I believe that when we meet someone with whom we are like-minded, with whom we can share our heart, and with whom we communicate well, we have to hang on to these kindred spirits. Many of you know how hard long-distance, heck, even short distance correspondence is for us! My brother once said that calling our house is like calling a black hole. Well, I'm rubber and you're glue, Robert!
Anyway, this is Me and Liz and Paul. This is a fourteen-or-so-year friendship. (nineteen years if you count the ones Paul's been in on it, but that's not really fair.) I used to call her "Zil", after a funny trip where everyone briefly got called their backwards name, and I kept it up with Zil. We once made her watch a Will Farrell movie with us, to her loud protestations to the store clerk and to us all the way home that she hated said actor, and everything he was ever in. Well, I think she watched that flick about three more times before returning it, and her speech has been peppered with quotations from it ever since.Duude, we miss her!
She has a master's degree. In Science.
Just kidding. She's a real live doctor. Of medicine. Wait, no-- of Osteopathy. I know what you're thinking. But she's not a quack. Osteopaths are even better than real doctors, and often even help people get better! Seriously. She's got healing in her hands. (Liz would be gasping and whacking me now, if she weren't in Arizona)
Okay, enough squirreliness. As Gibbie says, "Back to work now, back to work." (that's a quote from Birthday Bear in The Witch Down the Street. not the best writing, but really cute bears!)
Anyway, I just want to show y'all one of my own little pleasures in life: my art box. It's just a lil cigar box, filled with my essential art supplies. I take it with me whenever I might need a bit of art, anywhere, in a pinch, you know. Actually, with what's in this box, I can make almost anything two-dimensional I want. It's light, packable, durable, protects my supplies, and as beautiful as useful. Plus, it took no work to make!My art box contains:
-Ink: walnut, my fave.
-Pen holder: that's the handle for the pen you dip in the ink. cheap, plastic, black, elegant.
-Erasers: kneadable, regular. I never use these.
-Pencil sharpener. I've just switched to a new one. My old ones bit it and it's tedious and messy to use a knife. Did you know there are cheap sharpeners with replaceable blades?
-Lead pencils. Okay, graphite. Okay, I don't even know that, you stickler! HB, 2B, whatever.
-lil ruler (six inch, wooden, metal edge. vintage!)
-X-acto knife. I like things that start with X-
-extra (X-tra) blades, and safe dispenser
-stoneware bowl for ink. I like to work out of a little well, to minimize the impact, and the loss incurred by spilling. I spill lots and I'm just dealing with that.
-nibs. These are the metal points that make the line with a dip-pen. My new favorites are at Wet Paint. They're the Japanese ones behind the counter, and they're like a thousand times better than any other nib ever. Seriously.
-a bamboo pen. for ink with thicker lines
-a wooden tool meant for throwing pots on a wheel, that I use as a paper folder. Actually, I never use it. I should trade it for my bone folder.
-a tiny chamois useful for blending, especially with charcoal
-a rag. for blotting ink
-watercolor pencils. I just love my Faber Castell Aquarelles. I use them for everything and they are fabulous. I adore how they work in conjunction with my Walnut ink. I have a big set, but mostly use about 6 colors, so I put them in my Art Box.
-a vintage eraser/brush tool. The eraser is a wheel with a brush attached. I use it exclusively for brushing dust or eraser dust off of work. It's from my late great-grandmother Daisy's paint box, and erasers that old oughtn't to be used.
Isn't that amazing? The whole thing is maybe 5x7", all told. I holds way more in it than I need, and I love it so.
1 comment:
Come on, now, I thought Will Farrell was Chris Farley! :)
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