Love in Blue

~

Because it isn't always crimson, pink and sparkly mauve...and I wouldn't want it to be.

A detail from an art journal page, part of the Sister Journals which are still slowly making their way between my sisters and I.  I am just starting to get warmed up again after my long pre & post holiday break.

*cracks knuckles and heads back to art desk*

Collage Box Project

Look what came in the mail!

It is collage box #2 from the collaboration organized by Franca Maria at LaWendula.

I took:

And I added:

My collage will be forthcoming, but not soon. So many projects in the works right now, and next week everything comes to a grinding halt as I dig in to the serious prep for the Harry Potter party (or should that be Sirius prep? A ha ha. Potter nerd jokes...anyone, anyone?)

Thanks to Franca Maria for organizing such a fun and interesting collaboration!

Baubles & Ballyhoo

Tomorrow is Friday already.

Are you kidding me?

And a whole week since I've blogged?

Srsly.

This week has flown by. Laundry, phone calls, homework, a sick kid, a kid with a broken tooth, more homework (so much homework this week! Don't the teachers realize they are actually just punishing the parents!), more laundry, a travellin' husband, a sick husband (both the same husband incidentally, sooo not into polygamy), some early Christmas budgeting, organizing and ordering, a little more work on my Texture Town class, and a whole lot of work on our Christmas zine. That about sums it up. Not the most interesting or productive of weeks, but I think I at least got the zine licked, and it is bursting with cute and warm familial goodness. I feel confident that all parties involved will be pleased and proud when they see it.

Spiffy cover art by my son Liam.

Absence

~

For "The Butterfly Effect".

As I worked all I could think of was the effect on the world of the absence of those 1.5 million children, and everything they could have become. All of that potential creativity, love, discovery, energy...lost. I almost can't wrap my head around the scope of it (and I certainly can't wrap my heart around it), but it is so important for us to remember, more so with each passing generation. We need to try to think complexly of all that was lost, and what it means to humanity collectively and ourselves individually, and how that must inform our choices as history becomes ancient history, and it grows easier and easier to forget.

Beautiful Ideas

#1

Trudi Sissons at Two Dresses Studio (found via Seth Apter's blog) is collecting butterflies for "The Butterfly Project" hosted by the Holocaust Museum Houston Texas, USA. The idea is to collect 1.5 million handmade butterflies, each in remembrance of one child who perished in the holocaust. The project is described in full here. My butterfly is in the works, and E & L will be making butterflies too.

#2

You may have noticed  the "We are Muslim" badge newly added to my sidebar. Follow the link to learn more about standing together to combat ignorance and intolerance.

Two calls that have caught my heart and imagination. Two simple acts representing sanity, compassion, and never forgetting the worst, so that we are ever vigilant in requiring the best from ourselves.

Beautiful ideas.

Definitions

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Part of a 2 page spread in the sister book. I am beginning to have a thing for wires. Off to purchase some in different finishes and gauges tonight (and maybe have a pint or two of Guinness while we're at it).

(And yes, the weekend was loverly. Now we're back at it, but that's OK.)


Song for the day: Float On by Modest Mouse

Wired for Friday

It's Friday! Yay! I love Friday. If Friday was a person, I would make out with it (tongue and everything, 2nd base for sure...possibly even 3rd). *sigh* Friday = dreamy like Colin Firth and Alan Rickman's voice and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn all rolled into one.

What a tough parenting week. Tonnes of calls, emails and visits back and forth to the school, culminating in a depressing parent teacher interview that leaves me longingly lurking around homeschooling websites again. Frustrated. I am frustrated! And worried. But it is Friday, and I am ready to shed all of that like my old winter coat. I am peeling it off and throwing it on the floor! I get 2 days to just enjoy my family, and to exist only within those moments together.

I don't even care that it is "Spring ahead" (I loathe Spring ahead!), or that I am trying to reign in what is fast becoming my somewhat immoderately "well-rounded" figure and will have to forgo the usual chocolate and cocktails. I don't care. Bring on the alarm clock and the rice crackers! I just want the weekend.

Another page for the sister project:

How are you wired?

I am wired for hope and tenacity.

I am wired for enjoyment, and for deep love.

I am wired to live this life well.

(especially on the weekend. Friday, w00t!)

Getting Plastered

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A new texture I am having fun with -plaster and newspaper pages. I sealed these with polymer medium, and then layered watered iridescent bronze, some other acrylics and a bit of distress ink on top. Delicious and dilapidated!


Both of these are part of my new sister-project journal, which is off to a great start, and providing a much needed stress release & distraction.

And note the colour in that last one. Dude, I am soooooo not afraid of colour anymore! My colour class with Julie & Chris has now wrapped up, and it was a great learning experience. I would highly recommend.

Giveaway & Advent

Names in a pirate hat:

Drawn by my handsome young assistant, who is home sick from school. Name #1:


Name #2:



Name #3:


Congratulations! I will be in contact to get your mailing info. Thank you so much to everyone who entered!

And in other news, we spent several hours on the weekend working on these. They were truly a family effort, with the DH and I doing the cutting and pasting and the boys helping to design, number etc.






They are gum advent packs. We got the idea from My Little Mochi. So easy and cute, and a great way to countdown until Christmas. Only 44 more sleeps! (...or so I hear)

Deeply Rooted

Today is my dad's 60th birthday. We wanted to do something special for him...something to make him feel celebrated and appreciated. Being a family of modest means, who are scattered across 3 provinces, meant that a lavish party, a vacation in the sun or any of the other big ticket items that we would love to give him are a little beyond us right now, either geographically or financially. He isn't a "things" person at all. It's like pulling teeth just to get him to put a couple of items on a Christmas list for our annual exchange, so just buying him stuff wouldn't feel at all meaningful. What to do? It had to be something unique, something personal, something that fairly oozes care and effort on his behalf, something that we could accomplish together, although we are 100's of kilometres apart, something full of love...

Deeply Rooted

12 cm x 12 cm squares of watercolour paper on a 16" x 40", 2" depth canvas. 8 different contributors, ranging in age from 9 to 50-something-ish. Materials from ink to pastel, watercolour to pencil crayon to stuff found in the backyard...oh, and love. Can you feel it? I swear I can feel it when I look at it, like a palpable warmth mixed right in with the paint and glue. I hope my Dad can feel it too.

1 Year Blogiversary & Giveaway

It's been a whole year! Over a year actually (am not very good at remembering birthdays, anniversaries and such in a timely fashion...just ask my sister...sorry Elizabeth. Happy 28th!), it would have been exactly a year on Oct. 24th.

I started this blog as a writing outlet, when I very much wanted to, but couldn't do Nanowrimo last year. This year finds me in a different place. I have the time (being unbusy and all), but realized that I was approaching Nano like a plate of brussel sprouts this time around...sure it would be good for me, but I just don't really wanna right now.

What I really want to do is finish off my Super Nova art journaling course with the ever awesome Julie Prichard, and then mess around in my art journal with all my new skillz. I want to finish my twin nails painting which is still in the works (slow and steady with that one), and start something new, with new colours and texture so deep and rich it makes you want to wrap yourself up in it, like a blankie on a cold day.

I want to make all sorts of Christmassy crafty thingies, and bake Panaforte and Linzer cookies, and do all those little holiday-ish things that will make my boys' hearts glow. I want to talk Kris-muss with the DQ on the phone every night (she starts planning in August!). I want to knock her socks off with the most magical, love-filled, sugar-dusted, pine and cinnamon-smelling holiday of her little life. I want squeals of glee and shining eyes, and kids that feel completely enveloped in familial warmth.

I want to keep blogging here. This blog has become so much more than a mere writing outlet! It is my conduit to the larger world, a place to share, meet friends and to tell the truth of me out loud. I certainly didn't expect all this when I started a year ago. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has taken the time to read or comment, and to those of you who are willing to share yourselves on your own blogs too. Soul food, that's what it is.

So to celebrate this 1 year milestone, I want to do a giveaway...which seems to be the done thing. When I was working on the tree project I did several extras with this in mind (always thinking ahead, am I). Like this one:

12cm x 12cm mixed media on watercolour paper

I would be honoured to send this, and 2 other different Tree art cards out as a thank you for supporting my blog. I wish I had one for each of you! But as it is, I will have to do a draw. Please leave your name and email or blog address in the comments if you would like to take part, and I will do a random draw in one week, on November 10th.


PS I will post about the tree project itself very soon. :)

Deep in the Forest

The tree collaboration project is almost finished! It has been really exciting to see the contributions from my partners. Here are some of my favourites:

by my sister Victoria

by my sister Elizabeth

by the DH

by my son Liam

by my son Elliot

and by my sister, the one and only DQ (Dancing Queen!)

Yes, this is a family collaboration. I am proud to say that I have a family just bursting with creativity! This is the first time that we've all gotten together to work on one project, and it is turning out fabulous. I can't stop looking at it! I find myself wandering into the room where it is, just to stare at it and gloat several times a day.

Some more trees from me:

The big reveal is coming soon!

Seeing the Forest & the Trees

Been working on my first major art collaboration (details yet to be revealed).


These are all 12cm x 12cm squares, and the theme is, obviously, arboreal in nature. Chosen to symbolize, strength, family, shelter, endurance, growth...all the wonderful things that trees can be and are associated with. I need to contribute 4 of these squares, and figure I will keep working away until I have 4 I am really, really happy with. 2 of the above have definitely made the cut. The others remain as "maybe" (can you guess which ones are the two?) I am so excited to see what my illustrious and oh, so creative partners will come up with, and all will be revealed at the end of October. (ooooo, suspense!!)