A Dent in Disorder

Nearly a week went by without a landline or internet. Our efficient telephone repairman retired and the new one doesn't seem to have a clue. The country's slipping into a quagmire.  Trying to get back on track.

In my quest for a semblance of orderliness in my workroom/studio (which offsets the disorder outside my walls), I commenced on my button shelf: tossed a number of things (what was I thinking by keeping them?), dusted thoroughly and rearranged.

The sack of labels (l.), like my button collection, has been gleaned mostly from the flea market cotton clothes that I bought for years in order to have a complete palette with which to work. Fortunately, labels and buttons require less space than fabric. I use buttons only occasionally, but, this small collection pleases me immensely. Inspiration for the labels has not yet come to me...something pleasant to think about.

On to the thread shelf just below the button shelf...

A Plant, A Friend

The subjects are not related, but that's how it goes in my daily journal. This is the plant that I'm sketching on fabric with the Inktense pencils.

Inktense Experiments, 2

Lucky I make time for Sketch Club each week; there is slow progress on the succulents done on cotton fabric with Derwent Inktense pencils, which I dip in water.

It takes time to lay down the colors as this particular plant has such variations going from red to green. Very festive.

Jazz Club

While I clean out my workroom, I am trying to finish off nearly-forgotten drawings in my multiple sketchbooks. A restaurant named "Jazz Club" in the South end of Tunis has good food, canned jazz music, old instruments placed strategically, and artwork on the walls. Using a permanent pen, I loosely copied a mural, then added watercolors that I liked at home.

Done. 

Winging It

My evenings are l-o-n-g (mostly sunset to midnight) so I can stitch to my heart's content.











This slow technique fits well with my series exploring the passage of time, the slow changes.

Thinking Outside the Box

A box series has developed in my sketchbooks based on small cardboard boxes I painted 25 years ago. They were looking worn so I recycled them by taking them apart and glueing them into a sketchbook. Then I added more lines.

Mugs

This summer my 8-year-old granddaughter drew mugs in my sketchbook. I got to color the first two.

She finished off the third one in her cheerful way, complete with steam and a couple of wild lines inspired by Grandma's "Take-a-line-for-a-walk". She wanted to make sure I would notice that she got the shadow in.


Warm summer memories for a cool, gray Autumn day.

A Mug

At Sketch Club this week, we drew an ornate mug (or tankard) in a variety of ways with a variety of materials. I used my old planner sketchbook with the bad paper. Later in the evening, I played around with text and watercolors.

Just having fun...

Out in the Orchard

Since my new job is "farmer," a farm/nature theme seems to be developing in my sketchbooks. I experimented with a brush pen to sketch this bergamot lemon tree, which expressed well the loose, chaotic nature of this tree. 

The geometric design is a recycled watercolor painting that I did in the 1980s (oh, my!). Just couldn't throw it away, so I cut it up and have put it in this particular sketchbook (a Stillman & Birn Zeta).

Chez le dentiste

The dentist's receptionist didn't realize I was sketching her until I showed her my drawing...

This office is located in an old colonial building in downtown Tunis with marble floors, high ceilings, and tall doors and windows.

Pink-Red Minimal, 2

For my last visit to the dentist, I chose the Pink-Red Minimal to stitch. 

I have been picking up this piece occasionally for the last seventeen years (ouch!). 

And I still have no idea where it's going, but it's an old friend.