Postcards from the Ledge – 14

No you didn’t miss a post.
I just feel there is enough bedevilment in the air to add a thirteenth.

It’s been a quiet week here.
Only two major meltdowns,
some sunnier days,
and a lot of learning.

A future posting will feature the new spinning tools that I tried out this week.
Viking wool combs.
Every bit as steam punk as they sound.
It’s early days on that learning curve but I’m pretty sure they will be a game changer in the productivity chain in my fiber arts production.

I’m closing out a morning of catching up here in the office.

Paid some bills.
Completed the 2020 Census.
Made a playlist of music for bill paying…
currently spinning Help Me from the Joni Mitchell Tribute Album…
appropriate.

And I was finally able to complete a recent print order.

Once in a blue moon I get a notice from PayPal that someone out there has visited my website and ordered a print from the studio. It’s rare enough that it always takes me by surprise and reminds me not to go too quickly through the email when I’m deleting things.

I discovered two new ways in which this new world order has affected the business side of this professional artist thing.
Formerly reliably overnight delivery options…are not.
And stay at home orders make regular trips to the Post Office…not.

I shared an email chuckle with the patient patron, after confirming the arrival of the missing link in my supply chain I let him know that once the delivered parcel was released from it’s 24 quarantine on the back porch I would be able to complete his order..and he replied with a thumbs up as his porch “sometimes looks like a loading dock”.

This morning I am hoping to solve new world order number two by putting the online USPS pickup service to its first test. If they can find their way to the log cabin side porch it may be a game changer.

Some months back I was moved to announce that the prices of my studio prints would be increasing in response to some substantial raises in material costs. (Ink is still the most expensive liquid on the planet.)
But honestly, I don’t have the energy to worry about that right now or to make things any harder for supporters of the arts. So as long as I can continue to get ink, paper and mailing tubes I’ll be happy to send prints out into the world…

Along with my sincere gratitude.

So…
here’s to another of the many essential workers who show up so we can stay home…

The Flyer  –  2005

One of those which came in a dream.

Stumbling out of the dark cabin bedroom so as not to wake sleeping dog
or partner I go tripping over knitting and socks to find pen and paper.

Quick sketch of birdcage open window and feathers.
Capture the essence before it flutters away.
Then tiptoe back to bed and work on the rest of the story.

Weeks later, after Ebay packages arrive
and I have dug the mailbag from Muddy Creek Forks out of the closet,
I am left with the elements but not the milieu.
And so, from the corner of my impossibly cramped and overcrowded studio,
comes an uncluttered and opening space full of color and light and mystery.
A feng shui for the imagination.

Yesterday I received a moleskin pocket journal in the mail.
It is going right beside the bed with pen and flashlight.
Pleasant Dreams…