Sketching, lazy beach moment and wild yarn stuff...

I said in my last post I would show you my sketches from when I went to the farms, so here they are...

Its not too many as it was very hot in sun that day I was out and I did also photography 

and checked out all the different stands for goodies to bring home.

A few days later, I saw a young woman with a pretty summer dress

and it looked so cute with her flat shoes.

Yesterday I went for a drive after dropping my daughter off at respite care.

I hate the thought of having to put her in care so I can do things or get a good nights rest,

I wish I could enjoy these things with her more than what we can these days.  

But I have to count my self blessed to be able to get a break once in a while, so I can draw and

being able to catch up to very much needed sleep.

Any how, I ended up on two beach areas along the Ottawa River.

Enjoyed the lovely day, the view, the breeze, water and of course a nice cup of tea

My trusted Charlie of course by my side also enjoying the breeze.

Below a few pictures I took while down there.

Love the sight of sail boats, and even if they were way out there I could hear the young sailor students sometimes {they were from a summer camp program} laughing and having a great old time.

Great sounds of summer!

Also saw some wild life, of course the famous Canada Geese, dragon flies and even a pig in the tree...

If you know the grand mess the geese make, well all I can say is that its good pigs cant fly!

{just climb trees...} 

And I leave you with one more picture,

I have taken up a new sport, not cricket but rather the wild game of crochet...

I'm not sure why, but I wanted to try out something new again

Bought some yarn and a crochet needle, hook or what ever its are called.

Looked at a few pictures and got going on it, very addictive I have to tell you,

and I have no idea what to do and I'm sure I have broken every crochet rule there is.

But this is what I did so far, the other piece I did look {and I thought I was making a square}

ended up looking like a misshaped bacteria or germ, so I didn't take a picture of it.

Happy Weekend everyone!!

Enjoy the beautiful weather, create and try out something new

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Barn Day {again!}

Daughter was in summer school so I took my chance to get outside as much as possible,

and how could I not, sun is out, blue skies and I had a few hours to my self..

So I packed my camera, sketch book and a small snack.

Drove around the different farms that are very close to where we live, 

and I walked around them and enjoyed the day feasting my eyes and relaxed with my lungs full of fresh country air...  and even stepped in some cow poop, oh well that's life : )

{All farmers were happy and okay with me stomping about their properties...

If you like doing this then remember, always ask first before you take pictures}.

All beautiful barns and working farms, each offer different amazing local products {fruits, vegetables, plants and animals to see}.  And today I got to see it all and I loved every second of it.

I love birds and today I finally got to see Dark Barn Swallows

I have missed seeing them for so very long time and now I saw them very close

my heart skipped in joy.  That totally made my day!

The intention was not to capture just pink flowers, it just turned out that way

and everyone one of them are from different farms.

And of course "Bran Details" because you know how much I love and go crazy when I see

old weathered barn wood, rusty old handles and nails

Oh yes, this was a fantastic day and I found so much inspiration for new barn paintings and photo art. 

And now, I'm off to cook some of the goodies I bought and then plant two new plants I also got.

Happy Monday & buy local!!

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My other form of art...

I know the past one or two posts here have been about photography and not so much about my drawing or painting, the artsy side...  But photography for me is my art as well, and I have done a lot more this again rather than painting.  I have tried never less but it has been hard, I cant get anything down on paper again the way I like it.  So it safe to say I'm yet again suffering from drawing block!

 

A ton of things going on around here and its been rough, but I roll with the punches each day and one day at a time.  And when I can, I do take a moment to my self, so I can get back up on the surface to breath a bit and find that therapy my doctor ordered me to find.   So, what makes me happy, what inspires me to do more of my art, me to relax and be less stressed??... 

Well a drive out to the country seeking for old worn down barns, that's my therapy, my source of inspiration, my crank to get my brain gears to roll again.

 

And I found a great collection of those fallen apart barns again, and how excited I got when I saw them.  One barn wall made me scream in joy {and almost cause an accident on the road} when I drove past it, of course had to come to complete halt and go back so I could capture this beauty.

 

So I think this quote fits this so well!

And out of pure luck {and when I say pure luck I mean just that, it came down to the last minute} I was able to go an a day trip with the art group am a member of, and this was the annual trip to Montreal, Quebec.

 

It was a super fantastic day, sun was out and it felt great to be out with other people again.

The trip it self was for us to visit two very different art exhibitions. 

First one was to the special exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and the Chihuly exhibit.

And I'm telling you, no words can really describe the whole show, its just one of those shows you have to see and experience your self and if you can, then trust me you will love this one.

 

It was all about glass and its stunning.  I never enjoyed glass as much as I did here, everything about it just blew me away how this one man was able to create all this beauty out of glass and the size of them was mind blowing {and my thought was, how on earth do you ship all this from one place to another, I cant even ship plates between houses without breaking a few}.  In one room they have all the glass in the ceiling and you can lie down on huge cushions so you can look up, I could have stayed in there for a very long time. 

All in all, this is one of those art exhibitions you just have to see.

 

After the museum we went to the second exhibition FIMA {street art show/fair} and that was down town and a whole street for several blocks were blocked off from traffic, and all along the street was different artist tents with their work.  I found a few artists and their work that I really liked, but looking back at my pictures I took from there, one would think I was in some kind of bubble heaven because I took a lot of pictures of pink balls hanging above the whole street. 

And I have to tell you, those pink balls sure looked more fun after a few sips of Sangria {some of us took a break and enjoyed the great weather and atmosphere from a patio}.  This was just the therapy I needed again, calming drive in the country side, worn and torn barns and then a trip with fellow artists to Montreal. 

I found my arts mojo again, ton of inspiration and some much needed new energy! 

And I also will do a lot more photography. 

 

Here is another quote I really love and I find it so fitting to everything in this post, how things are here and how I was inspired by Chihuly {how he kept trying and trying to stretch and take glass to whole new levels to create his art, he never gave up but rather pushed it even further}. 

And I leave you with this, happy June every one!

 

"If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces,

never be afraid to pick up one of those pieces up and begin again"

 

by Flavia Weeden

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Upcoming show {Plein Air}

 

Handed in my two pieces for the up coming art show, didn't take pictures of most of them until the very day of the drop off {that's why some look a bit wonky}

Sketches I did while down at the museum last summer 

{a lot of them I had to finish here at home, the colours mostly}

but they are in ink and water colours. 

A mixture of different building and more from the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum.

Just a little better detail shot of the two sheets that are in one frame.

And my painting {acrylic} that made in to the invitation for the show {seen above}.

 

Opening day for the show is this coming Saturday, June 2

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Painting, sketching & Mother`s Day

This has been a great weekend, lots of free time to just do art and take it easy...  Husband is away on a canoe trip that I backed out of in the last minute, and although I love him dearly but the weather changed very quick from super hot summer back to more early spring like.  Sun went in hiding, clouds rolled in and so did the cool winds and showers.  I guess you can say I have turned in to a chicken, I just so dislike getting wet and cold.  My joints just wont have any of it.

Sooo...

With my daughter already in respite care {and I know she's in good hands and having fun with all the activities they hold there}, I just had all this yet again "me" time.

 And with all this extra time I had, I been working on finishing my painting for one of the upcoming shows.  And I have been putting together some of the sketches I did at the last years Plein Air with one of the art groups I belong too.   It was a fantastic day, and we were so lucky with the weather, a perfect hot sunny summers day.  You can see about that day here. I sketched a lot that day, but I noticed that I never posted these once I did as well in a bigger book.

More to come and I'll post the finished pieces and take some shots from the show it self. 

But now sun is peaking out and there is a little spots of blue skies, so I'm going to pack my sketch book and supplies in my bag and head out to the west end of town...  That's before I pick up my daughter {so can't wait to see her and bring her home}, and then we're going to BBQ and spend time togther.  It has already been a lovely day, I woke up this morning to flowers and breakfast that my son put together before heading of to work, it was so lovely and I'm such a lucky mum.  Not just this very day, but every day and even on those days when lots of tears and sleepless hours have passed, because even those days are blessings.  Love them so much.

 

And I hope and wish that all of you have a brilliant 

& a very happy Mother's Day

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Testing lighting & first step...

Im gearing up for the battle of dust bunnies, junk, paper scraps and trolls {okay, maybe not really trolls, but it sure looks like they lived in my studio space during the winter months}. But today is the day and Im starting to clean up in there and before I face the space of doom and gloom, I just wanted to share this with you. As you might know from my last posts, I have been cleaning out all the shelves at our local library and gone through a ton of different books {art, decorating, felting, photography, gardening and mushroom picking... I know a crazy mix of everything}.

One of the books I read had information about lighting and how important it is when you take pictures of your art work. The pictures however in that very book were less than helpful, matter fact they were all in black and white. So I had to give it my own try out, and here it is.

Or as how my daughter puts it... Taa Daa!!!

 

I took a picture under different light sources and natural light, and I used one of my barn drawing/painting as my test subject. And all happen within a few days apart as we have had very temperamental weather lately {still do} and mostly the grey and wet skies have won over.

1, incandescent light (60w x 3)

2, florescent light
3, natural light by the window indoors
4, natural light outside (no direct sunlight)

I also took a picture of it with direct sunlight on to it, but I lost the picture.

However, with direct sunlight right on paper turns it bright blue. It was fun to test it out and just put it all side by side with each other to compare. And to me and most artists, north light has always been the best bet for good pictures, so number 3 and 4 turned the most alike the original piece.

I do however have one of my own books about how-to photograph your work that I would recommend and it has great tips and techniques to take great pictures of your work, be it crafts or art work. 'The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos' by Heidi Adnum

Okay, so now Im of to do my work... No wait, first groceries, pharmacy and then its studio time

All in all, I will get to it one way or the other today. So I leave you with this above, a picture I took last winter and I just loved the shade of teal half painted on that weathered grey fence.

Love it and what an inspiration for my work space : )

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Perfect weather & barns

Friday ended up with a fantastic temperature of +22c, blue skies and brilliant sun set of clouds rolling.  It was a perfect evening to sit outside, watching this unfold before me and just enjoy it with a glass of wine...  Because now we have maybe +4c and its grey and wet and its safe to say its not a pleasant sitting out side weather any more.  Its the perfect storm south of us that is pushing in all the clouds and rain {the rain should start later this evening}.

I really hope that all of you south from here, are staying dry and safe and this storm will not be as bad as they are saying in the news. 
Weather like this, its perfect time to stay in and paint.  So that's what I have been doing last night and this morning, my only problem is my eyes again {its an ongoing problem, and right now they are bad again, blurry and swollen}...  Hopefully this will pass again, just wish it didn't take so long as I kind of need my eyes.

First I just had to twirl lines and just let it lose, and then just add colours like mad and see what came out of it, and its okay and its just one of those paintings : )  Below is again {surprise} some trees, I was driving along a very busy bypass/way and to my left I saw a long row of trees that had lost all their leaves, but the bushes and smaller trees still had theirs left.  Really looked cool and I wish I could have stopped to take a picture.  So tried to sketch it out of memory.

Then I did something I haven't done for a while {but sure thought about it often}, I drew and painted two new barns and I cant tell you how good it felt to draw them again.  I really love old barns!!!

First one is from the Experimental Farm in down town Ottawa, its a big farm museum and this is one of the main barns there.

And this one below is of a small barn that houses goats and sheep, and its tucked away next to the forest and between me {on the side of the road} and the barn is a field.  I drive past here many times and each time wait and look to see if I can see the sheep and the goats, totally not thinking about the barn it self.  Until last week after our walk in the bog, I was able to stop {no traffic} and really take a look.  OMG!!!  Its such a beautiful little barn, and you cant see it here but all the siding and roof is of metal and it has beautiful teal colour to it with lots of rust.

All the sheep and goats were hiding behind trees and refused to play along, but that was okay {this time...  But I will be back you woolly things you, and I will be armed with my camera and I will get a shot of you one way or the other, so there!} 
All the lines are a bit wonky, I just cant see them as well right now.  But it was fun to draw and paint them again.

On to the next one, but first some cleaning up and remove furniture in the living room and dining room, new floors coming in tomorrow and good bye to the powder blue shag carpet, cant wait!!!

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Art day at the museum

Spent a wonderful day at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum alongside with fellow artists & friends from Arteast, and we all had a great time connecting again, enjoying a brilliant summer day and art, lots of art.  It felt fantastic to be among my artist friends and just do art (and photography).
As I mentioned in my last post from our vacation, I have new passion and love for something that runs on steam and that's old steam boats (more will come about that later).  But I also found new love for old farm equipment, tractors, harvest machines and wheels... Yes, wheels and Oh boy did I ever find a lot of great old rusted and weathered wheels all around this place

"Grease on Wheels Makes the World Go..."

It was a very hot day and it was hard to sit still in one place, so I ended up only starting a painting and did more sketching and again take a ton of pictures.  I really like the old Watson's Garage (c.1916)

As I walked around snapping pictures and trying to find some shade so I could sketch (did I mentioned it was super hot, looks like summer heat came back, today its +30c and really humid).
Here is the Sawmill & Shingle Mill and its a replica of an old mill, it was fun hearing the original saw getting fired up, all run by steam and it let out this funny popping sounds while smoke poured out of the chimney.

Then I made a quick ink sketch of the Duford House (not sure why the paper shows blue here) and I noticed the roof top was really rounded on the middle, that made me at first think about how I could make it look more real...  But then it just hit me, why should it and why do I always try so darn hard and I wish I could relax more when I draw. 

So I did, relaxed as much I could and I really had a blast drawing these next two pictures.  If the line went wrong I just drew a new one next to it and just added on, I used different sizes of ink pens.  It might not sounds as anything, but for me it is...  I have to learn to relax more when I draw, sketch and paint.  If felt good, relaxing and just plain old smashing!!!

This one is of the cutest little white washed log home (Dupuis House c. 1830)
And the next drawing is of the garage again (I know, it looks like I had sucked back a few bottles of hard cider...).  But there it is, brilliant day at the farm with a great bunch of fellow artists, sun shine and sweet summer day and a lot more relaxed me.  Now this is what I call awesome therapy  : )

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Happy Victoria Day!!

Its the long weekend, and between doing things around town with family that's visiting (touring the tulip festival and nice drive out to the country). I have found time to do a little bit of painting and sketching. I tried something a bit out side of my comfort zone, drew and painted a barn with out any ink or lines. I like it and especially how the roof top turned out of the barn. And then I went back to my ink again and did another barn, I like it, but I regret that I put the fence in (just like in the picture I took of the barn). I might have to make a new painting of it, its really neat, it has both a stone section and a wood one and it looks like the stone part is much older.

And here is one of the many pictures I took from the Tulip festival, this one is from the Dows Lake area.

And I will leave you with a picture I took today from our nature walk down by Mer Bleue bog (board walk), you can see here how much it has changed since 10 days ago when I was there last time (you can see the other picture in my last post).

We were lucky to get some nice warm rain free day to do this today, and we even got to sit in a patio and enjoy a nice lunch (thank you so much K & R, love you both)... And now we are back home, taking it easy and yes, the rain is back. But the weekend is not over yet, so hopefully better weather tomorrow.

I hope all of you are having a good weekend so far, Happy Victoria Day!!

Mari

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New barn & Giveaway

Oh it feels good to be back in blog land, and back doing art again... Have a I ever been missing it. Of course I have been doing some small sketching of and on, but most ended up in the trash can or left a box, nothing that I was excited about or felt that that was sometihng worth looking at for the second time. So finally I was able to get a new barn on paper, and this one I drew by after my sons and mine dentist appointment (we both hate dentist, so we took the country road back home to calm our nerves). And there it was, a beautiful old barn with wood boards so weathered to different greys and browns (all falling apart) and it still had all its windows left and they are light blue stain glass window panels. Just loved the colours of that glass against all that wood. Okay, so I wrote in my last post that I wanted to do something for my dear blog friends, fellow artists and creators, and I'm doing this because I really enjoy blogging and the whole blogging community. Not only have I met other fantastic artists from all the corners of the world, I have met people who are sweet and caring, full of ideas and support and great sense of humour (some of you really crack me up with the things you write and draw) and I love seeing your work and reading your stories. I have met people by blogging, that I would never other wise have had the chance to meet, that's so neat. What I also like about blogging, is that I can travel all over the place and visit back to Scandinavia by just a click of a button. Sa hej alla ni over dar!! So here it is, my first (ever) Blog giveaway and its for all of you, and I want to keep it simple and all you have to do, is leave a comment and tell what got you out of your last slump, rut or painters block... Was it a kick in the pants, a colour, a song or nagging thought in the back of your mind?... That's it, easy and hopefully not too much of a painful reminder from your creative blues!!

And this is what I have for the giveaway, 3 things for 3 lucky winners who's names my dear secretary Charlie will pick (he loves to eat paper)...

# 1, is a copy of my last book I illustrated for "Shoe Shopping With Dad?"

# 2, an original watercolour and ink painting from my "By The Sea" series

And # 3, is two hand printed and painted tags (the stamp I made my self) and the back side is from a 1926 vintage music paper.

And I will do the draw on May 1st... May Day, one of my favourite days of the year and why not, this is a great way to kick start the summer : ) I'm looking forward to your comments on how you got out the creative blues

Cheers,

Mari

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8th Line Rd Barn & farm animals

This barn is located on 8Th Line Rd, its in a very poor state and I don't think it has too many winters left in it. It was the brilliant green roof that caught my eye, it was so beautiful {its much brighter than how it came out on the picture}, and it has so many missing boards that you can see right through it. I wonder what name this barn has or had.

And these cute guys {and gals, I'm sure}, were so funny to watch. There was this great looking billy goat, and sheep {you can see the butt of one}, horses and a donkey all living together. If I remember this right, this barn was on Route 400.

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Route 400 Barn

Another barn and this one is on Route 400, and I just love the whole building. I have heard about round barns and seen some pictures, still trying to find them so I can take my own pictures. But I found this beauty, now how cool is this with all its rounded sides and roof. And it looked so good standing there in the middle of all the open fields all around it.

This one is the sketch I started a few weeks back, now I just added the ink and I might just leave it just as is and if I'm going to do it in water colours, then do it from scratch.

On to the next barn!!

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