I forgot my fav casual mountain wear this last trip to the woods. I was missing this pair of goodies. I guess I just didn't want to take them away from my studio in town. 

One of the most important needs for outdoor/cabin life is easy to slip on shoes to make the transition from the lovely wooden floor or deck to the trail to the little house. This trip can often happen in the darkness of the wee hours. It's what happens when you don't stop drinking at around 8 pm. One's brain is fuzzy and there isn't time for lacing and tying. These Crocs are indispensible gear.

Today as I thought about the materials I will pack for my trip north to the mountains, I know my studio wherever it is, is a temple. It has a beauty external and internal. It has a stillness that is sublime. It is a place where there is no time.

I started some new drawings today. The experience of starting this drawing has almost convinced me to look at making this series square. I haven't made any square drawings in a while but it seems where they want to go. It's the repetition. Too much in these rectangles. Now I'm waiting for this one to to dry. I'll continue and see what happens but at the same time I will look at what kind of paper I want to use for the square drawings.

I have many unfinished drawings at this point.
I'm patient. Something isn't right. I'll keep looking at them and they will reveal themselves.

Had to paint this cardboard wall. Just too dark. Also decided I will keep it now until I can afford to build the sliding wall I have designed. So I laid down a layer of primer.

Completed phase one. Next is a layer of flat white. Brightened the studio up considerably. Next is to get a couple of pulleys to fly up some storage and a pegboard divider. Planning on being in the studio tomorrow. I'll move everything out of the way to do some drawings. Paint later in the week.

Sat around with a cuppa joe working on ideas for organizing in the studio. My barn door needs some hardware and I've been working on some ideas to piece together plates and handles for a new better handle. These are some sketches for how to use flanges and plates. I'm measuring the door and doing more drawings. This is the start. I've also been doing some overhead storage. I'm expecting to be able to create a storage space for some framed work too. Right now just measuring and planing.

Got in that reorganizing bug that happens in the spring. I'll be opening the studios to the outside world again so I need to reorganize so it's easy to get the outside breeze. Here's some work organizing the space. Next is to create my screening for the doors. Hoping spring will be here soon. Just bought some new staples for one of my fav guns.

Now I'm planing a construction day. Ready to rock on some hanging storage. Excited to work on it. All this work gets my head in just the right place to make art. My fav organization containers for fasteners.

I finally began my altered book project. It's been in my thoughts and sketchbook for over two years. My post  process : 9 x 9 new works [ part one] back in 2010 gives a little background. I finally felt I had a way forward. I opened each book to a spread that asked me to ink it. I know this sounds strange but I can't really define all of the reasons why I chose the particular spreads, so I'll leave the reasons out of the process so far.

I actually was able to get to the studio on Sunday. Often I'm so fried from the work week I do all the domestic stuff that day. But this Sunday was different. I hopped on the bus early and was the only rider to my destination; then walked the last mile. That gave me plenty of time to be in my own head.

After I climbed the flights to my third floor studio I was ready to get into my ritual.

Mixed and rolled out ink in my studio.

The temperature had gone up to 88 degrees and the ink was almost not tacky enough to stick to the roller. After getting the graphite ink ready I worked on three new drawings, Happy with the results. But I'm interested in a bit more transparency.I'm glad that I've looked at several new ways to work with materials that can stand up to presentation without being behind glass.

I'm looking at ordering a couple of rubber rollers that cover more area. I want to draw some very big lines.

In my studio today.

I really went to my studio today expecting nothing. I thought I would clean up and store some tools and supplies I wasn't using right now. I began to do just that while my coffee machine did it's thing.