not a lazy suzen

It’s been a slow few days. On Friday night our neighbour decided to have a party that didn’t really get rowdy until 11:3o pm and by 1am, the karaoke machine was whipped out and everyone was singing terrible renditions of Copacabana and  random Backstreet Boys singles. It was the worst. I’ve been living in apartment buildings for the last six years and I know it’s unrealistic to think I can live in complete silence but I draw the line at late night karaoke parties. Never you mind the bylaws that are in place, playing music loudly at 1:30am is just rude. So, once I reached the point where I couldn’t take it anymore, I banged on my neighbour’s door and politely asked them to keep it down. Thankfully they did, but I still couldn’t sleep.

One of the worst things for me is not getting enough sleep. I’m completely useless if I haven’t had at least 6 hours of straight snoozing. I had intended to get tons of work done in the studio over the weekend but instead I spent the entire time recuperating from the sleepless karaoke night and nursing lady pains with uber strong NSAIDs. What a pointless weekend!

And it didn’t stop on Monday. Yesterday, I hung around the apartment in anticipation of a maintenance man who was supposed to drop by to fix the kitchen sink but he never showed. Lord knows if he’ll ever show. Sigh. What a crummy way to end and start the week.

So, I’m trying very hard to get my head together and be productive because it would a hell of a lot easier to fall back into crappy-no-sleep-lady-pain-procrastinating-land. August is going to be September before I had enough time to blink so I better get my shit in gear!

Anyway, let me show you what I’ve been working on.

There is something so incredibly unintentionally creepy about this mat. It hadn’t occurred to me how weird it would be to work on something so representational. Because I am working on the mat in sections, there are stages where all that’s on the mat are disembodied facial features. Right now, with the face complete, it kind of feels like some kind of super crafty death mask.

Despite the creepazoid factor, I’m super pleased with how this is going. I hadn’t really anticipated it turning out as well as it is. The texture of the wool, the quality of line, the heaviness of the brin once it’s been hooked. I’m totally in love!

I mean, look at that! It’s like a shag rug and a hooked mat got together and had wooly babies or something. So good!

Now I’m onto the hair. I’m really excited about this part of the mat because a) working with pink yarns makes me feel good about myself and b) the texture and pattern will be completely over the top. I’m attacking the hair in a wrapped fashion, in the same way I would if I were drawing it on paper. The result will be a highly stylized mop of hair made up of overlapping bands of dusty pink and neon fuchsia.

As I’ve been working on this mat, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I have been relating to hooking the same way I approach drawing. This realization probably isn’t the greatest epiphany in the universe but in Suzenland it has been yet another reason to justify hooking to myself. See, I’m still on the fence with hooked mats. I mean, I love them and I really enjoy doing them, but I’m still unconvinced with how I can make them “art”. I get caught up in the whole Art vs. Craft thing pretty easily, much to my own annoyance, especially with this recent foray into hooked mats. It’s like if I keep making them eventually I’ll figure out the problem I have with them and become OK with making them. I’ve never had this kind of experience making anything before, this constant tension between myself and the material. At first I thought it was because I was at the beginning stages of learning a new craft that I knew I wouldn’t be that great at without a lot of practice (like knitting and crochet was for me 10 years ago) but I believe there is more to it than that. I have to figure out what it is that I want from it. And that’s something that will only come along if I keep making more.

(Sometimes I think that if I keep making hooked mats then I’ll somehow prove myself as a true Newfoundlander. Heh. How silly is that?)

Anyway. It’s a hazy, drizzly, rainy day in Montreal today. I don’t have many plans but I am intending to go for a hike to set my head straight (and ease those lady pains I keep complaining about). I just picked up a new digital point-and-shoot specifically to carry around all the time and I think today is the day I take it for a test run.

Oh, blog! I am very sorry I have abandoned you. I didn’t even let you know that I was heading to Newfoundland. Well, I mean I know I mentioned it a while ago but I didn’t let you know when I actually got there! I am such a terrible blogger!

Presently I am sitting in the empty parking lot of Splash ‘n Putt, a waterslide/mini-gulf joint that is at the north entrance of Terra Nova National Park. So far, this it the closest location to get free wifi. It’s a beautiful evening with nary a cloud in the sky and it’s a mild 13ºC despite frost warning for the overnight. I have just finished one full week of my artist residency in the park and I have another 17 days to go. Unfortunately, everyday is not going to be a nice as today has been.

It’s pretty strange being out in the woods. Last week when I initially arrived I was pretty shell-shocked. There wasn’t anyone at the cabin or the Warden’s Office around to officially meet me so it felt pretty strange. The door to the cabin was unlocked and I moved my stuff in and then slowly started to take in my surroundings. Those first few days felt like they went on forever and I was incredibly anxious not just because I was pretty much alone in a cabin off the highway but because I had no plan for my stay. I mean, I proposed to do a certain amount of art work but I was under the impression that I would be a little more involved with the public or at least with the park staff. Nope, it’s pretty laid back around these parts and that’s something I totally hate. The biggest thing I learned about myself last week was how impatient I am. Seriously. I think I am way more of a city girl than I had ever given myself credit for.

So, the first week I freaked out. I freaked out so much that I jumped in the car and headed to St. John’s at the first chance I could get. I don’t think I have ever been as happy to see that city than I was on Friday afternoon when I rounded the bend of Pitts Memorial Drive into downtown St. John’s. I spent the entire weekend in the city, staying with friends and some family and did some city errands like deposit cheques and get my hair cut. I drove back to the cabin on Monday morning feeling recharged and more focused to get work done than I felt when I first arrived.

This week has been calling for scattered rain which is perfect weather for me to get a bunch of rug hooking under my belt. I’m determined to complete an entire small rug by Friday before I head back into St. John’s to get more groceries and see some family and friends I’ve missed.

My internet access isn’t constant but now that I’ve discovered half decent wifi a mere 10 minute drive from the cabin, you can be sure I’ll be checking the internet almost daily. It’s truly amazing how much more comfortable I feel now that I finally have a foot back in civilization via the internet. Who knew I would become so reliant on this thing.

In the next few days I’ll update with some pictures. In the meantime, think of me the next time you find yourself in the woods.

Spring is slowly turning into summer here in Montreal, this evening being the first of the year to make my apartment feel like a greenhouse. While the warm humidity is much better than the snowstorm that hit a few days ago, I’m seriously not looking forward to how stifling it is going to be two months from now. I’m going to have to stock up on extra icepacks from the pharmacy–wrap one of those in a hand towel and place at the back of your neck and all is well in the world.

I can pretty much guarantee that Newfoundland will not be even close to this warm when I arrive a mere two(ish) weeks from now. No, it should still be very rainy and a little cool with the odd gorgeous blue day here and there. Ever since I was a kid, I have always associated May 24 Weekend (Victoria Day) with torrential downpours. Not that I have ever gone camping, mind you, I just remember everyone else around me being pissed because their campground got flooded.

Victoria Day in Montreal is warm and full of sun.

At least it was last year. Actually, Montreal does really great month of May. Seriously. It’s like someone finally turned on the thermostat and booted up the humidifier and everything is turning green. My favourite part about the area I live in are the canopy trees on most of the residential streets. Every house and apartment building seems to have a garden and cobblestone walkways. Seriously, its a dream.

Anyway, the rest of my spring is going to be spent in Terra Nova National Park. I have no idea what kind of art I’m going to be making while I’m there. I mean, I have tentative plans (some knitting, some hooking, some writing) but I have no particular project that I’ll be working on. I’m really looking at this trip as being a chance for research, especially since my 5 week stay on the Island will include trips to other places too–Twillingate, Burlington and St. John’s. I’m expecting to take a ton of photographs and most of all experience my time there because Lord knows I didn’t have the chance last summer. Yeesh….less than 7 days to conquer driving across the entire Island from Port Aux Basques to Burlington to Twillingate to St. John’s, combined with 40+ members of the Green & Roberts brood….Needless to say, I didn’t absorb much. My trip this time will be entirely different.