Bark, Bark, bark!!!!!

Gorgeous day today and it feels like spring is just around the corner...  But then I heard the news and a snow storm is heading this direction, I love winter, really I do, but even I have had enough.

However, back to this day and what a fantastic walk I had with Charlie, we walked two different trails and I was taking pictures of trees {need inspiration for different textures and colours} and while I was busy shooting away like a mad fashion photographer Charlie was happy barking and running around after squirrels {lucky for them he cant see well, yes our baby is going blind but his sense of smell and hearing is all top notch}.

I love how different kinds of bark look and feel, brilliant textures and I think {if I'm not wrong} I spotted four different kinds of birch trees.  One of my favourite birch is the silver birch and paper birch, picture above however is not only of birch but there is maple and pine and one that I cant put my finger on, but its pretty.

After our walk, feeling all refreshed from the beautiful weather and all that fresh air, I sat down and drew a little bit and started this.  I'm not sure I like where its going so I have to see if I will keep working on it.  On the side of the paper is a dead branch of an apple tree, although in my mind its not dead in a least bit as it has all kinds of moss and fungi growing on it.  Love the teal coloured tree moss, wish I knew the name of it.

And below here is a picture of a birch tree and look at that great bark and how its naturally all curly.

And I saw this dried up leaf and the colour of it is so beautiful and it looked fantastic when the sun was shinning on it, it was not really the typical autumn orange but rather a yummy terracotta colour.

Okay, back to painting and then its art meeting tonight, will be interesting listening to the guest speaker who will be talking about framing do's & dont's and how to do a good frame work on a smaller budget... 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

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How to draw the little bird and garland...

A dear friend of mine said she cant do this after I happen to say "its easy".  And then I got a few emails asking me how I made the birds, well...  I'm not good at explaining things in words, but I'm better at it in pictures {that goes for a lot of things with me}.  So what better way to do it if not right here and in pictures....  I hope this works!!  
Okay so here it goes, and best of all, all you need are a very few supplies and all can be bought at most craft and art stores.

A pencil and eraser, thin tip marker {water proof}, colour pencils, or water colour pencils, or water colours, or even your kids crayons.  Small brushes if you use water colours, scissors, paper and a few different designs and colours of washi tape {also known as Japanese paper tape}.

For the Bird!!   And you can create this with few lines, if you're still unsure, then draw them first in pencil and practise on a piece of scrap paper.  If you use markers and want to paint them later in water colour, then use water proof markers.

For the garland, you start with drawing a line, in what ever direction you want the garland to go {side to side or from top to side, criss cross} and you make two or three lines.  Then you start cutting out the washi tape flags {cut a triangle} and place it just on top of the line and keep a little bit of space between each flag.   After you're done and happy with your garland, you then draw your birds on top of the lines, you can leave them black and white or colour them in.

Its a fun and easy design, and you can make this for any occasion or season {in my last post I did it for Christmas and used only red toned washi tapes and I painted the birds in to Robins}.  You could for example make light pastel coloured flags and paint little baby birds for a baby card, just an idea : )

All in all, have fun with it!!!

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Decorations, Traditions and crafts

 I love this season, snow, frost, fresh greenery and berries brought in, decorations, spending time with family and friends and traditions.  Above on top right is my Advent star my parents bough for my first Christmas.  Below is a vintage Tomten (Santa in Swedish) and a Sami doll from Finland, these dolls we put out each Christmas when I grew up and now I have them here.  And in the middle is a print of one of my favourite Swedish painters Carl Larsson.

Next picture below, is from the Ikea Santa Lucia show and it was as always heavenly to hear all the lovely Swedish Lucia and Christmas songs, so glad I was able to enjoy this with my son and daughter.

Of course there is nothing like home bakes goods and treats during the holidays, so cant wait to get started again... {As my first stash of saffron cupcakes were eaten up before I could blink}.

 Done a little bit of Christmas crafts and drawing.

As most of you know, I love printing and gone bit crazy about it,

but I also have found washi tape being a lot of fun.

Who knew sticky tape could be this much fun : )

Its snowing outside and we are waiting on ice rain to arrive and pass through the night.  So stuck in the house no matter of what, what is one to do?  Well listen to Christmas music, sitting near the fire place, sipping tea and wrap some presents.

 

Happy 3rd Advent everyone!!

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Springfield Road Barn

A new barn!!! What else is new, you know by now that this is one of my favourite subjects to draw... Just after I down loaded the picture, I noticed the tree tops {they look like a canon ball flew and ripped through them and cut them in half}... Hmmm, I might have to fix that.
Made with water colour & ink.

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Drive in the country side...

And you guessed it, more barns : ) I absolutely love barns {nothing new there} and yesterday while waiting for my son to take his aviation exam and interview, I got some time to drive around the area we were in and take some pictures of barns. Those pictures however are not in this post {just started to work on one today}, but here is barns that I did during the week and they are both from Prince Edward County. So this first picture is of a barn that I really like, as it has tons of different angles. But I'm not happy how this one turned out, will have to do it again, but for now it will be put a side.

This one is also from PEC, and its more a detail part of the "Orange" barn, love the colour of it.

And this one is the starter sketch of one beautiful white barn, and this one will have to wait too. As I found some amazing barns from my drive yesterday and I cant wait to get started.

However, before I get started, I just had to share this picture with you from my drive. I just love how the sky looked at one moment, it looked like a strip of gold painted cross the sky, and I love how it was shinning through the trees. This one of my favourite colour combinations, the soft blueish grey, grey, white and yellows with hint of chalk black.

And, the whole bonus from this day, is that my dear son passed both his exam and interview. I'm so proud of him, oh my baby is now a huge step forward to his pilot license... I'm proud and at the same time worried, after all this is my baby and he is no longer running around the house with a Lego plane in his hand and making engine noises. Nope, no more toy planes or models, but rather real planes with wings and engines {that makes their own noises}, he wants to soar up high through the clouds. My Lord, do they ever grow up so fast, wow, my son a pilot, what a thought. Congratulations son, I'm so proud of you for following your dream.

Now, I'm of to my studio and paint. All the best to everyone of you and thank you so much for all your sweet comments in my last post, thank you so much.

Mari

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It works!!!

Finally got it working, but it took me many hours of me telling the computer "not so nice words", freaking out and yes, even crying to Mr B about my problem with the pictures...
Ended with him looking at it for a second and clicking a few times and boom, there they were.
Me so happy!!! Thank you baby!


Any hoo, the story about "what have I been up too" since my last post and Christmas holidays. I have been painting a few pieces that I'm going to enter to a jury show {will post them after} and I have been doing a few small things, didn't spend much time in my studio so far {that will change very soon}. But I have been doing a lot of just doodling, sketching and just a little bit of water colour... And I have worked a bit with mixed media.

These two sketches I did in a small sketch book, not sure if I like the paper or not. First one {with the flower} is a hyacinth we have in our living room and it smells heavenly, and I drew it while watching tv, I don't like the text {means spring in Swedish} so I'm going to take it out.
And the one below is a sketch of a old metal scoop that we have at work {yes, it was very quiet day in the store so I drew this}.


And this thing below here, is something I'm working on in stages {when I have time}. Last fall I made the nest part out of scrap fabrics, antique lace and buttons, sewed it all together... And now I finally got around to it and started on the tree part of it, using all kinds of found objects to make it {even has a chop stick in it}. I'm making this for my friend, and its about spring {thinking about putting a small tag on it saying "spring is just around the bend", tell you more about it later}.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, so for your own good you're better of viewing it this way and not bigger... Save your eyes! And yes, its a small bird at the bottom of the tree, so you're not seeing things.
So that's it, well, parts of it and I will post again soon... After this weekend I can post the work I'm doing for the show, lets see if any will be accepted for the show. here is too computer smart husbands and beautiful winter snow days {first picture on top is from our garden I took today}.

Cheers,

Mari

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Summer Colours

A few years back I had a small greeting card collection I made "Summer Diva", inspiration came from a friend of mine... Thought I would pick up where I left and see if I could come up with a few new pictures of my Diva.

" Dare to be different"

I always have my camera with me when I go out with Charlie on our walks, and yesterday I we walked past this big metal storage chest by a ball park... I just loved the colours of it, the blues, greens and the rust. And after I took a picture, I noticed the shadow on top of the box.

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Little bit of this and that

Before I go on about my latest life stories, I want to thank all of you who visited my blog ("where bloggers create") and left all the wonderful comments, I really hope you enjoyed taking a peak at my art space and work. I'm still working down the list with all the women who took part in the party, one at a time and maybe by Christmas I will get to them all : ) But so far I have really enjoyed all the great creative spaces I have seen (got so many ideas for my own space). Thank you Karen Valentine for hosting the party.

Things are a bit slow here when it comes to my artistic side, my kids are now home (school over for the year) and both are already bored and want mums full attention. This week has just been one very bizarre week, we have had odd temperature changes (super hot today, sticky and rainy and now very cold... all is missing is snow). Yesterday, well, Ontario got hit with a boomer for a earthquake,I know some of you probably have experienced much worse than this. But to me this was the biggest earthquake I have ever felt, and it was a freaky to say a least, but what got to me the most was the noise from it.

Today I had to only work one hour and that was great (meeting a new client for a new project). And this evening while waiting for the meat to cook on the Q, I did a few small sketches, getting a bit of head start.

But before I worked, the kids and I went out for a treat then the book store, and after that we went to the library (yes I know, we are such a party animals, lol). As the kids sat down to read I went to take a peak at the books that you can buy (all used books) and I just couldn't believe my luck. All these books below were $ 2.00 each, two is from 1893 -94, totally amazing covers and the big red book (right hand side), has the most beautiful illustrations in it.

The children's music book from 1952, is like the best candy ever... Just look at these illustrations, the colours... Love it, love it! All so well worth it, and the kids are getting a kick out of them too.

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Back from a mini vacation

Well, it has now been 19+ years since Mr B and I tied the knot, and along with it Mr B and I took of on a mini vacation to celebrate our anniversary. We drove south to Kingston and Prince Edward County (PEC), we took the country route of course (so much nicer to travel on). We had a great view from our hotel room, the water front in down town Kingston, so I did a bit of sketching as I love all the very old buildings there.

We went for a nice walk around Kingston before we had to head back home, and I saw this church door, its amazing and I just love the huge hinges on it... Look at that great design.

Here is a sketch of old roof tops of old Victorian buildings, I'm so in love with all the old buildings. And I told Mr B that I have now found about 100 homes that I would have nothing against moving in too, he just smiles and tells me "yes dear"... By the way, that's 100 homes on top of all the many I found in PEC.

This one of the views we had from our room, old buildings with little apartments on roof tops and pubs below, so neat. To our right we could see the city hall tower and the Mortelo towers along Lake Ontario (further up it turns in to St Lawrence River), that's the picture below here.

I dont like how dark the windows turned out in the picture, it looks black but I don't ever use black in water colours (only blue and brown mixed).

Saturday, we spent in PEC driving around to different vineyards, did a little bit of wine tasting (bough more too take home than tasting, we kind of know what to get after all our past trips there : ) Here is a sketch of one of my favourite vineyards, well I love the barn more than anything. Its purple and really fantastic where its located in the country side. So while he tasted some wine (of course I helped a bit) and enjoyed the quiet, I drew a bit. The colours and mini sketches on the side is other barns we saw as we drove around. Did I mention that I love barns??

We had a great time, back in Kingston we met up with some very good friends and we went to a few pubs, great weather, great food, great drinks and great company, what else could one ask for. Sunday morning I got up first, and I walked down to the antique market and looked around. Found a ton of stuff that I wanted, but I knew there was no way for us to get all that back home. But I did get some old beat up magazines and old book pages, and all of this for $5.00 Hooray!!! Love them, ads from 1919, 40's and 50's and a few other pages that are much older, but from what time frame I don't know.

Just look at this one, its so beautiful and I love the look of her face and look at those shoes (yes, I love shoes too)...

Any hooo, that was our mini vacation, something we both needed very much (just time away and time for us). I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, he's my best friend the one and only. Thank you baby for such a wonderful time

"Grown Old With Me, Best Is Yet To Come"

Now I have to keep looking at all the fun and creative spaces of everyone who entered the Artists Spaces party, tons of great spaces, ideas and just fun stuff to look at. And I wish to thank all of you who visited my space and had a look around, I hope you enjoyed it. And thank you all for your kind comments.

Keep creating, no matter what space you might have, think big, dream much and create plenty.

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A perfect rainy Day

Look what I found today, my son and I were out driving and we drove past a pile of stuff by the road side and after a while of driving and thinking about it. We turned back and went to take a look and I'm so happy we did, so it came home with us. We got it just before it started to rain.

When we got home, we looked at it and found a some papers and old manuals in the case, love the illustrations of them. Then we stuck a paper in and gave it a spin...

I was so excited, and its so perfect for my daughter, she loves to type her letters and notes and she had seen an old picture of a type writer and she talked about them... And its her favourite colour blue (more teal blue). And so I cleaned it up and left in her room as a surprise when she got home from school. And she found it and boy, she is typing up a storm upstairs (I can hear the clicking and clanking and her laughing).

So while she is writing her next novel, I got some cleaning done and base coats on for my next new paintings. And I looked through some of my water colour pencils, someone in EDM was asking for some info about them (sorry I cant remember your name). So I thought I would show you all what I like to use for water colour pencils.

I have three kinds that I like to use, I find them all good but different from each other. My favourite is the Rexel Cumberland (made in UK), they blend really well with each other and on paper (they don't leave pencil lines). The colours are very brilliant, pure and clean.

My other one is a new brand I'm working with, not as good, but still very good STAEDTLER karat aquarell (made in Germany). Again the colours are very nice, but they are much more harder/dry (if that makes sense?) and can be a bit more work to blend.

And my new water colour pencil is Supracolor, CARAN d'ACHE (Swiss made), its the one on top, white). It blends well so far (only have a few colours) and softer to draw with.

I don't use the pencils as much as I use my other water colours (cakes and or tubes), but I like to use them along with my other paintings, for travel and or for mixed media (when I need fine lines).

Now back to work, cook dinner and then it will be time read the novel that was created (she loves it when we sit down under a blanket and we read her stuff). Have a great evening everyone.

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Some more EDM challenges..

EDM # 66 Fire hydrant. When I took my MIL to the trains station, I happen to see a really old fire hydrant close by to the station and I just couldn't help my self, but I had to take some pictures. Its different due to the fact that all the other fire hydrants in town are either all red or yellow with blue tops. But this one, red (now more pink because of all the time outside, worn from the sun and snow) and it has green top and sides, and its now all apple green with hits of rust and even moss.

EDM # 33 Draw an eye, but in my case eyes and this one is of Nina Hagen (a German singer), and she has some wild music videos and there is so much going on in them including her facial expressions (some of them a bit more than crazy), but she is unique.

And this one is a mixture of few EDM's in one # 109 Draw a Clock (we bought an old clock at an antique market in Fredericton, New Brunswick many years ago). EDM # 111 Bowl, and this one is of my small bowl (set of two) that I bought when I was about 16 and it has so far survived the kids...

EDM # 86 Traffic Sign, and this one confused the heck out of me, was the town council doing this as a joke or they just didn't know how to make signs... or is it due to budget cuts and they thought "lets put two signs in one", needless to say, I didn't park there.

And the last EDM # 89 Button, and this one is of one button that I put on to my cover that I made for my Moleskin agenda. Its a metal and a very simple button, but I love it.

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