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| Clothesline & Garage |
Yesterday was a great day for drying clothes outside. It was also an excellent opportunity for testing the limits of working with my Neocolor II wax pastels. Temperatures were in the upper 90s and high humidity made it feel over 100. I was comfortable sitting on my stool on the grass between the sidewalk and street, one block up from my house, drawing this backyard clothesline. My crayons didn't fare as well; they got pretty soft and messy, but, at this point, I'm undeterred from bringing them with me to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2 weeks for the Urban Sketcher Symposium.
Great sketch!! Love the colors on this one. These hot temperatures are something else . . . My wife likes to hang clothes out at this time of year too. A few years ago one of her nieces asked her why she put the clothes out to dry and Carol said it was so they would smell like sunshine. Her nice took a whiff of something on the line and said they just smelled like wet laundry to her. I see this drawing of yours and it makes me smile!
ReplyDelete"Smell like sunshine"--YES, that's such a pleasure-full description, Don. My house here in Iowa, where I've lived for 25 years, does not have a backyard clothesline, as pictured here. Just a measly 6-footer accessed from a small 2nd floor balcony--definitely not enough for a load of wash. My fondest clothesline memories are from the clothe diaper era, when we lived in Minnesota and Richmond, Virginia. It was a twice weekly ritual of purification. I got such pleasure seeing the flapping white, flannel squares filling the full length of the line. And then folding them, all the while smelling the fresh air and sunshine in them.
DeleteWe don't have a full blown clothesline anymore either. Now Carol puts them out on our deck on folding clothes racks. When it is this hot they dry in no time at all. Great memories for sure . . . I can remember helping take clothes off of the line and putting the clothespins into a hanging bag made specifically for that purpose. Makes me long for simpler times in many ways . . . times to stop and smell the roses (or sunshine)! Great stuff!!
DeleteYes, we still have a clothesline, and they still make those hanging bags...J. usually hangs our bath towels out!
DeleteFinding the hanging clothespin bag on this particular line was a bonus. Cool you picked up on that, Don & Kate!
DeleteOh, lovely! This brings back such memories. I love the smell of clothes dried outside too (Don, they don't develop the sunshine smell till they're dry!<:-P)
ReplyDeleteI see quite a few backyard clotheslines like this one, especially here in the old-town part of Cedar Falls, but rarely do I see them being used. Or the lines have been lost and it's just the end poles that remain. What a shame. Hanging laundry out brings such sensory, tactile reward--the experiences that build the strongest memories.
DeleteBeautiful drawing! I remember drying clothes outside - the smell of sunshine. Thank you for the memories!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great that we all connect through our shared experiences and an image of someone else's clothe?
DeleteAmazing! Wish you marvelous symposium in santo Domingo, lucky Marcia!
ReplyDeleteHard to believe that it will soon be a year since we met and sketched alongside each other in Lisboa. May we meet again beyond this Internet forum to do it again, Manuela!
DeleteI love the colors you're getting with your Neo Color II's. I bet they'll be great for Santo Domingo. I tried some of the water soluble ones recently, but didn't have good luck mixing them with water on black paper. They seemed to look muddy, but not on white paper. Are you using water with yours?
ReplyDeleteBTW, clotheslines are making a big comeback here in Portland, OR (when it's not raining).
I don’t use a lot of water with the Neocolor II soluble wax pastels. Sometimes I’ll just dip it in water and take it to the page for a smearable line. Another way I use it with water is to abraze crayon on a balsawood “palette” that I have glued to the inside of the crayonbox lid and mix a new color which I then apply with a brush. (I do not use my good watercolor brushes for this). I like best working on Canson black or wicker-colored paper. Although, sometime I’ll work on white watercolor block, too.
DeleteClothesline comeback: great! Maybe they’ll be a similar revival here. There certainly is ample sun in the Midwest (unlike the Northwest).
Thank you for the Neocolor advice, Marcia. I especially appreciate the warning about not using the good watercolor brushes when abrasing the crayons! I'll play around with them some more. I love that wicker colored paper.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Neocolor II tips, and the info on your paper; so helpful! One of my funniest childhood memories is of being sent out on a winter afternoon to bring in the laundry. Everything was frozen instead of dry -- the diapers lay on top of the basket like stiff, slightly wavy slabs of cardboard, teetering and threatening to fall off.
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