Saturday, March 15, 2025
writing rain...
Saturday, March 8, 2025
a coming together
Also, I’ve learned a few subscribers on Substack that did not receive this post by email. On investigating, when I set up my newsletter a list of any newsletters that I personally subscribe populated in as recommendations. I thought that list would only appear on my Homepage, but it turns out that when people clicked on the Subscribe button to receive my posts by email, that list came up with all those newsletters selected. If the “Continue” button was selected it subscribed you to all of them - the “no thanks” for that was well below the list so is often missed and people continue without realizing they are now subscribing to a a raft of other Substack newsletters.
I’ve removed all of those recommendations so going forward that shouldn’t happen to people, “Subscribing” means you will only get mine. For those who unsubscribed from the unwanted emails/newsletters, it also unsubscribed you from mine. The fix for that (if you choose) is to go to Substack, click your name or profile image, wherever it shows on the page (usually upper right) , then settings, subscriptions, notifications and re-select mine. Technology is all well and good when you know what you’re doing!
Saturday, March 1, 2025
something different
Also, I’ve learned a few subscribers on Substack that did not receive this post by email. On investigating, when I set up my newsletter a list of any newsletters that I personally subscribe populated in as recommendations. I thought that list would only appear on my Homepage, but it turns out that when people clicked on the Subscribe button to receive my posts by email, that list came up with all those newsletters selected. If the “Continue” button was selected it subscribed you to all of them - the “no thanks” for that was well below the list so is often missed and people continue without realizing they are now subscribing to a a raft of other Substack newsletters.
I’ve removed all of those recommendations so going forward that shouldn’t happen to people, “Subscribing” means you will only get mine. For those who unsubscribed from the unwanted emails/newsletters, it also unsubscribed you from mine. The fix for that (if you choose) is to go to Substack, click your name or profile image, wherever it shows on the page (usually upper right) , then settings, subscriptions, notifications and re-select mine. Technology is all well and good when you know what you’re doing!
Saturday, February 22, 2025
making connections
essentially, I'm wanting to explore various elements of clothing in a way that references an element of the landscape by noticing these connections
each to the other
gosh I hope that makes sense!
today I found another photo of Martha, this time in a wool coat with a deeply notched lapel… I'm thinking mountains, a range of them... and the deep notch?
well, I suppose that could be the Chilkoot Pass, the one she hiked over… first though, there’s work to be done, with ice, pleats, folds and tucks
Saturday, February 15, 2025
On the Edge
Saturday, February 8, 2025
round and round I go
it was the coldest, stormiest of days
blowing snow, the kind that sticks to your "nose and eyelashes"
a friend and I had planned to meet up at the riverboat and walk the Millennium Trail that winds it's way along the Yukon River, crossing it twice
a beautiful 4.5k trek through the forests that line riverbank at that end of town
when I left the house I hadn't checked the weather and it turned out nor had she and when we arrived at the meeting spot downtown we were somewhat surprised by the snowstorm that had descended on the town
being the hardy Yukoners we both are, we set out anyway
the photos I took that day have a beautiful softness, the thickly falling snow acting like fog for the camera
the features of the landscape were shrouded, the snow deafened sound and the world seemed incredibly quiet
my favourite image of the day was of the riverboat
a few winters ago, on a warm sunny day, I took other photos of the boat
the one below is of one of the large cargo doors
(you can just make out the three of them in the photo above though it's really just the windows you can see)
I've always loved architecture and the lines of these doors along with the textured glass have a strong appeal for me
not to mention the weathering!
last Spring I did a few drawings, a few ideas of ways to interpret the river, the winter ice and these doors, the things that struck me the most that winter
the other day I came across the remnants of a piece of work I had made several years ago - narrow strips of linen stitched together and then covered with white gesso and watercolour paint
it was rather wrinkled so with nothing to lose I tore the strips away from each other and was rather pleased with how they looked; the paint had taken differently across the piece so within in each strip the colour was fragmented
it all reminded me of some fragmented ice trials I had done at the same time, with random strips of linen, silk and paper
I began assembling small pieces of the torn linen into little collages, thinking of both fragmented ice and boards
next is a sample I had made last year, working on a version of the cargo door based on one of the above drawings
again, strips of linen and gesso, with watercolour paint to distress it a bit
the centre is done with paper and grid stitching, then the piece is immersed in water
once the paper is good and wet it's all rubbed and scrubbed until some of it starts falling away
after it dried I coated the fabric, thread and paper with gesso and then added the paint
and in the vein of how we start to really notice things that relate to what we are interested in, one morning after dropping my grandson off at school, I came home to see the light in the garage spilling out the frosted black-trimmed windows
I'm thinking it has a kind of encaustic look to it
hmmm
and here I go again...