Things I Love Thursday

Happy Winter Solstice!  We've had a snowless winter so far.  There was still green grass when the November frost came.

raspberry leaves in my back yard

I love to photograph winter light and soft frost covered palletes.

clematis vines in my yard

Then came the Winter Solstice.  It arrived here in Saskatoon at 4:44 am on December 21st.  As is our family tradition, we headed out to greet the morning sun.  These photos were good and late of course, around 9:30 am.

cell phone camera xo

Just like magic, THERE IT IS!  The sun rose up so quietly and the golden light just spilled over everything.  I can't tell you how much I adore this moment.  Unfortunately, it occurred after my kids went to school that day, so just my husband and me and my dog went out.

the tallest grasses catch the morning light first

Winter light is just so incredibly beautiful.  It was so still and quiet, hardly any snow and no wind.  Even our temperatures were above 0 that day.  Every year is different.

We headed back home, cleaned up the house and got the turkey ready.  Once everyone was home after school, we enjoyed a BIG meal - best so far!  And then we waited for the night to open our gifts, as is our tradition.  It was a nice night - a little extra special this time around as we added a seat for my oldest child's sweetheart around our table.  : )  They're growing up!  o my goodness.  It was the first year there were no toys under the tree.  The kids got gifts of makeup and sketch pads, tea and framed art.  Only the family dog hopped around like a happy little toddler.   : )

curly grasses coated in sparkles and sunshine

Later, I sat beside my husband to play a board game at the kitchen table.  Both of us, a little rounder with greying hair and donning our new reading glasses.  I looked at him and admired how handsome he is becoming, and reflected on what a different place we are in now.  I sure love my family.

I hope your Solstice was a meaningful one!  Enjoy your winter wherever you are.

xo

Winter Beautiful xo

Right between the Winter Solstice and Christmas, my good Australian friend had family come visit her for the holidays.  The plan was for me to take them all out to see 'winter' on the prairie.  We've had such a very mild winter.  As luck would have it, the night before we went out had a thick fog just full of moisture in the air.  It stuck to everything, and we ended up with a world coated in hoar frost the next morning!  How lucky for the Australian visitors!  I decided Beaver Creek Conservation area would be the best since there's a lot of trails through trees there - things for the frost to stick to.  Last year we spent the morning at Cranberry Flats.

As we drove up to the parking lot, I was thoroughly fulfilled by the fields and grasses!  (You know me... who needs trees?)  The grasses and seed heads were gorgeous.  It looks like thick icing sugar dusted on everything,  People love to take pictures of this dead tree that just won't fall over.  lol

Truthfully - the above photo was taken on our way out, after the daylight had filled the air.  The first photos were so dark and so blue before the sunrise.  It was almost spooky!

There was really no colour besides grasses and the peeled back bark.  The chickadees were out full force and followed us where ever we went.  Here's my friend with her guest waiting for the birds to come and land (which they did).

It was so very fun that morning.  On the way back out, OH MAN!!  That field just made me SO happy.  ; )

Once we got to the city again, the sun came out at the sky turned blue.  The guests went out again for more photos.  It was never ended change of scenery.  It was magical.

Wonderful.  AND THEN...  my friend introduced me to some photo filtering apps. These is so great, and gives me so many ideas...

and THIS!  ...

Isn't that cool?  My husband hates it because it's a 'fake painting' so to speak.  Still... I spent hours putting loads of images through it.  My dog - trees - fields - sunsets - lakes.... so fun.  : )

I hope your holidays were lovely and memorable.  All the best to you and yours,

About to Shift Gears

Hello!  Here are more of my minis.  They are very fun.  : )  I brought these into Handmade House when I worked my Friday shift last week.  I'm still just loving it there.

Prairie Minis

I like all the different colours.  Which do you like?  Grey sure is in lately, especially when it comes to home decorating.  I wasn't so sure about it but as it turns out, I really like it.  It's calming and it looks good with any colour it seems.

What else can I tell you?  I've also been busy finishing up a new threadpainting and ended up framing it too.  Shudder.  I do not love framing, but I think I'm getting quite good at it.  I do get someone else to cut the mats though.

This new piece is for a very special summer exhibition at the Saskatchewan Craft Council to celebrate their 40th anniversary!  There are about 50 members each with 2 pieces of art in this show.  It begins Friday and runs for the remainder of the summer.  The stipulation for the artists is that EVERYTHING has to be for sale.  It will have a huge variety of craft mediums together in one room.  Exciting!

You'll see a little bit of everything.  I'll be dropping my two pieces off in the morning to the Affinity Gallery.  The show will be up and running by Friday.

Then I'm back in the studio to sit at my computer and write an article.  That's a change of pace!  I'm feeling like it has to be a more technical one.  It's for an American publication - I'l tell you more later when it's out at the end of the year.  Pretty exciting!

After that, I have one month to complete the stitching project for the Saskatchewan Arts Board Grant and get everything photographed and the final report submitted.  I still have three more pieces to complete and I am really, REALLY in the mood for some handstitching.  I spoke to an exhibition coordinator about showing my work, and he really encouraged me to work more in that medium.  That was nice to hear!  He's right though.  The yarn embroideries are much more artful and less of reproducing scenes perfectly.  And so - more experimentation with that to come...

stay tuned!  I promise I'll take lots of scrumptious pictures. : )

Another One Down!

I just finished this up!  I'm pretty happy with it.  It's a commission - the last of the small ones I have to do before the holidays.

It's based on a photo I took when the sun was setting to my right, and I was facing the other side of the river bank,  It was September and it was gorgeous at that moment.

There was a little walking bridge that I included.  The water was an orange piece of batik that I touched up with some coloured pencils, echoing the reflection of the darks and lights of the shoreline.  Then I put some of the water ripples in with a holographic blue.

Here's the photo from that very cold evening.  Mine doesn't look quite as dulled & peachy as I had my monitor set a little deeper and brighter to distinguish the colours.

view of Meewasin (beautiful valley) banks of the South Saskatchewan River

I picked my bright threads a little brighter, and my muddy colours a little more vibrant.  Now I get to mount it, frame it, and call the client to see what she thinks.

The next several that I'm doing will be very, very green and summery.  Perhaps that will inspire some winter art after the holidays?  : )

Talk soon!

Friday Finishes - Gathering

Good morning.  I have new work to show you.  I'm not sure what it's called.  Yarn paintings?  I spent much of May stitching coloured yarns with a giant needle for the 'Heart to Hand' show at Handmade House next month.

The subtitle of the show is 'glimpses of prairie'.  I will still have some prairie vista threadpaintings, but I am excited to display my new work as well.  It's kind of embroidery... looks a little like felting and works like an oil painting with each stitch looking like a brushstroke loaded with colour.

Gathering in progress

This is a big piece in the style of Where Sunlight Falls (in Edmonton) and will be framed BIG liek that - 12x22".  To put a huge horizontal image on my blog will always look teenytiny, but here it is nonetheless.  I finished it up yesterday morning. 

All I can say is that I want to do more like this!  It's big - the work is 14 inches across.  Next I think I'll try something with a sky.  Chunky yarns might look terrific as clouds and such.  I'll have to go shopping first.  I really don't own a lot of blue.

Have a great day!

2013 Prairie Postcards

In 2011, I made a 'prairie postcard' landscape scene for each season.  In 2012, I made 45 more prairie scenes which I titled, 'Wish You Were Here'.  Last week I was inspired to create nearly 30 more!

4x6" art-to-mail (and/or frame)

So here they are, #46 to 72 which is my official 2013 set.  They are my 'underdone' pieces of art (underdone as opposed to overdone).  I like these.

I like that I can make a hundred different landscapes based one straight line and each time I end up with 100 different scenes that are highly recognizable even in their minimalism.

some pretty rayons for some pretty prairie sky coming up...

Enjoy your week as we head on into summer solstice!  Linking to The Needle & Thread Network.

Really and Truly

I really and truly enjoy what I do.  Though I've always been artistic and was raised by an artist, I ended up as a Social Worker for many years.  I worked the front lines in crisis response as a victim's advocate along side the major crimes unit of the police.  I remember spending many lunches in downtown Calgary visiting with my good friend Tanya.  At the time, Tanya was 'between jobs'.  I met her in a health food store while shopping and we fast became friends.  She told me she went to sewing school and got a job on an assembly line sewing things in a factory-like setting.  My jaw dropped.  'WOW - you mean you got paid to sew!?'

I looked at her with stars in my eyes, like I had just landed a lucky leprechaun.  

Though she shook her head at me and told me how much she hated it, I couldn't imagine a better job.  Paid to sew!? ... I was young, and I had never heard of that type of job.

unnamed, work in progress ready for hand stitching

Somehow I ended up where I am now - sewing the prairies.  I feel pretty lucky.  I am so happy that I feel I've found an artistic medium that suits me.  I'm so grateful that my work is going places.  I love to say, "I'm going to work" and then I sit down with a needle and thread, or I drive out some country road with camera in hand, chasing and capturing natural beauties to stitch.

detail of Autumn at Cranberry Flats, 2012

I'm grateful for all the opportunities that have come my way.  Blogging it has opened SO many doors.  I'm honored when my work affects people enough to cause them to react and love something I've made.  I like that I can still make a living while bringing some happy into someone's life.  It's not crisis response work, but it's all related I suppose.  Am I talking in circles?  Well, mostly I want to say thank you - that you keep coming back, for supporting me in my endeavors, for your reactions and interest in my creations, and for your company via comments along the way.

Flooded Prairie, 2012 (private collection)

So there you go.  I really and truly enjoy what I do.  If this is mid-life-crisis, I'd say it's turning out pretty well.  Linking to Friday Felicities  ...because I like it there!  : )

Itchin' to be Stitchin'

Is it just me, or do you feel like I haven't been doing any sewing?  I have a bit more paperwork and class preparations to get together before I can really begin.  In the mean time, I can feel sewing withdrawal beginning to kick in.  Do you ever get that??  I spent some time gathering my top inspirational photos that are 'calling' me.  Here is the lineup...

early summer at Grasswood, SK after a tornado warning had passed

I've only prepped the background so far...

Then there are a couple of these from this past weekend...  they melt my heart.  This one in particular is pretty full of fall colors, and lots of detail.  There will be a lot of stitching in this one, and it will not be a small piece.

I love the softness of this next one.  It's such a pretty fall palette.

And finally, this horizontal one from Silverspring just has such a nice free feel to it.  I have to do this one too, though I my omit the city in the background.  I'm not sure yet...

So that is my work-in-progress: figuring out where to start.  : )  Well, ya gotta start somewhere!  Have a great day.

Inspirations & Preparations

Half-way through putting the supplies together for the Creative Stitched Postcards Workshop I'm running tomorrow at Heritage, I got side tracked.  Hmmm.  It seems to happen a lot in my studio.  I think I'll blame it on the fact that I really should be cleaning it and sorting it all out.  Instead, I started looking through photos.  I need to think about a new collection for the next show & sale at Gardenscape.  I came across this one... I took it two years ago during the summer when everything was flooding.

I like the horizontal layers and vertical lines.  I picked out this one in particular, cropped it and set the contrast differently to bring out lines and colors.  I had never noticed the blues before!

I really like the potential with this one.  It would make a great chunky fibre panel to hang alone on the wall.  I'm going to do it in thread first.  So I sketched out the lines that will guide my stitches.

Next I put in the colors with pencil crayons.  I've been hanging on to this box of pencil crayons since I first moved to Calgary in 1996!  I bought them for a project I was doing at the time but I never ended up coloring it all in.  I knew they would get used sooner or later!

That was easy.  I'm glad I didn't bother hauling out wet paints for this.  Done.  I am looking forward to stitching this one!  And this one...

Summer 2010

...and this one...

Summer 2010

I love all the color and detail and water too.  It must be this 'winter drought' we are experiencing.  Still no snow and extremely mild...

Okay!  back to packing for tomorrow's workshop!  See you Sunday. : )