Another step sideways

I know I’ve written before about the circuitous routes in my life whether they are work-related or interest-related. In the past few weeks I’ve been reminded yet again of the value of going sideways.

            During high school I was really interested in art and spent my Saturdays listening to 'Saturday Afternoon at the Opera' on CBC while painting, constructing models or experimenting with various print-making techniques. The one thing I didn’t do much was draw. I didn’t like what I drew, and I wasn’t good at it compared to the other kids in my class. I was either lucky or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. My marks in art were good since representational drawing was a very small part of what we were required to do.

            Because I loved art, the materials, the colours, the shapes and the possibilities it offered for fun, I enrolled in education with a major in art at university. I thought being an art teacher would be the ideal job. Because I wasn’t very good at drawing I thought I’d better take a drawing course. Logical but not helpful as it turned out. Those who could draw well did well. Those who couldn’t, didn’t and I don’t remember receiving any particular instruction other than things like, ‘draw what you see,’ and ‘keep it loose.’ I remember that our instructor used to give us a three-hour drawing project using a live model and then go home. What I needed was someone who could explain to me what to look for so that I could draw what I saw. Needless to say, I didn’t progress much and ended up with a D in the course.  It is the only D on my entire university record. Even more ironic was the fact that I couldn’t take any more courses in art until I had retaken and passed the drawing course which I didn’t technically need to pursue my education route. I was also taking a design course at the time and, while I’d like to report that I got a spectacular mark in it – I didn’t.  I think I got a C, but at least it was a pass.

            I couldn’t see myself taking the drawing course again when I figured the result would be the same.  I didn’t stop to think that I may have had a different instructor from whom I might have been able to learn more and that I might have passed on a second go-through. I saw it as the closing of a door and veered off onto the drama route. Those of you who know me know the rest of that story.

            What I didn’t do was give away any of the art materials I had collected. Despite the frustration of the drawing course, I had enjoyed the quiet focus of sitting and drawing for long periods. In the back of my mind there was fascination and awe that people could take a pencil and a piece of paper and create something that delighted me when I looked at it.

            I like to play imaginary games, you know the sort ‘what would you do if you won a million dollars?’ ‘If you hadn’t had the career you did, what would you have done?’ or ‘If you could instantly be good at one thing what would it be?’ Lately, my answer to the last question has been draw representationally.

            I didn’t completely stop drawing after that university course: I took drawing courses as part of my Theatre Crafts Diploma and again, I wasn’t nearly as good at it as were my classmates but I managed to muddle my way through set and costume design. Once I started teaching there were opportunities to work with art in the classroom and I jumped on every one of those that came along.  One delightful semester I taught a grade 10 English class with a partner who is a dedicated, successful artist and excellent teacher. That inspired me to give drawing another chance and I enrolled in a drawing course at The Alberta College of Art. It was an extension course so no grades. Whew!

            In that course I improved and came to understand that there was no magic to drawing well. It requires time, patience, and practice. I knew about gesture drawing and blind contour and had a rudimentary understanding of perspective but there was still something missing in order for me to be able to draw what I saw.

            Over the forty-seven years since the drawing course I have remained interested and whenever I was in a bookstore and saw an interesting drawing book, I bought it. Since I have cut back on my commitments in music, I find myself drawn (oops, pun, sorry) to photography and woodwork. Whether or not I have my camera I’m always looking for interesting photographic possibilities. On epiphany this year I was looking at the drawing books on my shelves and decided to count them. There are close to forty. Have I used them? No. Have I read them? Yes. Have I enjoyed the possibilities they hold? Absolutely!  Have I loved them? Yes.

            2019 was a year of substantial changes for us and we remind ourselves often to ‘Do it now!’ We travelled extensively this year – do it while you can because you never know. I’ve always said that when I got to the point where I needed to cut back on the woodwork, I would take up drawing. As I looked at the drawing books, I asked myself, ‘Why not start now?’ There was no good answer to that question, so I took out a sketch book that I bought on sale a while back and started searching YouTube for videos on learning to draw. Some were distinctly unhelpful but two sites Art Tutor TV and The Drawing Database turned out to be just what I needed. These two sites are helping me to see in terms of basic shapes which gives me a way to begin drawing what I see. That is the key I needed. I have that information in some of the books I own but, somehow, seeing it in action caused it to click. 

I have been drawing every day since January 6.  I don’t know how long I’ll keep it up but at the moment it suits me. I haven’t taken longer than forty minutes on one drawing.  I have a bunch of scrap paper on my desk and when I don’t know what else to draw, I practice drawing circles, squares, rectangles and ellipses. I’ve found a couple of pencils and pens that I particularly like. My sketch book is small, so I’m not intimidated by a huge expanse of blank paper and I don’t feel the need to take on complex subjects. Because I’m a journal writer by nature, I draw on one page and make notes about the drawing on the facing page. I find the practice meditative and enjoyable and I can see the improvement.

            I’ve gone back to the drawing books and I’m enjoying them all over again. The sideways part is that by drawing every day I’m bound to improve my ability to see proportions and details as well as overall shapes. Getting better at seeing will help me with composition in photography and with accuracy in building ukuleles. My latest venture on the ukulele front is starting to learn inlay techniques but that’s another topic for another time. Stay tuned.

The bandsaw detective

           

This is the culprit

The longer I do woodworking the more I’m drawn to hand tools.  I know you’ve heard this before and the last couple of weeks have pushed me even farther in the direction I was already going. I do like the speed and efficiency of machines, particularly my bandsaw. If I had only one power machine in the shop it would be the bandsaw.  So, I was not happy when, just before Christmas, I managed to launch part of a log off the saw and bend the blade. I’m not sure what happened; there was a piece of loose bark that chose to separate itself from the main part of the piece as it went through the saw. Anyway, no harm done to me, or the wall. The saw, however, complained vociferously when I turned it back on and I decided to finish the job with hand tools. I was making the letters ‘X, Y, Z’ as props for the children’s Christmas Eve service at church and I had forgotten that I agreed to do it. Since we were leaving on Dec 23 for a Christmas visit, I found myself in the shop on Dec 22 as the sun set. I got the letters done and delivered later that evening.

            I left the problem with the bandsaw until Thursday when Richard graciously agreed to take a look at it. I just run the things: I don’t know how they work. First we did some cleaning up and took off the blade.  Then R took off the top wheel. In addition to the bent blade, the bearings in the top wheel were shot i.e. the bits that should have been turning weren’t. I managed to grasp that concept. The next question became what to do about it. Enter good old Google. There was a number on the bearing, so I looked that up. Turns out there are several different kinds of bearings with that number. What kind do I need? No idea. I called one place and after five minutes on hold I hung up.  I looked on the website of another place that had previously helped me out when I needed to buy some key stock for the bottom of the bandsaw because the piece that was in place fell out and I couldn’t find it.  According to their catalogue, they had the part I needed. Yipee!  I headed out yesterday with the bandsaw wheel in hand. When I explained to the very nice guy behind the counter what I needed he informed me that they no longer carry bearings and can only special order them. He didn’t recommend that because if I happened to order the wrong one, I’d be on the hook for it and it would take a while to get it in. 

            He volunteered that there was a place just across the parking lot called Transmission Supply. I thanked him, wished him a good day and trudged across the parking lot without my gloves. With the windchill it was only about -11 but when you’re holding onto a rather large aluminum wheel without gloves on your hands it’s a wee mite chilly on the pinkies.

            I wasn’t sure of what to expect having never darkened the door of a transmission place before. There was a young man behind the counter and a man on his phone in line ahead of me. When I came in the man on the phone moved aside for me. I showed the guy behind the counter the wheel with the bearing in it. He told me that there were two types I could use. I could use the same type that was in there already or I could use a higher quality sealed bearing. It didn’t take me long to opt for the second option. He said they would likely last longer. Granted I’ve had the bandsaw for about 10 years and haven’t had to replace the bearings until now, but if I don’t have to do it for the next 20 I’ll be very happy. He checked the size of the bearings with a calliper and brought me the replacement ones. They were about nine bucks a piece, not expensive in my books. That saw is the workhorse of my shop.

            Now I had the new bearings and the wheel with the old bearings in it. I know nothing about bearing pullers and I don’t especially want to learn. He suggested I could put it outside in the cold for a couple of hours and then bring it in to room temperature and gently try to tap the bearings out. This really didn’t sound like a fun project to me so I asked if there was any place he knew of where I could get the bearings changed.  He suggested Humphrey Industrial Repairs and gave me directions as to how to get there. The wheel, the bearings and I headed off.

            At Humphrey Industrial Repairs there were a couple of small offices and I went into the first one on the right. The other had a man sitting behind a desk whereas the one I entered had a counter, looked more like the place where visitors ought to go. There were signs all over about shop rates starting at a minimum of $80 and going up from there. It was worth it to me to have someone who knew what he was doing swap out the bearings in a timely manner. Another pleasant young man (they all look like they are about 12 these days) came into the room and I explained what I needed.  He looked at his watch and asked if I could return in half an hour. I could and I did.

            He came out of the back with the old bearings in one hand and the wheel with the new bearings installed in the other. He asked me if I wanted the old ones. I declined. I don’t have a trophy case for old bearings. When I asked him how much I owed him he waved it away. When I asked him if he was sure he said he was absolutely sure. One of today’s jobs is to put a blade back on the saw and get it back into working order.

            When I started the day yesterday, I was decidedly cranky. Why is it one can drive a car without needing to know how to maintain or fix it but when one takes up woodworking one is required to maintain and fix one’s machines? If some eager young sprout wanted to set up a travelling fix-it shop for woodworking machines I would be his or her first cheerleader and loyal customer. In the meantime, in a world where Australia is burning and a plane of civilians is shot out of the skies, three people who did their jobs with kindness and generosity made a difference to my day. I can’t put out the fires or comfort the relatives of those who were killed in the plane crash, but I hope I can remember to treat the people I meet in the course of a day the way those strangers who were ‘just doing their jobs’ treated me.

2020 Resolutions - Bah humbug!

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Kananaskis village fireworks

Well here we are, another orbit around the sun. It’s a time when a lot of people make resolutions. I suppose it isn’t a bad idea although there seems to be a monotonous sameness in the things I think would be good for me to do in the new year, exercise more, lose weight, set a more regular sleep schedule, write 24 blog posts, declutter the house.  Most years I get to the end of the year only to look at the same list again for the next year. I suppose it’s good to have more than one chance at things and, it’s a good thing that I don’t get a failing grade if I go sideways on any or all of the things that would be good for me to do.

            I’ve been thinking about my stuff lately. I have a lot of it, and I like quite a bit of it. While the minimalism of a tiny house is very attractive on YouTube, I don’t want to live in one. Why? Because I’d have to get rid of so much of my stuff. I’m probably repeating myself when I tell you about the satisfaction I feel when I can put my hand on just the right piece of string or weight of paper for a particular job. Some of this stuff has been kicking around since I was a kid. Some of it has been around for longer than that. I could pass the buck and blame it on my dad who grew up during the depression and was accustomed to saving every little scrap of anything interesting. One of his students once made him a sign that said, “Hood’s second-hand store.” We all had a good laugh about that.

            Although I did grow up with a very good model of a ‘keeper of interesting stuff’ I’ll let my dad off the hook. I think stuff represents interesting possibilities for me. There must be an interesting way to use the Styrofoam containers that mushrooms come in. Actually, there is.  I collected a dozen of them and then made myself toss about half. I use them to put small parts in when I’m working on a project. Another use is to hold a wet glue rag when I need to wipe off the glue squeeze-out after clamping up a panel or box. Wipe the excess glue, wipe my fingers and toss the rag into the Styrofoam container until I’ve got the clamps all sorted and I can set the project aside to dry. Then take the container to the sink, wash out the rag, shake out the container and it’s ready for another use.

            One of my latest favourites is a squeeze bottle that once contained mustard. A pet peeve of mine it the bottles that glue comes in. They either have little tops that can easily get lost or they have ones that you pull on to open them up. Those supposedly keep the spout clean. They work all right for a while and then I end up taking a pair of pliers to the top in order to get it open. Sometimes I pull the top right off and if I don’t, I usually end up chewing it up by picking away at the glue that has hardened inside it.  I’ve transferred some of my glue to the mustard container and I’m very satisfied with it. The cap is attached so I don’t lose it. It seems to stay free of clogs and the opening is small enough that it lays down a nice even bead of glue. Now if I could only find something that would be as successful at dispensing the CA glue (crazy glue) without gumming up the spout and building up so that the small, very losable, cap doesn’t end up sitting on a sculpture of dried glue.

            I have a collection of round things, washers and various sizes of bottle lids with a few empty tape rolls thrown in for good measure. I never know when I’m going to need a particular curve in making a box or a template for a spoon or kitchen tool. Rather than dig out a compass or a French curve I dump my treasured round things on the bench and usually find what I need. And, yes, in case you’re wondering, I do own both compasses and French curves. Those aren’t going anywhere either.

Pen organizer and mustard container

            I treated myself to an advent calendar by David’s Tea. Each day’s teabag came in a little box. I found if I glue three of the boxes together, they make a very good holder for pens and spatulas and they are small enough that I can keep the pens much more organized than when I throw them in a yogurt container or a cup on the bench. I’ve also used these boxes to keep wooden clothes pins corralled in a drawer. I don’t hang up laundry in the shop, but I do use clothes pins as clamps and to keep small bits of sandpaper with other small bits of sandpaper. The box that held all of the tea bags is quite sturdy and I can see myself using it to hold screws and small parts so they are easy to see and to reach. This will be better than the mushroom container because it is not as deep, and I’ll be able to better separate small parts. Note to self: throw out one more mushroom container.

            Some things I keep because they represent avenues I haven’t yet explored, or avenues I want to return to. I have a collection of art books and supplies and I am loathe to part with any of them. Learning to draw fascinates me and I think about it most days although I haven’t done anything about it yet. I took a drawing course in university and failed it miserably. Over the years I’ve come to understand that there isn’t any magic to drawing representationally. There are certain exercises and techniques that help to train the eye. Some folks were interested and learned to see early and some of us didn’t. The ones who got going early put in their practice time and got better and better at it. There aren’t shortcuts for those of us who didn’t but if we’re interested and willing to practice, we can make progress.

            There is another side to all this though. I’d like to live in a house that is a bit more organized and a little less full of things. Someday I’ll have to move out or someone will have to clean out after me. In either case it would be advantageous for me to get rid of some of what I have now. I do attack various corners from time to time. We went through all our towels and sheets and took a huge garbage bag full to the Humane Society to use as bedding for the critters in their care. We haven’t missed the towels. Most of my teaching materials are gone although I occasionally come across something that I missed in previous cleanouts.

            There are a number of challenges in downsizing, minimizing, cleaning out – whatever you want to call it.  For one thing it’s a huge job and some days just considering it defeats me. For another I don’t just want to toss things into the landfill, so the problem comes up of where to responsibly send them. That takes research, planning and energy and it’s easier to do nothing.  

            What’s toughest is not wanting to part with things that, at one time, were very important to me. Deciding to let those things go is closing a door on all the possibilities they represent. Maybe I’ll get back into, running, skiing, cycling, canoeing – substitute any of the activities I used to avidly pursue and don’t pursue anymore. Mostly I’m not ready to admit that it’s time to move on. And, in the tradition of grasping at straws, I did give away all my knitting and crocheting equipment only to go out and buy a bunch of it again when I discovered a new interest in it.

            With that, I’m pretty much back where I started, looking at the year ahead and contemplating how this year could be different. I like to think I’m willing to take small steps and that maybe this year I’ll take a few small steps more often than I have in the past and that will lead to a noticeable difference in the number of things that share my space.  Stay tuned and I wish you and your stuff all the best for 2020.