Friday, August 3, 2018

little drawings


Since I had spent the last two days working on compositions for pate de verre pieces, I was looking for something small and quick since I had skipped yesterday already. So this is my smallest one yet at not quite 1 1/2"...



I've done drawings for three or four or five 'tiles' in the cast glass of which two will be set into the tops of two boxes I have and a third will go in a frame for a friend of mine and the other two for general inventory. And I'm working on the larger piece which is still being formed in my mind even as I start on the drawing. And I think I'm going to be ready to finish the heron box soon.


It's kind of nice to see all my drawing stuff spread out over the table after all these months. Next week I should have all my model making stuff spread out.

It's Friday 5 PMish and it's not really too bad out there in the shade of the trees with the sun behind a big puffy cloud and a nice little breeze. Unfortunately the shop faces south and is still in full sun just radiating heat. I'm going to have to brave it this weekend though since I need to get my wax blanks made which consists of melting enough wax, setting up my forms, pouring the melted wax in the forms, and then waiting for the wax to harden/cool off enough to handle which will probably take all day considering how hot it is in the shop. 




Wednesday, August 1, 2018

not so good at time management, unexpected rain, and please don't ask me to lead


It's becoming apparent that I can do little drawings or I can work on designs and models for the cast glass. This latest one took two days. Mostly because I waste a lot of time. One day for the drawing, one day for the coloring. This one is 4 1/2".


Also, I had a mountain of dirty dishes in the kitchen. I did make a little progress on the full size drawing for a new panel and started thinking about the hummingbird piece I'm supposed to be doing for a friend. And when I say 'little', I mean tiny.

And oh joy and surprise! It rained yesterday afternoon! Not as much as we need but enough to give everything a good dousing and to cool it off a bit. I had told myself I would get out there and weed one of the flower beds next time it rained and so I did this morning and while I wouldn't exactly characterize it as cool, it was definitely not hot. So yeah, I got muddy before I even had any coffee! And yes the edge of the flower bed is in desperate need of trimming And yes, it's not only hot out there now but steamy to boot.


Another short day today, my second yoga class of the week. Abby, our instructor, won't be there as she is on vacation this week, but the girls meet anyway, taking turns to lead different poses. Last week while discussing Abby's coming absence they wanted to know if I was going to come Wednesday, which I told them I would if everyone else is going to show since I didn't want to make the 25 minute drive and then be the only one. No, no, we'll all come. I hope they don't want me to lead the class because while I can do the poses, I'm not a great leader and I have no desire to spend my day coming up with a routine. The reason I go to class is so that I don't have to decide what poses in what order.

Plus, I've been dealing with some muscle pain and aches in the biceps of my right arm and to a much lesser degree my left arm. It's been going on for more than a month, some days ache worse than others and when I get a day that is relatively pain free, why then I go do something that uses those muscles and boom, the next day my arm is complaining. Since it's not going away on it's own I guess I'm going to have to take steps. First on the list of remedies is a massage. If that doesn't help, the chiropractor and if that doesn't produce results I guess I'm going to have to go to the doctor and submit to tests. I don't think it's a torn rotator cuff (I looked it up) but there is definitely something going on in my shoulder/upper arm.





Monday, July 30, 2018

drawings and eggs and spite


In answer to Sabine's musing about my weekend, Saturday I read, took a nap, finished sanding down the door jamb, and cleaned up all the dust before I fed the dog and took her for a walk before quitting for the day (back to the book). Sunday I watered part of the yard, fertilized a few things and mulched the white butterfly ginger and a couple of other things (which I've been meaning to do for weeks); repainted the door jamb, did a new drawing (skipped yesterday), watered some more of the yard, and read til time for dog duty.

Y'all might be tired of me posting my drawings but I'm not tired of doing it. I'm actually kind of impressed with myself. These drawings are all really quite small as my sketchbook is only 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”, don't know if that is apparent in the pictures, probably not. The feather is the largest at 6 1/2” with the orchid tree flower at 5”, the poppy seed pod at almost 5”. The smallest is the bean sprout at about 2 3/4”. The wren skull below is 3 1/4”.


Except for the first drawing, the feather, the last four are done two to a page so as not to waste space. I kind of like the combinations.



It is so hot and dry here still that I spend a lot of time watering the yard mornings and evenings. This morning after watering the front yard I laid the hose in the fern bed and just let it run for 2 1/2 hours moving it every 30 minutes. I do wish we would get some rain but it looks like no chance of that til next weekend if then.

If I stay on task that I have set for myself, I should be doing another drawing and getting out the wax and tools today. Monday is a short day though as I have yoga at 5:15 20 minutes away in the next town over and there's a stack of dirty dishes and cutlery in the kitchen so we'll see what I manage to get accomplished (so far...nothing).

My neighbor D (of R and D and the chickens and gun shooting) flagged me down as I walked past with the dog Friday evening as she dashed into their garage and returned with two dozen eggs which I am happy to have. We're down to 6 chickens (from 13) she tells me. The last two died she thinks from heat stroke, so 'we're letting them out in the yard for now'. You might recall R was in the habit of shooting at any and all dogs that would come in their yard attracted by the chickens (or the cat food they leave in the garage) and had an altercation with the 'butt-hurt' (R's description) neighbor on the other side when he shot at J's dog in J's yard while J was standing out front and heard the bullet go whizzing by so they had been keeping the chickens in one of the ruined greenhouses on the property (this is Frank of the Bountiful Garden's old place) until recently when they bought a prefab chicken coop with fenced yard. It's a tiny little thing (especially the enclosed part with the nesting boxes) and must be hot as hell in there where they found the most recently dead chicken.


I talked with J about it one day after only getting R's side of it. That's when I found out that J's dog (who is always kept in their fenced yard but had managed to escape) was in his own yard during the incident. R was going on about his right to protect his property, and being able to use his gun is why they moved out to the country. J had to remind him that this ain't the country, this is a neighborhood, country is being out at the ranch where the closest neighbor is a mile and a half away. R was unconvinced and finally J told him 'I have a gun too. Want me to start shooting your chickens every time they come in my yard?' (R's chickens had previously totally destroyed a shade garden that J's wife had planted on the side of the house.) So the chickens have been cooped up since. (J also told me he saw R shooting towards the mobile home park on the other side of the 12 acre field behind us all one day and not too long after a sheriff pulled up at R's place.)

Anyway, I remarked to D that I see that the hog wire had been delivered for the fence they plan to put up around their property on three sides. The fourth side, the side between them and J, is getting a solid plank high spite fence.





Saturday, July 28, 2018

possible weekend activities


Two more drawings 



and some sketching and planning towards some new pate de verre work. Years ago we did four full light doors for a client of which the designs were native birds and trees. I've always liked those vignettes and am planning a triptych of my three favorites that will be mounted for hanging on a wall. These will be the biggest pieces I have done to date and will have several components. I'm taking a workshop next month in a technique developed by another glass artist which involves modeling the glass powder like clay which I may incorporate in those pieces and will surely use it to make the feather component for the blue heron box (now if I can only decide on the feet for the box which I'm leaning toward egg shapes). Eventually I'm going to have to brave the heat over at the shop and get my wax blanks made so as to start on the models. I can put that off a little longer as I have two models that I started last year that need to be finished.

But now it's the weekend. Now that the house on the inside is done (the exterior still needs to be painted) and now that we retired from the commission work I plan to continue doing my drawing a day for a while but also work on the cast glass Monday through Friday with house and miscellaneous projects for the weekends, at least until it cools off enough to work in the yard and garden. Even so, I should devote at least two hours (or more) a day to the art work.

Today I'm back to working on the door to the little bathroom (at least that's the plan), sanding the jamb down a little more and touching up the paint. Tomorrow I'm going to try and get the four birdhouses up outside somewhere. Of course it's only tolerable out there until about 8:30 AM so that may not happen. Or I could move the antique buffet out of my studio room and into the back bedroom or peel the ruined veneer off the hope chest and get it cleaned up and back in the back bedroom. I'd just get rid of it except my daughter wants it but has no place to put it in her house right now. Or I could hang the lace curtain material I bought in Portugal over the little window in the back bedroom which requires going to a store and getting the brackets and rod. 


Or I could sit and read. I'm more than half way through Dragonfly In Amber, the second in the Outlander series. I guess we'll see how it all plays out especially since I could go take a nap right about now.





Thursday, July 26, 2018

photo dump


Not making much headway yet on new work, mostly just in the planning stage of a few pieces. Probably won't get the wax out til Monday so it won't be spread out over the weekend. But! I have been doing my drawing a day, for two days anyway, still time today.

Tuesday's drawing...


Wednesday's drawing...


Some photos that have been piling up...

the ginger has finally started blooming, late and not very profusely, just so hot, hard to keep it watered



I've been seeing newly hatched anoles but never have my camera handy, I did have it though when I spotted this young preying mantis, a male perhaps or an immature female


Saturday night's sunset...


Monday evening's sky...


foggy Wednesday morning...


clouds over the cotton field...


white orchid tree blooms...


lost baby shoe in a parking lot...






Tuesday, July 24, 2018

no more excuses


I've been telling myself that I can't get any work done while the house was under construction because of the constant interruptions especially considering my work table was the staging area for tools and lists and miscellaneous things connected with the construction but that all ended last Friday. Attending to small details is now relegated to weekends and I spent the day Monday cleaning off my table and covering it with a fresh clean length of paper. Today I got out my sketchbook and a print of my next feather piece to get started on the line drawing that precedes the wax model making. Probably won't get out the model making tools til the end of the week.


The sketchbook is out because I intend to do a drawing a day just to warm up and get back in the habit of drawing, something I haven't done since our last etched glass job, well except for the December Sunday morning last year that I joined a life drawing opportunity at Archway, the artist owned gallery. I can't tell you how many years it's been since I participated in a life drawing class or how nervous I was when I first got there but after the first 10 minutes or so I relaxed and did some sketches that weren't terrible.


We won't do any mold making or casting til later as it is still blistering hot out


and in the shop and our one working kiln is still shoved in the corner of the garage surrounded by stuff and will stay that way until it cools down enough to get out there and empty and rearrange the garage.





Sunday, July 22, 2018

it's so hot out there it makes you gasp


And it's going to get hotter, predicting 102˚ or higher for Monday depending on which weather service but maybe some rain next week which would be wonderful since it's been forever since we got any decent rain. It is so dry out there that I'm having to water every day. I try to get out there as soon as I wake up but I didn't get up til 8:30 this morning and an hour later I had only watered half the back yard.

Good news is the inside of the house is finished! Rocky switched out the faucet and got the sink installed again, put up the towel bar and TP holder, shelves in the closet. I got the shower curtain hung and put the shelves in the mirrored cabinet, touched up the paint here and there and then noticed that I had to practically slam the bathroom door to get it to latch. Not practically but actually. It hung up at the bottom and stuck out and the latch had to be forced (hence the slamming) so I got the sander out and examined the jamb and the hardware on the door and none of it was flush (except for the top hinge on the door). So I removed it all and carved out the indentions better and adjusted the catch on the jamb (which Rocky had already done) which involved a chisel and longer screws and wood putty and and sanded down the jamb at the bottom and it took me all fucking day but now the door closes and latches easily (if still firmly) except it still hangs up a little at the bottom but I need coarser sandpaper and then I have to touch up the paint and hope like hell that the thickness of the paint doesn't cause it to hang up again. These are all after pics, because...me, just to show you what I worked on all day besides sanding the bottom of the jamb down some...

      

It's not that Rocky did a bad job when he hung the door. It's this crazy house where nothing lines up and he spent nearly a whole day just getting the door hung in the first place. I'm sure he was frustrated and slamming at that point must have seemed good enough.

Anyway, here's the new bathroom. Just a reminder, this room is 5' x 5'.

   

   

   

and the closet and the small hall.