Red Admiral Butterfly

I went outside to photograph some work, and this little beauty was resting on the deck.

Wednesday

The details for a local show I'm in coming up in just over 2 weeks time! 

Tuesday

I've been beading for a couple of days.  I haven't taken any pictures of the new items yet though. 

Today

I think I was wanting a nap before I got up this morning.  Maybe it's the weather?

I've completed the two paintings I showed bits of earlier and am working on a few more that got started months ago then put away.  This one in particular is giving me issues.  I was sick of seeing it the other day and nearly gessoed over it.  However with some persuasion I kept going.  I'm still not happy with it.  It needs some kind of contrasting element, but I can't figure out what.

I think the small format is part of the problem I have with these sometimes.  Larger ones, whilst more scary to start, give you a little room to fudge the composition and so on, but with these little ones (most of these are 8" by 10", some 11" by 14") it's less scary starting out but they don't allow as much 'space' on the canvas to mess up the positions of things, balance the colours, etc.

paint

More painting today - I'm wearing some of it as usual, though it's not as bad as it often is.

This piece has since had more done to it, but the process photo is pretty neat I think.  I like how the black background changes and increases the brightness of the light colours.

If you hadn't guessed, this is one of the inspired by butterflies pieces.


On another note, here's the new website of a talented friend of mine, textile artist Anu Raina.

Colour

I have taken over the floor space with my paints.  Yesterday and today I've worked on this piece (detail of piece in progress shown above) and I'm almost done now.  I started it a while ago, but set it aside.  One of the things that I remembered being taught, which helped, is to turn the painting upside down and look at the problem spots that way. 

Much of yesterday was rainy here, though during a clear patch in the weather I went outside to snap a couple of pics of the flowers.  The day lilies are out, which are a lovely shade of orange.  The flowers below I chose to post because they're such great colour combinations together.

The Earth Moves

Lots of buzzing going on around here about an apparent 5.5 earthquake about an hour and a half ago.  I, however, can't say I felt anything. 

I have pulled a few of my paintings out of storage to try and figure out how to finish them, in preparation for a show in a few weeks.

June 22 already

Happy Summer!

I've noticed that there are days it's hard to think of something to write about without dismissing it as boring (note to self: post it anyway!), and other days when there are so many ideas for posts in my head it's hard to pick one. 

Just now I was looking at another blog belonging to classmates' of mine, Milk And Bread, and their post today features a picture of an artist's work which thanks to its somewhat postal theme in turn reminded me of another artist - Harriet Russell. Harriet Russell is an illustrator in the UK, who I became aware of doing an assignment about mail art.  She tested the postal system by creating puzzles with addresses which had to be solved if they were to be successfully delivered. 

Photos

I've spent some time outside taking photos - outdoors in the shade is nice for photographing work, BTW - trying to improve upon existing pictures of a couple of my machine embroidered butterflies.  I'm finding the bigger ones harder to get a nice image of.

Felt of Sandra Adams

This lady's work is pretty amazing!

FRIDAY!

I really didn't know what to blog about today, given that the blog is about my creative activities.  That said, tomorrow I hope to go paper scouting, there's a great little shop not far from here, and I'm looking for ideas for these wedding invitations I've been asked to make.  So, maybe I'll come back with some fun colours of paper to play with. 

Beyond that, I've watched soccer, taken some photos, made I think 3 new Etsy listings, done laundry, and we discovered not long ago that there is a mouse in the bird feeder!  Sorry if you're freaked out by the mention of mice, but it was an entertaining moment.

Someone asked me...

Someone asked me some time ago, if spending two hours a day, every day, on your craft (whatever it is) would bring you success in coming years, would you invest that time? 

France vs. Mexico

Here I am, having a cup of tea, quietly sewing, the match on to keep me company.  For you, an image from a recent batch of cards I've been making.  I'm also indulging in another hobby of mine this afternoon, postcrossing.

Also happy to add that I've got 12 *hearts* on my etsy shop.  A good start! 

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

It's been an odd day for taking photos of my work, it couldn't decide whether it wanted to rain or shine.  Still, I have managed to take advantage of the dry moments and take pictures of a couple of new listings for Etsy, and add some better pictures to existing listings.  Some of said are up now and some I'll be adding tonight or tomorrow.

Fan Page!

A short note to give you the link to my new Fan Page!

Brazil vs. Korea

Today I'm feeling a little unfocused, flopping in between different little projects.  Plenty to work on though - lots of various bags and cards happening. 
I'm contemplating methods of promoting work, building a facebook fan page which gives you more visibility than a group, and so on.
I'm also thinking about a few different shows, and it looks as though I might be participating in one in November, which is great; more on that another day though.
Some time soon I will be beginning to work on invitations for two brides-to-be I know.  

Italy v. Paraguay

I'm settling in for this afternoon's match, and pulling out some jewellery pieces to add to my Etsy listings.  It's a humid and overcast day, and looks like it might rain.

I'm trying out a new coin purse, a wool felt one.  I've discovered the felt layers make it bulky and the sewing mahcine doesn't like it, so when I make the next one I'm going to adapt my seaming technique to make it easier.
When I've done that, I'm going to finish some pieces with applique polkadots. 

I'm also going to want to find time to properly look through my new issues of Azure and Stringing magazines which arrived recently.

While Watching Germany vs. Australia

You might know I'm pretty into the World Cup at the moment, so I'm watching one of the games while doing a few things on the computer.  As I said I would, I'm now sharing a few pictures from this week.  Enjoy!

Saturday

I've been out a fair bit over the last couple of days.  It started off with my convocation from college on Thursday afternoon.  Yep, I'm now a graduate - with Honours.  Friday was spent in the Niagara region, which included a stop at the Butterfly Conservatory, which was inspiring.  I took alot of photos, but with all those butterflies not necessarily wanting to keep still, I'm not sure they're very good.  I haven't put them onto the computer yet so sharing a picture or two will not be tonight's project.

Lists

Thinking about the things I am working on and should be working on got me to thinking about to-do lists, and in turn about lists in general.  What sort of things do you write lists for? 

Tuesday

I have been making some totes and other bags.  I've added a few to Etsy and there will be a couple more soon.

Inspirations

I wonder if you've given it any thought - what excites and inspires you, what makes you smile?

Here's a few of mine.

Thunderstorms, postcrossing, Kurt Vonnegut, butterflies, ancient Egypt, watching soccer, books, coffee, close-up photography, Emily Carr...

Thursday Post

I've managed to get a couple of good things done today:

1.  Made a little coin purse, with lining.  I goofed the stitching a little so around the zipper is a little lumpy and the lining isn't an ideal fit.  Still, I learned a couple of things while doing it and it should go better the next time I make one.

2.  A loaf of banana bread!  Another experience, since I had to look up the conversions for using a different type of flour than the recipe called for.

3.  I've been making more cards and including some hand embroidery on them.  The results are pretty cute.

You might also have noticed that I added a labels cloud to the bottom of the blog page the other day.

Moments and Inspirations

After having a totally uninspired day on Monday as far as getting any crafty things done, yesterday showed some potential.  I put together some new cards, picked up a portfolio to put jewellery images into, and spent a while browsing around in Chapters.  Bought a Quilting Arts magazine, which just stuns me - the contents, that is, not the fact that I bought it. 

It was this that led to me thinking about small moments that inspire you or make you smile.  A gift that's carefully wrapped in layers of matching paper and ribbon, a butterfly in your garden, the smell of books and coffee...

Can you think of a few things that inspire you?

Louise Bourgeois

Sculptor Louise Bourgeois has died at the age of 98.