brutally hot

it was brutally hot, seriously, 34 people died in northern spain,we're not used to hot weather and even the nights were hot which is not usual. yet we are suffering from something negationists say it's not real but a political agenda.

i spent the days watching j doramas lying on the sofa and sipping matcha fizzes .getting dizzy every time i stood up. the absolute pits.

now that we got back to blissful 16ºc. started  knitting again. this is the flared back created following my bestie's instructions.looks good but i'll only know after i assemble the top and discover that it's just another ill fitting number (≧∇≦). not happy enough i am attempting a color block top.the world belongs to the daring.(˚▽˚)

 8/1 tow linen is not the easiest to work with,sheds like crazy. my other machine's carriage took its toll and won't knit from right to left.let's see if i can solve the issue bcse sending it to the uk is out of the question. rant alert.

 shipping is absurd, but i can deal with that. what i won't deal with is getting fried with taxes bcse they chose to leave the union.sorry. end of rant.

neki desu

 

call to order

lil' susie homemaker spent last week sanding, waxing and putting up shelves.with husband -san's help.

now i have a table to work on. all that gained space and order makes me dizzy. the walking closet also gained some shelves.

the rest of the week was spent trying to fix the web page and cursing. nice little free programs for setting up web pages are being discontinued or are not compliant with the windows updates. will eventually update the page to a newer design, but can't deal with that now.

neki desu

 

life is just like a song

at last. the bad news is that i will need to re warp as i consumed the warp in tests.and just got a mail from my geek friend who is interested in a collabo with me for a show in barcelona. guess this one will have to be parked.

neki desu

 

snow on the hills

right, all those gorgeous fluffs  down mean snow up.cold and beautiful weekend. lots of wind as well.

strange winter due to climate change some days winds from the south and temps around 20ºc next day north wind and a drop of 15º. it hasn't stopped raining down south. people are being evacuated bcse rivers are overflowing. and most people thought that climate change meant just hot summers.

neki desu

 

a weekend of baking

my mother's tuned up  cornbread recipe.she added sugar eggs and lots of butter and while keeping the crumbly consistency turned it cake-like.

it was such a hit last year that i decided to repeat it, christmas fruitcake is somewhat alien here but cornbread ,although not the sweet kind, is familiar to their tastebuds.

now comes the hard part, delivery. everyone's busy during this time finding a spot to coincide with the different agendas is a work of art.

set up the lights so that's down ,need to start working on the xmas card animation.

xmas dinner already thought up and half shopped,tablecloth and napkins need to go to the cleaners. anxiously waiting for tai chi to end this week.

neki desu

 

life maxims

 a standard in my household: you can boil water in a frying pan, but the existence of saucepans indicates something.

same for brushes. pointy end brushes work wonders in sumi-e at least for non chinese or japanese.

they were taught since childbirth to use regular fude and are skilled. for us is an acquired skill if you're lucky. unless you're a sumi -e shishou, which is not the case here.

my brushes the traditional fude work well for calligraphy, but i have problems ( ohhh using the p word)

getting them pointy and not separating. so here they are recent beauty purchase.  (*^▽^*) 

neki desu

 

pondering

 it's already december and still pondering.

warp silk dyed with tannin , walnut and akane. weft wool/ stainless dark blue and terracotta from the much beloved and now defunct avril in kyoto.

 2 cms of plain weave 4 -5 cms in broken twill, nice soft furrows. the question is re-sley at a more open 8 ends   x cms for more drama( and possibly less stable cloth) or keep it as is at 10 ends x cm what to do ??

this is the back colorwise much more subdued. like the two for one effect  unlike double weave it's  minimum effort.

on a side note life now became hollywood. mayor computer overhaul,changed hard disk, added more memory and did a big deep cleanup.all functions became instant. .feeling virtuous because instead of getting a new one i repaired the old one.the dumpster won't see me for another stretch. ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )   

neki desu

 

seriously going for broke

these are the colored inksticks i brought back from japan last year.i bought the three traditional colors i found but was missing beni as the store didn't have it. the longing was settled in. fast forward and now as i am taking sumi-e classes i convinced myself that it was ok to source it from japan. and as the shipping was going to be the same whether i bought one or five.....

the people that i know who went to japan last year were not too enthusiastic about bringing the beni stick back. and mind you i was going to have it delivered at their hotel  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ .

 i flip out when i read of people doing a crowdfunding bcse they want to go to japan and the reason behind is bcse they are wonderful people.  i have to depend on  the wherewithal to go there.

maybe i'm cultivating excellent karma.

neki desu

 

my crush

latest obsession. while there i saw a girl on a bike with this tote and instantly coveted it. found it online and ordered it.  took a while by amazon standards ,but arrived yesterday. cool oi? now i need to find capote's book in english.

neki desu

 

come to think of it

more than changing pace or looking for diversion the work on monoprinting has been training for fabric printing.DUH. the fabric's  ready for that only need to decide  the colors and cook the veg. matter to make the inks. got the screens and the squeegee let's see if in between visits i can start. august is coming. summer's ending and august is THE hot month.or should i say was bcse this year the heat started in june. while the rest of the country fries in temps ranging from 35 to 45 up north we've only had 3 days of 30ºc.

really anticipating the printing sessions whenever they happen.

neki desu 

 

nothing else but

threading. still have around 200+ threads to go.counting on finishing this ordeal this week. approaching the dreaded passing from front to back.that's when threads go wild.💩💩💩

dying,mind the spelling, to finish this and start weaving. given the case that i encouter lots of f*p*s i then will proceed to trash this warp.now i have the courage to do it. after two years i mean.

 this week is dentist and other minutia. next week this one will be a free baby. at last.

neki desu

 

dissipating

in all its meanings. threading is not only boring,but also an act of dexterity and concentration. if something goes wrong it's a f****p bigtime.

stop and smell the flowers, in my case monoprint and go see the sea.

salinas sunset. can't beat this.

neki desu

 

meanwhile back at the ranch

taking advantage of a bug free warp and tying on. it's a hell of a slow process,but it saves two steps.

especially with this nervewrecking wiry silk i think it's adequate .

still need to do some computer work to see what  i  can weave with this straight draw without getting bored. today is the last japanese class. want to end them badly so i can concentrate on other things. need to start planing the trip to bilbao. and there's passport renewal in barcelona. hope i can solve it on line and avoid the trip there.who would have thought.

neki desu

 

it's been raining non stop

therefore working with color to cheer me up bcse there's more rain forcasted for the week. my only consolation is that it was worse in macondo.

this is more like it. there is a slug invasion never seen before. exagerated is an understatement, the green bean plants are gone, my second amaryllis is also gone. everything is covered with ground eggshells but they're so many they climb the walls. me too.

neki desu

 

persistence, is it a virtue?

or is it stupidly dumb? i persist in knitting a decent wearable sweater with no luck when i should concentrate in artsy-fartsy knits that are no problem for me. plus i have tons of knittable images and good colorful cottons. yet i persist.

monoprints. they have become receptacles for frustration. they are fun and make me feel adequate and productive. i give importance to discussing these facts bcse on line lives look as if no one ever faced neither failure nor deception. and as we know  perfection in life is simply bs. it does not exist. for one fleeting perfect moment one has to endure a life  of imperfection.

we're not buddha.

neki desu

 

finally

we had a dusting of snow over the weekend. i missed that view, especially now that i have a short telephoto lens which i bought for the trip. yes, photos are photos and mobiles are instagram.

neki desu

 

hisashiburi

cute line sticker by kiki

 discovering that it takes longer to recover and get back into the swing of things. plus xmas in the way.(>人<)

have not been idle this time though, been visiting various circles of dante's hell working on updating my web page. wanted to publish it last week, but still have to debug it and i'm going nuts.

it will fall into place. eventually.

already went back to japanese clasess and tai chi on wednesday.

neki desu

 

getting the hand again

you know the saying about riding a bike right? same thing with materials. i experimented a lot in the late 90's early 20000. put all to rest and now i'm back again. once you learn it goes to your hard drive and you can retrive it at will.  above,painted and stamped lutradur.

some machine stitching and fabrics added. the ric-rac is from a paradisiac notions store in tokyo. hello, wait for me please.

had to bite my hand as it reached for the heat gun.

just some stitching around the fabric inset to integrate it to the background.it was fun.

meanwhile i'm  physically training for the trip.

not only walking but doing weights and one a week serious stretching exercises because there's no tai chi yet.

eki desu 

 

more developments

the purpose of this blog has always been documenting my goings and doings. not doing too good with the photos , i tend to forget to take the raw state of things. in the begining this was white with stark black lines .this is the second take,lines stamped on the left and some transparent micaceous oxide staining the center.was really tempted to leave it there, but the barroque elf presented itself.

still in the realm of zen  but the add on looked somewhat like it was, something pasted on.

using again materials; this is a plastic carrier bag submitted to the heat gun and then painted.

the texture is  cool rugose,if you get my drift.

integration of all the things together like the beatles song chorus: all together now. maybe what prompted it was the histeria created by the announcement that oasis is back.

neki desu

 

end of summer blues

i can feel the end,there's a slight chill in the air. i forgot to take a before photo to show the development,but it was black & white. somehow these 6 dancing ladies have not cheered me up although i like the outcome. will need to have some chocolate to chase the blues.

still have to figure out  some things for the upcoming trip to japan.

neki desu