"Places-I-Have-to-See-Before-I-D die"

 

   
        I realize this is a departure from my usual but an artist needs inspiration, right?? There are places I dream of visiting,  places that come straight to mind when someone muses "If you had a million dollars what would you do?" After I win that million, after I pay of my mortgage, renovate and finish this house and gift nice bundles of cash to my 4 children, I would kidnap my best friend Elaine and travel. For thirty-five years now, we have dreamed of travelling together but we've always been to poor or to busy to follow that dream.

      I have a running list that includes the Italian region of Tuscany, Santorini in Greece, Perthshire in Scotland because I have ancestry there, and there are castles to explore. Barbados is a place I must return to. I loved it there when in 2001 I traveled on a teaching trip with my husband. In 2003 my daughter took me to Luperon, in the Dominican Republic for my very first "All-Inclusive Resort" experience. It was amazing!
     
      Today I stumbled upon an awesome site. I have to add to my bucket list The Hilton Maldives' Rengali Island Spa and Resort. The above photo is their "Ithaa Undersea Restaurant." I stumbled upon this awesome spot this morning and it set my imagination on fire! How fun would it be to be sitting there having dinner (..obviously..Don't order seafood for the sake of the piscene peeping toms as I'm sure they'd be more than a little perturbed! )





Can you just imagine though?  What an amazing visual feast that would be ...and I do love sea creatures too. I love that in every aspect of the undersea world there is such amazing diversity in color shape, size and texture.In this paradise is beautiful over and under the sea! The resort itself is such an unusual design, pure architectural and aesthetic joy! Look at this undersea bedroom!!

      But, enough dreaming for today, I'm guessing if I just spend a moment perusing their reservation fees,  I'll get the reality check needed to inspire me to hit the studio hard. My wanderlust will have to wait, I need a little time to raise that million.

Notable Notes - Simplicity in Pen and Ink

       In my last post I mentioned being "nudged" to capitalize during the time I spend volunteering in a local crafters' co-op. At the time, my scanner was being a technological tick-off but now I've mastered the beast. Today I had a chance to scan all of the doodley little note cards that remain of the 35 or so that I've created so far. 

       
      You have to bear in mind that they are very simple compositions You can really only charge a minimum fee for a greeting card to keep it in a sellable range. With that in mind, I try to spend under an hour on each one. I draw them on archival quality cardstock so that if one seems to urge me to spend more time and carry it further, it can be matted and framed and sold as an artwork instead.

      I won't spend a lot of time writing tonight. I just want to scan and post a few in hopes that you may enjoy seeing them.Some are little seascapes. Some are flora and fauna of the seashore. Some are favored

  pets and other critters.
      The sky's the limit I suppose and I've already had orders for weddings birthdays and the like. As well, they feature the favorite themes of those for whom they are intended. The most random request was a "Star Wars" theme. ( Shoulda scanned that one, it wasn't half bad...) Anyway, here's a sample pack. Enjoy!! :)

AWOL - " A Hectic Hiatus"

      Sorry I've stayed away for so long.  I have such guilt!!! I love blogging, absolutely love it! Lately though its been too busy to formulate a cohesive thought. In the very beginning I expressed how life has surreptitiously gotten in the way of art,...and I knuckled under and admitted that I am solely to blame for allowing it to do so. I started to become really good at claiming my space and time. Well sir,..since Mid-July my best attempts, nor any power on heaven or earth could hold back the tide of "shit gone sideways". ( as my irrepressible eldest is wont to express )

      It's all really "cycle of life" stuff, inevitable and expected. We have children whose respective births span three decades. Although I suffer empty nest blues and pine for some, I still have one who lives at home and invites his teen-aged hungry friends to strip the pantry bare. The older 3 doubled their ranks with sweet life partners and are now home owners, parents and college students. One just went to sea, one just moved and one is finishing his degree. The youngest has a sweet gal pal who just headed back to school and he has just started a new job with a 5 am wake-up call from yours truly. Everybody is in "flux" at the same time   Add to this grandchildren, ( wonderful ) menopause, ( miserable ) middle age crazy husbands, ( exasperating and entertaining. ) and an aging mother only just beginning to need care. ( bewildering and bittersweet ) you've got a brain and a schedule filled with chaos. The scrambled brain isn't even the big deal,..the BIG deal is that my frickin' knees are toast so I don't have a leg to stand on, let alone run on at the dead smashing pace required at present.

      Silver linings still abound though.  I am always struck, at least several times a day, by how very lucky I am. My children are wonderful citizens of the world, all are in shining health. My husband is very hard working and so well respected. I have talents that are appreciated and kind people who watch to see what I will do next.

      I belong to an artists and crafters co-op and I volunteer on Thursdays. It is housed in one classroom of a retired school building. We've been given the shop space by Lisa, the proprietor of a successful printshop and a tempting and terrific cafe. Just yesterday I showed her the crow sketches from my last blog. Moments later she appeared with 7"x 10" cardstock and 5"x 10" envelopes and told me to plunk myself down at the craft store desk and increase my inventory. What a nice gift and just the motivation I needed to snap out of the fuzzy haze of the recent busy days and begin to create again. 

      I was fortunate enough to have my drawing supplies on hand and whipped up six pen and ink note cards. By days end we'd entered them into the inventory and half of them have already sold. This morning I had orders for more. When I sit to draw the next dozen or so, I will take time to scan them and share them with you. Til then, onward and upward!

A Murder of Crows

     I'm back!!! So sorry to those who follow me, it's been a busy stretch. Things have been happening on all fronts, the garden's blooming, the family is traveling, creative projects are percolating,.. I am suffering from "Summer scatterbrain"". It always seems so hard to focus when everyone is bustling around me in summer mode.

     In my last blog I had begun to experiment with the addition of lilies in my hand made paper. It piqued an interest in workshops as well as venues who would like to have quantities to sell.
      As well, I have a patron who enjoys crows as a subject of composition for some paintings and drawings and sculpture. My eldest son, Matt's very significant other found the request on a Sales/Swap site. Swantje brought it very quickly to my attention as I had sold four pieces last summer with crows as the subject at a unique little cafe/giftshop whimsically named "The Tourist Trap". Again I grieve the fact that I did not keep photos of theses pieces, Though I still have one piece, more "illustration than art", from last summer, today I am able include a few sketches that I've completed recently
.

       Crows are fascinating, intelligent, unassuming and familiar fixtures in our lives. Every geographical region of the globe, with the exception of Antarctica, has a representative from this ancient avian family. They've been represented as villains, thieves and harbingers of doom in literature, cinema, art and caricature. Poe's "The Raven". Hitchcock's "The Birds", even Terrytoons'  "Heckle and Jeckle", all clearly up to no good! But there is much to be said for these tenacious amazing birds. There  is also much to learn.
       I have a lovely aunt who is also an artist. She is 88 and still painting.  She has written a storybook about crows, but though she is an amazing artist, masterful with color, she has always encouraged me and said my drawing talent exceeded hers. She wants me to illustrate her story and I am honored. I cannot wait to get my hands on those pages.

      So, For the moment, the new craze is "Crows"...I will post new works as I complete them and I'll do my homework so I can refer you to anecdotes and adages and anthologies about these feathered friends. In the mean time check out David Suzuki's "The Nature of Things" from September 2011 -"A Murder of Crows" and be amazed!

"Lily-Palooza"- Bloomers Revisited

     
      What glorious days I'm living in,..you should see my yard! Half of our nearly ninety varieties are in full fantastic bloom! It's an adventure every day. Watching as the colors paint themselves across our acre and a half of east coast heaven is a gift with every new dawning day. 

      
      Early in the day I am photographing who's new for use in a catalog for next years market. In the evenings, I "deadhead" the plants and given that they're daylilies there are a bunch of them every night.  Prior to this busy week I would put the spent blooms in the compost pile. Well, not any more! Turns our daylilies make a great renewable resource for handmade paper. We're growing absolute bucketfuls out there here's to a new way to reap the benefits, A new day has come!  

      In my last post I mentioned that I would try to make handmade paper from the spent blooms. It's been an interesting week as it turns out. The lilies have a viscous sturdy make up, so the resulting paper is durable and could be made with 100% lily pulp. The drawback was that with out paper content there is a degree of shrinkage as it dries, so a minimum of recycled paper seems necessary to ensure it keeps a predictable size and shape. Check out the samples below. They were all made with the same deckle and mould but larger paper/lily sheets have maintained their 5"x7"  size while the others with more pure lily pulp decreased in size by a full 3/4 of an inch.

Daylight was fading when I took this photo,
colors are truer in the photo below

     
                 Predicting color has its many considerations as well. To some degree, the lilies color the paper, but it must be said that the freshness of the flowers is proportionate to the strength of color. When they start to wilt the color isn't as rich, and since the pulp is perishable vegetable matter,  if they sit to long after you pick them the flesh goes brown like a bitten apple. The richest reds however have really potent dye and some of the richer yellows hold up well. The more pastel lilies loose their color almost completely. However. you can supplement color with the paper you add.

Lilies and their corresponding papers.

     Their versatility knows no bounds because on top of everything else they are edible. In a salad they are beyond gorgeous. Of course by supper time they look like last weeks produce so best for lunch. They can be used to make jelly. flavor herbal vinegars, and there's a heritage recipe for daylily fritters on line.  Check out "The Delightful Delicious Daylily: Recipes and More"  by Peter Gail. Seriously,who'd have thunk it?

Art, in the Name of Love.

  

Saul the Seagull, created for the National Anglican Synod,
held in Halifax in 2010.

      Through the 40 years we've been together, my husband has been a teacher, a principal, an educational administrator, is yet a professor and now as well, an Anglican priest. Between of all of these professions he has often been a student as well. With two Bachelor degrees, three Masters degrees, an Educational Doctorate and the better part of his current Masters in Divinity he's the most "certified" soul on the planet.
     
     In his many roles, my husband has always prepared a wicked lesson plan, presentation, speech or sermon. He is an amazing speaker and amongst his students, co-workers, fellow students and parishioners he has actual fans. They all love him.

Handmade paper collage to illustrate
Psalm 137- "..by the rivers of Babylon"

      From time to time and usually at the last gosh darn minute, he asks for " just a little sketch" to better illustrate his topic of the moment. Poor fella can't draw a stick man without guidance  ( I guess he's been to darn busy to fit drawing lessons into his portfolio. Lol..) but he believes that I can perform miracles. I'm always stunned when he and others comment on my work with this awe and appreciation. I forget that this ability, that is innate and "usual" to me and many others, isn't always so in everyone. Then, I count my blessings and tackle the next project.

My very old Sunday school sheep-
Papier mache using egg cartons.

      Needless to say, there have been some varied requests. I've made visual aids for presentations, illustrations  and "Show-and-Tell" pieces for sermons, designs for the covers of church bulletins, murals in churches and schools, props and sets for plays, window paintings. Once I did portraits in pencil for a whole grade five class and the students had a bake sale to pay my "commission".

Palm Sunday donkey using strip paper mache.      

     
      On another occasion, he invited me to be a hands-on assistant to Renee Forestall, an artist and educator who is also the daughter of acclaimed east coast Canadian painter, Tom Forrestall, whose art has been classified as Magic Realism. Renee was educating classroom teachers who suddenly found themselves having to provide art instruction when art programs and their teachers were slashed out of existence due to cutbacks. She is the inspiration of  all of my paper and paper mache passion, adding leaps and bounds to my repertoire of media and creative play.

Collage of odd bits to represent
"Communion with Mankind"

      Over the years, it feels like I've must've made a thousand odd things. Now, hindsight is bittersweet and 20/20 let me tell you. I should've taken time to photograph every one of those myriad "masterpieces. What fun we could've had! I'd have had fodder for blogs for the next five decades. Luckily, there are still a few pieces kicking around for me to share them in todays blog.

A dove in pen and ink for a church bulletin.

       
      Some of my favorite pieces were pen and ink sketches created for church bulletins. With so many techniques to tempt me, I rarely just enjoy the simplicity of drawing. Every now and then when I do pick up a pencil or pen and ink, what a pleasure it is.
      

Another sunday bulletin cover

        Now that I'm fully equipped and trying something new everyday, It will be a privilege to record every future. project and share them here as well. It's been exciting to refresh my memory and have a venue to share. Happy days everyone!!

"Isaac's Bloomers."

      Our Number Three Son has left me holding a bunch of wild bloomers. Bloomers of all shapes and sizes, bloomers that for the next month or so will delight and thrill and tickle my fancy, bloomers full of slugs to squish?.. and weeds to wrench by their wretched, evil, conniving roots?

     
       No, we're not talking boxer-cut Hanes or bedeviling banana hammocks by Calvin Klein. We're talking daylilies. Eighty-four different registered cultivars. The beginning of the bloom season is already tempting me out the door at 6 am, coffee in hand and jammies on half sideways. I can't wait to roam amongst the dewy green foliage to search the beds and see who is blooming each day.

"Kwanso"

      Isaac worked as a gardener for three summers, trying to pocket a different "green" to help with tuition costs. He fell in love with these beauties and every couple of days he'd bring a few more home. Soon he had commandeered every ounce of arable garden space.


     My vegetable garden  all but disappeared at the end of that summer. A grower that he'd become acquainted with was downsizing his garden and whole clumps arrived by the truck full. I have to admit it was fun, learning something new from one of the  "youngsters". The process of dividing the clumps and "lining them out" for sale the following season was something I'd never done.

"Lavender Stardust"

     
With their arrival began lots of reading. Discovering that these daylilies weren't just the orange ones in every grandma's garden but over 60,000 varieties in shades and shapes and sizes I'd never imagined. Even greater was the knowledge that they are tough, impossible to kill and that they multiply like bunnies and bring your yard alive with such showy dazzling color. Bonus,..Bonus, bonus bonus!

"Scatterbrain"

      They come with some off-the-wall monikers too! Imagine if you will, Scatterbrain, Lies and Lipstick, Body Rub, Big Kiss, Druids Chant and Zola's Pink Nightgown!

"Lies and Lipstick"

      Isaac and I have even hybridized a few of our own as well. A refresher course for me in simple genetics ( AND honing my communication skills when the neighbours wonder why I'm flitting  from lily to lily with a pollen laden stamen from one flower in my two fingers to gently dab the pistil of another.)
      
      What an awesome way to get those old synapses firing.  We have three different crosses bearing at least 30 new variations are already blooming for the second time. Those babies will need crazy names of their own. I have 15 plants from another cross that may bloom this year AND a whack of new seedlings from last summer in a shady corner by the woodshed. It's like Christmas when they finally bloom for the first time. 
      As a new and exciting note, I thought I'd experiment with lily "pulp" as a resource for handmade paper. I went out with my coffee and gathered 6-8 spent blooms and twenty minutes later there are two sheets of lily paper drying on the window sill!  More about that in a later post.

"Baby Betsy"

      
      The boy is beyond busy now. Life has "happened" as it invariably does. I am weeding and coddling his babies for him at the moment.  As he grows into the hustle and bustle of his new life one thing is for certain, with all those fresh new faces greeting me each morning, my nest won't ever be empty.