colored pencils. I did not like them. So drew in the three rectangular shapes coming from the right and filled in behind them with repetitive marks. Next I filled in the vast white spaces of the rectangles with vertical black marks. Still too much white so filled in the spaces between with other marks. By now I really did not like the puzzle pieces so thickened their outlines and diagonal lines.

Next I convinced myself that I should just return to marked spaces to start the next page with the intention of filling it all in. I was inspired to stay with the black and white when Robyn Gordon shared this image of Suzanne Sullivan’s cups.

Changed my mind because I wasn’t giving the coloring in much of a chance, so drew in Eucalyptus leaves to only color half in a color I am more comfortable with….greens.

This morning I turned the page and did more leaves with additional shading in the color section.

The color pencils dull the sharpness of the black lines so I have to go over them again. I have to stay with the pencils because not all the black pens are waterproof. Otherwise I would prefer watercolors.

The next leaf contact print from Lorraine is more pale and yellow than the others I have used. I am planning to fill it with the stippling technique to show nothing but sticks and stones…and then in the fold down hidden section stipple in bones. My only decision yet to make is are they all in black, or a brown pen or combination. Using the two together on a stone might look pretty good. Maybe keep my bones and sticks in black…still thinking.

Lee just opened the door to see if I was okay and seemed fine to just leave me here working. He has a new substitute caregiver today. Our regular one just suddenly quit after telling me on Friday that she was good for four days a week. Monday and today are new ones to Lee but he really doesn’t remember them anyway as soon as they are gone. That is a good thing but I get disappointed because I think I can depend on sameness. What I can depend on is that the company will do their best to get fill-ins until they get another more a permanent one. Tomorrow another new one and judging from the name could be a male. That might be fun for a change. We take what we can get during this time of Covid.

I have three and one half hours left today so will get back to another short story.

One more thing…my poetry books are arriving in Australia. Here is Mem with hers….It makes me feel so good to see her happiness with it. She wrote that the title poem was quite relatable for her.

And then this from out west that moved me to tears.

Hello Sandy, I would normally send a card but that would just take too long in the snail mail. We are honored to receive Trusting the Tether Line over the weekend. It is a profound peek into your lives and we thank you for that candidness. We who aren’t so gifted as to expressing our feelings in words can feel the emotions spilling out. You always amaze me. I love art but sadly I am not an artist. You however have set an extraordinary high bar for creativity and artistry just by being you. I have often wondered where do all those ideas come from but that is who you are. Amazing.

I miss my friends….

Til later…..