spring has sprung!

it's amazing what a difference

a week will make in the garden

with the unseasonably high temperatures and

a few rain showers

and i can actually watch my garden grow!

everything has sprouted up and out

my garden has really expanded over the past 10 years

last year i dug up 500 "babies" and

sold them at my plant sale

this year i'll be able to work a little less

----------------

above, one of my pencil sketches

played with some color in ps and added a border

random act of kindness

i love sending out things in the mail

and it is always wonderful to get a surprise back

like yesterday, i got a package from nyc

from my friend marie

it's so exciting !

a lovely handmade card and a soap sack

from the outback, what a refreshing scent!

thanks marie, i don't know when you had time,

in your travels and taking care of your boys

i so appreciate it and love it!

------------

recently i've noticed on several blogs like

in the mean time...

and purple lady's art

a R.A.K. giveaway

Here are the rules -

they are really pretty simple:
The first five (5) people to comment on this post

will get something from or made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions

and limitations so please read carefully:
I make no guarantees that you will like what I make

What I create or give will be just for you.
It’ll be done over the next 12 months.
You have no clue what it’s going to be.

I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
I reserve the right to change the rules!

(like giving away to more than 5 people or

pick someone random from my followers list?)
And in return, all you need to do is post this text

into a post of your own

and make or give 5 things for 5 others.
Of course, you’ll want to send me your mailing address…
Sound fun?

if you are interested in

participating in the Random Act of Kindness,

please let me know in your comment

and pay it forward!

-------------

above, one of my photos

played with in ps

and inspired by

dj pettitt gentle whispering hues

i had the opportunity to take a class with her

at art unraveled

she is a wonderful person and teacher

plus a talented artist

dreams

hold fast to dreams

for if dreams die

life is a broken winged bird

that can not fly

langston hughes

i'm so honoured

i'm so honoured

i've received two awards

the sisterhood award from brendalea

at purple lady's art

and

the renee award from aimeslee

at paper paisleys
thanks ladies!!

--------

it's been a joyful year blogging

i've "met" so many wonderful, talented,

creative, inspiring, fun, caring and giving people

i think everyone deserves an award!

blogiversary

it's been a year since i started my blog

i can't imagine not having this outlet

it has been wonderful

"meeting" so many talented people

sharing ideas and art

and being inspired by it all

i greatly appreciate every ones

comments and encouragement

and would like to say

" thank-you "

sincerely, nancy

more found grunge art

you can't walk very far

without finding postered walls, graffiti

or some kind of advertisement

as much as i like a clean city

i'm fascinated by the layers

torn, riped, weathered papers

revealing whats hidden

----------

above 8 layers of photos

with various blending modes

street grunge or found art?

you be the judge!

above a wall inside a doorway on queen street west

after a few minutes of play in ps

below the original

it's amazing how much fun ps is

with just a few click you can

transform any picture

another reason to carry your camera

everywhere you go

character project

i rarely take picture of people

this fellow intrigued me

last summer during the italian festival

while sitting on a patio enjoying

the food, drinks and music

i couldn't resist taking this picture

and of course , the one time i do snap a shot of a person

i get caught!

he was sweet and said he didn't mind

======

while flipping through one of my fashion mags

i noticed this "pull out" advertisement

CHARACTERPROJECT

i was intrigued by the photo

so i looked inside and found some wonderful shots

featuring 11 photographers

from alaska to new york

set out to capture the character of america

they have an amazing site and book

my favorite

(you can "skip into" to go to their photo page)

david eustace highway 50

joe fornabaio salon style

which i could relate to being a hair stylist

mary ellen mark ny festival in b/w

eric orgen michigan music

close to my hometown and some really

cool photos of bootsy collins and iggy pop

sylvia plachy spirit of the south and

richard renaldi the 49th state

they have also started a flickr page

for everyone to join in

blogging etiquette

OMG! i can't believe that i didn't notice this earlier

i started my blog almost a year ago

eventually i found one of the features-

have your comments e-mailed to you

convenient, especially for older posts that

i don't go back and check

my mistake, that i just notice today and feel like such a idiot,

was to simple hit reply, to answer someones comment

easy, i do it all the time

well, i just realized that some of these e-mails have a

return address of

noreply-comment@blogger.com

so i have no ideas where my e-mail have been sent and

not sure who has gotten them?

so i would like to apologize

i promise not to make this mistake again

for some of my regular reader

leslie jane, irene, tess, jonaks, jennifer

(to name a few, who post all the time, which i greatly appreciate)

i have no excuse, i do have your e-mail address in my book

i've just been lazy hitting the reply button

please forgive me, sincerely, nancy

blending modes

just mindlessly playing

with one of my photos from my morning walk

the remains of an old house

i layered the same photo 5 times,

resizing and off setting each photo from the previous one

then changed the blending mode for each layer

and added a ttv to frame it

encaustic

what a wonderful class

turns out i was the only student of the day

which was great!

one on one with my teacher

heather gentleman

of hag studio in the distillery

she has created a wonderful studio

with a great energyit was nice to focus on just a few pieces

patience, patience, patience

i need to quite my mind and learn this virtue

heather was a big help!

above, one of my photos ,

layered under layers of texture!

which i just love leaning how to create

applying , scraping, applying, heating, applying, carving

repeat several times

which was very therapeutic

i don't think i can wait 5 week for the next class

this is my new addiction!
thanks heather for such a wonderful class

happy easter

Happy Easter

you never know

everybody knows i love texture

no matter where i go

i have my little camera with me

i'm always taking shots of urban grunge,

decay and billboards

above, from my last encaustic class

the hot plates we use to heat the wax

very cool texture

it's like finding a little work of art!

i couldn't plan this if i tried

you just never know what will happen

when you start playing with them in ps

some of my images work so

well with these backgrounds

i just inverted the background and added one of my

images of some grasses in my neighbours yard

an image of part of wooden barn door

more grasses

and my favorite

i added the watercolor filter to the background

and a scene from frenchmans bay

i wish i could do this all day!

encaustic

it felt a little strange not going to school today

i get used to a routine

i'm missing it already

this weekend i will be taking a one day workshop

(that will help)

working from home is a little messy

i had a few boards started

so all i really needed to do is find a photo to do a transfer

one of a kind

it was a wonderful day!

wondering around the

"one of a kind" craft show

so many talented artists

it was hard to decide what to spend my money on

i could have bought something from everyone!

i did get a top from "if"

2 trees painted on glass by katherine o'mally greer

and of course some wonderful art cards

and a poof from my friend carmi

my favorite new artist

kirstin mcdonald

i just love her unique style

so original

amazing acrylic by

susan lapp and

stephen gillberry

quirky characters by

fix eight

i just love this purse!

the photo above was taken at the show

just as we walked in there was a display

of winged mannequins

it was the way the lights hit them

that made me stop and take a picture

i played with it in ps

added a filter and a background of

scrapbooking paper

april showers

april showers bring may flowers

yesterday was gorgeous

14 celsius that's 60 fehrenheit

(for toronto that's above average)

it gave me some time to wonder through my garden

and uncover what's growing under the fall leaves

it's so exciting to see my babies sprouting up

buds are forming on my lilac bush,

clematis and honeysuckle

i see bleeding hearts, sedum, chives, bee balm

shasta daisy and echinacea

my lilies and iris are 3 inches

looking through my garden journal

it inspired me to do some sketching

above, an iris

which after i scanned the sketch

i played with it in ps and

added some color

soul awake

" hope is the dream of a soul awake"
a french proverb