dancethechanges: repetitive tasks and the blazing heat

The other day Chrissy told me about a friend of hers who theorized that the ‘rapture’ has, in fact, already come and that we are currently in hell, hence the heat. When she told me this I scoffed initially and had a laugh, but after the past few days of intense humidity and unbearable heat, I’m starting to wonder….

This week I’m running editions of my photo-etching plates, which means making print after print from the same plate. It’s quite a process, like preparing a multi-dish meal. You have to soak your paper, ink and wipe your plate and then line everything up and run it through the press, trying to stay nice and clean all the while. It’s one of those things that, when you get efficient and fast at it, is endless satisfying. I wouldn’t say I’m quite there yet – I’m still a rookie printmaker, but I’m getting better all the time.

me checking my prints

Printmaking is actually kind of a perfect thing to be doing in this weather – you need to be in a kind of concentrated zen-like state so that you don’t miss any details, but sedated enough that you can keep repeating your actions as closely as possible. The perfect soundtrack for this? The album Music has a Right to Children by Boards of Canada. Listening to it is like being hypnotized - you’ll never notice the time passing. But in a good way, not in a wake-up-and-think-you’re-a-chicken way. :)

I’ve just been introduced to hyberboleandahalf, which is an incredibly hilarious and perceptive comic-blog by a gifted and ridiculous gal named Allie Brosh who, when asked, responded that she indeed does love ham. This morning we spent at least 2 hours reading her stories, which easily could have come from any of our lives, and are illustrated with gloriously lo-fi Paint drawings.

Recently, while wondering aloud how the heck people maintain regular blogs, I was told that many people go heavy on the images, light on the text. “Oh,” I said, “you mean people don’t write an essay every time?” That makes sense. Saves time. A picture is worth a word or two, right? Since the heat is melting my brain into mush, here are some random images of Prince Edward County: