Japanese Woodcuts

I was signed up for a Japanese woodblock class with Andrew Lorish but it got cancelled because of Covid.  I was thrilled when a new date was set for this summer and it got cancelled too because Andrew got Covid.  Several weeks ago the class was announced for this weekend and I think I'm the first person to sign up.  I'm so out of shape.  I really needed something to kickstart me.

The class was held in the Studio 6000 in Sisters Oregon, just a half hour north of Bend.  Much of the equipment was from Bend Art Center which closed about four years ago due to financial woes.  That was a sad day.  A half dozen of my friends from previous classes were also there so it was a bit of reunion too.

Ian says I "spread out" when I'm working but this was worse than normal.  I wanted to carve a second block but only had 30 minutes to do it in.  I worked like a mad woman and made a huge mess with the shavings everywhere.

Andrew rolled out plates of transparent cyan, magenta and yellow.  We used Caligo ink with lots of extender, about five-to-one extender to ink. We inked our plates and printed our cut-to-size Hosho paper with a barren.  He had us print one direction then do a 180 turn and repeat the process with either the same color or different to see how it worked.  These are the first prints finished.  We had four sheets to print and three hours.  We had to work fast.

And some more.

And these are mine.  I like the block I carved in 30 minutes the best.  I printed with just two colors, and l'm not sure I like the prints with three. You have to click for big to see how the colors worked together, just yellow and cyan.

I came home energized and ready to do some more carving.  I have a couple of wood blocks left before I have to order more and I have a head full of ideas.  This is just what the doctor ordered, something to look forward to on the long gray days of winter.

Autumn is my favorite season

Delaney is absolutely taken with this New Yorker issue and studies the cover at length.

She points to the bubble and names the contents, then goes back and names the people.  She and her parents are the family in upper left corner.

PlayDoh is such a mess and I regretted buying it as soon as we opened the first container.  Tomorrow is her last day so I dug it out for one last time.  She loves it.

She was on a roll and would have opened every single color when I got the idea to place the Amazon toy catalog on the table and it was an instant winner.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

With her daddy's help she made me this birthday card which I will treasure until it's in tatters.

Tuesday was my birthday but since we were babysitting we went out for my dinner on Monday.  The tradition has been for all the family to go out to dinner on the birthday but we are shrinking already.  Grandson Logan and girlfriend moved to Kalispell this month and Son Matt, Julia and Delaney will be back in Reno this Sunday. 

I'm moving too - back into the world of adults after 2 1/2 years of being focused on a baby.  Wednesday was my book group and I hosted.  Kathi brought me these flowers which she said she instantly thought of as "Sharon colors."  They are gorgeous!  We had seven for our book discussion, first time to gather indoors since Covid hit.  We were so happy to be together again that we talked for three hours - yikes!  What did we read?  The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

I love the colors of autumn and I love that our yard is beautiful.  It's also successfully blocked from maraudering deer.  There's plenty for them to eat outside the fence, which these guys were doing when I left for my walk Wednesday morning.

I am walking with friends in places other than my neighborhood now and our walk Monday along the Deschutes River was spectacular.  Ian bought me a pair of walking sticks to protect me from taking another header.  I'm stunned at how many people I know who have been injured while hiking.  My cousin tells me that it's called FOOSH - fall on out stretched hand.  Yep, that's exactly what I did.  One MRI, two x-rays and three doctor visits later, I don't want to do it again.

My root project piece is finished and due this Saturday.  It's a simple pencil rendering and when I see the lovely pieces by other participants I feel like using mine to start the wood stove.  But if you don't enter, you don't get to play.  I remind myself that I couldn't get started until the splint came off my hand.  Lame excuse :-)

If you are of the praying kind, I sure would appreciate prayers for my daughter Chris on this coming Thursday as they replace a heart valve and repair an aneurysm.  I will go down to be with her on the 26th since I won't be able to see her until she's released from the hospital.  We've compiled a list of campy movies to watch together in her recovery, starting with Galaxy Quest.

 

 

And another month

I've been playing around some more with turned taquete.  I'm getting a plaid of sorts.

I started this warp thinking that we might be able to have a guild holiday bazaar after all, but now I realize I won't be here, since I need to be in Reno for my daughter's surgery.  I attended our guild's rigid heddle loom study group via zoom today and got infected by their wreckless design aspirations. They are all about texture and color.  I'm having second thoughts about taking classes for difficult structures and think I may need to return to my original love, color and texture.

Color!!

Meanwhile, I've been participating in Pat Clark's root project.  Pat has been a powerful and unifying force in our local art community and I'm super fortunate to have become a part of that group.  I didn't get the splint off my hand until Monday so signed up for a sketch time with her on Tuesday.  That's because Pat is in hospice and sketch times with her are limited.  We are sketching this root that was extracted from her yard and has been hanging in her garage for the past two years.

This is Pat's sketch.    I gathered up my things to leave at the end of my session and she took me aside to wish me the best with my family and said, that when life had thrown her a curve, she had learned that the word she needed was "adjust."  I treasure that piece of wisdom. 

We have another artist in the family.

Grandpa's grrl.

 

Staying Home, Staying Safe

I lost interest in hand spinning after we moved here.  The first meeting I attended was a spinning meeting but somewhere along the line weaving took up all my time and I put my folding wheel into it's bag and stashed it in a closet.  The guild's spinning study group is doing such interesting things that I've put my wheel back up and given myself a spinning station. 

I used to have close to a dozen bobbins but now can only find four.  I had to clean off a couple so I chose two that I don't remember what the fiber was and I'm back at it.  I know what's all on three of these and in order to keep it that way, I've slipped a piece of paper in each with the name of the fiber.  We're going to be doing some natural dyeing and I'm making yarn in preparation.

The wheel is upstairs and I'd left the area to get something, don't remember what.  When I came back I found my cat snuggled in the plastic bag of roving - scared me to death.  I left the roving attached to the wheel, feeling the area was safe from Delaney but never stopping to think that it's not safe for Maddie.  It's in a Maddie-safe place now.

A couple of years ago someone in the Linocut Friends Facebook group posted a template for a hand printed Christmas ornament.  I'm sure I have the photocopy somewhere and I know it's in a file somewhere here on my laptop, but it's a good thing I carved the block way back when.  I forgot all about it until yesterday and decided it was time to finally make some prints.

What got me started was finding a some scraps of Hosho paper from an earlier project.  I only bought inks in primary colors so it was easy for me to decide on red.

I printed eight yesterday and let them dry overnight.  I ruined two trying to figure out how to assemble them.  Good thing I have PVA glue because it dries really fast and is made for paper.

I hung the ornaments on the Thanksgiving cactus using sewing thread.  That's how light they are.  I think it looks like the plant is still blooming.

I think they're absolutely charming and wish I had printed more.

I mixed up what I hope looks like Delft blue and printed all the leftover paper.  Tomorrow I'll cut and glue them and hang them on our tree.

Maddie brought a ball of yarn downstairs and when she got bored with it I gave it to Delaney.  She has been entertaining herself with it for the past week, even pretends that she's knitting with it.  And so it begins :-)

 

Trying New Things

I taped a piece of butcher paper to the dining room table and gave Delaney her new set of markers.  She has trouble getting the lids off and on so I removed them for her.

She really went to town.

It held her interest for quite a while.

I decided that maybe giving her a set of markers was premature when this happened.

She even decorated the sweater I just finished for her.  I know they'll wash out but at least she chose harmonious colors.  My first reaction was, 'nuff of that!  We'll try again in six months, but on reflection I decided why not?  They're washable and she's creative.  But I will wait a week, or two.

This is about a quarter of a fleece that I bought last spring.  I am spinning a little but am mostly interested in fiber preparation at this point.  I haven't been able to get small batches clean enough to spin easily and I've heard a lot of good things about a suint bath so on Monday, one week since I put this in, I'm going to check to see how the wool is doing.

 

Changes and Progress

I got a text from Clover that she had left an envelope in our mailbox.  It was ten $20 bills, totally unexpected.  I was just happy to know we weren't going to see the hottub on our power bill anymore.  I took myself directly, do not pass go, to our local nursery and bought five shrubs:  forsythia, two varieties of elderberry, burning bush and a quince with peach colored double-blossomed flowers, plus three daylilies.  A friend gave me clippings from her yard and I plan to get a few more.  There's still a lot to be done but that's all I'm going to do this year. 

The move was Thursday evening and they had the hot-tub heated and running by the weekend.  Clover sent me this photo.  The outcome pleases me no end.

Last Monday Alexia and I were back at the High Desert Museum living history ranch and Izzie once again baked a rhubarb pie from the garden.  The pie plate was missing so she baked it in the muffin tin as tarts.  I have a feeling this was pretty true to authentic baking, figuring it out without a recipe.

Izzie started as a volunteer when she was a high school student Alexia's age and now as a college student is hired as a seasonal worker.  It took two people to get the tarts out of the pan with four forks but they were just as good as the pie she made last week, notwithstanding the improvisation.

Alexia and I drove up to Redmond on Tuesday to take a painting lesson with Erik Holland.  His girlfriend moved here earlier in the year and is a nurse at the hospital, and has also joined my bookclub.  Erik decided not to make the move just yet as he's still teaching high school art.  This is his demonstration piece on two-dimensional art. I haven't had time to finish my piece but plan to before Wednesday because we have a second lesson that evening. 

I snapped this candid shot Wednesday July 4rd.  She and I went to Tuesday Morning at the Outlet Mall for yarn because we've decided she's ready to tackle a real project.  I found a shawl pattern on Ravelry that has basic stitches and is also interesting.  I was trying to figure out what we did that day, we tend to keep ourselves pretty busy, so I asked her.  "We bought yarn and then knitted for like five hours."  Yes we did!  We said on Patio A by the water feature in the tree's shade and knitted until could could knit no more.

We were supposed to go to a neighborhood yard party that afternoon but got carried away and the mac-and-cheese that I had taken from the freezer to bake was still sitting on the counter at 5:00, but the potluck started at 4:00.  We didn't go.  But we did light off legal fireworks that we got at Costco, watched an episode or Outlander, then Lex and I went down the driveway to watch the fireworks shot off at Pilot Butte and Grandpa toddled off to bed, keeping terrified Sammie company.  The same people who had wandered up our street looking for a good vantage point for the official fireworks ended up coming in our driveway and watching with us again.  They had guests from out of state so we all visited and watched.  It was really quite fun.  As they left we all laughed because we've never seen each of in daylight and would never recognize each other if we did. 

This is Alexia's scarf, and she's a little frustrated because there are mistakes that you can see if you look for them.  My grandmother always said, Who's going to notice that on a galloping horse???  Isn't that the truth?!  She has finally forgiven herself and continues to knit, says it's a fun project.  She's doing great for a first project and I'm really proud of her.  BTW, the Ravelry pattern is River Fog.  I've knitted it for a prayer shawl once and am now knitting it again.

This is my weaving project.  I have a long way to go but I can only weave so long as a time.  I am having to rebuild my strength and tolerance.  Sigh.

Meanwhile, I'm getting my things together to go to my last Ambassador shift (the volunteer who keeps the doors open) at the Bend Art Center.  Bankruptcy has eliminated another nonprofit organization.  I'll post more on that next time when I know more.  We're very sad but are looking at this as an opportunity, a Phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes event.

Meet Delaney Jane

This is the picture Matt sent to all of us at 11:00 Wednesday night.  He had texted us that morning that Julia's water broke at 3:00 a.m. and they were at the birthing center.  He updated us periodically but we didn't get THE text until 11:00 that she had arrived and by then we were all sleepless, on pins and needles.  It was a long day for Julia, in labor since 9:00 that morning, but Delaney is perfect - 8 lb 3 oz, 20 1/2" long - and mom is fine but tired.  Matt had created a text group to update all of us at once and I've never had my phone notifications be so busy.

We got to meet her Thursday morning. The staff have commented on how alert she is, taking everything in with her eyes.  I think she's going to be a calm baby, like her daddy. Their room in the birthing center is huge and couldn't be nicer, nor could the staff.

The doctor kept them over one more day to work the bugs out of nursing.  Matt sent this picture when they finally got home on Friday.  "We're fed and changed."  She is sweetness :-)

I'm still trying to identify and send photos to Richard, the man who is researching my grandfather, and I'm glad he's going to Washington next week to visit some historical societies.  I had looked at the pictures on many occasions with my mother but they're not labeled.  The only ones labeled are the loose ones that I've written on the backs of.  I sent him another 20 pictures yesterday.  It goes faster now that I've stopped scanning them and just take a shot with my iPhone.  He can identify later if he needs any of them scanned.  This is my grandmother in front Green River Gorge, a lodge that she and my grandfather ran together.  She's funnin' with the photographer. I think I have maybe another dozen to send that he might be interested in.

Since we've started on this he's send me (and my daughter who originally contacted him on Ancestry) a book he wrote and also an issue of American Indian Art that contains an article he wrote. My grandmother had written a book called Squak Valley (Issaquah) which King County Historical Society published in the 1960s and it's still in print.  I have a typewritten version of the book but have never read it.  Now I'm reading every chance I get, trying to get caught up with Richard's research.  I just wish my brother were still alive.  This is a dream come true for him.

Bend Art Center is having a huge sale of their permanent collect which has been in storage.  This to help finance the reorganization, from the 501c3, which is desolving, to the new structure.  We have friends who are art collectors so asked them if they'd like to meet us there yesterday morning and browse the sale before going to lunch.  I didn't expect to buy anything, didn't think we could afford to, but the prices were super low so things would move, and after looking around at everything, we both met up at this Jeb Barton piece - so we bought it.  They didn't buy anything so we went to lunch, talked about the sale and books and our jobs and finally left.  They went back to the sale and later texted us with pictures of the three prints they bought.

That afternoon Ian asked me what I thought about going back to buy the companion piece to the print we bought, so we did.  He had found a gallery in Ashland representing Jeb Barton and our print was listed by them for $1,200.  Since we had paid a tenth of that, it seemed like a smart move, but it was sold.  Instead we bought this Justyn Livingston print.

We love both of the pieces together.

I think they're just what the living room needed.  I know we said we weren't going to acquire any more "things" but I can't quite think of art as things.  I think of our pieces as friends and I love their presence.  I know a lot of people who move their pictures around but I've just not been able to do that. If we never buy another piece, I think our walls are safe.