Archive for May, 2011
I can’t resist a yellow wildflower
We recently went on our first “rough” camping trip of the year. Rough means miles from anywhere on dirt roads with no water, toilets or picnic tables. We found it was a little early and retreated more than once to modern civilization. Read more about the Prairie Adventure.
For the trip I had a goal of drawing a wildflower everyday. This would fit with my Art Journaling Every Day challenge as well as fit into the Sketchbook challenge as I know I am a sucker for Yellow Flowers.
Here are some of the yellow wildflowers we came across while hiking.
Yellow Violets, Wallflower, Groundsel (?)
My husband is a botanist and identifies the flowers. The identification of the Groundsel (above) is still a little iffy in his mind, but I doubt if anyone will notice.
The first little flower I noticed was a teensy-weensy yellow violet. They are so tiny and unbelievably sweet. I wanted to stop hiking right then, sit down and sketch. However I was persuaded to wait until:
- we got back to the car
- set up camp and
- found one closer to camp
I managed three small sketches on the entire trip – Thank god and Jane LaFazio who showed me how to do it fast and well at the same time. Between running for shelter, bird watching, hiking and goofing off this is what I got done.
Yellow Violets - tiny and beautiful - May 2011
The wildly erratic, cold, gusting winds that drove us back to modern comforts are also the reason for all these tiny, ground-hugging flowers being here. At this time of year nothing that rises vertically into said winds stands a chance of surviving.
I found one other thing I cannot resist while on this trip – I’ll try to get it posted too!
Remember I told you I gave myself incentives to organize/reorganize/spring clean my studio? And that my latest obsession is with the drawers from olde (old with an e – means really old) sewing machines? Well I’ve moved on to a higher mode – the brackets or pieces of olde sewing machines that held the drawers! AAACCCKKK! I’ve gone round the bend. I saw such a bracket, broken, dirty, rusted and only good for kindling in a small junque shop on my last Nebraska birding trip. (It was raining – okay?)
My man dickered the shop owner down by $3 and declared it was still $3 too much, but he got the goods! Not only that, but when we got home, he glued, clamped, wire-brushed and wood puttied the thing. Without even asking. I thought I would have to do all that. My man is the wood-worker around here and knows I don’t really enjoy it, even though I will do it. So this is how it looked after all of that.
Glued, wire-brushed and puttied. The drawer is one I already had.
This is the side that would be most visible if it were still on a sewing machine. But there were all these sharp places by the drawer locks and decorative screw heads. The wood is so dry that I was just making more splintery places when I tried to fix them with the rasp.
So I got out the Tongue Oil. It isn’t really made from tongues LOL. It is a mix of different oils used to preserve wood. I rubbed in on and you could practically hear the wood sucking it in. I put it on three times, it doesn’t really layer, it saturates. The olde oak began to glow and I began to imagine the warmth and love that the old sewing machine generated in the home it used to clothe.
As I was working I looked around and found a place where it could sit – if I used it upside-down and backwards – huh? Well, I have three matching little drawers that would sit in the bracket, if the little drawer slides were not in the way (upside-down). And then the two metal hook-like gizmos that used to hold it to the sewing machine would be on top and maybe I could hang things from them. And if it were backwards the glued and puttied break would be out of sight. And the splintery drawer lock mechanisms would be in the back too.
Oiled, upside-down and backwards.
Now to put it in place, insert the drawers and gain about twelve inches of shelf space where the three drawers used to sit.
I’m sure it will take a bit of fussing to have it be the perfect fit, but for now I’m quite happy with it and on the look out for more little drawers and in addition – the brackets too.
Drawers made for a different machine, but they are all the same.
I think this is where it will live - at least for now!
