Foothills Folly

I’ve agreed to hang paintings in the Town Hall in March. It’s a corridor without much viewing distance. My paintings look pretty pathetic up close, but they slip into a more cohesive whole when seen at a distance. Oh well, I still hope to have some new less finicky canvases done, and just let them be whatever they will be.

I closed the frame shop for Jan/Feb so I could catch up and clean up, and  now I’m putting my energy into painting — I never have been too good at planning ahead. It’s going to come down to the last few days and I will be in a state of dump-madness.

After a stop at the transfer station (no picture; next time!), I went to the art show and took a shot of my three paintings:

Only one more sale; it doesn’t seem that much will sell. I find it hard to look at my own work on the wall without wanting to take it home and ‘fix things’ on it. Looks like this time I’ll be able to bring them home and do just that!

I went over to the Antique Center; the beginning of the month is time to pay the rent and collect the check; this month the latter was larger than the former! Hurrah! Here’s a shot of the interior:

This is my tiny corner:

Empty spots on the wall; empty room on my shelves. I need to hustle a bit and stock up. Think I’ll check the loft of the barn tomorrow; much to look through. Never know what the next buyer will like.

I’ll end with a photo of this sunny thawing day:

Think I may try to turn it into a painting, leaving out some of the foreground trees.

I wasn’t sure about putting my paintings in this show, but I did submit three. At the opening, someone asked to meet me, and she told me my larger landscape was the best piece in the entire show. She is not a buyer, but her critique was welcome ( she had had a painter husband)—how could it not be? When I left, only one little painting had sold, a watercolor of an iris—yes, it was nice for the $50.00 price tag. I will go back and try to photograph my efforts; meanwhile, of course, I await more sales. The economy is not encouraging.

The cold and snow make me hunker down, glad to be in the not-so-warm (unless one is quite near the wood stove) house . We’re burning wood from the second pile; it’s punkier and wouldn’t last ’til next year, but it’s also wet and slow to burn. So far the chimney is staying clean—haven’t had to send Sam up on the roof. I managed to get three paintings done for the art league show at Noble Horizons. Did I say ‘done’? I at least put them in frames and gave them titles and prices, but they are more like the idea of paintings than like real, authentic, finished items. Especially when I got them out in the sunlight—-I must say they looked so much better in a dark corner of my living room! Last year I sold two little ones; this year I expect I will be bringing these back home in February.

I’m loading up the palette with fresh paint, as I need to practice getting to ‘finished’ with my work. Ditto for my knitting. Have not yet begun the promised Koolhaus hat. Haven’t added a stitch to the maze hat, also promised although it seems a bit small for this large-headed family:

This is an easy way to do two-color knitting, knitting with one color on a round and slipping the other; but somehow I am off on my last round second to the last round and not sure whether to tink or push on. The maze is a bit wonky and I don’t think errors will be too noticeable. Yarn is two colors of Knitpicks Swish Superwash.

The next rumpled-hat looking project is the Hemlock Ring Blanket, through corrected row 35, now ready for longer cables. It is the next WEBS knitalong but I need a head start in order to keep up— The yarn is a thick 2 ply from Bartlett Mills, Fisherman tweed, in Dark Heather. I’m anxious for it to get large enough to keep me warm as I knit!

And lastly I swatched the Secret of the Stole ii, in knitpicks Shadow, the color of which I think is sunset heather, but maybe redwood heather, and which will become apparent as I knit on and need to find the remaining skeins. The clues will begin to be posted tomorrow a.m., so I imagine I am already behind on this, unless tomorrow is a snow day—possible, but not likely.

Watched a PBS show last night on the plasticity of the neuro-matter in our brains; I think all this knitting helps with the new synapses IF we get it right. Not so likely, either.

I actually put some effort into the framing this week; what in the world got into me! I got the four pieces that needed the finicky gold fillet on the mats done; the mirror that didn’t quite fit the frame (with the help of a razor blade, it did); the little poster; the re-do that had a gold fleck in it; and then, as usual, H (my worker and wood man), came through with great results and got the maple frames done for JJ (think johns and famous) and the other person getting maple, and the floater frames and the ones I worked on. Plus whatever else we did.

And we gabbed with the artists who come in; we talked politics and listened to the republican senator from Oklahoma on c-span put down global warming (bah humbug to him). We had a typical work week; never got the trash to the transfer station; the UPS fellow came late and talked long–(but we still miss Joe!); and we tried to decipher exactly how David Hockney painted these: landscapes that are where H wants to go with his paintings; me, I am headed backward in mine to the end of the 19th century!

Here is one of my paintings; of the lake behind my home; far enough away so that I can’t see it, but occasionally I see the mist rising from it.

H patiently listened to me gab about sheep, wool, and Rhinebeck; I really tried to understand what he and David Hockney are trying to do with color, I really did.

I have been busy making use of the season’s bounty: B and B pickles, plum jam and oriental plum sauce, and two chutneys. I think I am done; the farmer’s stand closed today. Unless my grapes come in in irresistible quantities, I think I am done. I have also been filling the freezer with corn chowders and soups.

I have nothing finished and off the needles recently; I am awaiting longer cables with the knitpicks ‘Harmony’ set so that I can continue on with my homespun shawl; the scarf and top down sweater are nearing completion, and I started these leggings:

They are based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac, which has spawned a Yahoo group. I am going to stop them just above the knee, and not make them true ‘nether garments’, but the leggings will be just what I need this winter. I hope to switch them to a long cable and do both on one, when those new needles arrive.

I sold three paintings this past week; and that has inspired me to do more, and that has inspired me to again follow Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” (and book two and book three, in hand and unread.) She certainly helps one cut through to the basics; to find a voice, tone and pathway.

I have had a wonderful time off from the frame shop; basically I ‘cocooned’ and it was rejuvenating. Food in the pantry and freezer, wood coming for the winter’s heat, and I almost don’t want to go back to work, but $$$ calls.

My plum trees have been super productive; many have been eaten and I have made plum jam, oriental plum sauce, and two types of plum chutney. The last of them are ripening this week:

I haven’t tended my flower gardens much this year, but this hibiscus is 7-8 feet tall and doing wonderfully, even if it doesn’t look like it belongs in New England!

And I painted some; sorry the acetate reflects in this one:

L