Home-Time in My Small Town

Since retirement, my home-time is very pleasurable. 

I have "stations" around the house for:

Painting • Drawing • Zumba & Exercise

Special Projects • Writing • Reading.

I am grateful for a working kitchen.

This is one time where being an Introvert comes in handy.

My life is less disrupted than are many others' lives.

In my small town the changes don't seem drastic to me,

 even though we do run out of toilet paper. 

We are lucky that we can afford to be calm & accepting.

We walk outdoors, & passersby are pleasant.

We are still a town of Hello's & waving to strangers. 

Yesterday as I was walking the Harbor Walk,

 a woman on a bench called out to me:

"We can still do this!" & she did a thumbs up,

& I replied "Yes, we are lucky!" 

and raised my thumbs to her.

 Kathy at the blog Catching Happiness 

(click Here) 

has a post about "Staying Positive..."

She mentions "Stress Cleaning."

I've been enjoying "Stress Organizing," like

taking inventory of my colored pencils. 

At some point I will do a phone order/roadside pick up 

at Fiddleheads,

my local art shop, which is closed...

Temporarily.

 Oooh, order & labels for my fountain pen inks!

(the small ones are samples I get from Goulet Pens.)

 Writing in my journal remains a daily pleasure.

On this day I was listening to France Bleu radio

& decided to create a sort of dictation & to search words
in the dictionary (Reverso online).

I just started a new Rhodia daily journal.

A new Lamy "Turmaline" fountain pen arrived from Goulet 

just before things shut down. 

Goulet is a small business with heart, 

that is paying its employees during this time. 

Voilà. 

Nice to reinforce good feelings via online networks 

in a time of physical isolation. 

How are you occupying your time 

in your "confinement" and "sheltering."?

The Practice of Calligraphy

Sample sheets given to me by a master calligrapher/teacher.

The coloring and notes are mine.

Calligraphy.  

The practice can be calming & satisfying.

But it can be frustrating, for one who is not

naturally gifted at it.

Gaye Godfrey Nicholls writes in Mastering Calligraphy:

"Calligraphers revel in the sensual, sinuous 

& arch elegance of italic..."

"Calligraphy 

is about discovering the pleasure 

of watching pigments in water meet, 

fall in love, 

& create new colors on paper..."

"You watch your own hand take over & create the forms

for which you have striven for so long. "

It takes practice, she writes. Maybe 3 years, maybe 7...

It takes persistence & patience. (I say.) 

Here, perfection is sought, not just progress.

 They say to set up a center where you can leave 

your practice work out & practice everyday.

I do.

Still, I am not perfect.

I may never be. It takes acceptance.

Inbetween writing the letter "a" over & over

on lined paper,

trying to get it to be consistent,

one can play with some letter designs.

Even if the letters haven't been mastered.

It gives one something to look forward to.

Meanwhile, one can take a little break from the concentration

& precision, & play at making seasonal decorations. 

The Chaos of Unfinished Projects

I  attended a weeklong Book Arts Course at the University.

So many super workshops with accomplished artists: 

"Letters to the Page", a workshop on calligraphy as related

to the art book, began with mark making, 

loosening up on giant paper.

My cup of tea, spontaneous, direct.

 "Comics-Based Narrative Workshop":

Triggered lots of spontaneous story ideas 

& an awareness of the art of the graphic novel.

"Cross Structure Bindings" taught hand sewing!

Not spontaneous & direct, but: 

I loved the calm & orderly process. Not chaotic!

"Printed Patterns & Accordion Books"!! 

Making large sheets using childhood crayon resist, 

but this time it was

a white China Marker under Daniel Smith watercolors!

Above, I created small panels outside of class.

(But that accordion is unfinished.)

I had a makeshift studio in my home away from home

during the week on one simple card table.

It was easier to focus, no bills, paperwork, dishes or laundry.

 In my own home my dining area has become my workspace. (It's my favorite space in the house.) 

And now the work is spreading to the living area!  Arghhh!

 It may not look that chaotic (I spiffied it up for the photos

the way you clean for guests), 

but my unfinished final project for the class exhibition, 

& other projects, are everywhere! 

My unfinished wildflower book...so little left to do,

and yet I am stuck...

And there are so many other ideas

that haven't even begun to materialize on paper

but are swimming around in my brain.

Wouldn't the solution be to move the work
to a separate studio space?

Not sure, because a lot of the unfinished chaos 

seems to be in my head.

Sketching: One reason I love it: 

It's my direct, spontaneous response.

I don't deliberate & agonize over too many ideas & choices.  

Oh, Dear Readers, please give me some tips for

escaping this stuckness,

because I just want to finish my 3 handmade books!

A Library in Québec & a French Translation of Love That Dog

Perhaps one doesn't think of a public library as thrilling...

but I WAS thrilled 
visiting the newly rennovated Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy 
in a lower, non-touristic section of hilly Québec City.

I found a French version of a favorite all-time book, 

Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech.

They totally changed the title. 

Translation is such a subjective art form. 

 They added illustrations. I did not prefer this.

The beauty of the non-illustrated original is 
in the words & the story.

They added borders & changed the location of the poem

"The Red Wheelbarrow".

I did not prefer this either.

The original book is pure & unadorned. 

The formatting & the white of the page 
work beautifully with the story, which is in verse.

Do read Love That Dog & you'll see!

(Like Jack in the story, I'm enjoying expressing my opinions!)

It's a beautiful book for adults, as well as for children.

 Poetry is the art form I least understood in school. 

The wonderful Miss Stretchberry, through Love That Dog

has helped me as an adult to understand more!

It says that Sharon Creech is an award winning author. 

But, unlike in the English version,

 it omits the information that she was a teacher. 

That is so important to this book! 

Love That Dog is used in many classrooms, 

along with her other books. It is about teaching,

finding one's voice, expressing oneself through writing,

feeling, learning, growing...

(See her website & her social media 

for more about teaching with her books.) 

My complaints aside, 

I'm thrilled that French language readers

have the chance to love this book by Sharon Creech

& that I found it at Bibliothèque Gabriel Roy in Québec!

Fountain Pens in the 21st Century

For any one pleasurable tool or object that existed in the past, there are now gazillions. 

And so it is with Fountain Pens.

There used to be "A cup of coffee". Now, well, do you remember the scene in You've Got Mail where Nora Ephron inserts a little essay: "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee..."   

I love drawing & writing with fountain pens & now I'm learning to hand letter and to practice my penmanship. 

I love the mechanics of fountain pens, the care & cleaning of fountain pens, the memories of my father's & my grandmother's fountain pens. I love the memory of my own first fountain pen. With the Schaeffer Cartridge Pen I only had to decide on a translucent color for the barrel (red, yellow, blue, green or clear). Blue or blue-black ink. The simplicity!

These days I spend a lot of time looking at varieties, varieties & more varieties. There's a whole vocabulary in "The Fountain Pen Community":  "Piston filler", "converter", "hard starts", "work horse pens", "wet writers", "holy grail pens", "feedback"... There are conventions, penmasters, online "Rock Stars" (Brian Goulet, you know who you are), reviews, comparisons, instructional videos...

Bricks & Mortar pen stores are scarce. I've been known to travel to Boston to The Bromfield Pen Shop just so I can actually hold & try a pen before buying it. 

There is a site called The Pen Habit, another called the Pen Addict.  I've learned online that there are people who own hundreds of pens. There are pens that cost tens of thousands of dollars. 

I try to keep my pen "hobby" manageable, but the pens online do call to me, with their pretty colors & smooth flowing inks. And, as with so many products now, there is the promise that there is one more pen out there that will be even more perfect than any I own... that sparkling new pen that will change my life forever! 

For other posts I've made that include pens, click on the label, "fountain pens".

Fountain Pens, Note Taking & Journals

  

1.    Four LAMY fountain pens. Most bought at Goulet Pens. 

       Watch their videos!! (Click on Website)

       Inside the pens: Noodler's colored inks, from

       Artist & Craftsman, Portland, & Goulet.  
       (Note taking in the journals mentioned below is all done
       in fountain pen ink.) 

3.   My Journal of Spirit & Relflections. The book handmade by a local artist 

      whose name I can't find. The reflections by moi.

4.   Show Your Work! A book by Austin Kleon..

5.   Purple Art Learning Journal (Pentallic Travelers, 4 X 6") where I am making notes 

      from  Kleon's Show Your Work & Steal This Book!

6.   Make Someone Happy: Favorite Postings (Facebook) by Elizabeth Berg 

      Sheer delight! The joys of observing everyday life!

      Compassion lives! Humor,spirit abounds!

7.   Daily Morning Pages Journal. In which nothing is too insignificant to enter.

8.   Cursive Writing & Fountain Pen Journal.  Moleskine. 

       I needed a whole book because I am so obsessed!

9.   Pink French Practice Journal.  Moleskine

10. L'abondance dans la simplicité by Sarah Ban Breathnach, translated from English. 

      From which I copy passages into the Pink French Journal

11. Red Art Learning Journal. In which I continue to make notes from books.

12. Art Project Journal, Catch-All. Most currently, ideas for my book in process, 

       Previous entries about shows, ideas, inspirations, doodles...). Leuchtturm1017.

13. The History & Uncertain Future of Handwriting by Anne Trubeck. Fascinating account     

       & thoughts on changing information & communication technologies!

       Taking notes in the Red Art Learning Journal.

14. Cursive Writing Made Easy & Fun! A Scholastic workbook from the Library.

       For grades 2-5 and me.

15. Water Paper Paint: Exploring Creativity with Watercolor & Mixed Media 

       by Heather Smith Jones. I have to return it to the library, but must make some notes 

       in the Red Art Learning Journal. 

16. Painted Paper by Elisa Golden. To return to the Library. 

17. Outdoor Watercolor Workshop & The Watercolor Fix-It Book by Tony van Hasselt

       To try some of the watercolor ideas from the book. And maybe study with him again.

Not Far From Home: The Show

Based on a local scene, down by the waterfront...

Taking liberties, playing with color more than 

making an accurate representation...

The show is up at the Library. 

"Not Far From Home: From the sketchbooks of Rita..."

I am adding more writing to the sketches these days. 

Several viewers have said, "This looks like a book!" 

That makes me happy.

The little guys. 5 X 7's

Like the ones I most often sell.

 A mess of sketchbooks in a case.

The show is not framed in fancy ways.

They are mostly rough sketches.

I enjoy it that people enjoy it. 

Sharing my fun. 

And encouraging others to 

keep sketchbooks too.

A Still Life with Robert

My childhood art teacher presented us

with still lifes. 

Many, many still lifes. 

Above: I quickly arranged some things that were 

already on my table. 

The caption,

"Every picture tells a story" showed up
as a complete serendipity.

In August I'll have my 2nd show at my library.

Theme: sketching locally. 

This still life is very, very local.
My table.

A friend who is visiting France writes that

she has found paradise on earth.

Reading & looking up French vocabulary at my table, 

this is for me a local paradise on earth.