Wednesday, August 24, 2011

more pen/ink/cp pieces

pen/ink/coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 4" x 6"
copyright Teresa Mallen

I have finished off seven more of my 4 inch x 6 inch pen/ink/cp drawings. Of course they will look much better when they are presented with a mat so the ragged paper edges don't show. They are enjoyable to do and I like that I can have a finished work quite quickly. Sometimes my larger pieces can seem to drag on a bit... :-)

Harvest season is upon us as veggies ripen in the garden. We are also storing up food for winter of a different sort - hay for the goats. A year's worth of hay was delivered Saturday morning.


 Looks like a lot but it is only 200 bales.


I grew up on a dairy farm and the conveyor is actually a smaller one that we used on that farm. I am delighted to inform you that I shifted that entire stack of hay myself last Saturday! My husband was stacking the hay in the mow.

Two hundred bales by real farming standards is nothing, just two wagon loads. If there is one thing I learned on the farm while growing up, it was how to handle hay. During my teen years, my mother and I unloaded tens of thousands of bales (from a wagon, not spread all over a lawn - took a lot of walking on Saturday). I had no brothers and there was no hired help. So, yup, this wee pile was a piece of cake and I loved every minute of it.

To this farm girl, the smell of hay is divine and it is very satisfying to know that your animals are set for the winter, no matter how deep the snow nor how severe the cold may get. Did I mention that it was 29 degrees (84F) with 100% humidity the day we put up the hay? And that these bales weigh between 50 - 60 pounds each? I have no idea the amount of water I lost in sweat and my face was the colour of a very ripe tomato but I got the last bale sent up to the loft about 10 minutes before a rain storm blew in. Wet hay is ruined hay.

As a added bonus, I find all of these farming activities provide great therapy for wrists that suffer from too much typing on the computer. A session of planting garden seedlings or pulling weeds, mucking out stalls or shifting bales seems to exercise my hands in a very thorough way. We truly weren't meant to be sedentary creatures and our bodies often remind us!  So yeah for farm work. :-)

8 comments:

Christine Perry | Graphite Art said...

Hi Teresa, your new pen/ink/cp pieces are delightful and inspirational! I will watch for more of your artwork like these.

By the way, did I say how great it is to have you back?! Do you remember me mentioning to you that we are adopting? Well, just to let you know, after 5 years of waiting, we are finally leaving for China shortly to pick up our son from the orphanage. It's really happening. Yayy!!!

Thank you very much for your always sweet comments on my blog!
I have not had enough time to browse your new posts in their entirety, but will do so when I will be back home. Cheers, Christine

Carol Creech said...

Hi Teresa,

These ink and colored pencil pieces are great!! I love them. That is currently my favorite combo of media. I love the look of ink and cp together. So fun to see how yours turned out! Beautiful.
Carol

Teresa Mallen said...

Christine, WOOHOO - I was wondering about the adoption and I actually had started an email to you the other day...okay so I shall get it finished! I am sooooo happy for you, you have made me cry, happy tears of course!!! Thanks for your very kind comments.

Hi Carol, I am very glad that you like these wee pieces. Guess I should provide better close up shots on some of them. :-) Thanks for taking the time to comment!

Barb Goodsitt said...

My favorites are the illustrations of feathers. So delicate and well done. It is nice to see what can be done with mixed media!

Teresa Mallen said...

Thank you Barbara. There shall be more feather drawings in future. I collect wild bird feathers and I have quite a stash of them. Chicken feathers are very pretty too! :-)

Ann said...

I am loving these ink and cp works! And your hosta is looking spectacular! I am looking forward to what you will do with landscape :-) But all that work with the hay! I was exhausted just reading about it!

Teresa Mallen said...

Thanks Ann...I know, the bit about me and the hay makes me sound like I am one of the mythical Amazon women. LOL I am definitely not, I have just acquired some hay handling skills!

Teresa said...

My hat is off to you! And to think I've been complaining about too much stuff to do in the garden! Cringe! LOL!!