Category: Blitherings

Somewhere A Citadel

I travel the globe through watching videos, photo websites, and royalty-free images. This time I visited someplace in France, searching Pixabay for photos matching the term “citadel” and found some really interesting things. What I wanted in particular were photos with strong architectural details and perspective to use as practice for drawing / painting buildings. The one I used in the painting below was taken from a low vantage point and looking upward. The upper reaches of the tower were centered over the corner of the citadel, and the sides of the citadel sloped steeply downward.

Working from a photo is often difficult, especially if it is small on screen and cannot be enlarged. The left and right sides of the building were confusing, so I just sorta made up what they were, but the center of the building was pretty clear in the photo. I drew first with ink, then added color, and then returned to add more ink and more color a few times. The ink proved helpful in making the right side of the painting darker, as it was in the photo. I didn’t want to add a lot of paint as the purpose of ink and wash is just that – delicate touches of color to the ink drawing.

I really like working with ink for drawing buildings. It will get there some day! Right now I still struggle with both depth and perspective, but practice like this is always fun, and usually to almost always, rewarding.

Sashiko #5 – Second Color

After waiting a few days to get some red cotton sashiko thread, I went ahead and finished up sashiko sampler #5. I really like this bright red, as it rather glows against the denim, and is nicely balanced by the creamy white threads of the grid.

The goal here was to create a geometric pattern in colors. Patterns which have a rhythm to them are more appealing – I am not sure why! The red threads are designed to create a plus sign (+) in the center of each square, and some do, some do not. It doesn’t really matter all that much to me in some ways as I like the imperfection of the stitches. Despite that, the pattern does work overall. If you nitpick and look at each square and plus sign, you will see mistakes and uneven work. The center of each grid was drawn in freehand and then sewn, and I worked to see the center of my work rather than following lines.

Below is the reverse of this pattern. I worked the stitching from the front of the material. Sashiko #6 will be worked on the reverse side of the fabric as I have read and seen it done that way, too.

Impression of Wildcat Beach

India ink, watercolor, sketchbook. Wildcat Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches along the California coast, and what makes it interesting is not only do you see the ocean, you see the other side of peninsula, more water, and you want to wander along its top, and on the shore, or sail around. There is a lot of mystery here, beauty on a sunny day, strange and eerie in the fog and mist of the summer coast.

A Tribute to Janus

I am at an age where looking forward shows little time left – I could be dead in a year for some reason! – and looking back makes me appreciate many of the people I have known and met, things I have done, adventures I have had. Making the best of time left is a major goal, and as Clint Eastwood said, “I wake up every morning and don’t let the old man in.” Let’s change it to “old lady” and take it from there.

I have lived in different parts of the country, mid-west, west coast, east coast, upstate New York. I have taken trips throughout the country, sailed in the British Virgin Islands, been stuck in airports overnight far too many times. Siblings live in Wisconsin and Colorado. Relatives are scattered throughout the country, many I have never met because of my immediate family moving every few months for several years, and we never went back to visit. It makes me sad in some ways, and feel empathy for my mother who was often home alone in a strange community with 4 kids to raise and a husband overseas in some mysterious place for many weeks or months at a time. It wasn’t easy for her, nor us, nor my father – connections that could have been were easily broken.

Sentiment is not something I “do” – broken ties mean just moving on to the next adventure. This is not necessarily a bad thing as being weighed down by the past can be a challenge, but it does bring a sense of disconnect from other people and a lack of willingness to risk a connection that can be severed. Loss is part of it, but there is expectation, too – what lies around the corner? New adventures await!

We are used to long road trips, taking several weeks to travel here and there. They are so fun – sometimes tiring – but there is a certain level of Zen that accompanies them. The time passes differently when confined to a car for hours. What is there to do? I often knit on a mindless project, daydream, chat with Josh, look at the landscape, snap crappy pictures out of the window. Country and towns flash by. Then we stop for 2 or 3 days in a town, explore it, and move on. There are a number of places we would like to visit again, and perhaps we shall.

In a couple of months, we will be taking our first trip overseas. We have been to Canada and Mexico, but in the fall we will be flying to Rekyavik and cruising to Barcelona. Stops on the way include Liverpool, Dublin, A Coruna, Lisbon, Porto, Malaga, Valencia, and then Barcelona. From there we travel to Almunecar to visit friends for a week. Then home.

While I look back on travels, I also look forward. New places to see, different cultures, good friends. This could be our first and last trip to the Old World, but one to certainly treasure and enjoy with memories and pictures and experiences.

Sashiko #5 – First Color

I starched and pressed a rectangle of denim from the same stuff I have been using and had washed. It made a major difference as far as an ability to be nicely stitched, I think. It could also be that I am being more conscientious about the rhythm of my running stitches. With this fifth sample, my hands are getting comfortable.

You can see that my stitches are more even and my lines are more straight. This is not counted cross stitch or Victorian handwork where threads are counted. Instead, it is a decorative art with a bit of the human thrown in! As you can see, some areas have more stitches in the same distance and others have less. Is that important?

My beginnings and endings are a bit neater, too. I’ve been using back stitches to begin and end my thread, but in some areas I carried the thread to a new area in need of stitching by running the threads together on the reverse. All the stitching on this sampler is being done on the right side of the fabric, but sashiko #6 will be on the reverse . . . but that is a few days away!