Art Challenge: on this Earth Day
I may not have spent a most Earth friendly and economical Earth Day.
You see, the day dawned bright and shiny, the first sunny Vancouver day in weeks, and I brought three garbage bags worth of pack rat dirty cabin sheets, blankets, sweaters and coats to wash.And with the day so sunny, I managed to wash 7 loads and dry them all outside.
Morgan helped, of course.
There were also cabin toys to wash. I couldn't be sure that the pack rat didn't crawl all over them and couldn't see our little ones holding them without a good wash. Some of these are over 25 years old and original to my children.
The rest of this glorious day I spent working.Painting in the studio. I'll post the progress soon.
And while the rest of the cabin gear was drying on the line and over dining room chairs...
And while my neighbours were outside getting as much sunshine as they can (before tomorrow's rain sets in for the next week)...
I went up to the attic studio and painted my house sparrow.Again.I do like painting the house sparrow for Earth day.He's the most common bird in the world.Like we are. Common people. All of us.Everywhere.
I painted him in acrylics and inks in my re-purposed Bartholomew's Atlas of the world homemade sketchbook. This page is a mix of inks and acrylics and collage and chalks.A great big THANK YOU to Melodye for bringing this art challenge to us.Come celebrate Earth Day with us. Think about joining us in our art challenges. You can do it.We believe in you. :D
Nadine's Art Challenge: Rituals and Routines
OK, apart form Earl Grey tea in the morning, (without which I would die!), and my daily phone call with Robbie when we're in separate countries, I really have very few rituals or routines. I mean, I brush and floss and all that mundane everyday stuff, and, although I try to paint and go to yoga every day, it's not really ritualistic or necessarily routine.
But last year, when Chloe was in Japan, for a while I had a daily ritual of making and sending her a postcard.I loved that!
I'd just head down to Booklovers, Dalyce's used book store, pick up some fun, old magazines and collage a postcard.
Turned out my favourite magazines for this project were the Coronet magazines from the '30s and '40s, and glossy 1980s rich home and lifestyle types.
Then I would look thru my collection of vintage but still viable stamps and stick on as many as possible to make the $2.50 postage, after all, it's so boring to just stick one stamp on when you can use five or six for the same postage!
I didn't share very many of these cards anywhere. I never posted them to social media because I wanted C to be the first to see them, and the only people who saw a few were Robbie, Dalyce, Jonathan and Kerstin and people who I took a card to to write a well wish on, and my neighbour Renee, who often was outside gardening when I took a card to the post. Oh, and the lady in the post office where I went to buy a strange assortment of small cent stamps to make up said $2.50.
Chloe said that the cards were invaluable to her. She said she carried a few with her every day to give her strength and remind her of home.
I tried to make the cards reflect what was going on in C's life; her first day teaching, the monsoon season of perpetual damp, some, more personal ones to give her encouragement, or to reassure her that she would be fine, or send her a recipe for avocado toast...
And I sent them from Vancouver and, when I switched countries, I sent them from England.
Now I tend to have a very flighty nature, (read butterfly brain!) and in a few months C started to feel better in Japan, and for me, life and jet lag and projects and art and work began taking over my time, and the cards slowed down to three per week, then two, then one.
And now Chloe is home from her year away and has brought all of her postcards back with her. She treasures them and gave me permission to show you some.
It was all such a grand adventure.Thank you so much Nadine for hosting our Art Challenge this week. Pop over to our Woolfie Girl to see everyone else's rituals and routines. Does anyone want to host next week? Let me know and I can send out a mass email. :D
Carole's art challenge: Piggy Bank
It's the day before THE WEEKEND!The weekend of my open studio tour. (North Shore Art Crawl, number 39 on the map, find more into here)I've been busy with my usual art, and, while the song birds never stick around for long before someone claims them, I do have some earlier pieces. I love it because I can see how much my art has changed.Practise and painting every day is like storing up money in my artist piggy bank.
When I practice, I usually just play in my sketchbooks. You know I love to try new things which are not my usual watercolour or oil work. You know I'll tackle anything from medieval illuminated lettering to wood carving.So for our art challenge Piggy Bank, thank you so much for hosting Carole, I painted this little happy pig in a new art journal/sketch book, (made from an old atlas), with acrylics and loose, colourful brush strokes.
I loved every minute of it.Just like I'll love every minute of my open studio weekend.It's a complete unknown to me. There might be some people visiting and there might not, we shall see, but whatever happens, there will be hot tea, twinkly lights, warmth and soft music, and a lot of fun things to do in my studio this weekend.
There are plenty of beautiful pieces of ephemera, watercolours, pens and pencils on hand if anyone would like to try their hand at working with it.
And I've got lots of paintings which need to be worked on.
So just before I go I thought I'd leave you with this wonderful little 2 minute video summing up how an artist's creative piggy bank works, and remember to pop over to Carole's this weekend for more artistic ideas you can save in your piggy bank.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46OCXFVqRg4Wish me luck!
Hello from Sunday night
I hope you've all had a lovely Sunday.It's been an interesting one round here.Each morning in Feb. I've been painting a little something in a sketch book. (I know, white paper instead of 100 yr old ephemera! Well, it's only once in a while.)This is because I love to support the Feb. Opus Art Supply challenge to practice every day. I took part last year and had such a good time, and I'm loving it this year as well. If you'd like to see all the sketches, they're all on my Instagram at the bottom of this page or here: my Instagram If you have Instagram tell me so I can follow you.Today the prompt was imagination and Dr Seuss and so I drew the phoenix again. This year he's a bit more relaxed than last year, (evidence at the bottom or Insta), but still wary of everyone trying to pluck his feathers so only ruffles them in thickets.
Then, about midday, Chloe and I drove to one of our favourite little spots, Deep Cove.
The plan was to see an art exhibit at the Seymour Gallery of a new FB friend of mine Sarah Ronald. I met her thru a mutual FB friend and loved her paintings of foxes. And then we thought maybe we'd have a cup of tea, walk around and have a look at the little boutiques...you know, a lazy Sunday.
We got there and popped into the gallery and had a good look, then went to have a walk down the street to The Sunny Side for a cup of tea. The Sunny Side was closed for a few minutes, so we went into a new shop next door called Paper Label.It's a little pop up shop which will be there for the next two years and is completely charming.In it we found these beautiful, locally made candles and we fell in love with the linden blossom scented one. They are cotton wicked and coconut wax and made by Hollow Tree.
Then off to the Sunny Side. Now we haven't been there for a year while Chloe's been in Japan, and the plan was to sit there and have a cup of tea like we did before. But when we got to the shop, their little bench and table were gone and the shop smelled too strongly for me of something which I couldn't handle and I had to get out into the fresh air.
So we went (in the pouring rain without an umbrella) across the street to a small cafe, but Chloe didn't like the vibe of it. She said we passed a third cafe driving down and could we walk there...two block away...without an umbrella...in the pouring rain? Oh what I won't do for my daughter.
We got to the third cafe and I told C to find us a spot while I get us some tea. She came back a few minutes later saying, "mom, that woman over there looks like Kate Winslet." She went to sit down, came back a couple minutes later saying, "I think that is Kate Winslet!" Turns out it was...and Idris Elba. They were very deep into a conversation over their script.Aaand that's how we spent the rest of the afternoon in a small coffee shop drinking tea, very slowly, so my star-struck daughter could eavesdrop and glance at her favourite star. CorporateCoffeeSystems give you a chance to enjoy your drink to the fullest.I took a couple photos with my cell for C when no one was looking so she could have a tangible memory from today.
When our tea was done, we left the cafe and walked back to the car stopping at a couple of the boutiques on the way.
We got home to this look from Morgan who was already tapping her little claws waiting for her supper!
This was a lovely Sunday. Tomorrow begins a new week of painting and working and possibly the first painting session I will have in my new studio. So very excited for that. At least this week will not be as crazy busy as the last couple weeks, but still have a ton of things on the to-do list. Also must remember to enter the Art in the Garden calls for my garden and for my art this week!Hope you've all had amazing weekends and hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you. :D
Ariane's Art Challenge: Tropics
I'm feeling a little on top of my work load and am so happy to be able to take a day to draw a little piece for our art challenge which Ariane called for this weekend. Thank you so much Ariane. :DThe challenge is Tropic and I was looking around my home and decided there's a tropical feel here.
The warm country plants are still inside and some orchids, like this cymbidium, are just about to bloom.
While some orchids, like this phalaenopsis have been blooming for weeks.I like growing orchids in the house. I put them outside completely ignoring them from May to September and then take them inside and they bloom for me each year.
So you all know about my garage/studio conversion and my quick trips to thrift stores to pick up a thing or two, and, on one trip, I found this huge pot for $7 and instantly had an idea.
I decided to plant up a large tropical planter for the studio, (which has to stay in the house for now).
Here it is.It's planted up with a $20 majestic palm from IKEA, and four $10 plants; two peace lilies and two kangaroo ferns. (They all like the high humidity that the palm does)
I love the planter in the living room for now, but am looking forward to having this greenness in the studio.
But wait, since this is an art challenge, I decided to paint a pair of colourful European bee eaters on a 101 yr old Chopin study.
I like these little guys. They sometimes venture into the UK but are such tropical little flowers that they tend to stay further south.
Thank you so much for hosting Ariane. Please pop over to out Rose's place for more tropical inspiration. I'll be by to visit everyone as soon as I can. :D
Hello from Sunday night
Hi everyone,How was your weekend? I hope it was lovely and you got to celebrate something special.
I love celebrations. Even just a Sunday morning lie in can be a celebration...which incidentally didn't happen round here with our three who were up at the crack of sparrows.
But Kerstie had to drive them back home, a journey of 300 miles, so breakfast, a cookie, a quick diaper change and hugs all round and off they went.
Chloe went off too for a day with Bryson, and so I went up into my studio, lit a favourite candle, and settled down to some art.
Now I've missed two of our art challenges because of illness and clouds, and I miss them and I always feel very sorry for myself for not being able to join in.So while I was sitting up in my studio, with my studio companion Morgan by my side, the last two challenges were running thru my mind: Ariane's Daily and Tammie's Sticks. 
Daily, the daily roads we take, the daily routines I thought, and sticks. The only thing I kept thinking of were pick-up sticks. You know? The game children play. Pick-up sticks.Pick-up sticks of roads. The daily commute, the game of it all.And I was thinking of the miles between Robbie and me right now, and between me and my children and grandchildren, between my art challenge friends, and, not to be all maudlin, but it makes me feel very lonely and sorry for myself up here in my studio.It seemed like such a lot of work to put this image together, but once I got into my thoughts it came naturally. Every piece of paper, every brush stroke found its place.
And suddenly a kingfisher came to life...quite possibly to re-route the daily, to fly thru the tangle of sticks and make a straight path to where we want; to the perfect place.
So here we have daily pick-up sticks. We may be a week or two late, but we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and make some art. And tomorrow's another day. :D
I'm not missing, and so looking forward to our next art challenge at Stefanie's. Check in with our Rose Ariane for the schedule and come join in if you can. You're always very welcome to.
Art challenge: Sanctuary
Well my dearest darlings, I harnessed all in my heart, but completely failed to paint myself a new sanctuary.Some days...eh?I wished I had taken photos along the way of the put together, painted, then ripped apart, then put together, then ripped apart again piece that this has become.This is where it stands today:
Yup. Unbalanced, deeply dissatisfying, but honest. This is where our art challenge took me this week.To make up for it, I'm offering you this little oil painting. A brief look into a sanctuary of gold in the distance.
Looks like I'm not ready for a new sanctuary, and my old one is still vital to me. :DNow it's your turn. Can't wait to see. You are all so inspiring to me.[inlinkz_linkup id=678636 mode=1]
Announcing New Art Challenge: Sanctuary
Please come join me next weekend, November 18th to 20th in our 201st art challenge.
I've chosen the word Sanctuary.The world has been very loud lately and I think it might be useful for us to make ourselves a sanctuary to escape to. Whether your home, or you like the Danish concept of "hygge" or your local church, or a massive cathedral are your sanctuary, show us.
This is Sanctuary which I painted in 2011. I think I might be ready for a new one.
As usual, you have all week and I'll meet you here with a link up (If I remember how to do it...lol) on Friday the 18th. Hope you can all join in. If you're not familiar with our friendly, no pressure art challenges, just have a quick look back thru my blog on the tag "drawing challenge" or just ask me. Anyone is very welcome to join. Any expression of art is most happily seen. So consider joining in. Bake a cake, draw a picture, sculpt something in playdough, paint, photograph, dance us a jig. :D We will love it.
Art Challenge: Winter Salon
I've been sitting in my dark living room in the early evening wondering where all the daylight has gone.Actually, it's pretty simple really, Rain-couver over here plus end of daylight savings means low light.
I like my fairy lights and my candles. It's all sparkly and cozy. But eventually I turn on the lights and read my books.
I was wondering what to do for our art challenge this week. Salon, an art salon, always seems like a romantic Bloomsbury concept, but I'm not in England at the moment, I'm in Canada. For me, there isn't anything more Bloomsbury here on the West Coast than the Group of Seven and especially Emily Carr.So here is is what I am offering you today, dreams of a winter salon. Emily Carr gathering inspiration, sitting, possibly having a picnic, possibly only a glass of wine, in the diminishing wintry light, painting the landscape in her mind.
Art: A 7 piece collage partially painted in Emily Carr brush strokes (acrylics), (just the way Emily might have seen it and held it in her mind till she got back to her salon.)Thank you so much Stefanie for hosting our Art Challenge this weekend.Please pop by Stefanie's for more winter salon inspiration, and consider joining in next time. Check with Ariane for who is hosting next. :D
Art Challenge: Return to Standard Time
I'm ever so grateful to our dear rosy girl Ariane for posting a new art challenge: return to standard time.I actually hate daylight savings time and think it's an out of date ritual whose time is definitely up.Spring forward, fall back. A sort of ridiculous, comical act of the world tripping over itself at various dates twice per year.And so appropriate for me right now, because you see, the UK has fallen back while Canada is still in daylight savings and so sprung forward!!! That's the bi-yearly story of my life! And messes something rotten with my daily 9am phone call to Robbie, which is now pushed to 10am. And while Kerstie and Jon are in BC, there's Chloe in Japan! We all end up negotiating times, missing dates, forgetting deadlines, counting backwards, and generally struggling by for a good week or two. It reminds me of a Dickensian novel.
So to try to illustrate this I wanted to try to gather all our time zones into one piece.I decided to do a Dickensian collage of sorts, and so chose some vintage book pages.The floor ended up looking like this:(Oh well, gotta break some eggs to make an omelette, right?)
And so here is what I'm offering today.A black and white collage of 37 pieces. There is a Japanese castle rising over an English village, next to a West Coast forest. There I am, in strong tiger form, holding everything central, together, holding my family together. There are children, there is whimsy, there is light, and there are butterflies everywhere, representing my butterfly brain...which tries to negotiate all these time zones.
Oh, and there's a rhinoceros, because, if we're getting this silly already, there's got to be a rhinoceros.Art: The Rhinoceros, at Home and Abroad: collage of vintage book images, all pre 1906, loads of mat medium + imagination.Come pop over to Ariane's and all our friends to see how they deal with the return to standard time. (I'll tell you something though, I do appreciate the extra hour of sleep.) :D
I love our little group of artists and really value our friendship. We may be, we all may be, all over the place and stuck in our time zones, but we've come to love and understand and appreciate each other and support each other in our art. And that's how it should always be. Come join us if you like. Any artistic expressions is so very welcome. :D