Snow Day

I was to meet a friend for coffee today, but we decided to cancel as the snow piled up outside our windows. Not that we would have any trouble driving in it - it's the crazies we prefer to avoid! At any rate, it's the sort of weather that tugs me into the studio.

By afternoon, about 4 inches had piled up - no walk today. I got my exercise shoveling the driveway.

Hard to stay focused when glances out the window reveal this.

There are three deer who feed along the backyards of the townhouses on my street, then move away through the trees that buffer our view from the railroad tracks and highway nearby. They are coming more often these days as a new neighbor has been putting out corn for them.

I often only see one at a time but today all three were feeding along here, although I couldn't get all three in one shot. They look fat and healthy - well, it has been a mild winter.

Oh, yeah - I'm in the studio to work. I'm doing my darnedest this year to spend some time each day in the studio, even if it is only a few minutes (like detouring in there on my way to bed at 11:30 to stamp my monogram on the back of "Tears of Mayo"). Today my goal was simple and straight from my list for January: 1. Mount Tears Of Mayo in its floater frame and hang it along with other pieces of art and 2. Carve the sunburst block. I've been saving this bit of wall for a studio gallery but dragging my feet to fill it. The framing went quickly, the choosing and positioning of artwork to surround it did not. This still needs some tweaking, some smaller additions perhaps, but it is a start. I think these can easily be traded out for other groupings with different themes or colorways and not have to reposition hooks. Well, that's the theory anyway. A couple more pieces got up on different walls, and I'm considering the potential of expanses over the window and closets to get even more art out of the closet. 

That white bin on the left is due to be replaced by a larger wire cubes storage unit to accommodate my expanding batik and hand-dyed fabric collection and make the fabric now in the old storage unit more accessible (It will be repurposed for either stamping or dyeing supplies). I've been dragging my feet on that too as it will require shifting the rest of the storage units on that wall down a bit and that probably won't be easy. But it is on January's list too.

So I've had my lunch, shoveled my driveway, taken a break on the computer and will return to the studio to carve that stamp. Before I go, let me pose this question: 

What is it about others' castoffs that so draws us? 

My daily walks take me past not one but two secondhand thrift shops. They seldom have anything I need or am even interested in, although at one point in my life I quite enjoyed nosing about in them. And still, I feel the irresistible pull each time I walk by. Occasionally, I succumb, and then remember how little these places interest me anymore. Well, except for the silk ties. I checked the supply a month or more ago when the pull got the better of me - not many ties at all and none of interest (like I need more for my stash). Last weekend, the pull got the better of me, and again, I perused the store aimlessly and uninspired until I reached the tie rack. It was the celery green one that caught my eye, but it was all those yellow ties that sent me the half-block home to grab my wallet. You just don't often see lighter values, let alone yellow, in silk ties. As I went through the substantial offerings, I found other worthy additions to my collection as well as a couple of Jerry Garcia designs. I came away with 15 in all, 5 of which were half price, all the time lecturing myself that if I'm going to keep adding, I'd better start using. Sigh...I am hopeless.

Maybe not hopeless. As with anyone who seriously collects, I've moved from buying every one that I came across to weeding out the more common ones or ones with flaws and spots from my purchases, to walking away if the price is too high, to sifting through to choose only ones that fill a gap in my collection. I sensed I was mostly doing that last one this time, although I did add one that may not meet that criteria - because it paired so well with one of those yellow ones. I don't know how I'll use them together, but I really should.