Sherri Woodard Coffey

I spent a couple of days getting my studio back in order, moving furniture, clearing out the dregs of things I didn’t know where to put or whether to even keep. The piece above has been moved so many times lately that I hope it is in its permanent location. Thank goodness it comes apart into stacking units. Some of that old office/whatever furniture was constructed in such a clever way! With this piece, each size of drawers, the top, and the bottom stand are made to fit together in whatever configuration you want. I forgot about this piece when I wrote about my obsession with drawers. Even though most of these drawers are not labeled, I know what’s in each one—well, generally. On the left of the picture you can see large notebooks of artist paper, from drawing to watercolor. I have no idea where to store those. Help! Send me your ideas.

Weaving will not start again this week, but I am thinking about tying the warp on again, even though there are things I have to do each day. We’ll see.

I drove to Dallas yesterday to go to Crate & Barrel. There are none anywhere near Fort Worth. Ask me how I like driving to Dallas. Hate it! This trip wasn’t so bad, but still—I don’t know where anything is, the traffic is horrible, drivers are more aggressive. Although, I have to admit, early morning traffic was not so bad this time. The C&B trip was to get things on a bridal registry. I was shopping for several. Oh, the sacrifices we make!

Drawers. Why am I always so attracted to them? Probably some deep psychological something that I don’t want to explore. In antique stores and flea markets, they always beg me to look. I only look nowadays because I already have drawers in several places in my house. Below is an old spool cabinet that is used as an end table. Also, a set of drawers that holds strands of beads—malachite, coral, lapis, etc. Then there are the drawers that are mostly hidden my the bunnies and other stuff.

The picture at the top is from here. There is a complete slideshow of the actor B.D. Wong’s home in NY. This picture shows a few of the sewing machine drawers he collects with the yardsticks as a background. I’ve got sewing machine drawers!

Beginning of slide show: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/09/06/greathomesanddestinations/20120906-LOCATION.html?ref=garden#1

Source

Finally! Finally, some cooler weather. It was actually in the 60s Sunday morning. I always know there’s been a real change in the weather when the tire light comes on in the car. I lived in ignorant bliss before acquiring a car with the tire sensor.

September to me is always a time of renewal, a time to start fresh. That feeling probably comes from all those freshly sharpened pencils, the brand new Crayons, empty sheets of notebook paper, the new teacher and new grade. Whatever, it’s like a new year. To celebrate the new year, I send my grandchildren Happy New Year cards with a gift card tucked inside. For myself, I now have a new shed that is completely empty and fresh, just waiting for the mower, garden tools, and the other things that can’t be thrown away or donated yet.

I am also celebrating with a new activity. In the continuing saga of rebuilding a life, I have signed up with about 50 other women at The Woman’s Club to learn how to play bridge. The organizer of this group actually used the words “party bridge” together in a sentence! Thinking I’d be the oldest person there because, after all, one who reaches my age should already know how to play bridge, don’t you think? Pleasantly surprised, there was a great mix of age groups, and I don’t have to be scared that the very serious player will get mad at me.

What, you may ask, are those bottles at the top for? I just liked the picture. The designs are taken from the ubiquitous plastic bottles of cleaning supplies that we all have in our houses. Except these are made of porcelain.

My blog hasn’t been transferred yet. You can find it here.

Notice the difference between these two “paintings?” The one above is a virtual re-creation using some amazing science techniques. You can read the article here. It’s really interesting. Evidently Van Gogh was using a paint color that was not long lived. In the painting below, that particular color has faded. In doing the scientific examination, they were able to add that fleeting color back in, as seen in the virtual painting above. The source for the painting below is here.

Okay, so it’s not happening until next summer, but I’m pretty excited about this upcoming exhibit at the Kimbell. Of all the pre-Columbian civilizations, the Andean groups are my favorites. The Wari were long before the Inca, and I look forward to seeing the many artifacts in this exhibit. I’m not sure how much I really paid attention to Wari art, but I remember the 2008 Ed Rossbach exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was delightful to find this totally unknown (to me) exhibit! What I liked was that the inspiration for the pieces, either in picture form or real artifacts, were included. Wonderful! He seems to have experimented with just about every textile technique know to man. Here’s a Google image page to see the wide variation in his work.

In the Kimbell calendar magazine, that arrived Saturday, were many pictures of brightly colored woven objects—woven with cotton, camelid fibers, and feathers. Woo hoo!

With all the painting and floors completed, everything moved back into place, and even kind of “decorated,” it was not totally unexpected to have a letdown and a bit of time-wasting going on. At least that’s what I told myself during the first week. The second week I began to wonder, and by the time I got to the third week, I decided that maybe I needed to see my doctor. Unfortunately, she is moving into new offices and is only taking a few patients a day right now. She’s not even ready for records to be sent to the office. So, I postponed making an appointment. Finally, though, I decided that enough is enough! I will be seeing her this week. Here’s hoping that a somewhat “normal” day and week will soon be here.

I did scrape up enough energy to take care of one issue. After walking through the back porch to the carport that is half full of stuff, I decided that I’m done with that. I checked out both Home Depot and Lowe’s for sheds, but those sheds are designed for those who will be doing their own construction. No help there! Then I checked Angie’s List, found someone with good reviews, and discussed it with him. The new shed will be constructed the first part of September. Fingers crossed! I’m looking forward to sorting through all the stuff outside and a few thousand more trips to Goodwill. And it will be nice to get the lawn and gardening equipment somewhere else.

If you’ve been wondering why the picture of an inkle weaving book is at the top of this post…I just ordered it. Since I don’t knit, I’m always looking for something to do with my hands when I just want to sit and vege out in front of the TV. Maybe this will work. I have an Ashford Inklette that I like much better than the regular inkle loom. I got mine locally, but they are available at Halcyon, where this picture came from.

I’m a reader. A book goes with me wherever I go. Errands and then lunch with a friend? A book is in the car just in case a wait is necessary. And these books don’t have to be quality literature. I’m a great fan of escapism. Sometimes I choose really cheap books to go on my Kindle, but lately I’ve chosen some real duds. One was a tale in which the main character was in a domestic abuse situation. Not only was that topic uncomfortable to read, but I also kept waiting for something epic to happen. Imagine my surprise when it turns out that the character’s life events were all just dreams while she was in a coma for ten years! For some reason I felt cheated at this turn of events. But on the other hand, it has made me think. What IS going on with someone who is in a coma? Maybe that’s what good literature is. What do you think?

The color of this piece just grabbed me. I had to learn more. This came from an ArtDaily article, which has mentioned this particular dig before. It’s located in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, but I’m not sure where exactly in relationship with the city of Oaxaca. I wanted to know more about the color itself. Here’s a quote from the article:

The red pigment with which it was painted is one of the more distinctive characteristics of the piece. The painting can be fairly appreciated by its degree of conservation. This pigment might have been obtained from cinnabar or from the hematite.

Do you find it amazing that these colors have survived so many long decades, centuries? I remember the first Mayan ruins I saw, which were on a cliff above the east Caribbean. The colors on the walls were still visible in parts. Absolutely amazing!

Source

And, while I’m on the subject (kind of) of Mexico…..Honestly, this is

not an advertisement for Pier 1, but I love these margarita glasses.And totally off the subject of Mexico, except that history in interrelated…I also found this in ArtDaily. The headline for this article seems interesting. They are going to freeze dry this three-centuries-old ship found in the Gulf of Mexico and reassemble it. How ‘bout that? The ship was discovered in the area of Matagorda Bay.

I wondered, though, why they would be doing this at Texas A&M. Seems that this ship changed the history of Texas. This French ship was unable to bring supplies to LaSalle and his men, which left the area wide open to Spanish explorers. Another how ‘bout that?

This fashion piece got my attention in the Wall Street Journal. Is it the 70s again? The pieces above are not so bad, but the slide show that accompanies the article—well, you just have to judge for yourself. The pink and black plaid or checked or whatever they are? You decide. And there’s a picture of an apartment chock full of geometric prints, a place where I could never relax. Where does one rest the eyes?