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

read more

And rain is coming down with a hint of sun...

 May has had the strangest mood swings when it has come to the weather, rain, cold, sun, blue skies, rain, hail, frost, heat wave, sun, rain...  Sure the grey wet days have been good for studio time and getting work done {including cleaning up around here}, but the wet and rainy days have been a bomb for gardening and getting anything really nice done outside.  And it all has happen so fast too, apple trees bloomed and then they were gone, well more like all over my car and I even had to use my snow brush for the car to get all the little flower bits off.  Week before that my dear husband went on a canoe trip not far from here, and he had to use the brush to get snow and ice off the car when they were done with the trip {this was the May 12 weekend}. 

But when it does get warm and we all know its always short lived.  So I don't care what has to get done around here, I just have to get outside and not only suck in the warmth from the sun.  But see some blue skies is so sweet after days of just grey, and I take long walks with my dog and we enjoy the woods and parks around here.  The painting sketch above is from a dog park and it has one really neat tree there, and it looked so pretty with all the dandelions flowering below.

Then long weekend came and so did the fair, funny how one ride fitted right in to one of the days...  When the cool winds returned.

Before it got too cold again, we had some sun {told you this was all crazy back and forth}, I went down to the farmers market that finally opened again.  Sat down for a while to draw, I loved how the wild garlic looks in the jars {they have this soft pink hue to them when they are pickled}.

And now its all rain again, thunder and well blahhh.  Sucks poop if you ask me! 

And I still have a few things left that waits for being planted in the ground.

 

So that's it from my end of this crazy world, how are you holding up at your end? 

Is it spring or fall, rain or sun? 

Done any cool painting or drawing? 

Now I'm back to burn more studio time and wait for the skies to open up again let the sun peak through and maybe we can use the pool one day, for now its raining side ways and lightning. 

 

Happy painting, rain or shine!!!

read more

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

read more

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 : )

read more

Autumn mix

 I haven't posted much lately again, and I haven't done much drawing or painting either {only painting walls}...  This fall came very fast and time has gone by mostly by fixing our house and other every day things.   But when we have been able to get out, we been enjoying some of the beautiful moments that comes with fall.  Nice walks along the river, collecting colourful leaves in the forest, enjoying the crisp air, apple picking, farmers markets and the country fair.

We went to the Metcalfe country fair, beautiful sunny day and lots to see.  Including vintage tractors and harvest machines, lots of neat old weathered and rusty old things...

If anything I have been doing a lot of photography when ever I get the chance, like this one below I took while on my way to a friends house in the country.  It was early morning and the fog was just clearing the fields, of course I had to stop and take a picture...

Now its the long Thanks Giving weekend, and we are all taking it easy {between cooking and eating}...  Enjoying family and friends visiting, walks in the woods and just doing all those relaxing things around the house, reading by the fire place, sorting through hundreds of new pictures and playing games with the kids.  I might even get some time in here to draw something, I hope so!!

Happy Thanks Giving to all of you..

Mari

read more

Fabolous Mess...

 I went in to my work space to see what I could do, started with looking at few sketches I have done of plants in my back yard and then it went in to trying to make a few stamps again...  Shortly after Lindsay came in and she wanted to give it a try as well.  She drew her designs and I carved away while she kept telling me about all her princess dolls {there is a lot of them}...  One stamp after the other and we had a great fun making a mess.

And I love seeing Lindsay enjoying her self, creating and those designs she makes are brilliant, full of great details.  But a bit hard to carve with out nicking a few lines here and there, but she was a good sport about it and was very pleased with her prints {a very nice day indeed}.

Here are my two stamps I ended up with, the top one is a design/drawing of Garlic chives and in the stage before the blooms open up.  Now they are all in full bloom and covered in happy and hungry bumble bees.

read more

Colours & Tea...

 Its the last long weekend before the kids go back to school, and its the last days of summer holidays {at least for the kids, I will still take a few for my self...}.  As you know from my past posts, I have a few or I should say a rather long list of favourite colours.  But the first few on my list are however my most liked and favourite colours " Yellows, Greens, Oranges and Teals"
So I been taking a few pictures of flowers in my favourite colours, and even my poor dying sunflowers gave me beautiful colours to the very end... 

Sketching while tea is cooling

 While looking at the colours made me think about ice tea, and one of my very favourite things to make is home made lemon ice tea.  I dont know what it is, but it relaxes me to watch the colours flow out the tea bags, the sweet scents and the feel of fresh lemons...
Finding the perfect tea for this is also something I enjoy a lot and I like to try new different kinds of tea and something that is not from our typical local grocery store {their selection is not as exciting}...   I have three kinds of teas that I totally recommend for you to try, and this is soooo easy to make.

~ Pomegranate Vanilla red tea, by Sip for the Cure {the Republic of Tea}
~ Blueberry & Apple tea, by Twinings
~ Very Berry {Organic herb infusion tea}, by Higher Living

I use two tea bags to make tea to fill two bottles, boil water, steep the tea and add sweetener {I use Blue Agave by Sohgave} and I add juice and pulp from two lemons {if you dont like it too sour, use only one lemon}.
Really good when chilled, sipped and enjoyed during hot summer days.  Enjoy!!!!!

Have a wonderful Long weeked!!!!

read more

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  : )

read more

Just having a bit of therapy...

In between cleaning out boxes {still}, trying to set up my work space and caring for my daughter
Meaning, I don't have much time to do real sit down for drawing or painting, but I miss it so very much and its something I need right now, its my therapy...    I just had to take a bit of a break, if not to think about what to cook for tonight's dinner but also to do just a little bit of sketching, even if it was for only 10 minutes. 

And this is what I came up with, a small sketch that I tried out on Pickmonkey {as I still cant locate my programs and computer tools, grrrrr curse you sea of boxes}.  Not sure why it ended up being a tired looking goose, but just maybe its because this is how I feel right now.  I rather like how it turned out, so here it is...  Poor miss Penny sleeping away. 
Maybe I should take a nap!!??

read more

Im back, been absent...

But I'm here now, have been off blogging and doing anything at with computers for two weeks or so, my allergies have kicked in again and with it I had a nasty infection in one of my eyes. I was on different antibiotics and eyes drops and gels, and all that just turned in to a bad case of blurry vision... It is getting better and I have been able to do some painting and drawing, and even read a few pages of my book that I cant wait to finish.

And on top of everything, spring here has been very slow, wet, grey and wet again... It has been very painfully slow, that it has felt like there has been no end to this rain and grey days. This picture below is from nine days ago, it looked like beginning of April. But it was sunny and a bit warm, so I went out to have lunch by the Bog board walk.

After that, we have had only four days of sun so far. And now, everything outside finally look like May, most trees have leaves and flowers are out (tulips are now in full bloom)... And to forget, a HUGE amount of pollen all over the place, its a allergy nightmare.

I did try one thing on the computer during this time, I took a picture of one of my paintings and played around with it a bit with my Bamboo. And its just something quick and simple (and what I could see ; )


I will post new pictures of what I have been able to do so far, just have to get a few things done first. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm around, and a huge thank you to all of you for your past comments and emails, they really mean a lot. So thank you and I hope all of you are doing well and able to enjoy spring to the fullest.

Cheers,

Mari

read more

New toys, trying something new

I'm trying out something totally new to me, and that's getting out of my comfort zone of the very bare basic computer usage. I bought my self a new computer about a month ago, and along it a Bamboo tablet and scanner. And with the Bamboo came Photo shop Elements... But no instructions (I need visual clues and how to's), so I have been trying to figure this out and how it works. So far computer is working (that's okay), the Bamboo and all that neat stuff that comes with it (that's not that good, didn't even scratched the very first top layer of all the possibilities and fun stuff). And the Scanner, that's still in the box waiting to be hooked up (yeah, I know, sad eh). But this is what I did so far, and boy was this a huge to figure out. I used this picture I took a few weeks back (brick wall), and then I tried, tried and tried about two hundred hours worth to get the pencil effect to work. Sweet and tears and words that I cant repeat here was used during this grueling task. And then Bingo (or so I thought) I got it working, I was so happy, excited and proud, I finally had the pencil working and I could sketch on my photo. But that pride was short lived, because I soon learned that I was using the eraser rather than a pencil and that's whats showing (can you tell I got frustrated in the end, the poor bird looks like road kill). But road kill or not, here it is. My first Bamboo and Photo shop Elements creation. And the bird is still on the nest (and not fallen down flat on the ground), so I'm happy with it.

read more