Winter frost & Hints of Red

"Winter House"

 Winter came early this year and it has arrived with a bang,

snow storm followed by really cold temperatures.

Brilliant days for nice walks in the woods and staying inside painting and creating. 

Did another small painting in water colours and ink

and then I have been making some new stamps

This year its all about the Fox

{you might remember this fox from my last post}

Today Mr B and I went for a nice long walk in the woods

{snowman was by a house next to the forest path}

I loved how the frost covered every little detail 

Happy First December & First Advent

{Första Advent}

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Art in the Park...

Yesterday was the...

Could not have asked for better day for this, beautiful late summers day.

Sunny, not too hot and a light breeze.  Eight of us artists outside and it was a great mix of work.

And the crowd was good and steady stopping by

During a break I walked around the farmers market park, of course camera in hand
I love the different stands, all the colours and signs.

Bought some vegetables, fruit and fresh bread to take home. 

Love beets and peppers, and I just had to get a few of these purple peppers.

The colours were amazing, will be fun to see tonight what they taste like.

Sunday has been spent with some cleaning, and especially the garage as I have to start

to get my work room ready {emptied} for some renovations to be done.  I'm finally getting the floors and roof done so this should make it so much easier to work in here when winter comes.

Cant wait to get all this done, so I can start getting everything back in again and then start painting.

But now cleaning, sorting and moving stuff and while I'm doing that my daughter is 

sitting here in the middle of the mess creating some cool art.  Making her own stamps and cards.

Love seeing her being able to enjoy some art time again!

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My art for the show...

The word finally came in and this is what made it to the juried show that I tried for this year.
"Passing By", its a ink and water colour painting 12 x 8. And I was not going to put this one in for it and only changed my mind in the last minute.

"Passing By"
water colour & ink

And here is the two paintings that didn't make it, but no worries, I have two other shows coming up and they will do fine there. Tell you the truth, I'm just happy I have been able to finish some paintings during this time, that has been the best winner for me in this case. 

"Oak Town"
Printing & water colour

And this one, I had to put in two pieces here as its a bit odd size to take picture of and when I worked it in to photoshop it became too big and I gave up after a while trying to shrink it...   Arrrrr, arnt machines fun when you need them...
 

I had a lot of fun working on this one, I was using the stamps I carved out and doing things in layers.  I used two different kinds of ink, one of them are acrylic ink { I have a bit of a love and hate relationship with that stuff}, water colours and sandpaper...  Yep, sandpaper, it gave the surface a really neat texture to work on (although you have to be careful or you can make the paper far to sucker happy when it comes to water colours, not good).

So now on to next project, or should I say projects...  I got my plate full, but that's what keeps me happy and I rather be busy than not.  And wonderful it feels when the sun stays up longer each day and even with this cold snap that we have right now {-34c in the wind}  I have been able to get out and get some good vitamin D in me...  Yesterday, I sat out back on a lawn chair, few blankets and a very fluffy warm jacket and hat {lets not forget sexy long pants, wool socks, double mittens and my artic boots}. 

Sipping tea and watching the birds visiting the bird feeders,  I might try that again tomorrow, will see.

Here's to happy sunny winter days!  Stay warm

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Sweet cupcakes

Little new cupcake toppers that I will bring to the upcoming art/craft sale

that I'm taking part of in February. 

 

Flowers & Sailboats.   

 

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From a very grey day...

It has been warm (very unusually warm) here and its grey, blahh and wet slushy yuck!! So I have had some time to do a few things here inside, going through some of my pictures I took over a week ago, when we had normal good old cold winter days. And here is my 2013 take on "Hints of Colour", and this year a lot of red stood out. I never seen red/orange fungi growing like this during winter, but what a brilliant colour that was and of course rose hip and other berries that are my favourite.

Another print painting I made, again just playing around with my stamps I made and I still cant get enough of them, so I keep enjoying them until I find something new to get all obsessed about : )

I mentioned in my last two posts about my new studio space, well this is what it looks like and feels like right now All Frozen over and under.  Some days its so darn cold in there that I just cant be in there working, and one night I went in there for only an hour and then gave up...  I left and forgot my tea mug, and this is what I found next morning, all frozen solid...  Ice tea anyone!!!

So I have been working all over the house, I have stuff spread out all over our dining room table and downstairs in my new temporary space.  And I'm doing about twenty different things all at once {yes, I have a bit hard time doing one thing at a time}, and most of it is for an art/crafts show I'm taking part of in February.  One thing is driving me totally bananas, nutters and insane...  Are these mega stupid wood tags I bought from a craft store, the price sticker they stuck on to them are almost impossible to remove and I have blisters on my hands from just doing that.  Like why on earth would they stick something like that on them and if that was not enough, but they had to pick the stickers that are as big as the tag it self.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

 

But I'm okay, and its good when I can take my frustrations out on something, so it may as well be stickers and not a brick or something else.

So I will just keep doing my stuff here and hope that I can get all my stuff ready for the show, and I only have one thing left to do for the juried show I will try out for {will post the pictures of them after the jury has given their thumbs up or down...  Fingers crossed one will make it in}.  

And before I sign off here again, I just had to share this with you.  I'm not sure if you saw one of my Christmas posts and how we put out seeds, berries and apples for the birds and squirrels and for all the other creatures in our back yard.  Seeds are being eaten by many different birds, and the berries are being eaten one by one by the little red squirrel that lives under our deck.  Not only did he eat the once in the pot I left out for him, but he also went for the once we hung up.    So cute!
 

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Mixed bag of December goodies...

Hand printed & painted card

 Been busy around here, art wise it has been about making a mad change over...  Meaning as its getting cold out, I finally had to give in to it and realize that no matter how much winterizing I have done.  My studio space is just too cold to work in right now {sigh, grrrrrr, ugh and blahh}, but thankfully we do have some space downstairs and I will have to move a few things down there for now {until spring}.  The little wood stove cant be used because it cant be insured and those windows with all that wonderful natural light, well all drafty and the floor is so cold it feel like I'm standing on ice blocks. 

So for now I will have my small desk downstairs and just come up here when I will paint on large canvases, see the trolley with my paints?  I got that last fall from Ikea and its fantastic for holding all my paint stuff, it rolls around and I can lift it in to the house when needed. 
And below is two books I got from my mum for my birthday {that was months ago} but its never too late to get something fun in the letter box.  Thank you mum, great gift and its like you knew I need to clean up my space and I been a bit hooked on stamp making... 

Because Christmas is practically around the corner, I have had to clean up around the house too.  So this has included me having to actually move my art stuff downstairs and stop using the dining room table {well, I'm working on it, slowly but shortly I'm sure I find my way down there to the desk that's waiting for me}.   Did a little bit more printing and some small water colour sketches.

Hand printed & painted {acrylic ink, ink and watercolours}

The weather here has been one crazy ride this past two weeks or so, one day we had a booming +17.6c here in Ottawa, a whole new record for this town.  Most people were super happy about the warm weather, but to me its just too strange for this time of the year, its just not normal.  Then today after we had ice rain last night, we woke up to -17c in the wind and every single bit and piece outside were covered in ice.

It looks fantastic, magic and beautiful all at once its like everything is in glass, all frosty and well, to me a dream world.  And when the sun came out, oh...  Just look!!!   Can you see it, every single branch and pine needle covered in ice giving everything a silver glow when the sun hits it just right.
 

Now on to more cleaning, Christmas time planning and hopefully get some of things crossed off my list of things to-do.

Happy December!!

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Little fat Robins...

Little fat Robins {hand made stamps and prints, added watercolours}

Well, its clear I cant get enough of stamp making!!!   And birds, and especially birds I love to see around this time of the year, little European Robins {they are much smaller, rounder and brighter red than the North American Robins}.  I also love the Bull Finch that's also very bright coloured bird and the not so bright coloured but very funny bird Magpie...  They bring a lot of great memories from when I grew up in Sweden, and I miss seeing them over here.

Little closer look at the Robins {I think they're looking for food} and below is my stash of stamps I have done since last year {there is more, not sure where I stuck them while moving things around in my work space}...  I know I have to clean them up, I just put some colour on them so they can come out better on camera.

I use different media stamping, for testing and just having fun I use small inexpensive ink pads {Studio G} and for more permanent ink I use {Brilliance, Adirondack Brights by Ranger}...  But I also use FW acrylic artist ink {in bottle} and or I mix my own acrylic mix that I soften up a bit so its easier to apply on the stamps.

Picture below is of tiny rosehip branches I bought from my favourite flower shop Tivoli.  Sometimes when I can have that time to my self , I drive all the way to the west end of town and walk along some old streets looking at window displays and sit in a cafe sketching. 

And then before heading home I just have to go in to Tivoli to see whats new, and boy each time I go in there its a fantastic feeling, every green shade you can think and dream of mixed with bright coloured flowers, its crowded and packet with plants from floor to ceiling, like a mini jungle in the middle of the city.  And I cant forget the scents in there "heavenly", there is nothing like fresh flowers scents in bundles.  So of course I have to get something to bring home and this time I bought a healthy bunch of the rosehip branches.   Which reminds me, I have to start painting more rosehips again...  maybe carve some stamps too.

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a little bird...

So I been trying yet again to find some time to work on something artsy, and finally did but didn't get any painting done {this is what I should be doing}, however I designed a few more new stamps and I really like how this little bird turned out.  I made it out of a scrap piece and it just one of those things that worked out perfect.

I had to use it on something I made for a friend of mine who lives over seas, its one of those "just because" letters and I hope its well on its way there...  Always fun to get something other than bills and fliers in the letter box.  On top I printed the birds on a old vintage music paper and then I added white acrylic paint, and below I printed the bird on a fun envelope I found and just added permanent red ink.

Here is the one on the music paper again, added a few more things to it and not sure if its done or not but I want to do more of them, how and what kinds I'll just have to wait and see what will come out of it...  That's the fun part of it, elements of surprise I suppose : )
The black bird is a gift I got a few years ago from one of my dear friends, its made of metal and I love how it looks and how the colours of the background comes through it.

Its November again and its safe to say its winter, we have had very cold nights and many frosty days and with that I have been having to deal with some new challenges in my work space.  Lets just say I have been having to be armed with a lot of wool and fleece to be able to spend time in there...

But my challenges are for sure nothing compared to what has been happening to so many living in the New York state {and all the other US eastern states and Canadian provinces} that was hit by the massive storm Sandy and continuing storms.  I have been following the news a lot and I cant tell you how much I feel for everyone who have been effected by the storms and this sure puts things in to perspective and make one think about all the things we so take for granted. 

My heart goes out to all of you in NY and you're all in my thoughts and prayers. 

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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.

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