Happy summer, everyone!

Happy summer, everyone! We have just returned from camping and I have been busy creating a journal/altered book that I will use in my fine arts classes this fall. I am trying to complete as many pages as possible before the end of August. 

I was inspired for this one in part by the colors that one of our former students, Alexis Howe completed and which I purchased. I love working with these talented young artists and I was thrilled to hear that she is planning to go on to a university education in art. This is an excellent piece. By the way, good luck, Alexis.

This particular page I will use as an example for line and color as we will be starting with the "principles of art" which may take us several months, believe it or not. I will be having most assignments as projects in their “altered books”. What do you think?

Inspirational birdsong....

Today I was laying on the couch on my deck, under a vine-crossed canopy framed in the setting sun's dappled reflections on  trees, watching the birds feeding at our bird-feeders and listening to their beautiful song. At one point the feeders and the ground were covered by over 50 yellow finches! The beauty took my breath away! Inspiration is so close when we are looking, isn't it? Birds are one of my favourite inspirations, as you can see. This is an artwork I have just recently completed, again using birds. I hope you like it. Please send me your feedback! Also, visit my Etsy store where you can see a few more of my recents....

Collage HaPpY!!!!

What a beautiful summer-ish day! I feel rejuvenated and jubilant, finding out my course load for next year... I will be teaching more fine art! I am excited to work with Tara and all the kids at Neelin. I was so inspired today at the Vernissage (first annual) where students had the opportunity to talk about their work. I have my eye on one that I really want to buy!!! Good job, Alexis! I am hoping to do some projects with the students that I love to do myself, like altered books and collage work. Here is one of the collages I have done in the past couple of weeks.

Collage HaPpY!!!!

What a beautiful summer-ish day! I feel rejuvenated and jubilant, finding out my course load for next year and I will be teaching more fine art! I am excited to work with Tara and all the kids at Neelin. I was so inspired today at the Vernissage (first annual) where students had the opportunity to talk about their work. I have my eye on one that I really want to buy!!! Good job, Alexis! I am hoping to do some projects with the students that I love to do myself, like altered books and collage work. Here is one of the collages I have done in the past couple of weeks.

My new purses!

I am so excited. Here they are! The new purses. The insides are printed too! They are laminated inside and out. The "thickness" is provided by 10 layers of recycled newspaper.There are stitched patterns all around the bag.

The straps are 1/4" tubing knotted on the inside. This bag is about 10" x 4" x 8".  It would work great as a purse or a lunch bag. Watch for out matching items coming soon -- larger totes, wallets, etc.  I will be getting better pictures so you can see the stitching detail.

Thank you Laura at Flashbags® for your help! I hope my customers will love them too. We will see the reaction after this weekend! We have two shows. I will update next week. I am too tired to move right now! Gotta go to bed!

Believe in the beauty of your dreams...

What a nice sentiment. Here is one of the girl artworks I am just finishing off . This also has a bird in it -- go figure! Do you see a theme here? This one took me a while to finish, as there is a lot of fine detail work to do in a face! I am also producing card co-ordinate stickers for you to use to seal the envelopes on most of my new cards. Here is the co-ordinate sticker for this card. Watch for my postcard calendar which will be available soon. It will be a perpetual calendar you can use for more than 1 year. My next post will show you that. It is not quite finished. I hope you will like it.

A breath of fresh air...

I was taking the dog for a walk this week when I noticed how much the air was filled with birdsong! The sun was shining and the sky was blue and the snow was positively sparkling! I can't wait for these frigidly cold temperatures to be gone, but I really appreciated the birds being out there singing away! It inspired me and I have produced several artworks recently with birds in them. These are my spring inspired greeting cards. I have more on the way. These are done in my collage style and really must be seen close up to appreciate all of the fine details and nuances. These have not been uploaded to my site yet, they are so fresh! Please visit the website and send me any constructive criticisms you may have. I really appreciate the time you take to do this. It helps.

Cheers!

I need to feel like spring!

I didn't realize how much this cold was getting to me. I really need to smell the roses. I just somewhat finished this artwork. I am sure I will tweak it and maybe change the quote but my hand and arm hurt and I feel all sniffly... I HATE COLDS!
Anyhow, the hardest part was the  hair. Usually I don't have too much trouble with hair, but I just couldn't get it right at first. I also couldn't decide whether to have her looking at the butterfly or looking straight out. I hope you like it. Let me know....

What to do with an old textbook...

I was in the Neelin library the other day and they were discarding books so OF COURSE I had to take some. This book was originally in the Harrison library. It was first signed out in 1974, 5 years before I graduated! This is what I have done in the pages of it. Hope you like it. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm tired and I have a sore throat (booo). Watch for the finished piece which I will publish in the next little while.

I forgot to tell you about my calendar!

I can't believe I haven't mentioned it! This took me so long to compile and it was so costly, but in the end, I am very proud of it. Visit my calendar page on my website to see all of the interior pages. I call it my happy thoughts calendar as these are all very nice messages. I don't know about you, but I am kinda sick of the usual scenes and animals you get from the bank. Let me know what you think. I can start the calendar on any month, so even if you order late (hint! hint!) you can still get your year's worth.
Cheers...

What Shall I do today?

Well everyone..today is my last holiday day. I like the fact that spring is on the way. This picture just makes me feel like spring. Can't wait for those tulips!
 I feel ready to go back to school but I really want to savour this. I am going to start with a long hot bath. Then I think I will spend the day drawing, or maybe painting. I have so many drawings, so I guess I should maybe finish one. Then I will have the basis for another art-plaque.
Did anyone see the button mirrors we made this year. They are so cute and we sold tons! My 14 year old daughter has been making them for me and she was VERY excited to buy herself the latest Blackberry. It really is cool...hmmm... don't I need my phone replaced???? Well, maybe I can wait awhile longer.

Re-invention

Happy New Year, everyone. It has been a year filled with ups and downs, hasn't it? Our show season is behind us and we are all breathing an extra long sign of relief. I feel different somehow --- better? I have been madly working on my website during the Christmas break from school. I decided it was time for my little angel to go and I have replaced her with another angelic pic. This "gratitude" artwork was one of my better selling artworks this year.Check out a bigger copy on my website. This last couple of weeks I have been working on new pieces for 2011. Let me know what you think. I have also been doing lots of email marketing to drive more customers to my site to see this new stuff. Any suggestions out there?