Monday, January 31, 2011

OWOH


well today is the day
where bloggers get to meet new friends
get inspired and feel the love!
so to all my new friends
thanks for joining one world one heart
and stopping by
and i hope you enjoy
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please add a comment below
with your link so i can visit you

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and each comment will be entered for a chance to win
one of my necklaces
(draw date feb. 17)
if you would like to see my blog click here
my encaustic painting click here
my photography click here

a special thank you to lisa for hosting this event

Friday, January 28, 2011

digital journal magic

just finishing week two of my on-line class
with marie otero
WOW!!! what a lot of info
i've worked with layers
usually 4 or 5 of them
but for this class i'm using 15 to 20!!
tools i've never touch, clipping masks,
combining brushes, filters, effects, text,
creating my own patterns, learning new tips and tricks
and having fun while doing it!!
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above my finished project
"paris in the spring"
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elements i used in my project
several photos taken on my trip to paris last spring
i used a different filter on each , cutout, poster edge and threshold
an old street map and an old letter i found at the antique market
clip art of a compass and postage stamp
the blossoms are from marie


for my first project
i wasn't sure what to do
i've never been one to scrapbook or journal
so i decided to use my recent photos from my visit
to my friends farm in claremont
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i used the cutout filter for the barn and horse photos
and the threshold filter for the grasses photos
and then chose a colour from the evergreens behind the barn
i found an old coffee stained postcard, a ticket and postage
the background was a combination of paper and brushes

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i'm looking forward to week three

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

encaustic class

today's class was not very productive
i injured my back shoveling snow
so i spent part of the time looking around the studio
and realize how lucky i am
to have found heather gentleman
my teacher
i have learned so much from her
over the past few years
heather is a wonderful teacher who knows
just how to inspire and motivate me
you can visit heather at her studio
in the distillery's case good building suite 400
or call if you are interested in taking classes

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

address to a haggis


His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An’ cut you up wi’ ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin’, rich
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"address to a haggis"
robert burns
see the whole poem here
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today is robbie's birthday
he was born in scotland, in 1759
a famous poet and composer
you will know his famous work
he died at the age of 35
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on sunday i was invited to the
fitzpatrick/telfords
celebration dinner
we started with a tasting of
3 scottish beers
followed with the reading of the poem
(above, the haggis and part of johns kilt)
and a primerib/yorkshire pudding dinner
followed by my grandmother's trifle
it was a wonderful evening
as special thanks to dede and john
for including me
and to tom and may for welcoming
me into their home and all the rest of the clan

Sunday, January 23, 2011

OWOH coming soon



it's that time of year again
this will be my third time participating
starting next week hundreds of bloggers
will be linked on one site
it's a great way to meet "new" friends and
visit creative people from all over the world
if you want to see the details
visit lisa swifka at a whimisical bohemian

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next monday i will be posting my giveaways for the event
so stay tuned.....................

Friday, January 21, 2011

daylight robbery solution

catching up on my blog reading since my technical difficulties
i was visiting my friend marie and her post out and about in nyc
it is wonderful to see how my friends spend their days
and her photos are always stunning
as i got to the end of the posting
i laughed at her conversation with her DH
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"since when did a sandwich and coffee cost that much?"
DH goes..... "well, it's new york"
i go....... " it's day light robbery"
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i'm sure i've had this conversation with my friends
out and about in toronto
sometimes you just want a quick lunch
soup and share a sandwich or salad
with a coffee or tea
and its $30-$40
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well i'm here to tell you that sometimes you find a deal
or get your monies worth
even in a trendy neighbourhood
i take classes in the distillery every wednesday
and as a treat i will head over to the brick street bakery
above, left my lunch, a vegetarian with bacon!!!( i know. i know)
with a bottle water and a chocolate chip cookie for $12!
you can also get a blt for $4.50 /$5 with cheese
boxing day (turkey) $8
pulled pork $9

and of course they have all the sweets you can image


while i waited for my meal

i managed to get a few shots of some grunge with my i-phone


camera bag plastic



camera bag infrared



Wednesday, January 19, 2011

encaustic class

today class inspiration came from a photo i took in new orleans
part of a fence in the lafayette cemetery

usually i do a photo transfer
today i thought i would try to recreate the finial
by sculpting the wax
i add instant coffee to give the was some "grit"
incorporating layers of color and carving to add shape
and metallic paint for the highlites



closeup of the background
alternating taupe and white wax
and adding burnt umber to show off
all the "nooks and crannies"
i love taking photos of the backgrounds in progress
shots of every layer
they make great texture layers in ps





once i got home i altered one of the background shots
in ps and converted it to black and white
this then inspired me to add it to one of my winter photos



i used the "darker color" blending mode





Tuesday, January 18, 2011

unknown glitch

most haven't notice but for some reason
i was having a hard time accessing my blog
somehow it got it's knickers in a knot
after a few days of frustration
i decided that i'd keep myself busy working
and 6 hours later it was back to normal
not sure why, but it seems that if there
is some strange glitch out there
it will find me!!!
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i did manage to work in ps
above a photo of some flowers i got this weekend
adding two filters, paint daubs and poster edge
then some text, erasing the edges and
playing with some swirl brushes
and came up with the above project

Monday, January 17, 2011

technical difficulties

since my last posting
i have been having technical difficulties with my blog
it has been taking a long time to up load
and my font has changed as well as it position
not sure what is going on but i am working on it
hopefully i will back to normal soon

Friday, January 14, 2011

winter wonderland




Wednesday, January 12, 2011

encaustic class

after shoveling out of my driveway
i manage to make to school in time
all the fluffy stuff inspired me to work in white today
creating lots of texture and adding photo transfer
here i used lace as a stencil

Sunday, January 9, 2011

keeping busy

time is just flying by
i've been so busy with
christmas crafts & jewelry, then traveling,
getting a bad cold , then getting back to work,
my new baby molly and encaustic class,
i just noticed that this is my 505th blog posting
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today i found a little time to sit and play in ps
above, i used several of my new orleans photos
and a clipping mask from shadowhouse

Friday, January 7, 2011

new addition

my new baby, molly
she is 5 months old
has the same birthday as beanie
and is a maine coon

molly had no problem moving in
or adjusting to her new home
and was eager to make friends
beanie on the other hand was a little territorial
but once i reassured her she was still my baby
she decide to let molly know who was "boss"

soon, molly won beanie over
(which i knew she would)
and found her spot on the back of the couch

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

encaustic class

i seems like it has been a really long time since my last class
8 weeks feels like a year ago
i didn't have any projects in mind
just thought i would experiment
i found a bag of egg shells sitting on my desk
i'm sure i saved them for a reason
so i brought them to class
working on a small canvas i added one of my photos
using the egg shells as a frame and
adding white wax in between
and a little green and raw umber oil paint to highlight the texture
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now that i figured out how it get the shells to stay in the wax
i will try this again next week on a larger scale

Monday, January 3, 2011

change in weather

two weeks ago when i drove up north
there was no snow in toronto
but just half an hour later there was tons!!!
i captured this beautiful red barn on our ride into uxbridge
this weekend it was a different scene
with temperatures reaching 10 c (52f)
the snow has been melted
the fog rolled in

it did make for some lovely photos
 
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