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A good week for looking back and moving forward. A neighbor told me of old friends still coming to town to do workshops together. Lee and I would have them over for dinner and share what we were making. The neighbor told me they asked after me and then proceeded to talk me into going to visit them. I thought of all the excuses I could to not go…just stay home and leave the past in the past. It had been maybe fifteen or more years since we were together. Lots happened in those years. But I went anyway (in spite of myself). Naturally, I got involved with the students projects. Old habits of teaching and listening surfaced. The person who bought my house came in to visit a friend and we caught up on how they were doing. I am so grateful they love the house so much. I spent over an hour catching up with them and making a slight agreement to come back next week when one of them is assisting a class on natural pigments. It was a good visit. And here we are. Sally, Sandy and Ida.

 

I also went to the writing group at the Hiawassee Library called Shut Up and Write, an international organization that encourages just writing, no reading, no critiques…just write for an hour and go home! Each time I go, I find I have an interesting bit of writing when I leave. Preoccupations with getting old have dominated, but also an open mind to other ideas that need to get written down before I lose the will or ability. I played with the poem about Ralph and his neighbor a bit more to get the rhythm right. The poetry group enjoyed it. Now I am starting on the next picture of drawing into the negative space between Eucalyptus leaves. It is fun to do the drawing first and then write the words that a child can get caught up in.

The Dimming           S. Webster

The light is leaving.

A soft mist seeps along the edges

of what I am trying to see,

what I wanted to talk about.

Words stumble out

in barely heard whispers

of feelings rushing

to beat the silence

of darkness.

The negative space drawing reminded me of two books I made several years ago. I have found them and am considering publishing through Amazon so they are available again. Last time each one was printed and assembled at home. Most went and were sold to Australian friends. So far I have not found the original drawings but have been able to photograph the pages of my copies of Lost Time and Down the Rabbit Hole. Originally the Rabbit one had no words. I counted on the “reader” to follow the story of a spiteful farmer seeking the rabbit who only shows kindness in return. This next time I will add a minimum of text so it can be read aloud as the images tell the story. Both were illustrated using chemically rusted papers leaving evocative spaces for drawing in my ideas of the story. Here are a few of those drawings.

Lost Time

Down the Rabbit Hole.

Later today I will search for the original drawings and get some proper photos of them to resize and adjust contrast.

I have way too many papers left in my stash. Somehow, like most old artists, I thought I would use all the things I brought with me. No, I am not. And furthermore have no interest in making more things that take up space. I have been thinking of just the right person to hand them off to. My writing and drawing in sketchbooks is enough for me now…that and having a nice drink before dinner.

Well, at least there are more pictures in this post than last week. Now off on the search for old drawings. Which reminds me, my pregnant hairdresser will be getting the last poster I made many years ago called, ABCs in the Woods.

Okay, enough.

Til later….

 

 

 

 

I did see if I could figure out the binding with hidden starts and finishes in Coptic.

At least the spine stitches are neater. Not so with the inside. But I will give up because I do not need any more blank journals to fill.

In looking for cover material, I found this sheet of all cotton paper I made in John Risseeuw’s class in 1994 or 95. He taught at Arrowmont for a week and it was all about making paper and assembling books. Even the paper content had to relate to the text of the book. It was a super workshop that emphasized the importance of doing work that was unique to the maker.

At the time he was deeply involved with making and exhibiting work that was politically based. I was working on a series of coats showing the duress of women in Sarajevo. I still admire his politics long after his retirement from University of Arizona. We share comments and views on Facebook. His views give me hope for another generation down the line….one I am sure to miss because of the catastrophic situation being perpetrating on the world through our government and republican party that will take a generation to mend.

Anyway one of the papers I made that week was from scrap threads from my sewing stash. It came out a lovely lavender color. Lovely to touch. And like all workshop results the paper became precious and unused. Nothing quite worthy of cutting it up! How familiar is that?!

So I used it. Used a rice paste to glue it to double boards inserted between the folio making up the covering. Because I hate waste, the long cuts from the 11″ side are now folded in thirds and will be pasted to make a collar to slip the book into. This is necessary because like most landscape Coptic books, it has a tendency to slide into a fan shape easily.

And because it is 3.5″ by 5.5″ I decided to use it for haiku writings with small illustrations.

It has been hard to concentrate on writing under the dark cloud of politics, so I decided to escape into more children’s stories or poems. That and lose myself in drawings that require concentration.  The first story of Ralph was well-received at poetry reading this week. And it occurred to me that I have done this drawing into negative spaces before. Remember “Down the Rabbit Hole”? And the one “Searching for Lost Time”? I wonder if I should hunt up those drawings and publish the stories for a larger audience. I will give that some thought.

I wish I had more pictures in this post. But it has been hot, rainy and reclusive this week. I’ll do better next time.

Til later….

I watched the birds instead of the dreadful state of affairs in this country’s celebration of its slow sink into autocracy. There was a pair of these birds staring at each other with their mouths open by the pond out back. They were not the usual song sparrows who hang out but maybe juveniles of some kind. I like their spotty feathers. Almost like starlings. Maybe my daughter, the birder will know.

It is unbearably hot this week and I stayed inside most days. I tried to remember how I showed Australians this single needle Coptic using book cover pages as folios to hide the start and finishing. I found one by Barb Adams that she gave me after the lesson about ten years ago. And because the ends are buried inside the spine sections of the cover, I had a devil of a time figuring it out. Hers is the very neat one on the bottom. My first try is on the top.

It is like when you do something over and over and then depend on body memory to take over years later. It could be age issues, but I mostly forgot the secret of making this book so mysteriously tidy. I will try again another day. Anyway, I used what papers I had handy. Some lovely contact prints I did in Australia along with plain sketching paper for the inside folios and Rives BFK that I printed  years ago to layer the cover. One piece of board is inserted between the oversized cover folios to make it sturdier. I used leftover Rives BFK as a substitute. When the book is all stitched, the cover pages are pasted over the filler cover, left to dry and then trimmed. I called it a Gideon Bible cover because it reminded me of those little plastic bibles handed out in schools many years ago. The ones with the extended covers…usually green and left behind in the library….at least in my case they were.  Notice on Barb’s book the cover folios were trimmed far enough out so as to act as protection for the text block. Mine are trimmed shorter because the paper was too heavy to shape over.

I do need to make another one if only to tidy up my stitches. It does take a very long thread to make this book without having to tie on a new end.

The next story book page is starting to be drawn into. Not a clear direction yet. Diana from poetry helped me clean up the poem for the first one. If it weren’t so damnably hot, I’d have more energy for getting into thinking and doing. Now I just think a nap is effort enough. Back to those 8,000 steps tomorrow so I should fix myself a drink and then take a nap. Maybe a Turbo Tonic would be nice.

The cats have already started on their fourth nap of the day.

Til later….

 

How could I not add to the installations in the garage! The saga of the reflecting pool is the perfect visual definition of trump’s tenure as president of the US,

First gather the materials: A flag taped to my mailbox by the Property Association (I don’t have any desire to be associated with the US flag right now…maybe never!). And his edited inaugural speech.

Then the assembly begins on a mat cut to fit a cheap plastic shadow box…similar plastic to his gold painted chachka all over the White House.

Of course the flag is hung upside down…like Justice Alito’s wife’s flag while protesting gay rights. The “American Flag Blue” Reflecting Pool is full of algae and chips of paint floating loosely. One can make out a dulling Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. Off to the right is the White House with its new wrestling arena proudly filling the front lawn and resulting in dead grass everywhere. Of course it is!

The title of the piece is:

Keep Out

Reflecting on the newly “shit-holed” United States of America.

The main title font is BF Tiny Hands developed back in 1916 by an observant calligrapher watching trump’s handwriting to make it available publicly.

Here are some details:

It is now installed in the garage where I had my usual solo opening reception. Refreshments included Reflecting Pool Cocktail (now a popular bar drink…but not so much here in town).

I usually raise the glass to my mother who was the only person I knew who supported Shirley Chisholm’s bid for president in 1972.  Both would be surprised to see how bigotry still thrives in their country.

I tried to get the peeled pieces of rolled up candy goo to float, but to no avail…each one sunk to the bottom. So sticking them to the sides had to do. The algae stuck on the pick sitting across the rim is the paired down gauze I recently made a shirt from.

The drink was a combination of rum, orange juice and blue curacao. It reminded me of mixed drinks I attempted as a teenager at a friends house  where such delights could be found deep in cupboards. These were the kinds of drinks that made you quite ill the following morning and you never mixed them up again! I have plenty of the sweet blue curacao left and will put it out of sight until I can celebrate the country coming together again…which is quite doubtful at this time.

And the empty glass!

It’s a bit early for a wine, so I will find some British program to watch and pet my cats.

Til later….