Winter studio play...

...seems to come with a lot of snowflakes in this house.

I'm currently working on a card that features snowflakes, and have finished one as well.

This was for John's 81st birthday this past week.

I added another layer to the experimental canvas - only dozens more to go, I expect.  🤣

I also started some cards, knowing I go through several dozen a year, and my starts were getting pretty low.

I took some photos of some of the hand-crafted papers, given they were one of a kind.

And if that's not a colour-full week, I don't know what might be.  Hope your week was the same as we head into the second month of the new year!  

While this post is...

...short on artwork photos, it's not because the week has been lax in any manner.

The big news, for me, is that I've finished my tenure as President on our condo association .  The last months have truly felt like years, and I'm doing so much happy dancing and singing I'm sure you could hear it all from where you are.  This means I will actually have some time to spend in the studio and I fully intend to get crazy experimental with it,

starting with some abstract colour play in the mini journal, and using a piece of canvas as a palette.

I've been ironing snowflakes (every time I use that phrase, I think how crazy it sounds), and may eventually get to the card/painting I have in mind.

A major project I've been working on this week has been my life story, and a paragraph from it had me wondering whether this particular event was the cement to my snowflake obsession:

'My sister and I lived with six other young women in an old and ramshackle house on 6^th avenue just off 10 St. in Calgary.  At 17 years of age, I have a memory of being woken from a dead sleep-walking exploit, wearing nothing but a shortie nightgown and cropped jacket in -40 degree weather about half a block from home.  Barefooted, my housemate (who had followed me) and I struggled back to the house in a raging blizzard.  Goodness knows what I was dreaming about, but it certainly turned into a cold, albeit a stunningly beautiful, adventure.  It was just one incident in a lifelong fascination with snowflakes.'

I've also made a couple of birthday cards for condo residents who are celebrating this week - one for a full 80 years and the other for 82.  

And I took a few moments for some household signage that will help John with his memory.  

These aids continue to grow in number and I hope will continue to help for some time yet.

I hope that you had something fabulous to celebrate this week - do let me know in the comments, if so!

S...L...O...W...L...Y...

 ...getting back into the studio after a month and a half of the summer busy-ness.  You have to love those long, light days and the family visits that brighten the summer, especially when we're smack dab in the middle of pretty much nowhere. That means we get little in the way of winter company.  😉

The challenge of leaving the studio empty for so long means that there's not much in the way of progress being made on any projects.  To get back into the groove, I've been working on small bits of things including the start on a journal page,

a birthday card,

a sketch for a grandson's birthday painting,

and an August prompt (creating poetry from a torn book page).  It makes me laugh that the favourite part of this is the torn edge of the page.

As things settle back into a routine, I'll be back to working on the large painting.  I'm going to pop over to your pages now to see what you've been up to while I'm away - feeling the excitement!  

How is cake connected to cinnamon, spinning and Lego?

In my world this past week, there's a clear correlation.  Granddaughter Chloe celebrated her second birthday on Saturday in the Okanagan, so there was cake galore.

Our visit to the new locale seemed to have elicited a visit from a cinnamon bear.  From the looks of him/her (we didn't get close enough to check), some post-hibernation sprucing up should have been in the cards.  A curry-comb and hairdresser were definitely required.

As for spinning, grandson Linkin and his dad had a blast at his sister Chloe's party, as did all the other children shouting and screaming at a decibel level to rival lift-off at Cape Canaveral.

We stopped for a quick visit on the way home with another grandson, Owen, as he and his family were unable to attend Chloe's party.  And actually, we visited with his parents as well.  🤣

His current fascination with Lego is boundless, as he arranged them by colour, then by number of bumps, and then by who knows what?!  

As we were away for four days (and recovering for two afterwards 😉), there was little activity in the studio, apart from some card backgrounds created,

and a start on a couple of mini books because I found two neat little boxes in my stash and retro-fitting seemed like a great idea.

I'm looking forward to getting these finished this week, as well as starting on a larger book form.  And who knows what will really happen to those best-laid plans?  

Jumping from project....

 ...to project seems to be the way to keep my muse entertained, and I've certainly been doing that this past week.  I started creating the paper for my next star book

and it looks decidedly different from when I started on hot press watercolour paper with a flurry of stamping.

I finished a bookmark that had been sitting on my table for weeks and weeks and weeks.

I created a card with a skeleton leaf I found months ago.

And that got me back into the mode for Christmas card assembly (and a darn good thing, too, as it's creeping ever closer and there are many more to build).

I painted three wooden panels, and secured works on paper to them, one of which was presold.  Don't you love it when a sale spurs on projects that had been waiting in the wings?  I'd been avoiding doing this for two of them for at least two years because it's a tricky thing to retro-fit a paper work to a panel,  Cowardice wins every time.  😨 

And I finally finished working on that large piece (well, two pieces actually) of Typar I started last month.

I suspect part of it will be perfect for a hinged binding I have in mind.

I have also started a 20 x 16" painting, which is at the really boring stage right now (that is much preferable to the ugly stage which is my least favourite part of painting 😖).  More on that next week - or month - depending on where the muse leads me!

Hope your week has been both productive and fun.  I look forward to hearing all about it.  

I never know...

what's going to happen in the creativity zone in any given day.

It might be more work on a piece of fabric that has morphed from a pandemic mask to something else entirely (a background for a painting, a mini wall hanging?).

A gel printing session might seize me by the throat and cause me to lose hours in the day.

I could pick up a journal (one of several on the go), and play with my inner self.

I may create a card for someone who has had a difficult diagnosis,

or one to welcome a new family member.

No matter what's going on, John is willing participant (read Impeccability Manager) in my craziness.

If there's anything challenging/persnickety/fastidious/picky/fussy that needs doing, he's definitely the man.  When he can spare time from his heritage tomato growing and volunteer work, he can often be found in the studio taking care of the detail stuff, bless his soul.

How about you?  Who aids and abets you in your creative life?  I'd love to hear in the comments below!  

Arting...

...in the time of Covid is certainly a new experience for those of us who are creatives.  Between the isolation, fear and obsession with the news, it seems like the muse can be a long way away.

I have been sporadically using the studio in an attempt to get my art brain on, and, quite frankly, it has been elusive at best.  

I've managed to do some card-making,

make a couple of no-sew masks (one's in the wash so you'll need to wait on a photo of that one),

experiment on some canvas pad paper with texture and colour

in a couple of different modes,

do some gel printing using the bottom of a plastic clam shell for some cool patterning,

finish a mini thank-you booklet for a friend who did a solid favour when we got back from Mexico, (there are more of these in the works, too)

and do another spread in my black and white journal.

Texture is heavily thickly richly on my mind these days as we begin to move toward being in a world that has changed considerably.

Like you, I wonder what that will look like, how it will feel, what new patterns will develop.  Are we moving towards something bigger, better, brighter, inclusive, kinder, loving?  May our new-world texture include all of these, and more.

I'd love to hear your thoughts - please tell me in your comments what your practice includes right now, whether your muse is running strong or running ragged, and what you hope for in the time to come.

As we wind down...

...the playtime and ramp up for Valentine's Day, it was obvious that we'd have to do a heart-filled morning of play.  Of course, I discovered that in my Purge to the Max I'd cleaned out most of my red/pink/purple paper (or did I use it all?!).  This necessitated a Gelli-printing session, always a fun way to lose a day.

With lace,

a plate, and my trusty brayer (along with a journal for cleaning it),

I made several sheets of paper and some tags to start the day off right.

With a supply of paper, tags and ephemera, the excitement was high.

Linda M was as colourful as the paper, 

and Deni dressed for the theme - gorgeous, right?

 Lynne was a whirlwind and had half a dozen pieces made before we could even blink!

I was drooling over the results from all of us.  Here they are, with Deni's first three (I may have missed two or three of hers),

a couple of beauties from Linda, 

 and a host from the ever-prolific Lynne.

These are mine, although I think I've misplaced my 'Quiet Colour Brush' somewhere in the madness.  The good part is that I've obviously retained the Wilfully Wonky look everywhere, right Linda?

The funny thing is that I don't see a piece of paper lace anywhere, nor any of that oh-so-carefully-created paper.  What's with that?  It just goes to show that you can't trust artists of any ilk!

Catch me up on your doings in the comments below...I'd love to hear about all of your Love Projects!