encaustic class

it was a productive last class

i finished 5 pieces

the 2 above

each look good on their own but

are meant to be together
the photo was taken last fall

on my owen sound weekend

i can't wait until next fall to take more classes

so i've found a workshop for april

a one day, 6 hour class

with heather gentleman

if it works out i will take a few more

to keep me busy

new perspective

" let the beauty of what you love

be what you do"

rumi

building

this weeks thursdays challenge

"buildings"

one of my favorite things to photograph

i have thousands of pictures

old to modern

skyscraper to cabins

castles to homes

cathedrals to landmarks

just last year on several road trips

from nyc to philly

or montreal and ottawa

i just could decide on which one to use

so why not something from home

a view from centre island and

old city hall both here in toronto

encaustic class

with only one more class left

i wanted to finish off a few projects

above, my latest project

i still have project ideas i would like to get to

and techniques to experiment

i've found a working encaustic studio

in the distillery district

i will take a few workshops to keep me busy

until the start of the fall session

time

"moments in time"

take a moment

siege the moment

feel the moment

live in the moment

take delight in, savior, cherish,

preserve, enjoy, steal,

save, need, want

a moment

there are long, short, happy,

sad, lonely, joyful, passionate,

and senior moments

moments that define you!

this is a background i made using several

papers and images

turned into a b/w drawing

and them added it on top of my clock photo

taken outside my chyros office

it's the tower on top of the beaches fire hall

i played with all the blending modes

and like the exclusion one best!

posted for

thursdays challenge

spring begins

yeah!

it's been a long winter!

i've never wanted it to be spring so bad

i just want to be out!

see the sun

get my hands dirty

clear away the debris

and watch my garden(and myself) come to life!

there is a light at the end of the tunnel
and it isn't a train!

canada blooms

it was worth the wait

just what i needed to get me

out of the winter blues

as soon as you walk in the door

you get hit with the smell

SPRING!

a treat for all the senses

even if we get snow now
i have hope that i will be in the garden soon!

encaustic class

with only a few more classes left

i start to panic

all the things i want to get done before then

last spring i had this little visitor

a rose-breasted grosbeak

i dreamt of this great idea using this image

and every time i tried it, it just didn't work

so i just decided to "not think about it"

i just started adding the wax over a photo transfer

so far i like it

i also worked on a larger version of a previous piece

up until now, most of my work has been no larger than 10x10

this piece is 12x16

i could only scan it in parts

the top is of the sky

i decided to use the heat gun to smooth it out

and got a little carried away

sometimes a mistake can lead to something cool

photo finds

last post got me wondering through my old photos

one of my favorite all time "finds"

was jerome, az

a little mining town between sedona and prescott

it sits on a ledge

once abandoned

is now starting to make it's comeback

filled with artist and gallery's

i found some great crystals and stones

for my jewelry

a really cool graveyard

and gold king mine and ghost town

where i managed to take over 400 photos

some of which where these old trucks

"broken"

thursdays challenge
"broken"
one of my favorite things to do
is get in the car and
find a road i've never been on
a few years ago, my friend lennie and i
wondered up and down
some country roads
and found some really cool places
a swamp, a couple of old cemeteries
and a gas station with several old trucks
i just happened to have some extra rolls of b/w film
and managed to take some great shots

windows and doors

thursdays challenge

windows and doors

i could have posted a thousand photos

one of my favorite things to photograph is architecture

above are two taken at alcatraz

and this one taken in old montreal

encaustic class

today's class was very mellow and quite

i want to make a gift for a friend

she loves trees and this shot

was taken not to far from her house

i used a the same style as one of my

earlier pieces

i thought it would be very simple

using the same colour palette and technique

i think i was trying to hard

and it took a lot longer than expected

i also finished this one

it's hard to see but the background is

old german text book pages

the gate was taken in montreal

i used the shellac and blow torch

technique at the end

i really just want to see if the blow torch

would interfere with the transfer

it started to melt in places but

it think it gives it a little charm

kreativ blogger award

what a nice surprise

thanks to

lisa at mud hound primitives

for giving me this award

7 things that i love or inspire me

the moon rules my creative mood

and agnes is my muse

i love the mountains

and water, it sooths me,

i love being in it, near it and love the sound

the combination of both and i'm in my glory

my favorite, driving down the west coast

between the water and mountains

the next best thing to creating my art is my garden

i love the spring, getting dirt under my nails,

the smells, all the visitors,

cultivating and watching my "babies" grow

it is my therapy, my meditation

i love to wonder, finding new places close to home

and taking photographs

the best is being in the company of creative people

like all my blogger friends and class mates

they so inspire me

the artist project

i spent the day wondering thought the

artist project

at the liberty grand
going on all weekend

if you get a chance, it's a must see

over 150 artists

featuring works in all mediums

what a great place to get inspired,

and discover some fabulous art!

some of my favorites

mixed media artist

arleigh wood

photographer/digital artist

emily cooper

encaustic

nava waxman

sculpture

jamie brick

photographer

frank relle

textile

lorraine roy

painter

jesus mora

illustrator

peter mitchell

the above photo was taken today

at the entrance of liberty grand

fun with flowers

the beginning of march always gets me excited

spring is on its way!

one thing that always gets me in the mood is

canada blooms

usually it starts today, the first wednesday of the month

but for some reason they changed the date to the 18th

i was all ready to go

good thing i looked at the website to see the hours

one of last years displays was this

table cloth, cake and slice

all made with flowers

a full size piano

and this vw bug
it's a great place to get inspired
look at some unique gardens, displays,
competitions and my favorite
the market place
i'll just have to wait 2 weeks

full moon

i just had to take this challenge

from inspire me thursday

i'm so ruled by the moon

it's a great source of creatively for me when it is full

the photo was taken last fall during the harvest moon

through the trees just outside my front door

a few weeks ago i was bored and

made some simple paper backgrounds

i added some gesso on to to diffuse the text

a blue wash of paint

then added the "paper moon"

and transfered a copy of the photo with gel medium

i'd like to try this in my encaustic class

maybe next week!

encaustic class

sometimes the best laid plans just don't work out as expected

today's class was a long trial of my patience

i knew exactly what i wanted to do

i even dreamt about it

i could see it in my head but it just didn't want

to translate onto the wax

i think i will try this again next class

or wait until the right element fits

or should i just walk away?

or leave it as is?

the one good thing about wax is the you can always

scrape it off and start all over again!