Return to Writing

Today is the first day this blog is being used. So far we’ve been working at the development site.  So this really is the first entry.

Today was my first day back at the writing since November 16, the Paper Crisis. In short, I ran out of paper and all the stock at my supplier was damaged. I spent a week running from store to store.  Few had the paper that I’m using, and what they had was similarly damaged. No wonder, as they all got it from the same warehouse. And, none of the online stores had any Stonehenge, Polar White, 22 x 30. At one point I was informed that the manufacturer had been purchased and Polar White was taken out of the catalogue and no longer produced.  Not sure if that was true, but it put me in quite a panic.  Having written 13 sheets (a good chunk out of 65) I didn’t want to have to change my paper.  This particular paper is the brightest white I’ve seen in archival 100% rag print papers. It’s quite a versatile paper with two deckle edges, enough flesh to deboss and strength of fiber to work on with dry media. Anyway, one of the oldest art stores in Toronto, even though it doesn’t carry the paper, ordered the paper for me through their US supplier, and it arrived only a few days later.  Relieved.  And a few days later I also got a shipment of the crayons.  But I could not get back into the writing routine as I had to deal with a lot of meetings – including one with the gallery staff and David Findlay, tech coordinator for the project to go over equipment, set up, etc – write a grant app and work on this site with site designer Ali Ammari.  Grant app sent on the 3rd. I caught up with laundry and cleaning yesterday.

Today was a good day.  Made a template for laying down the rules for the writing, re-arranged the space somewhat to open up more room for the pile of written paper as it grows, rewrote the first page (the old one was revealed using a litho crayons which are slightly different black than Caran d’Ache wax crayons I’m using now), and finished a half-written page that I’d abandoned on Nov 16. And a whole lot of phone calls and tech stuff in the morning. Tomorrow, I’ll start applying dry media to the pages that are embossed already. Should be able to start posting images in a few days.

I stopped in the middle of line 8 on page 9 of the original. Total writing time: 4 hr, 21 min.

Frequently rolling my right hand and forearm on a hockey ball helps release the huge tension that builds up by holding the burnisher and applying force long periods of time.