here and flax

a mild but windy stretch

of winter

has really assisted my barn 

in falling apart.

so weird to see the raw inside timbers outside.

the sky

when clear

has had odd clouds

and

sometimes just hanging out

little bits of rainbows.

trying to beat fiber with sticks

and the giant mallets at zone 4--

my hands hurt so much after using them

so 

i ordered these lovely

apple and maple ones

from hook paper pottery.

the last bit of my personal paper intensive

has been all about flax.

linen rag papers

below are off cuts from new painter's canvas

i pull lovely little samples

that are business card size.

driving one morning an owl watched as i 

stopped the car,

rummaged through all my stuff in a big basket

finally finding the camera,

and finally aiming, 

owl said, enough, and flew off.

(i think it was a barred owl)

always have your camera ready to grab when you're driving!

so here's the linum usitatissimum stash

(there are about 60 more large tan sheets in the drying stack at Z4) 

dark = linen canvas cloth

tan = cut flax fiber from belguim

white = one small tablecloth, minus decorative edges
(largest sheets are about 13 x 18)

flax and linen rag paper has a fierceness about it,

it's lovely to pull

makes a delicious scent in the vat

but dries tight and cockles easily

turning the edges into potato chips 

something to understand.

i like that it's not easy.

this little sheet below

is maybe my favorite paper from this winter

sits on nigel peake's drawn grid

holding pebbles from maine.