Still Summer

 
 

Last bits of Summer and the view from here. I’ve been holed up finishing work for a deadline and am finally coming up for air. But in between, there’s been some collage making (above), pumpkin harvesting (middle) and picking the last of the flowers (below) and a fortuitous used book discovery at Book and Bar (also below). Please tell me I’m not the only person that buys duplicates of their favorite books because they can’t see them sit unloved?

Aside from all that, there’s been lots of swimming and ice cream this summer. There’s been watching of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. I made apple hand pies from this recipe. And this Tiny Desk Concert is all kinds of wonderful (full disclosure, Left Handed Kisses is probably in my top 50 songs ever ever ever).

So back to the drafting table. Then out of doors. Because there’s a handful of days before Autumn is here, proper, and I intend to squeeze every last ounce out of Summer.

Plink, Plink, Plonk

 
 

I was working on some sketches for a new linocut this past week. I got a mini block printing press for my birthday and now want to print anything and everything. This fellow didn’t make the cut this go around, but I couldn’t resist turning the sketch into something a little more finalized.

July and/or August

 
 

Summer things I like/love…

  • Gardening: After I drew the Swiss chard the deer ate it all. And the collard greens. And the kale. Oof… But there are pumpkins, so win some, lose some.

  • I sewed this terrific free dress pattern, using an old IKEA duvet cover for fabric. If I could wear it everyday, I would. I made a handful of adjustments (a waistband to lengthen the bodice, gathered skirt instead of pleats and a redrafted round neckline). Overall, it’s a solid workhorse of a pattern.

  • It’s been blisteringly hot, but it always seems to be misty and grey in the Maigret mysteries, so that’s what I’m reading right now.

  • Cooking With Dorothy Sayers

  • Listening to this song on an endless loop.

  • The miniature models Simon Weisse makes for Wes Anderson movies are magical.

 
 

Also, blueberries. So many blueberries. There has been blueberry ice cream, coffee cake, and berries on yogurt. There is blueberry cordial steeping and shrub being made (recipe from this issue of Taproot magazine). It’s beginning to feel like a picture book I remember as a child, revolving around a family and their overwhelmingly prolific fruit tree. I can’t remember the name of the title, but I feel like it involved plums and jam and existential dread. If you remember this delightfully quirky story, I’d be much obliged for the title.

Rosa Rugosa

 
 

A new pattern I’ve been working on, inspired by beach roses. At my first job out of school, I used to park in the free spots and walk the half mile to the office. Summer mornings, a stretch of the road would be lined with beach roses. If it was low tide, this helped improve the walk exponentially (the smell of the tide going out on a hot day isn’t for the faint of heart).

I worked in a windowless office and usually spent summers bundled up in sweaters, fighting a losing battle against the air-conditioning. But those roses always signified summer, even if indoors it felt like January.

And maybe that’s why I have a soft spot for Rosa Rugosa, even now.

Olga's Dream

 
 

I remember reading Robert Massie’s The Romanovs: The Final Chapter in high school, being obsessed with the idea that Anastasia could have survived. I was thinking of that when I fell down an internet rabbit hole this past weekend, reading about the last days of the Grand Duchesses. As my music professor used to say, Plus ça change, etc., etc., etc.

And because I can’t get those young women out of my head, I drew this. Given the time, I’d love to develop this one further, their whole maddening, heart-breaking, fascinating story.

"When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville"

 
 

I like typography. I like embroidery. So I decided to do an embroidered book cover, as a personal project. The process is slow going, stitching all that kudzu. But I’m always up for stepping away from the pixels to work on something more tangible, so this scratches that itch nicely.

Other things:

  1. My Mom loaned me The Face of Russia: Anguish, Aspiration, and Achievement in Russian Culture and it’s fascinating, the juxtaposition of art, literature and film with the history of Russia. Very readable, definitely recommend.

  2. The reboot of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans is a delight. I was underwhelmed (and slightly disturbed) by the 2009 version, but this go around is a far better adaptation. Also, with Hugh Laurie as writer and director, I don’t see where you can really go wrong.

  3. A fun Canada Day roundup of books, including Anne Arrives.