FineLine Letterpress

Last week I was lucky enough to be with a group using a map and a compass to determine where we were and where we were going.   This was exciting, and very satisfying when we ended up where we had planned.

I love maps.  I love accurate, “real” maps, and I love maps of imaginary places.

Here is a beautiful map by the artist Karey Kessler.  I saw a map of hers in the book “The Map as Art”, and also found this one on line:

I also have been thinking about true north and magnetic north.  I am not concerned about this on a day-to-day basis, but if I am relying on a topographic map to get around – and not located at the 0-degree line of declination – I must take into account the difference between magnetic north and true north.  Magnetic north varies in different parts of the world, and is constantly changing!  Although it is “constantly changing”, it is not swinging around so wildly that you cannot estimate it for effective map-reading purposes.  There are maps that show the approximate magnetic declination, such as this one:

The earth is a giant magnet!

I will be going hiking in the Sierras this week.

Lost

David Wagoner

I read an article this morning about Peter Buchanan-Smith who is a designer and who sells axes made in Maine that he (and his interns and employee) then hand-paints.

I have mixed feelings about the axes (irrelevant), but a phrase in the article did stick in my imagination.  He said “…It was like an invitation to this world I wanted to create.”

The world I want to create.

Look at the world that Edmund de Waal is creating:

I think this is beautiful.

My office is perpetually a mess, and I let this distress me.  I seem to forget sometimes that I can (within limits) create my world.  Or, maybe it is not only someTIMES that I forget, but in somePLACES I tend to forget.

I have (with the help of Nature), created this burst in our window boxes:

This makes me very happy every time I walk in or out of our house.

So why do I do this to my desk:

It is somewhat of a mystery to me.  This is NOT the world that I want to sit down to each morning.  I have a little teeny tiny space of clearness (just only barely big enough for the mouse…), surrounded by stuff that should be elsewhere.

Now look at this!  Look at what you and Mr. Buchanan-Smith and Mr. de Waal inspired me to do!

Much better.  I created my desk-world!   What power I have over my own messiness.  Very satisfying.

After horribly thick, drippy fog on Thursday/Friday, our weekend turned out to be very sunny and cheerful.  The sunshine inspired us to go out and begin clearing away some of the gigantic growth that has been occurring while we were ignoring it.  In addition to my normal little crew, there were two small blue helpers who love to boss us around.

I have started running again.  This has many, many benefits for me.  But one that I had not anticipated is that I am having better dreams.  Maybe it is all the blood flowing around, resulting in more flying, and lovely colors.

How’s that for positive feedback!?

Terry Gross interviewed writer William Maxwell on NPR’s Fresh Air in 1995. (you can listen to the interview on  NPR.org )  They spoke about his story, “What He Was Like”, and in response to one of Terry’s questions, he said:

“People have an idea of who you are, and you’re rather confined within that idea.  Meanwhile, in your inner life, you’re perfectly free to think anything you want to.”

“Tell your own story, and you will be interesting.  Don’t get the green disease of envy.  Don’t be fooled by success and money.  Don’t let anything come between you and your work.”

- Louise Bourgeois

(Thank you to Catherine Kehoe who posted this quote on her blog about painting:  Painting: Powers of Observation )

Um, excuse me…could you please pass my beer?

I am so happy to be printing cards that have the background color of citron.  I see it as one of the colors of Spring.

I now know that citron is NOT made by mixing yellow + blue.  It is yellow + BLACK.   Just a tiny dot of black.  With more black it starts to become olive-y.

I love this color;

the color of new leaves….

Although we continue to have bits of rain here and there, and some days (yesterday, for example) are still very chilly, it is Spring-nearly Summer!    I have been trying to return some small sense of order to the yard.    Because of all the rain, things have been growing like crazy and I have a lot of cutting and cleaning up to do.

It is about this time each year that I notice that the flags are looking very forlorn:

I think they are still lovely – wispy and drifty –  and yet, it may be time to replace them with something more cheerful.

I am thinking about making these:

There is a great set of instructions for making them on The Purl Bee.

They are called Molly’s Party Garland.