Feature Works

I like wandering in the meadow. Occasionally someone from the subdivision is walking their dog but mostly I am alone trying to find interesting things for me to sketch. I like this pipe. Not sure what its function was or is but it is beautiful.

It has interesting lichen on it.

And just beyond….trees near the river.

I found more butterflies…

And one whose life was over…

The meadow is getting browner…

Looking at my house building book, I noticed there were so many more pages to fill and now I am moved in. So it occurred to me that I am still unpacking.

So using two pages to show how that unpacking is going, I came up with the following pages…I am showing all five of them and how they work together to tell a story. Later in the book I will place some things on shelves and in closets as I get more firmly moved in and the book ends.

First the screens getting put in and a list of what needed to be done. (Most of that has been taken care of).

Now the boxes!

The box on the left is how it looked sealed and then on the right it is being opened.

And there are the pots and pans!

Lots of bubble wrap in this one.

Of course I painted all my cartons with the earth pigment watercolor made from the soil under my house.

I might go back and pile up the cartons on the left as they are opened. SO many boxes! And more to go. Notice how I poured myself a glass of wine after I opened the wine glasses box. Anyway, it was fun doing these pages.

Today I am going to brave a social event here in town. Beginning at four this afternoon there will be Wines and Steins. Local wineries and breweries come to town and set up on the square with various food venders. I can sample their goods and hopefully bring home a dinner. The walk up the hill can be a bit hard, but the more I do it, the easier it gets.

Earlier today I tried to get the red clay stains off the porch and front entry…but to little results. The porch now has an overall reddish tinge to the concrete.

I painted the old bench Lee made for our house years ago black because the new porch table and chairs will likely be black. And ordered a nice rug for out there that is a blend of those colors, will look nice, and give a place to wipe the feet before coming into the dining area.

Tomorrow it is back to writing and drawing.

Til later…..

The evening before last, just about wine time, I got a facetime call from friends in Australia. It was so good to hear their voices and be remembered by them. No wonder I have Australia greet me when I come in the front door!

On the chest below the large Aboriginal artworks sit The Fatal Shore pieces. I made these from Robert Hughes’ book shortly after the devastating fires there from a few years ago. The one in the back is made like a raft. There is an old padlock for the convict settlers and a rusted pin that supports an oar. All of it has been burned in places. The low boat in front is where I took the pages of his book, opened them to shape to an old wooden boat that I burned in Aboriginal marks. The pages are colored with the soils of Australia. Scattered wooden sticks that have been burned in patterns scatter across the front. The colorful card came with two lovely reds from friends who came to see the house last week.

Here is how the den is shaping up. This morning the internet was hooked up in the office area of the den.

Still no shades yet, but maybe this week.

More arranging needed on the shelves above the TV and books. Then where the old Chinese cabinet ended up near the end of the kitchen island.

And the shelves on each side of the fireplace.

At the top is a wood block print by Gwen Diehn and a couple of my Patriarchs that did not get buried.  On the left is the River Lethe Boat that I made when Lee was losing his memory. I loved making this after a bit of research of how the passengers boarded the boat after drinking the water of forgetting from the river. They step in and drop their luggage on the way down to be seated below. All the tiny text that appears on them and the strings representing flowing water are in the past tense. I took the piece a bit further and imagined that the ferryman had a lapse of memory and drank the water, so ended up just tying the boat to a piling to wait for what happens next.

The next shelf down I just took hold of all the New Zealand flax baskets I’ve made over the years with basket makers in Australia and stuck them into the corner. The glass trophy I won with a wonderful cash award from the South Australia Museum is tucked in with the baskets. On the right is a collection of Lee’s turned bowls.

Below that is Chad Hagen’s felted journal page and Jo McEwen’s egg tempera painting with Indian printing blocks and metal animals.

Then a Doris Messick basket, more bowls, some by John Jordan, a boat I made of sticks and handmade papers, plus a small mixed media piece from an artist in central Tasmania who opened a cafe in an old stone church. Finally an Australian insect.

Below are boxes made about Australia and a large one holding all the gifts from students over fourteen trips down under. They sit next to a burial boat I made in front of an old Indonesian heddle.

Below that are my hand sewing baskets and a magazine basket.

The top shelf you can’t see is all baskets Lee brought home from Thailand and the cased Patriarch from my undergraduate days. Another one not buried.

Then a scroll journal entry from Helen Sanderson’s trip to the Antarctic, a voodoo basket from Africa and a ceramic piece by Obie Clark.

Next is the non nourishing bowl I made in undergraduate school about why men leave, Ted Cooley’s raven, another bowl by Lee and assorted baskets by makers I knew in my basket making days….Theresa Ohno, Grace Kabel, Polly Sutton and Edith Bondie.

Next an old carrying basket from South America, a yogurt carrier belonging to a Messiah warrior, a Knud Olson turned bowl, engraved prints by Lucious DeBose, an oil can I bought at a flea market in Ballarat, Victoria, more turned pieces and a vase with mudcloth markings that I really needed to own.

Then another turned piece by Lee, a Zulu basket, Froud’s Box made in honor of Brian Froud for all his Fairy research, another foundry mold holding monkey ball gourds, and a small family of Indonesian powder holders all gathered in the corner.

Lastly are the two baskets that have always held my extra napkins, the Bose speaker, a wicker hamper with books I have made topped by a sweetgrass basket.

On the old post office table from Brasstown sits the In Search of Lost Time Series of three using old clock parts and text from Proust. The explorers “chess” game from Expedition to Elsewhere: the Evidence sits in the middle (I could not bear to bury it with the rest of their explorations), The Writer sits with a guest book from our old house on the left of the table with a small glass case made by Marla Shelton about Lee and me.

I took time yesterday to catch up on the sketchbooks.

The cats and I are home.

New area rug comes tomorrow with an Amazon order of new towels, bedspread set and dining light fixture.

More later…..

Almost everything is unpacked and where it belongs. Before I get into the house I want to show the meadow and how it looked yesterday walking over toward the gym to see the Indian Mound.

Now inside….First view is the foyer..all Australia.

Opposite wall…more and the scrap cardboard piece started at Lake Mungo with good friend, Mary Crehan.

Then down toward living room with the view to the garden…..

Dining area..

kitchen… with almost all my foundry molds hung or placed…..

The wall to the right of windows into the garden,,,,

The start on the den where I am sitting at the desk now….

More pictures to come of the den when I finish the shelves around the television.

Now the hall to the laundry room outside the den…

Laundry room…

Washer and dryer are opposite the shelves..formerly from my studio.

And the good woman over my broom rack.

And a new pantry spice rack inside the door that really helped with “where do I put these?”

Heading down hall to bedroom…

The bedroom….

Across from my bed….

The glass doors are being put on the shower/tub areas right now. When I can I will post pictures of the bathrooms…more artwork there of course…

This is enough for today.

Except here are the very happy cats at my old house. Their owners are very happy as well.

And Marla and Patrick also very happy to have gotten so much done!

Til later…

No turning around now! The builder says I can follow my things right into the house on Monday! Amy and Ben will be here on Sunday to lend a hand. The cats trip to the vets to be boarded is canceled because they can come with me and help with the boxes…they so want to see them all emptied and waiting for their inspection.

So here are some changes these past few days at the house.

And today, this little beauty is in place!

Then while the cleaners and touch up painters were busy, my landscaper and I went to our favorite nursery…..and bought all the right things!

While we were gone his helper worked on the sculpting of top soil.

Here are some of the plants for along those mounds and water pond.

The opposite side of the house is filled in with camelias and azaleas we picked out this morning. I will take a picture tomorrow. Next week we will select some large rocks and have a pallet of smaller rock delivered. Those will be placed in areas where the mulch will not be put down. The landscaper will also pick up the Japanese lace leaf maple and lovely drooping Blue Atlas cedar that will be in the front yard with an Asian sculpture and large rocks.

The selection of plantings and mounds will afford a degree of privacy in a subdivision where the houses are only twenty feet apart. Because of the floor plan there are only two windows that look toward another house to the side. And you can see from the triple windows in the living room, if I keep my shades half way down, all I see is my small Japanese garden.

And this morning when I dropped in to see the men and have coffee, this was sitting on the table.

It is a glass cake plate! One of the men shoved it toward me and the one who brought it in for me said it was because I always brought them donuts and he thought I should have it. Before thinking, I blurted out, “Do you know how many cake plates I have given away?” Undaunted by my rudeness by not adhering to the stop sign visualization rule to stop and think before speaking, he went on to point out the merits of this particular cake plate! If you put the top on the plate as it looks now, then you have sort of a fruits and dip arrangement that keeps the flies off.  BUT, turn the bottom part upside down and you have elevated the cake to a degree of enhancement and still keep the flies off.

I offered it to the other men there and received no takers….most of them said they already had one. So I stared at the cake plate. Tried lifting it up whole and decided it was too heavy. So out to the car it went to be safely packed for delivery to the new house.

His cake plate gift was the very first thing moved into the new house.

Sadie and Dilly have taken to perching on the porch things that they sense are going with us.

There are a couple of things about the house that might take a bit longer…the glass shower doors are hung up somewhere. I asked for some pullout shelf/drawers under the bathroom vanity.

But all in all I am very pleased to be moving in and getting the feel of the place.

Next you hear from me it will be from there or maybe the library because the internet may not be hooked up.

Til later….