Christmas is Coming part 2

 

I brought home the block for the new holiday card after making it, with intentions of getting all the cutting done at home.  As mentioned last time, there was a Covid problem. Never got the big condition (at least not all I have heard about it), but maybe that's the benefit of all the inoculations and boosters.  I did get a phone conversation with my GP, and he called in a prescription to a local pharmacy.  (I'm sure they didn't want me in their office) and so I took that and it did the trick.  So quarantine for 5 days, mask for 5 days, my prescription (6 pills over 5 days, overlapping both other things), and today was day #6.  I took a Covid test and it came back negative.  So I guess that all worked. Today I celebrated my negativity by going to the Studio for a little while to work.  What could be better than that?

Actually, in some ways it was an improvement.  Space was not a problem, the small block working fine with my limited table space.  And at homeI did have access to the Christmas themed music I was used to, only available on the internet.  But the lighting was not good.  By night I had the light of the chandelier above the table, and with its low wattage bulbs, it was a bit dim.  Hard to see my pencil drawing on the wood. And pretty much every day was dark and gloomy, even if it never rained, it was totally overcast, so I couldn't really work by the sun either.  But today was sunny early, even if I couldn't actually go up there when I wanted to.  (errands, family commitments) Finally left, and got up there around 12:15, but it gave me time to finally work.  Had to work around a large number of tables and chairs in the lobby and hallway, but I found my way to the basement.  

When it comes to music, there is one thing I might listen to that I haven't mentioned yet- a radio show from my old Montclair station, hosted by my friend Kathy, a Christmas themed show.  I burned it to a disk long ago, but the half dozen or so Christmas songs on it (the rest are the typical alt-country/folk she played on her Sunday shows) are why I don't listen to it much of the year, so there is no copy of it in my Studio music.  I can probably remember the artists and songs that made up most of it, and they can probably all be found on the internet, but on their various albums, not worth tracking them all down.  So I had been drawing my block to Christmas blues, and cutting to the Charlie Brown Christmas album (by the Vince Guaraldi Trio), all available wherever there is internet.  I knew I'd have no such luck today.  So I went with the next best thing- other artists I know she played on that Christmas radio show that I do have.  I had time for one such disc today- a home burned one of the Jayhawks, one I believe I wrote about back on November, 2019.  It was listening to this tape of her show that made me want to hear more of that album and band, which is what lead to this disc in the first place, a relic of my Texas trip.

Luckily it's a small block, because I didn't have a lot of time to work today.  Even with that, and the piece I got done in the dim light I had at home, I still didn't finish the whole thing today, but I made good progress, before packing up and heading for some more errands, then finally getting home to have lunch around 3:30.  Of course, I can't show you what I've done, so the image above is the evidence of today's cutting.