keepin' warm

with the temperatures below zero this weekend

it was easy to stay indoors and keep warm

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above the start of a small afghan

i had 7 balls of leftover yarn from last year

its a simple "shell" design and really easy

now i need to find more of the same

to finish it

i wish i could be my cat

"beanie"

for a day

she just rolls on the floor

catching the sunny spot

all day long!!!!

one of a kind show

first stop at the show, as always

carmi's booth to say hi

and purchase a few christmas cards

my favorite at the show

toronto artist joanna sipos

i purchased this wonderful belt made of wire and metal

dan bi-- jianzhi artist

from markham 647.588.4168

this tiger caught my eye

i can't image how much patience it would take

to cut out this intricate design out of such thin paper

(i was born in the year of the tiger)

paper collage artist mary karavos (left)

beautiful collages with handmade paper

and sue mcnenly (right)

cute precious metal necklaces

i just had to laugh at this card and buy one for fun

it came with a set of vodoo pins and

the black background is foam
creepy christine

birch poetry by

stalina roubinova

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sunday i will be back to work carmi's booth and

see the second half of the show

sight unseen

last week as i was channel surfing i found this documentary on hbo called

dark light:the art of blind photographers

i was so amazed i had to watch it 3 times

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it started with curator douglas mcculloh

who spent 10 years searching for these photographers

from around the world and in 2009 exhibited their work

at the california museum of photoraphy
the documentary -a noel leifer film

features three of these artists

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pete eckert

video and website

henry bulter

website

and bruce hall

website

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set your pvr's for tomorrow at 5:30am

or dec. 24th at 9:05am
dec. 25th at 3:50 am

dec. 31st at 12:30 pm

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above photo by peter eckert, henry butler and bruce hill

jewelry fun

yesterday my friend karen came over

to teach a group of us girls

how to make this beautiful necklace

( yes leslie, it does look like a sausage!)

it was a fun day!!!

after everyone left i decided to make a second one

a little bit better

i went to bed dreaming of new creations

so........ this morning i decided to head downtown

and get some supplies!

i stopped by lacy to some 24 gauge wire

(they have moved a few doors away at 69 queen st e.)

i got the last 5 rolls of wire

sorry girls, they will have more next week!!

then off to arton for some beads, chain and more wire

(yes leslie, i needed more beads!)

so.............. with all my new supplies

i got to work making another one

( i may need an intervention)

a project for mary

last weekend at the cottage

my friend mary painted these cute birds

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i thought they would make wonderful cards

so once i photographed them

i played a bit in ps........

i used one of my photos from that weekend

applied the charcoal filter in black then in red

the same with this heart rock i found on the beach
i also added some text, stitching
and used the pencil tool to highlite the heart
and came up with this.............

digital magic

if you missed it the first time

now is your chance to take

marie otero's

digital magic

online class

i was able to take her class this summer

and got more than my moneys worth

marie is an excellent teacher

and her class projects and videos

where easy to follow and filled with

lots of tips and tricks for ps users

class starts december 15

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visit our flickr group here to see our work

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and if your interested in something new

marie is also starting in the new year

digital journal magic

register here for both classes

whodunit??

if you get the chance this weekend

you might not want to check out the

whodunit?

show at ocad

there are over 1500 works of art

in all types of medium

all for sale for $75

with proceeds going to the school

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(above, my friend ludgera and her taking a photo of one of my pieces)

sunrise, sunset

what a wonderful weekend

to be able to wake up in the morning

and see this view

life couldn't get any better!!

listening to the waves all nite and being

this close to the water sooths my soul

and i love how the early morning light

reflex's off the waves

we had to drive a few kilometres around the bluff
to see the sunset
gorgeous!
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a special thank-you to my friends dede and mary
for a spectacular weekend filled with
laughs, art and friendship

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photos take between owen sound and wiarton
on georgian bay

r & r

i'm off to georgian bay
for a little r & r
be back monday
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above photos taken last visit

encaustic class

my last class of the year

i didn't have time to finish

so i added a bit more colour when i got home

and a photo in ps

when i get some time i'll do a permanent transfer

a few close up details
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hopefully i will get some time before the holidays
to work in my studio

country grunge

on my country visit last week

i managed to find lots of grunge

above one of a bag full of rusted bed springs

not sure what i will do with them

but the perfect project will come along

i knew this sign would make a great grunge layer in ps

i've already used this in several projects

(see the 2 previous posts)

somebody's watching

country time

a few shots from my day in the country

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layermask from shadowhouse

i think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree.

a tree whose hungry mouth is prest
against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

a tree that looks at god all day,
and lifts her leafy arms to pray;

a tree that may in summer wear
a nest of robins in her hair;

upon whose bosom snow has lain;
who intimately lives with rain.

poems are made by fools like me,
but only god can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer
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i got to spend the day in the country with my friend ludgera

i managed to take 381 photographs

and will post some of my favorites tomorrow

above--one of the shots

a layer mask lu found on the internet

i added a bokeh layer from shadowhouse

and one of my own grunge layers

and then added a few scratches with a brush

encaustic class

this post is for all those who where wondering about encaustic

i've evolved over the past two years since i started regular classes

and i've accumulated lots of supplies

i've set up a space in my studio to work in when i'm not in class

above my new bigger hot plate from canadian tire

it has twice the heat surface and can now have 3 different mixes of wax

micro crystalline, natural bees wax and one with a combo of both

i use an old iron for smoothing out large canvases

a smaller iron from the fine art store in rochester and a heat gun

oil paint and oil sticks, brushes in many sizes and for different colours
metal tart tins, scrappers, dental tools, palette knife,
anything to "mark" or "carve" in the wax

i love the versatility of wax
i can incorporate all my mixed media lessons
and all the happy accidents that are created



you can buy pre-mixed paints but they are costly
i mix my own as i need them
i use metal tart tins, fill with wax and add oil paint
i can re use the same container again and again
and add more when needed

when i want just a "splash" of colour i use oil sticks
right on the heat surface and add a little wax to thin it




today i spent my time finishing some of my projects

above , i wanted to add some color and texture to
a photo transfer gone bad
( i accidental scrapped too much)
so with a little wax i covered it up



the sides always are the last to be finished
and sometimes forgotten
a little oil paint and mineral spirits
rubbed into the wax and then removed
the oil paint remains in all the "nooks and cranny's"
and highlights the texture
i got several canvases finished
hopefully they will be sold for christmas

step by step

my friend ludgera and i have been working on some ps projects

she is just learning how layers work (she calls it layer soup!!)

so to help her out we e-mail back and forth photos and projects

learning how to adjust each layer as we go and most importantly

playing and learning something new

lu sent me a photo of the last full moon ( left)

(we are both cancerians and ruled by it!!!)

i added a purple photo filter and flipped it vertically

and cropped it

a graveyard photo from salem, ma
and an old photo was one of many i found at the
old paper show a few years ago
i used the "color burn" blending mode on the graveyard photo
it made the purple a little too intense
so i adjusted the saturation
and added the portrait
and set the opacity at 50%

the image was starting to take shape but
was lacking a gory feel
i tried adding blood with the paint brush
but didn't like the results
if only i had some dripping blood...
well after a bit of thinking and searching

i found a painting i did several years ago
i liked the way the ink dripped
so i converted it to bw and erased what i didn't like
inverted it and added a red photo filter



it works well over the project
to finish it off i added a bat on the moon
and used "bleeding cowboy" font
see yesterdays finished project

also take a look at another one of my

halloween projects on my flickr page here

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it's fun and challenging
working with lu
she is getting me to work on things that i
would not have tried on my own
thanks lu