Wednesday 31 August 2011

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Always Allow Time for Percolating


Finally back in the studio....Feels good.
For me working in the studio is like life itself 
or at least the ebb and flow of the oceans that surround me.

I work in great bursts of energy followed by
periods of slow percolation and reflection
and then the energy returns.

The rusty gate has been percolating for a while!


The design was not working for me.
Some weight was surely needed along the bottom of the piece.
All it needed was a thin strip of rust....wrong!

Luckily I pinned a wide strip in place expecting to cut it back later.
But,
viewing it from a distance,
it occurred to me the width of that strip was perfect.
Now the piece looked balanced.
And the few random echoes of the more precise shapes above play an important role
I think.


Parts of the clover leaf spirals were lost in the new seam.
The eye will want to follow that curve.
Some kind of stitching will do the trick.


There are echoes of triangles that need to be developed.
I see many hours of stitching in the near future!

Sunday 28 August 2011

A Busy Week


It's been a busy week of visitors and surprises.
Elizabeth and Stan arrived from Ontario.
How many of you have had the bagpipes played outside your studio?!
The sound of pipers always touches my very soul.



I knew they had connections to this part of the country,
but as it turns out
Stan's great, great grandfather is buried
in the old cemetery that overlooks the dyke of our daily walks! 

Not a stitch has been stitched
but wonderful memories of time with family and friends
have been etched into our hearts and memories.

Saturday 27 August 2011

Watching Seals Watching Us


Brett and I drove up the coast
past beautiful bevies of cows!
We were heading to...


...watch seals basking on low tide rocks.


There were lots of young ones with their
mothers patrolling between us and their babes.


She came closer to get a better look at us and the rusty pups....
trying to work out if we were friend of foe.




Thursday 25 August 2011

Watching Whales


Some were lucky enough to go whale watching...
I had to stay home because of a commitment.
They got home disappointed there had been no breaching.
The whales were too busy eating.


But it seems to me they were greeted with friendly waves.


Surrounded by mothers and daughters...


and pretty close encounters.


And of course good-bye tails.


They had a simply gorgeous day for a trip out to sea.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

A Fundy Walk


The rusty pups, Brett and I walked a Fundy Trail.


Because I can't bring it home, I often photograph driftwood and flotsam and Jetsam.
Do you see the deer's head?


I wasn't the only one taking pictures.


Not exactly Niagara falls or Iguazu falls
but a stream emptying out into the Bay.

Sunday 21 August 2011

Mushrooming


Like helmeted soldiers they pop up to about 4".


Then their helmets become crumb littered tables.


Finally the tabletop gets too top heavy...
legs start buckling
and tabletop tips and splits.


Other mushrooms make your mouth water
looking like honeycomb sugar candy underneath.

Friday 19 August 2011

Summertime Visit


The young man that this little chap grew into
is arriving by plane today for a bit of family time.

Thursday 18 August 2011

Spiralling in Time


Things in nature often spiral into being.


How long does it take a shell to grow beneath the waves?


Fossilized ammonites have lasted how many millions of years?


Stitching a spiral takes but a minute or two.

If life is a spiral, my question is... does the spiral speed up the older we grow?
It amazes me that as I age time seems to rush by faster and faster.
I expected it to slow down......not so.
I spent the whole of Tuesday thinking it was still Monday!


Wednesday 17 August 2011

The Hunter overhead


The eagle soaring overhead fills me with awe every time.
He`s up there in a clear blue sky hunting for his dinner
and hopefully he has a family to feed back at the aerie.
Thank goodness the rusty pups are too big for him now...at least I think so.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Crow Fully Dressed


Crow's final stitch was done
and then he hung on the design wall
while I pondered how the edges should be finished.
Traditional and not so traditional quilt binding just didn't seem right.
Raw edges was the only way to go.
By the way, the stitched white strip on the right is the back of another piece,
nothing to do with Crow!


The weight and drape of two layers of blanket with a thin
cotton sandwiched in between is very satisfying.
Handy Hubby simply can't understand why Crow's legs are not coloured black!
That's just how it has to be I say!


This piece will always be very meaningful to me.
It is the first time embroidery stitches
randomly cover the whole.


Not the precious precise embroideries of my childhood.
Nor the starched Linens for table tops or tray covers.


But free flowing imperfect stitches
that dance here and there
across an old wool blanket
dyed with pin cherry bark and tea bags.

Monday 15 August 2011

Another Serving of Breakfast


Mourning Dove was the first to the table.


Then pigeon joined in.


A young female cardinal made a dainty landing.


She was back and forth all morning.
I'm wondering if she has youngsters in a nest across the stream.
Even rowdy blue jay youngsters would not deter her from picking yet another seed and flying back to who knows where. 


Even a very young fluffed up cardinal was bold enough to land
at the breakfast table.


Meanwhile a few feet away, Mrs. humming bird
sipped nectar at her own table.

Apologies for being fixated on birds at the moment!
I think it's because there are so many noisy young ones about.
Or perhaps I am trying to attain a simpler state
as in this Doug Coupland quote

"Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain."

Saturday 13 August 2011

Creating Together


Chris came from the South Shore to stay for a couple of days.
She worked on a couple of canvases.


She's leaving the province and moving back to Ontario.
I will miss her dearly.
There was a time we painted together every week
and we even wrote proposals on writing a book on creativity..
which was soundly rejected by the way!


I scraped...


and doodled..


and tried some stitching...
Might explore that some more over the winter.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Breakfast with a Cardinal


just landed on the breakfast table.


What's on the menu?


Anyone else around?


Think I'll make myself look bigger just to scare off those blue jays.


You watching me?