little things

January has come to be my favourite month of the year... the slowness of time passing somehow seems to spread to slower, quieter days in the studio

there's no rush to the making

less "must do", more want to

more time to pause, wonder, and think

I made some yarn a while back, having finally learned how to spin with a drop handle

it's all sat neatly twisted into small skeins awaiting tags of some sort, ones that will remind me of the breed of sheep that provided the roving and when and where I made it

I like provenance and I love a written record of it

as I riffled through my paper cabinet looking for ready-made tags I thought instead perhaps they should have something a little more unique, something to reflect how amazingly creative it felt to spin and ply yarn that could be made into something warm for me

something to honour the gift that was

on a search for some scraps of painted paper I came upon a small digital print of this drawing I did a few years ago

the print was 5" x 7" and on a fine art printer paper so a good weight for tags

a few quick cuts had me pretty delighted and from there it was just details: rounded corners, a torn edge, handmade cord

I love the uniqueness of them - the high-quality print makes them look like an actual drawing yet I can make them over and over again should I wish to

another little thing,  done earlier in the month was the impulse to take my scrappy watercolour flat brush and use it to make tiny winter trees across the width of a card

slight pressure on the back end creates enough width at the bottom of the mark to create the effect of snow-covered winter trees

this is another one I'll return to but I need to practice varying the pressure so as to make them all slightly different

and I'm feeling rather tempted to hack away at a few other lesser-quality brushes so I can create a variety of tree heights

it has been a joy to have this time of quiet, away from the hustle and bustle but as January comes to it's end I'm now looking ahead... 

life picks up some steam and next Saturday I'm packing up my art supplies and sweaters and heading to the Yukon for a month 

next post from north of 60°

brr

take care,

Jillayne