Staying Connected Across The Miles

Living many miles away from my grand babies is hard for me.

I seek different ways of staying in touch

and one of them is

to draw little scenes that I think will tickle a

three year old's fancy

and drop them in the mail.

This week I tried to draw one of her many

book characters

the Gruffalo!

 and two of his woodland friends.

 She likes pictures of things she does.

Then, when she gets them, she colours them in.

This one obviously arrived just in time

for a Maple Leafs game.

Big fans in that family!

A collaboration between generations!

Places Where The Edges Are

Whipping around the edges of Stone Pathways

Moving inwards from the edges

Running stitch with white thread creates ripples

but

my thinking is that stones in a pathway

would be surrounded by speckles of sand or gravel.

So I think I will try a colour thread....

....but it can't distract from the stones.

From stitching to walking

We walked the edge of the Annapolis Basin

Looking backwards towards Annapolis Royal

All of that grassland disappears at high tide.

We are safe atop the dyke

which was built by the French in 17th Century.

Looking inland

they built the dykes to protect the lowlands

that stretch towards the North Mountain.

Where the water's edge gets closer to the dyke

huge blocks of basalt act s protection against erosion.

The Rusty Pups use their noses

to learn about who has come down to the dyke in the night.

They often find snail shells

which the seagulls pick up on the mud flats at low tide

and carry to the dyke where they throw them on the ground

to break through to their dinner.

Leaving the water's edge and moving back inland.

I hope the sun shines for you today.

Thanking All Who Came To Our ARCAC Opening

Criss Cross

filled the small Mym Gallery

Turning corners

 Handy Hubby

reckoned his signature should adorn his skinny shelves!

What he did was really clever though.

He worked a groove through his tiny 3/4" square shelving strips.

The groove was slightly angled

so that each piece leaned against the wall.

We had been torn between leaving them as is

or painting them white.

I think we will paint them white for the show this summer

at the Mary E Black Gallery in Halifax.

Thank you everyone for coming out to the opening yesterday.

Mingling with friends and viewers and explaining your work

is such a different experience for someone like me

who spends so many solitary hours stitching, stitching, stitching.

When I am asked which is my favourite

I always say the circle on the right

but....

then I see the two I created from my two year old grand baby's drawings.

So we are already collaborating!

Or then.... I spy

another one that could me my favourite.

I think what makes this an interesting collection of small pieces

is their differences

and how your eye is drawn from one to another.

 And congratulations to Sally O'Grady

whose colourful Annapolis Royal scenes

filled the Chapel Gallery.

Beautiful work.

You can see both our shows

and

Louise Williams' drawings as she works as the artist in residence.

Oh, yes, and you can go and draw on paper covered walls

in the main gallery.

All of this at the Annapolis Region Community Arts Centre.

The Criss Cross Show Has To Go Up This Week

 

One of the jobs Handy Hubby and I will be undertaking this week

is hanging all 53 of the Criss Cross pieces

in the Mym Gallery at 

the Annapolis Royal Community Art Centre.

I know exactly how it will go.

I will just want them all up on the wall.

On the other hand

my practical, engineering Handy Hubby

will measure and calculate

nail things to walls

and make sure everything is level. 

...that reminds me....

I have to write a statement about the show

and the process 

of creating a small piece every week for a year.

Each piece had to include a cruciform.

Some of which ended up as focal points and others barely visible.

Wish us luck!

Of course it will get done in time

for the opening on Sunday, February 18 from 1-4 pm.

Coming to Toronto......

For those of you living in Ontario

The Artist Project runs from February 22 - 28

at the Better Living Centre, Exhibition Place,

195 Princes Boulevard, Toronto.

And as usual Mark will be there

with his gorgeous Georgian Bay landscapes.

You can find him at Booth #536

Do go and have a chat!

And this year I am happy to say

a friend of mine, Nadine Belliveau, from Baie Sainte-Marie

 will also be there at Booth #319....

....with her beautiful acrylic Nova Scotian landscapes.

When Stones Take Over Your Life!

This strange Winter's pattern seems to be

three days of snow accumulation

followed by

One day of rain that melts everything.

Meanwhile I have had a busy week indoors.

Rocks have been sewn in pathways

pinned to the wall

removed from the wall and unpicked

rearranged and sewn back together again.

Despite the duct tape threads are everywhere!

When the week started I had thirteen pathways.

That always bothered me.... there are twelve months to a year.

By the end of my rearranging frenzy

I have twelve!

Let's hope the gallery walls are tall enough.

Next came was the decision on what to do next.

So I did some tests.

Tried stitching through quilt batting and a muslin backing.

Just doing that small sample was a problem for my old hands.

So that won't work.

For one brief second I considered machine quilting.

After creating all these stones by hand that is definitely a no no!

So I removed the batting and tried again....

Better

but still my hands would not survive the thousands upon thousands

of needle pulling stitches through that muslin.

Finally I went back to my original idea of

simply backing the stones with 

a lovely old damask tablecloth.

Aaaah...just like butter.

That will do.

 I was interrupted with a request from

The Lucky Rabbit

for Valentines Day Cards

These are very small

but even that small

I felt guilty

I should be back at my stones!

So far I have only managed three.

Have to get back to those stones!

 A pathway pinned to a strip of tablecloth.

I settled down in front of the fire

and basted them down

as invisibly as possible.

Something I learned from Jude about ten years ago.

Thank you Jude.....you are such an inspiration.

For the moment I an loving my stones.

I come downstairs every morning

turn the heating up in the studio

and immerse myself in the process of bringing them together.

I hope I can do them justice.

I hope your work inspires you today.