Potatoes, Middiemarch, conte crayon, Ukraine

Yesterday included helping the visiting grandchild, aged seven, plant a container of potatoes. No pix, for her security. Gary had been keen to do it after seeing mine, and yesterday was the day. I had a couple of small yellow potatoes already sprouting, so I cut and she planted. Then we squirrel proofed it with qtips and peppermint essential oil, and declared it done.

Lovely sunshine and an amazingly chilly wind, too cool to sit in the shade, but fine for walking and planting spuds.

Kate Atkinson came through again with another Jackson Brodie reread. 

Now I think I need a change of reading pace. My long awaited library loan arrived, of wonderful Middlemarch, which I want to reread, so long since I read it and was blown away by its power.

I had not noticed it's an audiobook. 32 hours in 7 days. Oh. But undaunted, I found another affordable option

And this can come with me to pick up whenever I'm up for it. The classics are amazingly cheap to buy this way, and readable on the Kindle, more than in book form for me. 

Yesterday I got a very appreciative note about the latest Sock Ministry mailing, consider yourself included, Joanne! And I'll probably cast on a little something today.  Or maybe stitch a bit. Or both. But first I have to get up.

Drawing in bed this morning, after a foray downstairs for coffee and a bit of pawing through my collection of conte crayons, stick charcoal and school chalk

Here testing for color and picking out a tortillon and a stick of sepia conte.

There's a thrill in using conte, not really crayon, more compressed dry pigment, because it's the drawing tool of the great masters. Leonardo used it. 

It comes in various earth tones, and is very happy on paper with a bit of tooth to it. You can blur your lines with a finger or a tortillon. I ended up just using a finger, liking the closeness to the surface.

As you'll have noticed, I edit a lot from my subject. I don't have any interest in exact copying, though I've done it for class. 

Anyone with patience and a steady hand can do realistic drawing. To me, though, realistic reproduction is pretty much dead on arrival, like drawing and painting from photographs. 

I think you need to see what the artist has to say about what's significant, and the artist needs to be in the presence of the subject to catch its life. Other folks, other strokes.

About tools, this xacto is a stubborn thing. 

The blade was dull and I wanted to replace it. But no power in earth can get the blade out. This isn't the simple xacto where you unscrew the top, the blade drops out, you replace it. 

It's the other kind where you have to push the knurled bit up to release the grip. Only it won't. Pliers, brute force, couldn't shift the collar up or down. So I gave up, and sharpened the blade with an emery board and it's good to go. One way or another!

Happy Monday everyone! Some victories in Ukraine, hoping they'll get ahead of the losses.