Musings – Page 8 – Wool Stone & Prairie

The White Dog

Artwork / April 9, 2023 April 9, 2023 / By admin

The moment life gets busier than usual keeping up with this blog always takes a back seat. And once a thing lands in the back seat I tend to go a long time before remembering that I stowed something there awhile back.

We are finally seeing the first signs of Spring. My last blog post was back in the February, right in the midst of winter. Several weeks later and the landscape is still under full cover of snow.

Shearing of the sheep took place a couple days ago and since then we’ve been turning the ewes out to feed in the day but bringing them in overnight on account of freezing temperatures. We had a beautiful turnout of people to help out on shearing day even with shearing taking place on Easter weekend. Shearing is our one big work-bee event and I am always amazed and grateful that people come out and help. Our shearing day is much shorter than it used to be on account of fewer sheep, but it is still a pretty hefty day of work and many hands certainly make it a lighter day.

On account of a long winter, April marks the six month of feeding hay to the sheep. I have to wonder about the sensibility of keeping livestock on the northern prairie. Surely winters like this give merit to the idea of community managed livestock herds migrating south for winter, following the grass, and coming back north as it warms up.

I continue to draw, or maybe it’s that drawing continues to compel me to show up for it. Either way is good. Light colored sheep, white dogs, black and white magpies, they are all tough subjects to draw but when facing an empty white page with a stick of black charcoal in my hand, drawing the white guardian dog feels close to impossible every time. I know these dogs well, I live and breathe with them and part of the difficulty is the fear of not being able to do these dogs justice through drawing them.
When a drawing does pan out it feels a bit like the arrival of a season you’ve been long waiting for.

Artistic Nudges

Artwork / February 18, 2023 February 18, 2023 / By admin

With the completion of the felted flock I find myself once again facing new beginnings. And with that there is little to be done except the all important work of heeding the artistic nudge and carrying on.

That fact my artistic world mirrors my real one is a marvel and an inspirational road map of sorts. While I am often challenged by the worry that my day to day, and the subjects therein, will be of no interest to anyone, I feel as excited to draw sheep and dogs now as I did to begin raising them nearly twenty years ago. There is no difficulty in rising early or staying up late to draw (or write about it). A part of that excitement stems from trying something new again and being challenged with it, and failing at a few attempts, and then finally figuring out the how that eluded you before. And yes, I will return to felting, but upon the conclusion of the Felted Flock I needed to dive into something entirely different for awhile.

Livestock guardian dogs charcoal drawing

The three dogs in this charcoal drawing are all deceased now. That isn’t intended as a sad statement though, but as a notice of time passed and experience gained. The flock, the dogs, and the prairie have all shaped and carved their way into my being, they have all lead me to believe I belong somewhere. To be drawing them, to attempt to capture the experiences and share them over again, is no trivial plan.

Beyond The Felted Flock

Artwork / January 22, 2023 January 22, 2023 / By admin

It is 4:30 AM. It is usual for me to rise early but I am up this early due to an old, crotchety Kelpie. I’ve just made a morning cup of tea, grabbed my laptop and sat down at the large wooden table in my studio space in the dinging room. There is a long, low book shelf to the left and a bright red tool chest containing a plethora of paper and art supplies behind me. A floor easel holding a half finished sheep drawing, with a utility cart full of drawing supplies sitting next to it, is over my shoulder on the right side. An entire book shelf filled with bags of wool stands in the top corner.

The studio scene has long been the work space of a needle felter. The studio table covered in an assortment of wool, felting tools, needle holder, baskets, armature wire and necessary tools, felting pad, and an array of felted animals in various at stages of completion. All of this was tidied while prepping and packing to set up the Felted Flock at a local art gallery. This morning I sit down at a nearly empty work space with a nearly empty creative mind. There are two baskets of wool and three unfinished felted dogs next to the felting pad.

What comes next? In the immediate term I have a couple of felting commissions to complete. Otherwise, I am feeling a pull to just draw and draw and draw; or to draw while I attempt to go further with writing - that feels okay right now too. But, I’m also familiar with how quickly my creative plans change direction, particularly when it comes to writing - the creative endeavour that scares me the most.

And the real sheep flock? Much has changed in the last two years including a steep increase in cost of supplies and fuel, on top of being in drought riddled prairie. Lamb prices meanwhile took a downward turn, meaning keeping a smallish flock for the purpose of lamb production is barely viable. My usual get and up go for raising sheep has dried up along with the prairie. There are just three guardian dogs afoot now and yet I have no desire to add a pup, which I will surely need to do if I keep even the same number of sheep in the future.

My creative world and my working world are tightly aligned in subject and purpose, and have shaped my life into being all about sheep, dogs, prairie, and the profundity of nature. I realize there is a reason here; that this melding of real life with creative is a gift of sorts. I’m just unsure of how best to use the gift now - or scared to perhaps. But, whatever occurs going forward, I want the gift to remain.

It will be daylight in a few hours, the weather is mild for January so the morning walk will be a long one. While I know I should be jumping into commission work, I am content to just sit at this big old table and jot a few more words down on the page.