A garden stone I was commissioned to do as a wedding gift. It's about 12" x 9", and weighed around 19 lbs.
I haven't been getting a lot of art done, as I'm working full time during the summer, while juggling the whale watching business and family. Stay tuned for more frequent postings in the fall!
I've been busy the past few weeks putting in the vegetable garden and doing yardwork, and things are looking so great, that I made this for myself. I can always do more ;)
Celtic Humpbacks: The Spiral Dance
I unloaded all my art today. So, if you're looking, you can find it at Bluefin Pottery and Hand Creations in Digby, NS, and at MacDonald Museum gallery, Middleton, NS. Now I've got to get crack-a-lackin on some new stuff... boy, are my walls bare!
I finished this garden rock today for my sister. I freehanded for the first time, which was fun, since the celtic stuff is planned so meticulously. The rock has a bloom for each of her three children, and a bud for the little one on his way. This stone is my largest yet: about 18"x12".
I've been tagged by Jeanette Jobson at Illustrated Life. So now I'm supposed to dish on seven things most people don't know about me, then tag seven other bloggers.
Here goes:
1. I am a closet Coronation Street fan. Besides the Sopranos, it's the only TV I really watch. (oh, and I will be devastated when the Sopranos ends in three more episodes).
2. Odd jobs I have done: I have worked as a telemarketer hawking newspaper subscriptions. That lasted two weeks. I have also filled bait for my lobster fisherman husband: this involves squishing handfuls of slightly rotten, salt-pickled herring into mesh bags. And, I worked in a fish plant the summer before I went to college, where I pulled egg sacks from slit female herring bellies to box and send to Asia. Yum.
3.I hate feet. I don't like to show mine, and I don't enjoy the sight of other's. And don't get me started on Crocs!
4. I was a stand-in for Jennifer Jason Leigh during filming for Delores Claiborne. They shot some exterior scenes here, mainly on the ferry from Freeport to Brier Island. There's one scene where the ferry is pulling away from the ferry slip with JJL's character standing on the deck, while Christopher Plummer's character is glaring down from the wharf at her. When her back is turned... that's me! The best part of the experience was meeting Kathy Bates, who I adore (especially after Six Feet Under, which was the best TV show ever, by the way).
5. I graduated high school in a class of 13. Yes 13. The school I attended from Primary to Grade 12 had about 150 students total at the time of my graduation.
6. I swear too much. Only people who know me IRL know that. The really horrible part of that is when your three year old drops an f-bomb. Oh, heavens.
7. My biggest pet peeve is poor spelling and improper use of punctuation. You know, when people use apostrophe's for plural's. Aaargh.
Now I have to go find seven people to tag!
I began this yesterday- spent just over an hour carving on it last night. This stone is carving nicely, and I can't wait to get more done.
Kejimkujik Lake, at Peter Point Beach. 21 April 2007.
Keji morning, 2.5" x 3.5", watercolour on watercolour board.Trying to catch up on my ATC project, I made this last night and finished it up this morning.
Taa daa! After about 1 1/2 hrs last night, she's done. The outside circle is 7.5 cm in diameter, I've photographed the stone with my chequebook to give a better idea of the size. It was challenging to work with such small lines so close together, but I'm very happy with the results. I think I'll have to go the the beach today for more art supplies. ;)
I'm working on my second stone, and thought I'd post work in progress images to document how I'm doing this.
Following my crude little green numbers, I'll walk you through. #1 is the original line drawing. What you can't see is that the back of the paper is covered in a layer of red pastel dust. Previous to this photo being taken, I taped the pasteled pattern to the stone, and traced the lines. When I lifted the paper, the rock looked as shown at #2. You can (kind of) see the red lines on the stone. Next step is to use a pigment pen to trace the lines on the stone, so then I can wipe off the red dust. #3 are my mask and goggles - sexy I know, but I don't want stone dust in my lungs or contacts. #4 is my trusty dremel tool, along with #5, my diamond bits. And #6 is the toothbrush I use to keep the rock dust/water gunk off the stone so I can see what I'm doing.
And here we are after about an hour of work with the dremel. Getting there, but still at least another hour on this one. This was a challenge, as I didn't know if I could work this small... if your monitor is set like mine (800 x 600), then this photo is about life size. The spiral design is about 8 cm across. 
Here it is! I am so excited about this, and can't wait to do more. The knot is around 6cm x 6cm, and took about 4 hours to complete.
My first foray into stone carving. I'm doing it the easy way, with a Dremel. I'm actually surprised by how easy it is... the tool cuts the stone like it's sinking into warm butter. It's very fun, and kind of magical to see hard stone yield to me. I'll post this again as soon as I finish it.
Two quickie sketches from the WetCanvas scavenger hunt: the first as a challenge to draw from an unusual/diffucult perspective. I found it hard to pull off, and didn't quite get the shape of the pot right. Practice, practice!
I hate blogger today... it's eaten my posts three times already. Each type I re-type, the post becomes shorter...!
We had the kids in Halifax this week for the March school break.
On the way there, we hiked at the Blomidon Provincial Park. The view from the top of the look-off was brilliant. The red cliffs of Blomidon tower over the mudflats of the Minas Basin stretched out below. The flats are mirrored in the green rolling fields of the Valley.
In Halifax, we saw some giant robotic reptiles, played at the Discovery Centre, swam for hours at the hotel pool, and had a ton of fun.
I also was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine. I've been fascinated with ancient Egypt since I did a project in the fourth grade. My only tattoo is of my name in hieroglyphics. I've always wanted to go to Egypt, and failing that, to at least see Egyptian artifacts in real life. I got my wish. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is hosting a travelling exhibit "The Treasures of Ancient Egypt" from the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. They are the oldest Egyptian artifacts in North America.
I was surprised by how emotional I felt seeing the display. For me, the most moving was the display of a mirror, a kohl pot and stick , and cosmetic pots. I caught my own reflection in the mirror, and immediately felt a connection spanning across space and time to another woman just like me 4000 years ago.
We drove to Kejimkujik National Park yesterday for a 7 km (5 mi.) hike. I love Keji - I camped there often as a child with my family, and spent weeks there every summer. I love canoeing to the wilderness camping sites on the islands, and I love hiking the extensive trail system.
My favorite hiking trail is the Hemlocks and Hardwoods trail, a loop through one of the few remaining pockets of old-growth forests in Nova Scotia. 350 year old hemlocks tower above to a thick, green canopy. Within the forest, it seems to be perpetually twilight. It is a totally magical and otherworly place. I would love to visit in the winter, but it would have been a 15 km. or so hike... so maybe some other time.
Beech and Pine
Frozen Lake
Towering Pine
Twilight brook
A quick sketch from our hike yesterday.
It's another gorgeous day today. I have bread rising right now, but after it's baked, I think M. and I will grab the stroller and go visiting.
We took the kids for a hike to the island's best known landmark, Balancing Rock, in Tiverton. The day was beautiful, with temperatures hovering just above freezing. There was no wind, and the woods were hushed with the layer of snow. The sun was so bright and felt so warm at the shore, such a nice break from the cold, miserable weather we've had lately. As hubby said yesterday "If winter were like this more often, I wouldn't mind it nearly as much".
The path/stairs to Balancing Rock.
Balancing Rock, a 30 ft (?) Basalt column perched above the St. Mary's Bay.
Looking 'up' the shore from Balancing Rock, a view of the mainland at East Ferry.
Copper on blue spiral fragment
Water lily
Gold leaf relief knot, 
Blue Heron, coloured pencil on textured cardstock
Illuminated R, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, mounted on heavy cardstock
Peggy's Cove, acrylic on canvas, mounted on heavy cardstock
(cliche Nova Scotia ;) )
I've been down with a virus this week, so haven't felt much like painting, and the art I have made is secret and I can't show you (yet) ;-) . I am involved in an Art Trading Card exchange. ATC's are miniature art works 2.5" x 3.5", or the standard size of sports trading cards. Twenty six people from all over the world are involved in this project. We each have six months to produce 25 cards, and mail each one to each of the other 25 on the list, aiming for a card a week. In return, we will each receive 25 cards. I have made two cards, but couldn't get to the post to mail them today. I don't want to show them here until they have been received by their recipients.
Smoke on the water
(The wind chill temperature is low enough that it causes vapor to rise from the water)
Taking a break from the raven today, I did two quick watercolour sketches, with items from this week's artwork from life scavenger hunt at www.wetcanvas.com.
After finishing Dad's painting, I decided I wanted to do another acrylic before I get back to my apples. I spent the better part of the day yesterday deciding what I would do, and then last night worked up a sketch.
The first picture shows how I often compose paintings. I've drawn the elements of the compostion on tracing paper. Then I can move them around until I'm happy with how it looks.
Next, I lay another sheet of tracing paper over the design and trace everything again. Sometimes I'll do this tracing in ink. The next step is to turn the sheet of tracing paper over to the wrong side and trace each line in charcoal or graphite. When I flip the tracing paper over to the right side again, I have "carbonized" the image. I position the image over my canvas and tape it down, then re-trace each line again. When I peel off the tracing paper, the image has been transferred to the canvas.
Here you can see the carbonized image:
