Zoodles of Art

This weekend I am working on a project for the annual Quilting Arts calendar contest. This is an annual ritual where I submit work and get rejected :-) Toughens the soul and keeps me determined.

This year's theme is pets. Over my lifetime... a brief 45 years... my family and I have had... several cats, including three at the moment, several dogs, including one cute little Cavalier at the moment, two white rats I rescued from a science experiment in school in grade six, two zebra finches, a white mouse I found outside in grade five (and to my mother's horror, the mouse had babies the next day...), three horses, and the list goes on. HOWEVER, I never got to have a giraffe!

So this is the pet I hope to have one day... when I live in Africa and they can wander free near my home.

This piece is about 14" across and will get trimmed down when I am done felting the wool. I will post more as the piece progresses. Especially since tomorrow starts "Creative Every Day" month!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 25th Anniversary. We celebrated yesterday because my husband has a business meeting tonight :-) We did have a lunch date today though!

I searched high and low for an anniversary card, but I never could find one that said what I felt. So, I made one instead. I'm posting it as a warm-up for Creative Every Day month which starts November 1st.

Each picture represents one year of our marriage starting with our honeymoon in Maui and ending with our new (old) boat we purchased this fall. Enjoy :-)

I'm Melting...

This week I'm experimenting with a product that is new to me, but has been in the fibre art world as a medium for a long while. Tyvek is a kind of plastic paper used in house building and it somehow made its way to the art industry... as industrial products often do.

This 4" x 6" piece was heated using an iron and then coloured with pencil crayons after it cooled. I'm going to try many, many more and practise stitching on them and try different kinds of paint on them as well.

Any Tyvek wisdom you would like to impart is more than welcome as a comment!!

Funky Giraffes

One of the many things I do to relax and still exercise creativity is to make a treasury collection on Etsy.

Here is today's Funky Giraffe treasury :-)

Fall Fell in colour :-)

And in colour.

Fall Fell

I live in Northern Canada. Our days are already getting terribly short... and our leaves are now gone.

Fall fell.

I inked this tree yesterday in remembrance of leaves :-) Thank goodness they'll be back in the Spring!

And the Years go Rolling By...

This month my husband and I are celebrating our 25th Anniversary. We are just celebrating quietly on our own, but in our minds it is something big to be proud of and thankful for. We have worked hard over the years... living, being, raising children... and we have many reasons to celebrate 25 years together.

One of our favourite consequences of our decision to share our lives together are our two children. They are healthy, extremely happy, a lot of fun and turning out to be really good friends. This weekend we visited our children in Edmonton and they surprised us with an anniversary gift.

It is a compass for our recently purchased Grand Banks boat. It has our name engraved on the front, and on the back is engraved May you always have calm waters. It is a silver compass and inside the lid is a tiny map of the world. It is beautiful. And will be treasured always.

Thank you to our children :-) It is nice to have them beside us for the rest of the journey.

The Organizing Bug

Often before an anticipated busy part of life, I decide I need to be more organized so that I can keep afloat during the upcoming busy time. Ironically, by the time I'm finished prepping for the busy time, I have been so busy getting organized that the busy time is quite relaxed.

Next Friday, October 8th, I begin working on my Master in Fine Arts. I know it will be busy. So I have been re-organizing and making large messes by sorting, stacking, un-piling, re-piling, moving, cleaning and eventually throwing out. I know it will all come together by next Friday, but it seems impossible right at this very moment :-) You can see this below in my studio...

How do I keep a balance during my pre-busy busy time? My love of the outdoors and the walks I can take near my home relax my mind and get me away from it all. That as well as a really good book.... actually three, that I leave lying around for those spur-of-the-moment drop-on-the-couch-and-read opportunities.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to defeating the organization bug, so I can be un-busier than I am.