Thursday, November 25, 2010

Sew Somerset

Published again!
A dress from my "Hundred Dresses" series is in here.The series fizzled a bit... but I'd like to carry on with it.....

Sunday, November 14, 2010

sweepings


I was cleaning my studio (aka basement) and I swept the debris into a (smallish) pile. But in among the dust bunnies I found some pretty little bits. So I challenged myself to make cards out of the "flotsam and jetsam" of my floor. I layered it onto some blank cards that I picked up in the dollar section at Target... I think that they were 8 for a dollar.....

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Inspired Ideas -- Christmas Edition


Have you read Amy Powers' online mag yet? It is beautiful! I was very lucky to spend a few days with Amy last year at our Niagara Girls little retreat. She is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Really. And I've met A LOT of people.
Go here to read it! (and the past issue too!)
(and if you haven't noticed -- I've put links to my favourite online magazines on the sidebar to the right)(please let me know if I have missed any, or if I have missed updating the issues)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Keeping busy with books

I've had to do a lot of resting and waiting lately. I've read A LOT. These are just some of my recent perusings...

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -- I was a little late to jump on this bandwagon -- but I LOVED it! To me it was about how books bring people together and make life more tolerable -- well, more interesting....

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel-- odd, but so was Life of Pi....not for everyone

The Namesake by Juhmpa Lahiri. Oops -- I had no idea that there was a movie.... and it even opened here at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. The book was great!

The Birth House by Ami McKay -- set in Nova Scotia in the early twentieth century. I loved it. (mom, this one is coming to you next)

Continuity Girl by Leah McLaren-- I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did....
Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (i find these books slightly annoying, but I still have a desire to read them)(plus, I am planning a trip to England in a year or two, and I'll need to know where to shop :) well, where to window-shop, really.....

Bet Me by Jennifer Cruisie -- not one of her best, but it entertained me on a gurney for a few hours.

and The Queen's Lady by Barbara Kyle (love those Tudor romances!) (annoyingly, the second book in the series isn't available at the Toronto Public Library -- yet they have just received the third...)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Inspiration and upcoming Shows!

Someone asked me recently who my inspirations are (art wise). These are just some of them -- I'm sure that I've left a lot out...... This a list of my contemporaries, not historical inspirations:

Ruth Rae (fabric, layering, use of text, style)
Julie Arkell (mix of fabrics, embroidery, vintage, new)and Denise Litchfield too!
Colette Copeland (perfect simplicity)
Kelly Kilmer (ability to "just do it", journaling, paint, paper, tape, white pens)
Pam Garrison (colour, style, embroidery, vintage wallpaper)
Hope Wallace (journaling -- the way that she fills the page, black pens, white pens)
Nami Ogihara (layering, scraps, tape, mix of paper and fabric)
Corey Moortgat (gesso -- her "old style")
Tif Fussel (Dottie Angel)(vintage fabric, doilies)(and she has an Airstream!)
Mary Ann Moss (Remains of the day -- using up all of the "stuff", combining fabric and paper)
Line Juhl Hansen (encaustic -- layering of mixed media, composition, scale)

So, mix them all together and you get me :)


This is an example of on of my recent ornaments. I'll be selling these (and banners, cards and some scarves) at two shows/sales in the upcoming weeks in the Toronto area. The first is a smaller show in the Summerhill area on Saturday November 20. It's called the Handmade Holiday Sale and is at 76 Shaftsbury Avenue (1 block east of Summerhill Subway) 10am -4pm-ish.

The second the Movies and Makers Show on December 4 at the Fox Theatre in the Beach.
(the link above will take you to the blog where you will can "meet" many of the artists!)

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Work in Progress


This is an unfinished piece on masonite (8x10) that I started in Raina Gentry and Kris Kollash's class at ArtUnraveled. The horse is a (single use)stencil by Modelo. I've seen their stencils a lot lately in rooms featured in design blogs.... I have another WIP using a similar (larger) stencil from the same class..... . Someday I'll finish.... but I think that painting isn't my very favourite thing to do..... I need to ground the horse a bit and add some collage elements. I'm all about the mixed media.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Banners

I LOVE making banners!


I made this black and white one for my mom's "Noteworthy Christmas" . This year her theme is black and white with naturals and a touch of red. It's all about "notes" . This can be broadly interpreted -- musical notes, hand written notes, notebooks?

I made some other banners for my etsy shop -- keeping with more traditional Christmas colours of red and white. (If you would like a black and white one you can email me!) They are made from muslin and the letters are cut from quilting cottons.
(if anyone has any ideas on how to photograph these better -- please share -- I wanted to photograph them in a doorway, but if I use natural light -- i.e. no flash, then the background is VERY distracting, unless I skew them like this.... And if I use a flash, they are so blown out and not as pretty as they are in real life)

Really pretty fabric ornaments to come!!!! (and lots more for my etsy shop -- AND a preview of what will be in some upcoming shows -- more on that later in the week!!)

I've also put some of my punched aluminum stars in my shop....

Follow your dream


I finished this piece that I started in Cynthia Anderson's class called "Painting Faces" at Art Unraveled in August. I'm pretty happy with it. It is very "Kelly Rae". Thanks, Kelly for the inspiration! (I have it up in my kitchen).

Monday, November 01, 2010

A bit of after Halloween Voodoo

You have to watch this!



too creepy?