Almost There

Chisel point of Sharpie used on its end to make marks instead of "drawing" lines

For the final week, I continued to use unconventional materials, and I must say I’m relieved to be done – I’m out of ideas! And not all of them were good; the worst by far was embroidering a bubble wrap envelope with dental floss. With my history in fiber arts and needlecraft, I thought the embroidery would be a snap. What I didn’t know was that the needle wouldn’t easily pierce the plastic on the bubble side; it merely stretched it. Halfway through each stitch, I had to cut the plastic away from the needle. Almost as bad was that the flimsy plastic often tore if my stitches were too close together – an embroidery nightmare!

This afternoon, I will receive my second Pfizer vaccine and will make the last drawing in this series (I’ll show it here tomorrow). How will I feel to finally stop what I’ve done for 407 consecutive days? Although on some level I grew tired of drawing my hand long ago, I managed to stay engaged by keeping the exercise challenging. As I’ve mentioned, this series has pushed me to try many things – new materials, new approaches, heck, even a new drawing hand, twice – that I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise. More than anything, though, I came to rely on the ritual of starting each pandemic day consistently: Eat breakfast, finish coffee, draw hand. When everything else in our world has been turned on its ear, it’s important to have things we can count on. 

Staples

Painter's tape

Bubble wrap envelope embroidered with dental floss

Sharpie on bubble wrap envelope

Brush handle and India ink

Acrylic matte medium dries clear, so I photographed
 it as quickly as possible while it was still a bit wet.

Here's what it looked like when it was completely dry.

Crest toothpaste applied with toothbrush to corrugated cardboard. One more to go!