Monday, July 1, 2013

Still here... sort of

I see that my last post had to do with being somewhat overwhelmed. Clearly I haven't gotten past that sensation, since two weeks have somehow evaporated. Poof.

A few items have been ticked off my list, a few new ones have been added. I had to change my mind about hand delivering work to the Shy Rabbit Print International in Pagosa Springs because until yesterday the road between here and there was closed by the West Fork wildfires. That piece went into a crate and out the door on Friday. Today my piece for Birds in Art headed the opposite direction, towards Wisconsin. Tomorrow a box of materials will head out to Maine for imminent adventures in teaching at Hog Island Audubon Camp.

I'm getting to know my local shipping agent pretty well this week.

Needless to say, there isn't much printing going on. This past weekend we enjoyed our annual Salida ArtWalk... I talked to lots of linocut admirers and am pleased to report that a couple of pieces have gone on to new homes. (No shipper involved THIS time.)


But a girl has to do SOMETHING besides admin or she'll go a bit bonkers, so last night I set about making a new journal.

And WHY did I have to make a new journal? Because the one I had more than half filled with sketches and travel notes went on walkabout at O'Hare Airport in May. Yep. Lost.

On my way home from my residency at the Woodson Art Museum I had to change planes in the madhouse that is Chicago. In the hour I was there our gate assignment changed FOUR times, and it was during the last migration that I stopped by the restroom and apparently set down my book. When I returned to the gate the plane was boarding, and it wasn't until I was in my seat that I discovered my journal missing. The flight attendant overheard my dismay and astonishingly encouraged me to get off the plane and run back to find it... but in those few minutes it had disappeared.

I filed a lost item report when I got home, but of course nothing ever came of it. I was fairly certain my email address, at least, was written in the book... but... it's off having adventures without me now.

It took me a while to drum up the courage to build a new one... but here it is. All ready to see what happens next. I'm thinking of chaining it to my backpack while I'm in transit, though. Or maybe I should wear it around my neck...




4 comments:

  1. It's gorgeous. Sorry about your lost one, but I'll bet someone is vicariously living your creativity and can't bear to give it back.
    Stay inspired!

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  2. It IS gorgeous! Maybe if you made them ugly, no one would be temped to vicariously live off your creativity.... Sorry that you had to pay to crate and ship to Shy Rabbit instead of getting to drive there. Ouch. Maybe you could apply for disaster relief funds. :)

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  3. That is beautiful, my sketchbooks are just commercially bought. I left one on a park bench in Singapore last year. Amazingly, not only was it still there the following day, but some kind soul had put it in a plastic bag to protect it from the rain! I left a note and a small sketch in the same place in the hope that whoever had done the kind deed would return and know that the right person had found his precious sketchbook.

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  4. Yes, I hope whoever has it is enjoying it. Fortunately I've made a point of not writing anything too personal in these particular books... mostly because people are always looking over my shoulder when I'm working in them.

    Disaster relief funds. I could think of a couple of reasons to apply for them right now. I wonder... ;-)

    I use commercial books, too, Mike... they are the workhorses. These are the personal books... personal postcards. That's AMAZING that someone not only left your book but cared for it as well! I hope they found your sketch.

    I'm headed through Chicago again in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll stop by the ladies' room at 12C and see if it's sitting on the towel dispenser.

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Linocut in Progress: The Third Act

Time to wrap up this linocut ! And we are wrapping at warp speed (see what I did there?)... because there are deadlines. Exhibition deadline...