One down, 51 to go!

This morning I told my friend Claire that if the rest of 2011 unfolds as the first week has I'll be 50 pounds lighter and have no soles on any of my shoes by June. What a crazy seven days! 9-color lino-ing, show installing, sketch making, illustration researching, illustration carving, event attending, and yesterday... video interviewing!

Yikes.

A line of linocuts at the library

So let's see... linocutting and printing happened Saturday to Monday, which you've already seen. Tuesday I drove down to Colorado Springs with a car full of linos to hang a show at the Penrose Library downtown. (It's a two-hour drive from here each way.) My printmaking buddies Jean, Jean, and Sally met me for lunch and afterwards I got to take a quick tour of the printmaking facilities at Colorado College. Color me green.

On my way out of town I got a call from Ralph at ArchAngel Productions. Turns out I'm going to be the Featured Artist for the Pikes Peak Library District's public art program in February! "When can you come to town to record an interview for a segment of Off the Wall?" EEK!

Of course I was on my way OUT of town, so tentatively agreed to come back at the end of the week.

It's a map icon for a bike route. Fun, eh?

Wednesday and Thursday I cut linos for the icon project and did work on another contract project. Thursday evening I helped the DM schlep his gear down the street for the first Dies Librorum event at our local independent bookstore, The Book Haven. David and our friend Ed entertained the crowd (and it WAS a crowd) with tunes on Chapman Stick, guitar, and native flute.

Yesterday it was back to Colorado Springs for the "taping" (remember when they used to call it taping?) of the interview footage, some errands, and a quick trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for a little sketching before heading back up into the mountains AGAIN.

Yup. Tired pilgrim.

But for now it looks like I'm home in the valley until the end of the month, when a crazy succession of workshop, show down, show up juggling occurs again. Whew!

Aspen Glow

Clever David took some of our (hundred zillion) autumn color photos from the weekend and made a slideshow with one of his brand new tunes as soundtrack. Happy first full day of fall to you!





PS: And this is a screen shot from the nearby Monarch Pass webcam THIS MORNING. Uh huh.

Yeah, baby

Looky what I got today.

It was a bit of a splurge, about which I've been feeling a trifle guilty. But yesterday I took work over to the Maverick Potter Gallery and today, before I even had price tags up, a linocut sold. More than covered the cost of this groovy Takach brayer.

The universe supporting my decision? Uh huh. That's my story, and I'm stickin' with it.

It's going to be a grand weekend for the arts in Salida once again. Riverside Arts Festival is going on in Riverside Park, and our usual Second Saturday art shindigs will be going on around town. We'll be celebrating less than a block from the Festival at the Maverick Potter, 123 N. F Street, from 3-6pm this Saturday, August 14. Pottery by Mark Rittman, turned wood objects by Ed Berg, and linocuts by yours truly.

And I can't forget to mention that David (aka the Darling Man) will be tapping out tunes on Chapman Stick on Saturday at noon during the Festival. Come on down! It's going to be great fun.

Recap and drumroll

Wow! What a weekend! The Darling Man's chum Matt was here for ArtWalk, so between David's three music gigs, my demo, and a little art walkin' we piled into the Cruiser for the Highlights of Central Colorado tour. Whew! We're POOPED.

ArtWalk was, as always, a fun and festive event. Art, music, performance (as you'd expect), mud people, stilt walkers, and belly dancers (as you might not expect). David and Matt boggled the minds of folks who had never seen or heard either a Chapman Stick OR an EWI and were suddenly faced with both. I gave a linocut demo on Saturday that was well attended by engaged and curious folks... always a treat.

It's a Windwood reunion tour! Sort of.

Friday, before the real craziness set in we took Matt up our local Greens Creek for a short hike (which we needed to work off what was fast becoming FoodFest weekend). It was the first time we'd been up that trail this season, and it was fabulous to be in a lush riparian creek drainage. As a follow-up to last week's moth theme... the place was full of butterflies! Black swallowtails and admirals were the most dramatic. (I feel a new lino coming on....)

On Sunday we went on an epic tour to the "ghost town" (now partially inhabited and under restoration) of St. Elmo, over Cottonwood Pass, through Taylor Park to Crested Butte, Gunnison, and back home over Monarch Pass. I always think it's important to get visitors up on the Continental Divide at least once while they're here. How many times does one get to stand on the spine of a continent and throw snowballs in June, after all?

Cottonwood Pass, elevation 12, 123 ft., on the Continental Divide

Highlight of the trip for me was the spotting of a MOOSE! Uncommon critters in these parts, and exciting to have a chance to flex the new camera! I certainly need to spend time working out all the little details of focus (auto or manual?) and zoom (75 or 300?), but it was fun to give it a whirl. David got some nice video of the beast, too...

As always, though, it's back to work today. I've a zillion and one things to do... although now that I'm at the end of this post I have only a zillion more to go. Our Mystery Countdown now stands at ONE, and I know you're all sitting on the edges of your computer chairs, waiting for The Big Reveal.
Here's a hint: get out your party hats and noise makers, 'cause there's gonna be a little celebration.

Up Next: Art Walk!

It's Monday, and the first (official) day of summer! This past weekend we survived the 62nd FIBArk madhouse (not personally present for all 62 events, mind you) whilst simultaneously celebrating the opening of our Farmers Market and dodging the 2,000 cyclists who arrived to complete the annual Ride the Rockies tour.

Busy weekend? Understatement.

 Seems like I'm always taking photos on the wrong side of the street at the wrong time of day.  Book Haven window, ready to go! Actually, a linocut sold this weekend, so I had to bring a replacement today. 

Ain't THAT grand?

But that was yesterday, and today we have to start preparing in earnest for this coming weekend, Salida's 18th Annual ArtWalk. (Also not personally present for every ArtWalk event, but certainly for half of them!) I have a little display of linocuts in the window at our local independent bookseller, the Book Haven, and will be giving a demonstration of my printmaking process at the store this Saturday from 1:30-3:00 or so. David Tipton (aka the DM) will be playing there from noon-2:00, with the good possibility that his friend and partner from Windwood, Matt Traum, will sit in with him. If you've never experienced a Chapman Stick / EWI musical duo before (and quite honestly, I don't know where else you even COULD) you're in for a treat.

 The window from inside.

So what else is new? (Geez, isn't that enough?)

I'm wrapping up a couple of interpretive panel projects this week, as well as starting on some educational materials for another client. And getting ready to hang another collection of work at the Salida Café on July 2. And...

Ooph.

And of course there's always a new print just around the corner... I need to get started on a small linocut commission this week, too... yikes! What am I sitting around here for? I have to get back to work.

Oops. I almost forgot. Mystery countdown: FOUR

Starting and stopping and stuff

When we last left our hero, she had a stack of unsuccessful prints, a ridiculously long new scarf, and a date to spend several hours as an admiring groupie whilst her Darling Man played gigs in another town.

Check, check and check. (With a big thanks to everyone who sympathized with posted-failure-as-public-pants-dropping.)

The DM's gigs at Adams Mountain Cafe in Manitou Springs went really well. So well, in fact, that they booked him for four more dates. Hooray! There's a gig diary over at David's blog, Optimistic Bits, if gory details are your thing. (Photo by Ted Castro.)

But now it's Monday. Time to put aside the groupie guise and get back to work. (Well, right after I take a long walk. Latest spring arrivals: black phoebe, cliff swallow, cinnamon teal, double-crested cormorant, house wren.)

I'm getting a new linocut underway, but at a glacial pace. It's not entirely my fault. (Really!) I made two trips to the lumber yard today, on a quest for two 15 x 15-inch slabs of 3/4-inch particle board. I buy unmounted linoleum and trim it to size when I want to use squares and other non-standard formats, but I like to work on a mounted block. Typically I can get my mounting boards cheap because I buy scrap lumber that the shop guru cheerfully cuts to my specs.

Except for today, when there's not a single chunk to be found that's 15 inches wide.

After much hemming and hawing I decided I could go with something 14 x 14, but we still didn't have enough for two boards. (I want two boards because I'm considering two separate reduction blocks for this next image and it would be best to have them cut at the same time so I'm sure they're identical.)

(sigh) I am SO not patient.

I took the single 14 x 14 board so I can get started, and hopefully someone else with a bigger project will create just the scrap I need in the next few days. An illustration project just popped back to the top of the priority list late this afternoon, so my impatience won't be appeased right away, anyway.

In the meantime, I'll be compulsively checking the post to see if my copy of "Printmakers Today" has arrived from Schiffer Publishing! Today I received the press release and other assorted advertising propaganda.... very exciting! I'll be sure to say more about it and put up all the details when I get a book in my hands, but in the meantime here's a shot of the cover and a link to the publisher's site. I'm not sure how many of my images they included, but there's at least one in there!

Oh, and one more thing. I am quite remiss in publicly acknowledging the "atta girl" I received from Perfect Laughter some weeks ago. They featured images from the "Underfoot" series, and although I added them to my blogroll and sent a thank you, I think I neglected to give a shout out. Which I'm doing now. Better late than never?

Blue ocean, redwoods, hot tunes

Or: David and Sherrie's Excellent Adventure, Part II.

I'm still trying to find my way to a new routine in a new place, conscious as always of the clock and the calendar... I REALLY need to figure out how to let that all go...

But in the meantime....


Last night the DM and I went to a house concert in the Bonny Doon "neighborhood." There are quotation marks around that word because it's probably not the sort of place you're imagining. (Unless you are the person we know who lives in the rainforest.) Despite a dot on the map marked "Bonny Doon," there is no town that we could find. There ARE however, amazingly twisty roads up and down through thick redwood forest. Dark and damp and mysterious forests punctuated by a few bright, clear, open spaces. Great fun, save for the folks who want to drive ridiculously fast through it all.

We had the presence of mind to head up whilst it was still daylight, which turned out to be wise. It would have been a challenge to find the house in the dark, and by giving ourselves plenty of time we were able to do a little sightseeing along the way.


We stopped first in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and took a walk through the forest. For arid interior dwellers like ourselves, the cool, dark, moss-covered, decay-wafting woods were a delight. I sniffed trees and turned over leaves like some sort of demented squirrel-bird... thank goodness we left the video camera in the car. After the park, and scouting out the location for the concert, we poked around the little town of Felton. Natural foods store, thrift store, restaurant that serves tasty pho, coffee shop, bar that hosts live music, community center... the entire package in two short blocks.

The concert was fabulous... Stickist Tom Griesgraber and Bert Lams of the California Guitar Trio performed feats of musical prowess whilst we curled up on a cushy sofa. I was completely ignorant of the house concert scene before the arrival of David in my universe, but it's an amazing way to hear great music in a comfortable, casual atmosphere.

Assuming you can find the house, of course.

This morning I was flailing around trying to get some materials together for an exhibition deadline next week. Not successful. So we piled in to the car and went on another expedition, this time to find a nearby beach. Which we did. It was an amazingly perfect morning... sparkling skies, crashing waves, not TOO many people. I found a few things to draw, which I'll post tomorrow, and David took a walk along the shore. Whew! That's better. This evening I've finally started to settle down. Exhibit statement is written, although I'll take another hard look at it in the morning. Journal got some attention. A week's worth of email triage was completed.

Hey, look at that! Thanksgiving holiday is two days away, and I've already got my gratitude list well in hand. Of course, I had a head start, since I'm always thankful for all of you. Whether or not you're celebrating this week, I send warm and cheery greetings your way.

On the road.... again...

Along the Arkansas River

We're off to the big city again tomorrow. David has a gig at the D Note in Olde Town Arvada Tuesday night, we've some errands to run Wednesday, and then we're coming home the long way, retrieving a precious flat file from my brother's garage on Thursday. Friday it's another day of "stuff in to the car, stuff out of the car," as I get ready to have a booth at the Salida Farmers Market on Saturday morning. (8:00am-12:30pm).

Scads of tasks to accomplish before all this travel, so of course I blew it all off and went out to make a few little sketches this morning. (Trying to get good habits in place before the winter chill arrives and lethargy takes over.)

Sunday one more DM gig, this time at Sugah's in Gunnison. We'll be home a few days and then... it's Colorado Art Ranch Artposium time! The art and science of FOOD! You can bet we won't be missing THAT.

Get your virtual raincoat ready

The DM sent me a link to this video of Perpetuum Jazzile, an a capella jazz ensemble from Slovenia. You'll have an 80s flashback when you recognize the tune, but first you have to get past the spectacular introductory minutes. Get your raincoat and your hankie and turn up the volume.

Song for the day after rain....

Yup. It's the Darling Man.

And I thought I was going to get work done today

HA! I should have known better. First, our regular Saturday morning trip to the Farmers Market to pick up our CSA share from Weathervane Farm.


THIS is what our kitchen counter looks like every Saturday morning. (Although the weekly ginormous head of lettuce had already gone to the fridge by the time I thought to get out the camera.) Feeling jealous? Check out the Weathervane blog, where Caitlin keeps us up to date on farm news (FROST this week!), lists the contents of our treasure box, and gets us started with recipe tips. I'm already worrying about how we'll readjust to store-bought veggies once the season is over.

After the market and the usual Saturday morning errands, the DM packed up his gear and headed down to Riverside Park for his first of three gigs during the Salida Riverside Arts Festival. After the set his roadie/groupie/sherpa (that would be me) helped him schlep gear back home, and by then it was time for lunch. Naturally we headed back down to the park, intending to do a quick cruise of the Festival and be home in time to get work done.

Right.

Your Surrogate Cousin, the Deluxe Extended Edition

After lunch I remembered that we needed to check out a great little photography show at the Paquette Gallery, the work of brothers Russell and Clinton Bauder. Russell and Clinton live in California, but I know Russell because he has been a gracious and enthusiastic collector of Sherrie York linocuts. In fact, last week I received this fabulously heartwarming photo:


Russell and his fiancee Carolyn have been hard at work remodelling their new home. A delay in the work (ain't that ALWAYS the case?) set back their move-in, so while all of their "stuff" is stacked in the garage, they are sleeping on an air mattress in the unfinished house.

But what do they have in the house with them, their cat, and the air mattress? Three tree linos stacked along the wall! If ever I needed a boost (and the day the photo arrived, I most certainly DID)... well.... this is it.

So. In the waning minutes of this day I'm going to get a narrative written for a show proposal, and then (hopefully) get the drawing finished for the new linocut in the "Underfoot" series. The roadie/groupie/sherpa will also be CD wench tomorrow morning for the DM's solo set at the Festival... can I carve lino and sell music at the same time? Worth a try!

Has it only been 48 hours?

David tuning up (or perhaps waking up) at the Farmers Market

How much can be crammed in to one weekend? A lot!

Despite our early morning setup for Farmers Market this weekend, we (foolishly?) decided to have a little happy hour gathering at our place Friday night. Fun! At least until it was followed by a fairly sleepless night. Ooph.

Thank goodness we only had to go two blocks from our house to the Market for our 7:00am booth setup Saturday morning. We ALWAYS go to the Farmers Market: a) because it's easy coffee for the DM, b) because we have to pick up our CSA share, and c) because there's no better way to visit with friends and neighbors than over fresh, local food in a sunny green park.

This weekend, however, we had signed up to have a booth of our own! Salida ArtWorks bought vendor space for the Market season and offered days to local artists and musicians... a brilliant idea for keeping the offerings "fresh," (that's a market pun, get it?) and for letting busy people participate without having to commit to the entire 16 weeks.

Fortified with coffee and scones (and later with Thai noodles), we enjoyed a sparkling summer morning chatting with neighbors and visitors and explaining both reduction linocuts AND the Chapman Stick. David sold CDs and I sold linocuts... in all a rousing success.

Saturday afternoon we schlepped everything back home and I carved for the next color in the ditch linocut (coming up in a separate post). We also moved our cars to the next block for 24 hours, as our street corner became part of the route for this year's Salida Omnium. All day Sunday we heard the whoosh of cyclists coming around the house... dizzying!

Who needs the Tour de France?

This morning I printed the seventh (second-to-last) color on the new lino. This afternoon we ran errands and stopped in at the Chaffee County Fair... and David learned that a fabulous review of his new CD went up on the Stick Enterprises website this evening! Woohoo!

Almost makes me wish for another weekend so we can recover from this one, but that's the way summer goes! Someone this morning said, "Rest in November," so I guess that's what we'll do.

Intermission

We're still in Crested Butte for one more day, it's been a great week of full workshops and enthusiastic participants. Not to mention drop-dead gorgeous scenery. A full report comes later, but I wanted to take a minute to share David's first YouTube video from the new CD. Good thing he knows the photographer, since he posted the video and THEN told her about it.

Art (Sleep-) Walking

Hooray! We survived another great Salida Art Walk weekend.. tired, but happy.

Earlier in the week Roberta Smith, Lisa DeYoung and I set up a display of handmade books at our local independent addiction-feeder, The Book Haven. Once we figured out what we were doing with our assortment of books and book-making gear, we put together what we all felt was an attractive collection. Unfortunately I could never get a photo through the window that didn't have the rest of town reflected as well, so you'll have to take my word for it from this image taken inside the store.


Proprietor Lisa Marvel invited me to hang some linocuts in the shop, as well. Recognize that crazy thing over the piano?


To complete the ensemble, the DM played for a few hours at the store yesterday afternoon, and promptly sold all of the CDs he brought with him. This afternoon we popped in again, and heard the disc playing on the shop sound system. Very nice!


I sold a couple of linos and a leather journal, so we're both pleased with the weekend results. Several friends from the Front Range made surprise appearances, which made the weekend extra fun. Now if we can just recover some sleep.

Not too likely, since this time next week I'll be heading off for five days of workshop teaching at the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. I think the Field Sketching I sections are both sold out, but last time I checked there were a couple of spots left in the "II" class, and in the leather journal-making class. Come on up! We've had so much rain this month that the wildflowers ought to be spectacular.

This means, naturally, that there's a whole lot of gear-switching and task finishing coming up this week. AND, in the "of-course-it-would-happen-NOW" category, the DM came home between gigs yesterday to discover a large chunk of the guest room ceiling lying on the floor. It's a long story involving a plaster patch administered before we moved in. Let's just say it didn't hold and add it to the "to do" list. (sigh)

But don't despair... guess what THIS is:


Yup. In-progress drawing for a new complicated linocut. Life is good.

Woot! Woot!

Guess what this is:


It's one of seven crates of these!


Just arrived on the doorstep... David Tipton and Clanky Frog Studios are pleased to announce the release of Residue! Fourteen original compositions on Chapman Stick.

Well, okay, it probably won't be released until tomorrow, because someone we know needs to set up the order page on his website. But it's here! Hooray!

You might (or might not) recognize the cover photo as Salida's own Sands Lake, taken by me during one of our rare fog events. See? There's a REASON for running outside to record things at the least provocation. You never know where it might come in handy.

Unusual weekend in progress

Here in the Heart of the Rockies we are experiencing our fourth straight day of clouds and rain showers. I realize that in most of the rest of the universe this is normal, but for us it's practically unheard of. RAIN? For FOUR DAYS? In a place with an average annual precip of only 10" or so?

So it's a peculiar holiday weekend that we have underway.

Friday night David played for the opening reception of Jon MacManus's show at the Paquette Gallery here in Salida. Despite the rain Jon enjoyed a fine turnout, and the venue gave us not only a view of Jon's fine work, but also a front row seat for the chocolate brown turbulence of the Arkansas River in runoff. We've already had surges of 2400 cfs, above the 100-year average for this time of year. It's not as high yet as it was in peak last year, but it's getting close! All this rain is definitely adding to the drama.


Personal creative dramas are also playing out. Weekend linocut experiments are so far showing dubious potential for success. Can YOU make any sense out of this mess?


I can't, either, but I'm trying to maintain a certain amount of optimism. Or at least flexibility. It's the mantra of the weekend, since all of our big outdoor plans have been washed away with the current. We desperately needed the moisture, though, so no one is really complaining.

We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Sunday night miscellany

As anticipated, it was back to work for the DM and I today. As I type, Your Surrogate Cousin is practicing in the dining room, and I am tucked back in a corner of my studio trying to keep tunes from getting stuck in my head. (This has become an unexpected hazard of living with a musician. Who knew I'd dream the same song over and over and over and over if I didn't exercise some auditory caution on rehearsal nights?)

No real progress on the new pine cone lino this weekend, but I did tend to some other projects. At present I have a contract job which is requiring me to reach well out of my comfort zone: I'm being called upon to make "whimsical cartoony images"! Trepidation levels were high at the start of this process, but to my surprise and relief I'm actually enjoying the challenge. I'm not ready for the funny pages, but I don't think I'll completely embarrass myself.

I also spent a little time working on the Art House sketchbook project. I confess I've struggled mightily with this "assignment," but it's due in two weeks and I'm feeling compelled to get something accomplished.

The first issue was that I was unfamiliar with the paper in the little Moleskine cahiers, and it turned out to be completely unfriendly to any of my customary approaches. In the end I've yanked out half of the sheets (completely legal, honest!) and am tipping in papers I like much better. The most amusing to me is this accordion-folded sheet of watercolor paper with, surprise! "whimsical cartoony images" of some of our friends. The theme of the project is "everyone we know," and this page celebrates the fact that just about everyone we know has multiple occupations. We know biologist-writers and farmer-musicians and researcher-event planners and, well, you get the idea.

In other news, Katherine Tyrell over at the most excellent Making a Mark has made another of her amazing, information-packed posts. This one leads with a response to recent online printmaking buzz, and guess who got a nod again? It was definitely my week for "atta girls."

In the week ahead I shall attempt to live up to all this praise... as soon as the blushing recedes, of course.

The big list of what's goin' on...

Suddenly things feel slightly out of control again. How does this always happen so quickly?

By tomorrow I'll be shipping two interpretive sign projects off to the fabricator: the long-suffering Garden of the Gods panel and the relatively painless Ramah State Wildlife Area panel. Hoorah!

Just in time, of course, because I've got NINE panels to do for the Collegiate Peaks Byway and TWO panels to do for Skaguay State Wildlife Area. (I've got proposals out on another 8 panels, if they all show up at the same time, I'm toast.) Also today 2 "rush" design and illustration projects arrived... YIKES.

In between all that, I'm having to put together prospectii for summer workshops. So, of course, I spent a big chunk of time doing something sort of related instead. I made these nifty "prompt" cards. In part it was because I wanted something for myself during those periods when my journal habit gets bogged down, but THEN! I started having fun, and imagining using these with classes this summer, and I just went sort of nuts. I think I've made 28 or 30 cards, two-sided, so 60 or so prompts. It's not unlike Oblique Strategies for journaling.


And, of course, I've started working a little on sketches for the next linocut (sorry, you can't see yet). Finally. AND I'm trying to work on the sketchbook project for Art House, but it's not going well or quickly.

Can't be in the studio ALL the time, though, so last night I went with the DM to his new weekly gig at Mother's Bistro in Buena Vista. Allow me to introduce Your Surrogate Cousins: Dave and Eric on Stick, guitar, and harmonica... with a little singin' thrown in for good measure.


PS: Pretty marvy stove they're snugged up against, eh? It wasn't on last night, thankfully.

One more week!

Winter Solstice looms lovely and comforting on the horizon. Next weekend is also the annual Salida Christmas Bird Count (yours truly, compiler)-- I always try to align those two events in meaningful constellation. The count and the solstice also usually coincide with the birthday of my friend and fellow bird-counter Randy. It's a tripley celebratory sort of day.

We just have to get there from here.

Yesterday was No-Rest-for-the-Wicked Day for the DM, who had two gigs back-to-back. Can you find the Chapman Stick player in this crowd at Apogee Studio (DM gig #2)? It's like "Where's Waldo?" for musicians.


And, hm... someone a while back noted (gently) my tendency to post less-than-clear photos if my mug is present. It's my personal manifestation of mid-life crisis: I generally hate photos if I'm in them. But here we are, in front of a lovely quilt by Lori Isenberger, at her exhibition opening at the Paquette Gallery (DM gig #1).


I, of course, spent both gigs schmoozing with friends and eating entirely too many holiday sweets. But, OOOOOOH! Look what I got:

This lovely box is by Betsey Downing. The lid is covered with hollyhock, piñon, maple, and mountain mahogany seeds. Delightful! I was all set to acquire it for myself when my dear friend Jacque intervened and made it my holiday gift. Sneaky, she is.


Supporting local art ventures was still on my mind, though... so I also brought home this nifty little "mini screen" by Fay Golson. (sigh) I love having good stuff around, don't you?

Not-so-standard time

I banged smack into a bad case of Overwhelm yesterday morning when I opened the door of the fridge and a bowl of just-made edamame salad crashed across the kitchen floor. Funny how it's the little things that can put one over the edge... camels and straws and all that. After some major whining and a short walk to the lake I wandered back in to the studio. The first color on the new lino wasn't quite dry enough for the next color to print, so what to do other than wallow in my discomfort?

Try something completely different, of course.

No 7-year-old knitting kit this time, though. For the past week or so I've been gathering supplies for making paste papers. I've seen some beautiful examples, and thought about using them in bookmaking adventures, so why not try my own?

Without getting TOO crazy about it, I set up a workspace and proceeded to play around a little with the technique. If you're not familiar with paste paper, think of it as fingerpainting for big people. One adds pigment to paste, paints the paste on to damp paper, and then drags, drops and prints through it to make lovely patterns.

My first experiments were just that, experiments... but it was fun to moosh stuff around for a bit. I feel quite ambivalent about the results, but at least I have the basic idea now.

Adding insult to mental injury, Saturday night's change to Standard Time has us totally confused, especially where our stomachs are concerned. We were already finished with supper by 5:00 last night and still had the entire evening ahead of us. Could be good, could be bad. Depended on what fell out of the fridge when we put leftovers away.

Eventually we settled in the living room. The DM has a live gig on local radio this Friday, playing the beautiful guitars of local luthier Jeff Bamburg,* but he hasn't actually PLAYED guitar since he started concentrating on Chapman Stick. Oops. Out came the stacks of music books and one of the neglected guitars for some practice. We made tea, and I settled on the sofa with a sketchbook and journal and pencils and paints. Perfect. The last of the day's frustrations dissolved in the scratching of pencils, the plucking of strings, the steaming of tea, and the unraveling of time.


This morning I woke from a dream in which I was a good witch, unafraid to go to battle against great armies.

And then I printed the second color on the new linocut (not that you can tell yet).

Coincidence? I don't think so.

-------------------

(* This gig has just been postponed for family emergency. New date TBA.)