The Library

Our town is small – the only town on a small island...

...accessible only by water or air...

...and 60-plus miles from the nearest community of any size.  

 People here are commercial fishers, for the most part.

We just got a new pavement on Main Street this summer.

This fall we will be getting a new library.   

The old library will be closing for good this Friday. 

Since long before I moved here the library has shared space in the 1960’s-vintage municipal building. That's it there on the second floor, left corner.

The night deposit bin.

Flossy is a frequent visitor.

The facility is small, crowded, worn, heavily used...

 ...well loved.

Flossy calls the library the town living room.

 The new library will be fabulous when it opens in late September. 

Flossy is hoping that there is an position on the staff for official mascot so she can continue to go along with us to check out books as there will be no dogs allowed in the new library, alas.

Morning Walk

It is a daily ritual...

...which Flossy considers essential to well-being...

...a sort of prayer and meditation neither of us can do without.

(note the sun-dog right just above the mountain, middle right)

The mouth of Twin Creek, 5:50AM

There are a couple of pretty good hills on the route.

This is the nameless creek close to our house.

the amazing green glow of devils club leaves

Back at our house, Thomas greets us in the driveway.

Good morning!

Completing Some Work

My sewing machine put in many miles this week.  What fun to begin completing the gelliplate monoprints created this winter. 

gelliplate monoprints on cotton, January 2013

My Mother gave me a  Gelliplate for Christmas and I've spent many many hours happily printing in the months since.  I'm printing on both paper and cotton, captivated by the rich surface textures possible with the medium.

my design wall in February, 2013, with Gelliplate monoprints 'fermenting'

 I've ended up with quite a stack of prints (to put it mildly).  This week I got busy bringing closure to the lot done in January on cotton.  I am using stitching (by hand and machine), painting, beading and prismacolor pencils to develop the images first revealed in the prints.

 Before stitching, I fuse the untrimmed images to felt using Mistyfuse - with out a doubt the BEST fusing material I have found.

 None of these little guys have titles yet, but there is time before they leave the studio.

 Sometimes I have to live with them for awhile before they give up their names.

These are all quite small, averaging around 6" in height.  

After the machine stitching is completed, I trim the piece and bind it with rat tail cording or other fiber using a zigzag stitch.

I am back in the groove machine stitching again and look forward to moving on to the larger images this week.  Our summer weather came back meanwhile. 

 Hope you have an outstanding week ahead!

Daily Drawing

pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 8x6 gamma sketchbook

pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 8x6 gamma sketchbook

All the deadlines of the past several weeks have been met.  As I breathe a sigh of satisfaction, I am also looking forward to preparing for a new round of challenges coming up toward the end of the summer.  

My next solo show one of our two local galleries will be opening the first Friday of September; I am curating the Rain Forest Festival art show that same weekend; mid-September I am going to be traveling - more about this in future posts.  Lots to anticipate with joy and enthusiasm.  

What's coming up for you?

DC - Gossamer

gauzy

silky

lighter than air

wafting 

on summer breezes

insect 

wings

summer 

dresses

ladies 

veils

gossamer

Prismacolor pencil in 8x6 gamma

 Our drawing challenge 'Gossamer' was brought to us by Montana Fairy Princess Tammie over at her enchanting place, Beauty Flows.

Please wend your way there to glimpse more ethereal delights by artist bloggers from all over Blogland.

 

The Sheltie of Liberty

Hello, Flossy here, with news about this year's Fourth of July festivities here in Town.  Although Mother does not have television, I do like to keep up with current events, and so was not unaware that yesterday the Statue of Liberty re-opened in New York City.  What a perfect theme for my Parade Costume, I thought!

 Mother found a pillow case the proper color for my robe, and quickly cut a piece of Timtex into a crown.  In less than the time it takes to chase a cat out of the house, I was transformed!

I felt very regal as the Sheltie of Liberty.  At 10:30, we hurried to the Top of PFI Hill to join the Parade.

There is always quite a wait before the People in Charge declare it is time to march.  I waited patiently. 

Mother was too busy marching to take other photos during the parade, but we did look splendid, I am sure!  Later in the day, we stopped by the Kiddie Karnival to see how The Nose was performing.

It appeared to be a Huge Success!

In summary, the Fourth of July was fun but exhausting.  Thanks for visiting!

The Nose

I posted last week about progress on The Nose - commissioned as a carnival game for our local radio station KFSK's Kiddie Carnival on the Fourth of July.  Here are a couple more shots of the process:

 

I began with chicken wire, bending it to a nose-shaped armature and stapling to the pre-spray-painted  4'x5' sheet of plywood.

 Working with paper mache is something I really love.  My favorite paste recipe is as follows:

1 1/2 parts flour

1part cool water

1/4 part white (PVA) glue

Put water in a mason jar, dump in flour, put on the lid and shake well to blend, then add glue and shake some more.  Mixture should be consistency of thick cream.

The finished Nose - a bucket of small toys will be placed within reach of those toddlers brave enough to reach their hands up into the Nose.

Credit for this concept goes to the radio station' talented staff - I was just the maker.

Happy Independence Day tomorrow, those of us living in USA.

(Flossy can't wait for the Dog Parade and Variety Show, and may be posting her report here)!