Little Ventures Out

Posted on by Sandy Webster

When I am in the office trying to catch up on blogs and correspondence I can sometimes see Lee outside the window. The other day he had one of his caregivers helping him get those rocks just so. Today’s caregiver found me lots of bananas, some onions, carrots that actually look like carrots, celery and some hot dog buns…..all of it for just $13.15!

This morning we went out to pick up the book pages for ten Bush Books. He finally finished and I wanted to make sure he got the money for it.

And now in the studio where I checked the numbers.

He really did a good job and now I have something to work on when I get to the studio.

I saw this on facebook this morning and thought it was a good idea. One capful of bleach to a quart jar of water. Keep a cloth in there to wipe things down when they come into the house.

I wiped down the plastic wrap on the package of bush book pages but did not know what to do after they were opened. Couldn’t wait to start checking on the count so touched the pages. This is a whole new behavior pattern for us with the virus going around. I did remember to wipe down the packages of lettuce that I got while we were out. No one was in the garden section and I had my food grade plastic gloves on and with lettuce freshly delivered, I bought twelve plants. Finally we will have lettuce in the house….lots of it. Lee stays in the car and as soon as I filled my gas tank with the gloves still on, we came home where I did the package wiping and tossed out the gloves. I had bought them many years ago thinking I could use them for printmaking. No, they are too loose and slide around too much but are perfect for going out and having to touch door knobs, etc.

Here are the latest drawings a day.

A small Christmas bag

filled with lots of hanging tapes

to stick things on walls.

 

A long charging cord

that can send my photographs

from phone to lap top.

 

Lee turned this stopper

for wine bottles needing this

funny little man.

 

And now this stopper

that Lee turned while still being

in creative mode.

 

Later this weekend I will do another post about something I am working on in the studio. It is about how we as artists change our approach to a subject when it becomes something we can learn to be objective about. How things can go from clinging emotional response to suddenly finding ourselves distanced enough to say, “Here is another new way to say the same thing.” More or less.

Til then.

Being Safe

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Lee and I are in, and trying to follow the rules. This continual rain is getting him down. He wants to be out there with his rocks, moving them from one place to another.

Some of them he saves for something only he has knowledge of.

I keep up with my drawings.

Traveling corkscrew.

You just have to remember

to take it along.

 

I found this Qantas

bag in the back of the drawer

with coins from Bali.

 

It measures and cuts.

And it will magnify some

of the little things.

 

So these playing cards

made by Patsy have many

hard patterns to draw.

 

We are keeping our cleaning lady at bay til this safe distancing ends. And today I assigned jobs between the two of us. Anything that made a noise like the vacuum, Lee took. He does not know how to make it slant down to use or how to turn it on. But once started, he vacuumed like a pro. He also liked getting down to clean off all the baseboards he could reach and dust doors. I got to use the Swiffer to get up all cat hair left behind, do the dusting, scouring and cleaning bathrooms. Lee finished up with polishing the stainless steel in the kitchen. A good morning and the house smells great.

Last Friday evening my students in Australia face timed me once they finished their workshop and had a full day of working in the house we always share afterwards. It was so special to see them and offer suggestions on their projects. I did not cry until we rung off….I miss them and they are so terribly kind to remember me when they get together. Now they have all traveled back to their homes and like us are keeping the distances they did not have to while together in that magic place.

And speaking of tear-rendering kindnesses, the other day two cards came in the mail. One from a friend who came here for private lessons on white line printmaking. He sent a sketch of a bird in his yard and asked how we were doing. Not that many ask the question on how we are faring in this sometimes very hard situation, but he always does. Makes me feel looked after from a distance.

The other card that came that day was from a total stranger out in western Canada I think. She told me how she reads all my blogs and feels she knows us. I try to read these cards to Lee but cry every time. I can even cry during commercials when I get overwhelmed.

I get funny cards from a guy that was in the art group. He is the only one I hear from and in a month a year will have passed since our last meeting.

I asked the home care person to see if she could get a few things on my grocery list. They are letting us older ones get into stores between 7 and 8 am by ourselves but the manager told me the new supplies don’t come in that early. I can get wine and beer because the church people have not sunk that low in this area.

Today I ordered special meals for Lee and I. The types of meals you would only get in a restaurant. It is take out only…like the brewery on Thursdays. We pick them up today at 4:50 pm. It is right across from the liquor store so I might replenish that as well.

Tomorrow Lee and I have appointments at the salon for his pedicure and my haircut. I will go there on time but only to give the girls some money to help tide them over as all salons must close tomorrow night. It is how these people make a living and the incredibly slow to respond federal government appears clueless on the impact this has on our working class population.

We are trying to stay safe and I am trying to keep Lee in the moment and not in a state of confusion of where we are and what we need to do.

A very large thank you to those who make me cry over your thoughtfulness. You know who you are and it helps so much knowing you are there.

Til later when I show you the latest and perhaps only attempts at lino printing.

 

Spring Showing Itself

Posted on by Sandy Webster

It is uplifting to see how quickly leaves and blossoms pop out with some sun after days and days of grey skies and rain. It has been depressing with the greyness, corona virus, incompetent people in charge, missing friends far away, wondering if our son will be able to get away to visit……But here it is spring finally.

Help is still arriving three days a week to sit with Lee. I get into the studio but once there wonder what to do. I have brought my gym routine home where there is a bike and weights. Funny how we simply can’t let go of routines. The security in that when everything else seems so uncertain.

I even went to the brewery where we always meet a friend for lunch every Thursday and got a take out lunch and dinner. Even had Lee’s growler filled with porter beer. Just so we could bring it home and eat their good food today. I wonder if they can sustain their business doing it this way. A bar needs people sitting in there having one beer after another and meeting others for lunch and dinner to watch a sports game on their television. Will take out meals from a limited menu and filling growlers keep them in business? We will just do our part and see. I also noticed that our bank has closed the interior space and only uses the drive through windows…and even that is done with gloves on. My jolly man at the feed store seems more subdued today. This is going to take its toll on everyone but especially the more social among us with small businesses in rural areas such as ours. I worry about the older population who bag groceries and work the registers at the grocery stores to supplement their retirement. They seem so at risk even without coming in contact with so many of us who could very easily be carrying the virus and not know it.

I had better get used to it. And it is hard answering Lee’s questions. The good thing there is that I can make things up and move on…….sometimes.

Anyway the drawings have ended in one series of books and now are starting in the new one.

There are two of these.

They were made for scooping up

salad greens and not dust!

 

This lacquered box is

more of a coffin now for

those unused chopsticks.

 

A stocking stuffer –

some kind of magnet, ribbon

and others attached.

 

It was so much fun

designing and hanging these

on our own honey!

 

I heard Lee come in upstairs so had better get this posted.

More later.

Corona Virus Means Staying Home Now

Posted on by Sandy Webster

As of this morning we are staying in way more than going out. It was odd not to be in the gym this morning but I dressed for it and came down to the office/gym here and did my workout. Still need to work out the details of fixing breakfast for Lee beforehand and getting it through to him that I am here and not there….but everything takes time.

Thank you to my Australian friends and students who have kept me in the loop even though I am not there. They even sent pictures of them all waving from their workshop desks. It will be great to see their projects and hopefully skype with them over the weekend from the house we have shared together after the workshop. Big hugs to them.

I don’t think I would want to be traveling outside of the country right now. Some people are stuck in foreign countries and may not get home for weeks and many others have had to change plans and are stuck at home. Tough times we are in right now with very pathetic leadership here in the United States. But we don’t need to talk about that.

I took the silk shirt scraps and gave the last pieces another go in the pot.

I rolled the pieces up on PVC pipes instead of folding between tiles. Cooked for two hours and then taken out to rest for three days before unbundling.

And as usual the wrap strings make the best marks.

Here they are rinsed and ironed.

I think they came out a bit better on this second processing. Here is a detail.

The weave of the silk pattern is quite a distraction to the prints. Now, as always, what do I do with these pieces that smell so wonderful….

I am tempted to cut them all into smaller pieces just to stitch them together again if only for the feel and smell. A wonderful friend in Australia gave me a whole spool of fine silk thread, a tiny, tiny eyed needle and a silk hand-sewn Eucalyptus leaf to keep it in. Maybe I will get a very large magnifying glass and thread that needle with the silk and give it a go just following along the woven pattern in the silk…..maybe.

Another great picture sent this week from where the conference is in the Grampians, came from a friend who has a solo show at the Kookaburra Restaurant where I shared so many meals. Besides lots of pictures of her work hanging, she showed me the guest’s comment book. It was one of my small hand done sketchbooks that I gave her last year for always making me feel so good from her kind words when I need them the most. She told me that I am now with her work in the Kookaburra until the show closes late next month. I can already taste the lovely red wines with their superb spinach crepes. Wasn’t  that a thoughtful thing to do?

And I am keeping up with the drawings a day…..

I think we gave up

the use of fondue forks for

dipping directly.

 

This is a muddler,

meant to crush small leaves and fruit

in your next bar drink.

 

My most favorite

chopsticks ever are waiting

for a Chinese meal.

 

We bought these chopstick

holders made from carved bamboo

on our Japan trip.

 

This haiku is making me a bit dumbed down I think. Seems I am just writing in syllables and not words…and I find myself counting only to seven.

But after the next two days the books made from my old grey pants will have been all filled up and it will be onto the the next four books made to hopefully take me to the end of the year.

Til later. Wash your hands. Stay home. Drink Australian wine.