Colour Blob Design

Quiet day for me...

2012-02-08T18:51:00.000-05:00

Sunday after we had spent time with the kids down town, I got a day to my self and it was really nice to just do something I like to do (don't get me wrong, I had fun with the kids day before). But some days we just need that "Me time". So Mr B, dropped me off at the museum of Civilization (its on the Quebec side and this is the view I had of the Ottawa parlament buildings from the museum). At the museum I first saw a new exhibition of "World Religion" "God(s)", it was interesting and I love learning about all the different kinds of religions there is. And I did a little bit of sketching.

I really liked this wood carving (of Jesus), its amazing how its made. The person who carved it left the bark on some places and its very rough yet the colours of the wood makes it warm looking. The Sculpture of Buddha is in bronze, and this one is such a neat contrast to the wood as it has a lot of fantastic looking details on it. The I walked around the rest of the museum and sketched. Afterwards I walked cross the river to the down town Ottawa area, and the weather again was wonderful, and I took again lot of pictures.

Then I ended up in a coffee shop, and I got a fantastic seat for an artist and especially if you are an artist who liked to watch people and sketch them. It was a bar counter that faces out to the street, and right in front of it is a bus stop and along with it tons of people waiting for their ride. I went through two coffees and one good sandwich (couldn't let go of the seat : )

And here is another sketch, its the bridges that conects Ontario to Quebec.

Winter in town

2012-02-08T18:17:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we spent a lot of time down town Ottawa, and its winter festival time. First we went for a nice walk along the Parlament buildings, looked at the view and enjoyed the really nice weather we had (not too cold or not too warm, just "Lagom").
After our first walk, we went to see a Northern Lights trade show and performance . We watched drum dancers (I only got one sketch in this day), and heard throat singers and also heard a really good native Inuit metal band. Lindsay really liked the music, and two nice ladies beside us heard her cheering and saw me drawing (I know, what a pair we are) and they took us back stage and we got to meet the drum dancers and the band.

Afterwards we walked down to the Rideau Canal, where the worlds longest ice skating rink is open during the winter festival "Winter Lude". The part you see here is right down town and its packed with people and the the rink stretches all long the canal (I think its about 5+ km long).

And there is tons of different programs, music and food all around the city and the canal. And we of course had to get one treat "Beaver Tails", yep, good old crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside Tails with a nice sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar mmmmmm...

Lindsay couldn't wait to sink her teeth in to her tail : ) Its a good treat, but something you can only eat once a year (it loves to hit the hips after).

It was a perfect day and evening, I only got one sketch in, but got a lot of pictures. After we enjoyed all the festivities down town, we walked (worked of the tails) and enjoyed the lights around town (its really pretty with all the different colour lights and the snow on the ground). Perfect time!!!

One is in and one not so much...

2012-02-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well, here is my two pieces that I put in to the annual juried arts exhibition, and this year the theme was/is "Mix of Emotions". This one below, is a mixed media piece and its more abstract. The title of the piece is "Winter Blues" and most people (well about 99% of everyone I know), think winter blues is negative, depression and very dark. However, for me winter blues means something totally reverse to that, to me its that one very short moment when day and night meets...

"Winter Blues" (True Winter Blues), in Mixed Media

Makes no sense? well you see, when the sun goes down and the night sky creeps in, there is this magic light that covers everything that has snow on it. And it only lasts for a very short moment, everything turns this beautiful and dreamy shade of blue. And all that cold and frosty, looks warm and comforting. Its the time you stop and just breath, enjoy the view and then when its gone as fast it came... Then you go and sit back, sip tea and enjoy the warmth of a nice blanket.
In Finnish its called "Sininen Hetkinen" and in Swedish "Blåa Stunden" Brings back a lot of memories from my childhood days in Scandinavia.

Any how, Winter Blues, didn't make it in to the show (maybe if the jury had heard my artist statement, they would have understood the title more and the thought behind it... Or maybe one of them were fighting their own winter blues... Who knows).
But not all so blue and not everything can make it...
However, my other piece "Struggle" made it and its in Yeahhhhh!!!!

"Struggle" water colour & Ink

If you have seen some of my past work, then you might have noticed that there is few things I love to paint and draw... It is barns and umbrellas, so I tried to think of an emotion that is a struggle, and why not fighting Mother Nature. You just never know what she will hit you with and many times its hard to fight back. But you can fight and it might be a hard struggle at times, but if you hold on you might just make it (kind of reminds me the nasty thunder storm I had to live through last summer while we were out on a canoe trip, it scared the living lights out of me (no pun intended).

The Mix of Emotions" exhibition will open up on February 16 at the Trinity Gallery, Shenkmans Arts Centre.

Happy first of February everyone!!

This is how...

2012-01-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

I got some comments and emails in regards to my post of the Queen Anne Lace painting I'm (still)working on, and I'm more than happy to tell you how I paint this way. And thank you so much for all your words and questions, love reading them all... One of the questions was "how do I put the outlines in and what colours do I use". I paint most of these is acrylics, and its all about layers... In short, I never end up with what I intended in the beginning.

First of all, I never use black, I know they come out looking black in pictures, but they are almost always in very dark blues, or grey. I mix my own blacks, from mixing blues with browns, and it all depends on what kind of dark grey or blackish colour I want. There is only one place I use black and that's when I paint the sides of my canvases.

The first step is for my paintings is that I paint on a back ground in a colour (reds, greens or any other colour), and I like to work with a acrylic paint that has dried up a bit, this gives the paint a nice texture on the canvas (as acrylic paint tend to stay flat other wise or without any other extras in it). Then I again paint another layer (lighter or darker of same colour or something in that same side of the colour wheel, I hope that makes sense). When I'm happy with the back ground, I then rough sketch (paint) my subject in again a dark blue, green or other colour. Then I start to work on yet another back ground, now kind of softening the lines I sketched in. This back ground colour is different from the previous colour, so it has contrast (and I let some show through).

After I'm happy with the back ground, I start to work on the main lines of the object (and in this case its the dried up flower head of Queen Anne Lace). And I keep going on back and forth until I'm happy with it. Here below you can see more of the back ground colour and the out lines (you can see there is different colours, red, orange and brows, all coming through the blues, teals and creams on top).

And here's another photo of Queen Anne Lace, and its again in the dry winter stage.
See, Queen Anne Lace is a beautiful delicate white flower in the summer, and it really does look like lace. And I had questions about the flower I had posted, how could this be that flower (it looks nothing like it does on line if you look it up). But I live in Canada and like in most Northern snowy lands like Canada. This flower looks wonderful, white and delicate in the summer months. But when fall and winter hits, the flower dies down and only the dry seed pods are left. I find the dried up flower (and so many other seed pods and plants) in winter looks as beautiful, different, yet very beautiful.

Dan from Dan's Canvas read my post and he used the picture I had left for anyone to use (I wanted to see if anyone else would like to draw or paint it, would be fun to see).
And Dan did and he drew from the picture. And he did a fantastic piece and I think he did it in watercolours, check out his link, he's a great artist from Florida (no snow there : )
There is a legend behind the name of this flower, and I think its really sweet and I love hearing and learning about these things. The story behind this one is, of Queen Anne who was very good at needle work and she created beautiful lace. One time Queen Anne was working on her lace, she pricked her finger with the needle and a small drop of blood fell on the lace. See, if you look very closely in the centre of all the white flowers, you can find one very tinny single flower that is red (some are darker than others, some even so dark red it looks like its black) and that's her drop of blood. This is the story behind Queen Anne Lace. And so I leave you with that and with this picture below, little different from what I posted last. But its for you, if you wish you create one of your own, or just enjoy the picture.

Enjoy!! And try not spill any blood while creating...

Dried Queen Anne Lace flower, Free image

All ears & Day dreaming...

2012-01-26T19:57:00.000-05:00

Or should I call it evening dreaming... Either way, I was in a meeting last night and I had a very hard time concentrating on the lecture. The lecture was fine, it was just that my mind was kind of lost in other places.

All ears, what I saw from my back row seat... Below, my evening dreams took me also back to summer and camping, smooth rocks, sun and lots of water {while its blowing snow outside the window}. And even to new ideas for new paintings.

Good old winter...

2012-01-25T20:49:00.000-05:00

Today was an absolute fantastic winter day. Only -5c but -15c in the wind, bit of fresh white snow on top of a crust of ice we got the other day {it rained two days ago} and the air was fresh topped with a beautiful blue sky with little clouds floating about. And best part is that we are waiting for more snow, cant wait.

Any how, needless to say, I have been out a lot for long walks with my trusted side kick Charlie and I have been taking a lot of pictures. Then I have been plucking away down here in my studio, trying to get things ready for an upcoming juried show. I'm putting in two paintings, one water colour and ink, and the other one is abstract in mixed media. Cant show them here until the jury is done, so I'm posting this for now. A small acrylic painting I had to try out, still working on it.

Holding on to winter

Just for fun, I posted one of the photographs I took of this Queen Anne Lace, you can use it and I would love to see what and how you would create it on paper or canvas. Have fun with it!

Happy January everyone, and thank you so much for all your comments and emails. And good news is that my eyes are getting better, still blurry at best of times, but better....

Mari

Frustration and just a few steps...

2012-01-18T13:46:00.000-05:00

I was so happy when I was finally able to post here yesterday, it felt good, but it was hard and it took me a long time to get through... All due to my blurry eyes *grrrrrr*. But I did it and I think I'm starting to get back in the saddle again {or more like my desk chair}.
After I posted my page, I started to look through blogs I follow and it was wonderful to see what everyone has been up too. And to my delight, I have been able to leave comments again {don't know if you recall me having issues with not being able to leave comments on other blogs... it went on for months}. And everything was going smoothly and it has been doing that now for a month or so, until! Yes until, it happen again and only to one blog. I click on the link and up pops the blog and then it either goes blank, or gets stuck (cant scroll down) and or I can scroll down and I click on to the comment section and NOTHING!!! It again either goes blank or just sits in a frozen state. Leaving me totally in a non frozen state (I used many words that would make a sailor blush)
I have been clicking like mad and walked away and made deals with my lap top, but nothing.

So I'm stumped, I have no clue to why its doing this, is it my lap top {something wrong with my button baby?} is it the server, the blog program... What? So one thing rolled in to another, while trying to get on line {yes, even that now started to go, my server is not the best} I got so frustrated, I started to clean up in my studio {not a bad thing, but kind of nuts when its clean to begin with}... I moved things around and about, found old drawings {sooo wish I could draw like that right now, but a bit too blurry still}. Got finally back on line and was able to listen to Stockholm radio on line {love listening to Swedish when I work, makes me keep up whats going on back home}... But now, I was not able to leave any comments, period! So crazy me, picked up a brush and thought, well why not get in to real Swedish mood, I wanted to have white on white furniture... So why not my shelving unit I bough back in the fall.

Yeah great idea!!! Not, I had fun about an hour and then I stood back and started to wonder what the heck was I up too. I like it, but just not project I can get in too right now. So half is white and the other half is brown, and it will have to do for now. Listen to the news on the radio, looked at the drawing I did way back... Then went to bed! Got up this morning, went for a nice long walk with Charlie, came home and had tea, turned the computer back on and fingers crossed I tried to check out some blogs and leave comments. I was able to leave three and then went back to the blog from yesterday, now both fingers and toes crossed.... I clicked on blog... Pop!!! It came up.... I read it again {loved what I read and saw}... Clicked on the comment section.... And!!! NOTHING!!!!!! Aughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Ink sketch "Street Corner"

And the mad clicking continues, I'm sure I will get this one day {fingers crossed}.

Cheers,

Mari

Waiting for the next snow storm...

2012-01-17T13:55:00.000-05:00

Light pole

It's been bone chilling here, yesterday it was -34c in the wind. But it was a really beautiful out, so out we went for a nice walk in the forest (a bit more sheltered there from the wind). My friend Renee and her side kick Trevor came along and we had a great time (we walk almost every day together).

I took some pictures from our winter adventure, but before I show you I wanted to show you these first. The above painting is something I'm working on, its a project I'm really enjoying doing and its for one of my dear friends son. C loves light poles and the older they are the better (well to him if they are from the 50's or the 60's that's agent and perfect old age). C has autism and he is one super kid (sorry young man), and he has a fantastic eye for details, and he loves photography and one of his favourite subjects are light poles. After hearing C telling me about them and seeing how passionate he is about the subject (showing his pictures with great pride), he has opened my eyes even more for the details that we usually don't notice or take for granted... Sure the parking lot will be lit, right... But do we see by what? Well I do now, and I have been having fun trying to find the older once here in town and work on this project for him.

And here is my finished painting of "Peace" that I showed you earlier before Christmas, so now its up and on display at the Shenkmans Centre in Ottawa. And now I'm working on two pieces for a different upcoming art show, and this one is juried, so hopefully I get one or two in for the show. I'm a bit behind my painting these days, as I have this on going condition with my eyes. I have been having problems for about two years now and now it got really bad and after all this time I finally found a very good doctor. So now lots of meds, relax my eyes and trying to get my sight back to close to what it used to be (its been so bad that I was not able to drive, got constant head aches and reading was totally out... so was drawing or painting. Both cornias are damaged *sigh, grrrrrr*). Everything has been done with a lot of breaks in between the paint strokes. But it is getting better!!!

Any how, here is the pictures from our walk yesterday at - 34c, both dogs and us were bundled up really well. Both Trevor and Charlie sporting their Chilly Dog coats. Everything is coated in heavy snow and its super peaceful in the forest. And now we are awaiting the next storm, kids are home on a snow day.

Here is Renee (and above me in my gear), covered in ice... Even our eye lashes and hair was covered in ice... My scarf was so stiff when I took it off, it stood up on its own until it thawed. Its all about layers!!!!

Great day!

Oh, baby its Cold outside...

2012-01-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

We have been having wonderful winter weather since the 23rd of December, and we have had nice cold snaps of and on. A few days ago it was -30c in the wind, nostrils froze together when you breath in through your nose. In short, not a good day to stick your tongue on anything metal!!!
But today, we went for a nice walk in the forest again and we all enjoyed it until we couldn't feel our toes. Now home, while the kids enjoy big mugs full of hot chocolate, I'm sitting here enjoying one of my favourite teas Alpine Punch from David's Tea and reading my new books and magazines I got for Christmas.

"Taking Great Photos" this book is good, I'm kind of new to digital photography (used film a lot longer than digital), and I need to learn a lot, and just find new ways to take pictures of my work (the possibilities are never ending). It shows you how to take great pictures of your work (be it art or crafts) and you don't have to fork out loads of money for fancy gear to do so. Instead it shows you how to do it with only pennies to your pocket, and it tells you the basic things about digital photography and cameras. And as a bonus it has a lot of great pictures, good for inspiration.

Here is two small sketches I did last night while Mr B was watching the hockey game, its just different views from the left corner of our couch (I was far to comfortable to move around, turning my head was enough : )

View of the front hallway from the living room, Christmas decorations on the old stand

Charlie taking a nap

All the best to all of you, I hope you have had a great start to this new year, Happy New Years!!!!

Snow days...

2011-12-28T16:22:00.000-05:00

Snow covered apple in the woods

I hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas holiday so far. Our Christmas has been great, not only did we get to see family and friends, but we also got a white Christmas and that made a huge difference with setting the right mood for the season. We all enjoyed the white snow to the fullest, nice walks in the woods and making snow lanterns (I remember my dad making them with me when I was little).

And one thing that we really enjoy by the end of a busy day, is to sit back sip tea or a good drink, and look out and seeing the snow flakes coming down (I love the orange light that the street lights reflect against the clouds, makes it look so dream like). Of course I had to take a picture of our lantern that hangs of our tree out front, here you can see that pretty orange glow.

So kids are happy with all their gifts, Grand parents with their treats and afternoon naps and Mr B and I are relaxing and enjoying the fact that we don't have to cook for days to come... Tons of left overs : )
I haven't had time to do much drawing at all, but hopefully I can get a few hours down in my work space tonight and tomorrow, its itching in my fingers to get drawing again and I want to try out my new ink pens Mr B got me {thank you baby}. Few days left of 2011 and soon we shall ring in 2012, I want to wish all of you a happy continuing of the season and the very best for 2012, and may it bring you peace, joy and good health.

Cheers,

Mari

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2011-12-23T17:03:00.000-05:00

I wanted to thank all of you for a wonderful year of blogging, art and great arts community, and huge thank you for all your past comments and for visiting my blog. I cant believe we are yet again in the end of a year and Christmas is only a day away. We celebrate both Jul and Christmas here in our household, and there has been a lot of getting ready for friends and family that are on their way here, cant wait to see them all again. Now all lights on, treats baked and all decorations in right places, we are ready to sit back and relax and enjoy the season.
Oh, and I almost forgot, today we woke up to a wonderful winter wonderland, IT SNOWED!!!!! It finally snowed, it was so close to be a green Christmas this year (we have had rain, grey skies and more rain for weeks)... But it finally snowed, and just on time for the holidays.

Wishing each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, I hope you will have a wonderful Christmas holiday with family and friends. And I hope 2012 will bring you joy, peace, good health and lots of great arts inspirations. God Jul & Gott Nytt Ar

Little painting Lindsay and I made together, she designed the snowman and told me what colours to use.

Sweet Miss Oreo

2011-12-18T09:54:00.002-05:00

A dear friend Sherri wants to give her husband a special gift this Christmas, and thinking of their dog Oreo who is his friend through thick and thin, she wanted to have a painting of her (its okay to post just days before, I know Dave wont look here). I know Oreo well, and I was very honoured to have given this task to create this gift. I made it in ink and water colours, and just a touch of acrylic (the snow flakes and some of the white touches through out). Then sadly, I received a phone call yesterday from Sherri, and sweet dear Oreo had passed away, we all knew this was just matter of time, but it still came sudden and even when you know, its still never easy. See Oreo was at a good old age of 15, and even on her last day, she walked with Dave to work (she did every day, rain or shine) they were truly best of friends and she passed away in his arms.

This is for you Miss Oreo, you were a fantastic gal, with your crocked smile, half tale and for being that perfect big ball of fluff. You will be missed.

We don't have snow, just wet conditions and when its not wet, we have cold air thick with heavy fog just hanging above you like a lid... Today, its sunny and blue skies (first time in weeks), but no snow and its hard to get in to the Christmas spirit when it feels more like end of October...
I so hope it will snow for Christmas!

Down to the final push

2011-12-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

Almost all done and ready for the Arts & Crafts show coming this Sunday (11th of December), it will be held at the RA centre in Ottawa. Although there has been stressful times until now (not art related), I'm really looking forward to this and it will be nice to see what else will be there. Plus it will more like "me time" while being there, so that will be nice.
So this is what I have been working on (and some other things), small acrylic paintings. First one here is of Rosehip, I took pictures of them during the fall and I think I posted a picture of them back in October.

"Rosehip" acrylic 6" x 6"

This other one is of a vine that grows all over the place where it can plant its roots, I personally call it stink weed, as it stinks bad when you touch it. But even as a weed, it has a beauty to it, first these really cute little purple flowers, then purple berries that later turn bright red and the leaves turn purple. I guess it could be called "Rainbow stink weed".

"Fall Berrie" acrylic 6" x 6"

Here is a new painting of my "Skargarden" series, simple and more primitive way of painting houses but I like painting this way, its relaxing.

"Skargarden, sma hus" acrylic 12" x 7"

And before I leave, I just had to post a new picture of one of my favourite places near our house, I posted a picture earlier (fall picture), this one is from over a week ago when it was snowing a little bit. Now all gone again and we are back to slush and mud.

And this I saw today while out walking in the forest (we had finally sun today, first time in two weeks),
I was walking up a hill with friend of mine and when we stopped I turned around and saw this. Its bark from a dead pine tree, and it was glowing like lava as the sun was shining through it. Stunning colours!!

I wanted to thank you all again for your comments, as always, I just love reading what you write.

I hope all you are enjoying December so far, I cant believe its already the 8th of December and we are only few weeks away from Christmas

(my dear Lindsay reminds me each day by how many days are left and she must have written at least about 100 wish lists that she has put all around the house, just making sure we wont forget).

And soon, very soon (December 13th) it is Santa Lucia, I cant wait, I just love this time of the year.

So Happy December to all of you!!!

grey skies, me want blue skies, snow...

2011-12-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

I have been working away in my basement studio, and I tell you right now its hard to concentrate down there. Its not due to poor lighting or lack of space, but I think it has something to with the weather we have been having since it snowed last, its raining non stop, skies are poop grey and everything is so wet and muddy, even Charlie refuses to go out. I open the door for him, all he does it stretch his neck out as far as he can, sniffs and then lets out a big snort and walks back in to the living room...

I have been doing some painting on the side of all the printing, and this one I wanted to try from a sketch I did over a year ago. Its dandelions when they are in their seed stage, in the sketch they look like it but not so much here in acrylic, looks more like Daisies...

And these two pictures below are detail shots of two different paintings I'm working on, still have ways to go. I have been thinking a lot about Sweden these past days. I miss the fields, lakes and sea shores, you could say I miss blue skies. I rather have super cold and blue skies than what we have right now, hopefully it will snow soon.

One thing that I always do this time of the year, is starting to dream of all white on white decorating for our house, its my Scandinavian side of me that comes out and it always happens right around now. I need light, and lots of it. Now if I could just talk Mr B in to painting the floor boards, kitchen cupboards and furniture all white... Didn't work last year or all the years before then, but a girl can dream : ) Right!!!

Happy December to you all, cheers

Mari

Art & Crafts Sale and Happy Thanks Giving

2011-11-27T13:45:00.000-05:00

Been busy this past week, with trying to get ready for a (last minute) Christmas art & craft sale that I got invited to take part in. Its this in two weeks and there is a lot to do. I have done a lot of printing cards (same prints as what I used last year, and I have made new once for this year, picture will come later)... And I tried out a bit of a different way to print, on fabric and then I sew them in to small ornaments, my dear Alexander volunteered to pose with a handful of them while I took a picture.

And its been a bit of a mixed bag of emotions again this past week or two, a lot of things has happen besides from being busy. So needless to say, I been stressed out, and then one day after coming back from a walk, I found this by my door. A parcel from my dear friend Sandra in UK.. OMG!!!... This so hit the spot and totally made my day. Full of treats and a lovely card, thank you so much Sandra, thank you, thank you!!!

Then a few pictures from our first real heavy frost, almost everything was coated with beautiful crystal like ice, like here each grass blade looked like its been brushed with sugar. The next day, we had our first snow and it was like winter wonderland, of course had to take a few pictures. First one is from my walk in the woods near our house, and the second one is from our living room window early that morning. I just love how it looks when its snowing and the orange street light glows on everything snow covered.

The snow melted away and now its raining, but it was beautiful while it lasted and I'm sure we will get more again. I know its late, but I wanted to wish all my dear blog readers and fellow artists south of the border, the very best and Happy Thanks Giving holiday. May you all have a wonderful weekend.

Cheers,

Mari

Blessings and morning light

2011-11-09T21:01:00.000-05:00

This post if for my dear friend Lindy, a woman who I really look up too and I count my self so blessed to have her as my friend. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

"Peace" in acrylic

Here is the acrylic take on from my last post (that I made it in ink and water colour), still working on this one. And a picture from an early November morning walk in the forest near my house.

New work & Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T14:17:00.000-04:00

"Peace" watercolour & ink on 140 LB cold press paper

And I moved my two desks around again (I guess you could say I got in the mood with all the other basement stuff that has gone on around here last week). I decided that I will keep my old drafting table, made a new top for it and added a new side to it, here I can keep my laptop so I can look at pictures on it and keep my pens, water colour paints, markers and brushes, and keep my drawing surface free of any clutter. So I'm not sure if you remember the picture I had as my header for a while? (you can kind of see it on my laptop). But I have thought about painting it for a long time now and after a painting presentation I went to see, I finally got going on it and now the water colour painting is done and I will move this on to a acrylic painting.

Today Lindsay and I carved our pumpkins for Halloween, we had fun of course had to take a picture. I hope all of you will have a great day/night tomorrow.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Boom...Bang...Crash...

2011-10-29T15:27:00.000-04:00

Been away again, and oh boy (and I have to apologize for this will be a messy post, my mind is all over the map right now). Fall came and its almost at its end, only few brave leaves are still hanging on to the branches, but soon even they will fall down on the ground and then its not long before snow comes.

Fall colours, last leaves

Last half of this fall has been anything but easy. First came a nice fall rainstorms that was followed by our basement that flooded... I have been ripping out drywall and carpet, cleaning endless stuff this way and that way. Things do happen, and Mother Nature is something we cant change and I don't mind doing hard labour and swinging a hammer around, after all I do have Viking blood in me, I just wish my joints felt the same way. I have had huge problems with them, and still undergoing different tests and doctors appointments, and hopefully soon I can start going forward with all of this. AND then as icing on the cake, we all have been hit with some kind of virus one way or the other. So in between playing a nurse and vet (yes vet, even poor Charlie got hit with a nasty K-9 virus, he walked around sounding like an old T-ford trying to start), I also had to fight my own viruses.

Cough, snort ugh!!!! I did find something good in between, I found quiet time (see, when I got sick, everyone else were all better again and went back to school and work). I painted a little bit in Moleskine book and I started a small project with printing (all done in between scooping up water and taking stuff out to the curb).

Getting ready for the Holidays, acrylic print

Now, with the foundation fixed and walls down (will get someone to come in and put up the new walls, my hammer swinging days are over for this time) I will do some painting for an upcoming art show/sale in November. And before I forget, I would like to do something this November for my blog (already did a little bit of changes, felt like it needed it), but I want to do something for you my dear blog followers, visitors and fellow artist friends. After all November is my 2nd year anniversary for my blog... More coming soon!!!

Until then, Happy fall to all of you and I hope you're able to stay virus free.

Cheers,

Mari

Other than...

2011-10-13T15:06:00.000-04:00

Few new sketches, most inspired by the fall colours other than yellow, orange and red. Although all those colours are amazing and breathtaking right now, there is so many other colours that fall offers and I haven't seen many using them in their paintings or fall pictures... And if you know me (like my dear friend Renee knows too well, we walk a lot together with our dogs), I love to stop all the time, inspect and check out everything, and take pictures and pick a few samples to take home.

The colours I want to show you, is different pinks and purples that I found... And I find beauty even in the molded and dried out seed pods and bark, those rich browns and greys, all with small hints of colour. Like this Magnolia seed pod, I couldn't believe my lucky stars for finding them and yes, it takes something simple as this to make my heart skip in excitement.

Seed pod from Magnolia tripetala, Magnolia Parasol
Ink & water colour

Then these leaves, beautiful all from soft powder pink to hot pink, and I don't know if you can see but they have these tinny pink seed pods that look like little stars, and they are pink on the outside but the inside holds a bright orange seed.

Seed pods and leaves
Ink

Then this plant that I have no idea of what its called, but I know it has a label of being a weed and it does grow like one too. In the summer months it has a bright purple flower with a yellow center, and then in the fall it has bright red berries and purple leaves. And the little parts that hold the berries, are just too cute after the berries fall off, almost like new flowers with being purple with an orange center.

Purple leaf (plant unknown)
Ink & water colour

Berries (plant unknown)
Ink & water colour

Here is one photograph I too out yesterday, we took advantage of the good weather as we knew for the next few days it will be raining and grey out and that will mean most leaves will fall off. Okay, I know its not pink or purple... I have never seen a oak tree having its leaves turn orange and red, and I just love the contrast of the tree against the bright blue sky.

Oak tree in Fall

And for my last picture, its of my dear son Alex whom I'm so proud of. Yesterday evening I had the honour to watch him do his last parade with the Air cadets, see my baby is turning 19 (wow, 19, how is that possible??? I just turned 25, lol) and now he is too old for the cadets. The cadets have been absolutely fantastic for him and he loved it, learned to play the bagpipes (made me tear up last night when I heard him play) and now he is trying out for the Reserves piper team...
So proud of you Alex, Happy Birthday son!

Alexander at his last Cadet parade

I hope all of you are having a wonderful fall/spring so far. Enjoy the colours around you, even if its only a small tinny spec or blob.

Cheers,

Mari

Happy Thanks Giving

2011-10-09T18:46:00.000-04:00

Wishing all you both near and far a very Happy Thanks Giving and wonderful weekend. Over here we have been having fantastic (above normal) hot weather, today +27c, blue skies and totally gorgeous fall day. Yesterday was the same beautiful day, so the kids and I went out enjoying a nice long walk and then we went to the farm for apple and pumpkin picking. And while out, I tried out my new camera that Mr B gave me for my birthday {thank you baby}. I'm having a lot of fun with it, but still have much to learn about it.

One of my first pictures I took with it, two "Painted Turtles" sunbathing on a log, however, one of them I'm not sure how he ended up like that, almost like he landed like that. But when I went to get closer after taking this, the one below went down in the water while the other one just kept moving his little feet but went nowhere, he was stuck!... Felt bad for the poor little guy, so I helped him down with a stick.

Here's my new camera, I picked out a simple and smaller style than what I had at first planned to get. I thought of getting a Nikon D5000, SLR, but ended up with this one instead, a Nikon Coolpix P500. Its a great little camera, small enough to fit in my bag, yet still full of all kinds of bells and whistles, and great zoom lens. I'm happy!!!

Alexander found a nice Thistle bush and brought me home a few flowers so I could sketch them, so sweet.

Lindsay on the other hand, set the table for our Thanks Giving dinner with leaves she picked and the pumpkins we bought. Great job Lindsay, cant wait to sit down and have a nice dinner with everyone.

Fall is my favourite time of the year, celebrating harvest time and best of all the wonderful blessings we have been given. We are all under the same roof, together.

Happy Thanks Giving everyone!

It's here and it came with a boom of colours

2011-10-04T08:40:00.000-04:00

Well, there is no more hiding from the fact, that fall is here and it has come with an explosion of colours. Fall is my favourite time of the year, with cool crisp air, bright blue skies and harvest time and celebrations. I have been so busy with so much, so when I finally had a half day to my own use, I drove down town Ottawa and ended up in the Experimental Farm grounds. I'm not sure how nice the name is for the place, but its very lovely place, right in between all city streets and buildings sits this amazing farm museum, gardens and fields. I walked around sketched and took some pictures...

Found this little piece of knitted art, so cute and I just love the pop colour. Made me think about who made this, did he or she sit here alone making this.

And there is ton of flowers in full bloom, these are just one of the many different kinds I saw.
I did do sketching, but I didnt have time to finish them so have to do teh rest here at home. But I thought I would post two pictures of what I sketched a few years back. Both are in water colour & ink 6" x 7"

I hope all of you have a wonderful fall so far (and spring for all of you who live down under and around), and happy Tuesday to all of you : )

Cheers,

Mari

Finally done...

2011-09-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

Its done, its done!!! Now I feel so much better, this was yet again one of those paintings that started out as something totally different to what it ended up to be... But I'm happy with it, just what I wanted to begin with. So now on to the next one, lets see what that will end up looking as... Only time will tell!!

Detail shot of "Forest Gold" in Acrylic

Last weekend Lindsay and I had a wonderful time together down town Ottawa, and the weather was fantastic, not too cold and not too warm, it was Lagom (don't have a word for it in English, other than what comes to mind is "perfect" and so it was, perfect). First we went to the museum of Civilization (its located on the Quebec side of Ottawa) and we did the whole museum, and after three hours of walking and looking and exploring every inch of the space (and there is a lot of it to cover) we walked cross the river back to the Ontario side. We went to the down town core and to the market place where we looked around and enjoyed the wonderful colours of all the stands, so much to see and take in.

Lindsay taking a break in the main hall

A few sketches

2011-09-16T10:57:00.000-04:00

Quick watercolour sketch of a Honey Locust seedpod (in my moleskine)

And this one is a sketch I started (well started in many places) while I was on vacation with the kids in Prince Edward County. We toured the whole island and they wanted to see everything, so it was hard to sit and both start and finish a drawing. So thank heavens for cameras, I was able to go back and see what we did and finish these two pages.
The light house I did with markers, rest in ink, watercolours and pencil.

Great memories!!!

Just a bit longer...

2011-09-10T17:55:00.006-04:00

I'm around and I'm painting {and drawing and sketching away...}
I just don't have anything that is post worthy at this time. However, I found this one laying around my storage area, its an oil painting "Wet Sand" I made a few years back... With summer coming soon to an end, but me refusing to give in to fall decorations and putting summer all behind me {yes, seen some already doing that, really, why?? Whats the rush??}.

I put the painting up and redecorated the little table with some beach and antique shop finds.
Summer is to stay a bit longer in this house!!!

I also wanted to mention, that I wish to thank all of you for your past comments and I do read blogs that I follow and find along as I go. However, I have been having difficulties with leaving comments in some blogs and this also goes for leaving comments in my blog (crazy, it wont allow me to comment on my own blog Grrrrrrrr!!!)...
So thank you all of you, thank you for leaving comments and for emails. I have seen some amazing posts, and I so wish I could comment on all of them.
Just know, I do read them!!! Does anyone else have this problem?

Now Im back for sure...

2011-08-29T20:00:00.004-04:00

Cant believe it has been over a month since I posted last, time sure goes fast when you have a ton of things to do... After we got back from vacation, I went back to work, but the work was short lived as the stores closed its doors for good and I ended up with a whole month left of summer time and kids home from school. So I packed the car and the kids in the car and we took of to enjoy more of summer, swimming, camping and touring the country sides of Prince Edward County (one of our favourite places to go too). Didn't get much time to draw or paint, but I took a ton of pictures so I have tons of inspiration for the fall and winter months to come.

I did however, get this painting done (a small 6" x12", acrylic) and I made some mail art for my dear friend who just moved to UK.

After the kids and I got back in town, we have been busy with clearing some things out (kind of pre-winter clean up), I moved things around my studio, touring our own town (galleries, markets and parks) and we have done gardening (who knew weeds can grow that fast). Then my dear daughter Lindsay was able to go to a fun week long summer camp, she had a blast (I got to sleep in : ) but the camp ended for her with a bang...

She had a bit of a diving accident (she likes to put her head in water and blow bubbles), she hit her face on a rock and it cut her left side of her nose really bad. So to urgent care, then children's hospital, one plastic surgeon, 5 stitches and a lot of glue her nose is back together again and now we have to wait and see if she needs more surgery (we were so lucky it was nothing worse. She is doing really well (autistic people for some reason don't feel pain like most, personally I would have been on the floor kicking and screaming with a cut like that). And she has been busy with keeping me on my toes (we have to make sure she's not picking at it or pulling the stitches out)...

Two days after I found her upstairs with packing tape on her nose *Aughhhhhhhhhh!!!!*. Took me a while, but I was able to get it off with out doing any damage. Then once she got caught in a zipper, so needless to say I'm in severe need for cider therapy.

One week left and then (Oh yes!!! cant wait) the kids go back to school... Then its back to painting, drawing, napping, sketching and creating. And then I can post again more, cant wait to get back to swing of things.

I really hope everyone has had a wonderful summer, and to all my dear blogger friends down south of us and here at home, I hope you were able to stay safe from hurricane Irene. My thoughts are with everyone who was affected by this storm.

Mari

Lake shore memories

2011-07-27T20:31:00.015-04:00

Well, finally have all our camping gear cleaned and put away (not to mention get some of them out of my work room/studio... Yes, Mr B hangs them in there to dry). Then I have been working right after we got back, so I haven't had much time to post until now. And why, is it that I feel more tired now after vacation is over, should that not be there other way???

Any how, here is some pictures from our vacation this year {okay, maybe a bit more than some}, first thing we did was a canoe trip to N/W Algonquin Park and it is a amazing part of the park. We paddle through 9 lakes, 1 river and did over 22.8 Km of portaging with all our gear back and forth {meaning each portage was done 3 times to get everything to the next lake}.

This is a picture I took from the river we had to paddle through to another lake, its an amazing paddle there, as along the river grows wild roses and the scent is just heavenly.
This picture below is from our last night and no word of a lie, the sky and lake was this colour purple. It was totally beautiful, and not just the colour it self, but the fact that I was super happy to have survived not only one but two nasty, bad, scary and the most horrible thunderstorms {have I ever mentioned that I am totally terrified of thunderstorms?} So yes, I was super happy to see this after and I was still standing.

Canoe trip was over and we only came home to clean and repack for our next trip, and this this trip was to the shores of Georgian Bay and Kiosk. But before I tell you about that, I have to show you this... Yes sketches of barns!! I drew them while Mr B drove, we were taking a whole new route and I think I hit jackpot of all barn routes. And they are very different from the once I'm used to around here, these once I saw now are very old. Some from the pioneer days, all log barns and very, very old. And I'm already planning a car trip, so I can take new pictures and sketch.

Then we arrived in Georgian Bay, and Hallo!!!! I finally felt so home, this is what I love the best,water, islands, big open skies and just miles and miles of smooth windblown rocks. Its just like the sea shores I remember from living in Sweden (Skargarden). I didn't do as much sketching or painting as I wanted, I was just so happy to be there and enjoy the amazing views. Took so many pictures so after wards when I downloaded the pictures to my lap top, it went down to being very slow {super slow}. But do I ever have tons of ideas for paintings to be made.

This is one of the few sketches I did there...

And this one in my Moleskin book, I drew some of the map from few of the parts we went too, and the view from one of the many beaches we went too. See the tinny little island on the right hand side? That was a small stony island Lindsay and I were able to splash over too, and she named it Mermaid island.

Love the rocks.

And then we had to say goodbye to Georgian Bay (Aughhhhhhh, sniff, snort...Why oh why!!??)

And we headed to Kiosk, and this a place we have gone to with our kids for many years, its almost like we go to our cottage there. Super quiet and beautiful lake and surroundings. This year we bought a new bug shelter, and I just love it, its like a sun porch of a cottage. And Lindsay and I spent many hours there painting and reading.

Lindsay with her many creations, she is so good at painting and drawing {although here she is reading a map, we did a lot of hiking}. Below is two of my things I drew and painted, first one is of my summer read and art case. And the bug one left hand side is one huge bug that made our bug shelter his {or her, it was a very quiet bug} home. The first time we found it in there, it landed on Mr B's back and he screamed "Take it off, take it off" and first I laughed, but then when I tried to flick it off him, I felt how big and heavy that bug really was... It was like flicking a cat of his back, it even made a big thump when it hit the ground...

And my last painting {in my Moleskin book}, is of the view from our camp site of the lake. I love this view and this place holds so many wonderful memories of the kids playing, swimming and growing up there. I still have to say, I love the Georgian Bay waters the best, oh whom am I kidding, I love them both. I love being by water.

So now, back in town and its still very hot out {we had our vacation at the best time, except for the thunderstorms, but we were by the lake shores during the heat wave that hit Ontario and many parts of US}. I already miss all of it, the water, the rocks and forests, the never ending blue skies and of course spending all that wonderful family time. We created again fantastic memories and tons of pictures... Now on to painting!!!

But before I let you stop there {if you made it this far in this post, sorry I know it is long}, I just want to thank each and everyone of you for stopping by my last two posts {especially the one with "where bloggers create"}, for leaving all your comments. I have tried to get to as many blogs as I can each day and evenings, I have so many more to visit still. I have seen some amazing studio spaces, all from small corners, closet spaces, lofts, sheds to very large spaces, all made so different and unique. Thank you again, cant wait to see more spaces.

Happy summer to all of you and keep creating!!!

Mari

Back from vacation, Thank you and sorrow!!!!

2011-07-23T13:10:00.006-04:00

Hello everyone!!
I'm now back from my summer holidays and I have so much I wish to share with you, however, this post is just to let you know I'm back and also for me to thank all of you for visiting my last post "Where Bloggers Create" and my space where I create. A huge thank you to all your comments and emails, as always I love hearing from all of you and most of all, I'm so looking forward and excited to start looking at all the wonderful spaces of other artists and bloggers...

As we drove home, we heard the news for the first time in 2 weeks {no services like radio where we were} of the horrible situations that has taken place in Norway {Otoeya Island and Oslo}. My heart just sank and I feel their sorrow and loss.

You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Ni ar alla i mina tankar.

Sorry for a short post, however, I will post again soon... Again, huge thank to all of you for visting my last post.

All the best to each and everyone of you, be safe!!

Mari

Where I Create!!!

2011-07-12T22:32:00.019-04:00

Its that time again "Where Bloggers Create"
This year is the 3rd annual event, and you can find all this here in
Karen Valentine's blog My Desert Cottage

I took part in this last year and it was my first time to do so, and I loved it. Its a great way to connect with other artist and bloggers, and its a huge inspiration booster for someone like my self... Meaning, I was last year in the works of getting my studio space renovated and when I wrote about my work {get away} space, I really had the plan to make big changes. However, as you will see as you read along here, that I did a few changes and nothing what I had in mind. No new walls *sigh* and its still a huge mess *double sigh*...

So before I start scaring you with my studio pictures, let me just first introduce my self {I'm the one the left hand side, in my canoe tripping look and that's where I am right now after I post this}... And then there is Charlie {a.k.a Chuck} who is my secretary and mate, and as you can see he is hard at work warming up the couch for me.

Okay, so now back to my work spaces, yes, spaces... I'm a person who cant sit or be in just one place, I move around between different all the time. So I will start here, by my desk in the kitchen, this is where I blog, read, chat on the phone or look through my many cook books I have collected through out the years. I love this spot, its light and clean (best of times, when no one dumps their stuff on it). Then I like to work in the dinning room, living room (comfy chair) and or outside, either on the deck or in a park near by our house.

NOW HOLD ON TO YOUR SOCKS!!!! I'm now taking you down to my studio space... You guessed it, its down in the basement, the only place in the house that can house everything I have and the space I need when I paint {it was either this place or the living room, and I had a hard time selling that idea to my man}. Its a good sized space, about 8' by 16' and it stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Only draw back with it, is that I don't have any good natural light {only a very small window and its facing east}.

So this is what you are faced with when you enter "My Space" and as you can see, I don't have real walls yet and the floor is in a sad state. Above that round mirror on my cutting table is the small window. One of my new additions I got since last year, is this old 1930's dresser that I placed under my table and it holds my paints and tools. The old bench is going out, its not serving any good use and is just taking space.
And my other new item, is this totally fantastic easel I got from a friend of mine. It has two sides to it and I love this work top {I like standing up while I paint or draw}.

The desk area has two different tables next to each other, one is my old drafting table that's now serving as a sewing table. And the other one is where I draw and do most of my office work. Don't know if you can see it, but the small shelving unit on the right has most of my vintage books that I like to collect.
Below, is a larger picture of my cutting table (also an old drafting table, and its going too and going to be replaced with a new top). Behind the dresser I store smaller canvases, other storage is the wire baskets behind it, where I store my lace collection (love vintage and antique lace), fabric and tons of paper stuff.

Here is the top part of the wire baskets, with more wire storage and more paper.

For inspiration, I like to collect different pictures, cut outs, photos and mailart. I love colour and I have a hard time with making up my mind with what colour I should keep my studio in when it finally gets done. So this kind of helps me see them together, and it kind of shows me what I'm more drawn too besides from whites and greys that I really enjoy. I love teals, blues, light greens and oranges. It has to be bright, light and fresh for me, it reminds me of air, water and warm sun and beautiful spring greens. Canoeing, hiking and gardening, peace and quiet yet still with hints of spice and energy.

The board by the sewing desk.

I have all kinds of different storage places through out my space, vintage suit cases, boxes and more shelving. I also like vintage type writers and right now they have to stay in their cases and kind of out of the way.

Oops, kind of jumping back and forth here, but here is the shelf that's above my two tables. Again, this holds my files for work and art groups that I belong too and work for, however between paper work, my old things are staying. Like Mr Happy, a troll {those were huge and hot items to own when I was a kid} and my favourite little baby doll in blue. Her I got from a very dear friend that was like my Grandmother to me and I still miss her some terribly. Beside her is my vintage ruler collection, including the light one {not as vintage as the other once} that belonged to my dad, he loved building and fixing things {really miss him so much}. So this is kind of my memory shelf.

So that's my "creative space" and this year, I am getting the walls, floor and new storage {or so I keep telling my self}. I drew this quick sketch of my space, so it kind of gives you an idea what it looks like if you were a bird looking down {or in my case, spider... they love crawling around the above floor boards and beams}. This is how it looks like right now, all that separates my work space from the storage area is some fabric and my iron fist... I got nuts if I see someone placing something on my desk or area and it has nothing to do with art {like laundry, camping gear or boots} and I'm not shy to let everyone know how I feel about it.

Mr B tells me its the Viking in me.

And here is the sketch of the plan of "what I want this space to become and be". First of all, it has doors that I can close and keep away people and "stuff" that don't belong in there. Instead of two tables, I will have one solid table that will seat two. The shelving unit will be built-in and beside it will be storage for my large canvases. The cutting table is going to be a bit smaller and turned around so there will be more space for working around it.
A new seating, a chair... A big comfy chair, where I can blog, sip tea, read and catch a some afternoon naps in between letting paint dry and set.

So that ends my studio tour and I hope I didn't scare you too much with the views : )

I'm looking forward coming back from my wilderness travels and see what everyone else who is taking part in this years "Where Bloggers Create". I really enjoyed it last year, so I cant wait for this years event.

Happy creating to all of you and I hope to see you here again soon, and a huge thank you for stopping by to see my crazy world!!

Cheers,

Mari the Viking & Chuck the secretary

towers, water, moutains and teeth...

2011-06-29T19:42:00.010-04:00

Been away on a small holiday {and a few other small get-aways}, and while being home in between I have been working, packing, planning next trips and doing laundry... How is it possible for one to create so much laundry by being away??? Any how, back to our small holiday, it was Mr B's and my 20th anniversary, and this year we started our trip in Kingston and this was our view from our hotel room. I love the Mortelo towers and all the old historic buildings in Kingston, its a really lovely town during summer time. Wish I have had more time to sketch.

After our stay in Kingston we drove east to Vermont, US {would you believe this, but this was my first time to cross the border, I still cant believe I waited this long to do this}.

We went to Stowe, Vermont and stayed at a absolute wonderful Inn, Green Mountain Inn. And the village of Stowe is so beautiful, all huge green mountains all wrapped around it and old buildings. And we had huge luck with the weather {only rained once and that was just after we finished a hike in the mountains}.

This is a small water colour sketch from our trip by gondola to Cliff House, the view from there is totally breath taking and I wish we could have stayed there for a whole day and more.

Loved the ride in the gondola, it was nice to enjoy the view together {and we already have plans for our next hiking routs we want to do there next time, including hike up the mountain rather than ride it up}.

Another sketch of the village of Stowe and whats around there, again I wish I have had more time to do more sketching. The yellow funny looking things hanging from trees, are spoons, some kind of art. Kind of neat looking and very unexpected things to bump in too when you are walking along a small path.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, but here is a closer view of one of the part in the village page. Its the view we had from our room at the Inn, love it, its so different from the one in Kingston. Both really beautiful in their own ways, and I also love it as this has almost a Scandinavian look to it with the bright red house with the white windows and frames.

I have so much I want share with you, but it would make a really long post and I didn't get that many sketches done {ton of pictures though, over 400 of them}. We had a wonderful time, and I cant wait to go back there and explore more of that region, the hiking trails and all the other places.

Then this last painting, is a sketch I started a few days ago while waiting for my dear son to get all his 4 wisdom teeth taken out. And I'm glad to say, he is doing really well and what a ride that was for him... Still is really, it takes a while to get back to normal after surgery like that. The sketch is of a really beautiful wall sculpture that is in the entrance way of the clinic where he had the surgery. So glad I saw it, it took my mind of what was going on while waiting. So its been interesting few weeks.

I wish to thank all of you for your comments from my last post, and I'm glad to say both Dan and Anna finally got their letters with the Blog Give-Away prices... That has been a bit tricky as we have had postal strike going on here for weeks, that's now over as of yesterday.

Happy Summer!!

Mari

Art show

2011-06-08T08:10:00.006-04:00

The art show is over, it took a really long time to get ready for it {at times it felt like never ending}, and then came the show, it just flew by and then it was over. This was the second time this show was held "Orleans Festival", so its still new to most people. Yet this year there were lot more people attending than previous year, and I'm sure it will get better with each year it will be held. I'm glad I took part of the festival this year and I a got lot of great feed back, contacts and connections and met a lot of other great artists. And I want to thank each and every one of you who came by my booth, thank you so much!!

I'm glad its over and done with, now I can concentrate on my water colour and ink paintings and few other abstract paintings. And I can now finally get my studio in to a better shape, starting today after work I'm going to go down there and start cleaning and clearing out stuff I don't need or ever use. Here is a few pictures of my art I had at the show and my little booth area.

One of my new painted chairs "Rose"

And my little booth area and how I set it up this time.

And before I sign off, I just wanted to make a note, that the parcels for the Blog Give-away has been mailed and hopefully they will arrive soon {we are having postal strikes going on here in Canada right now, its a long story... But, the good news is that the strike is done in stages and it was not on when I mailed the parcels, fingers crossed}

Happy painting everyone!!!

Mari

A mixture of things

2011-05-29T16:42:00.005-04:00

So in between scratching, rubbing my eyes and having a very serious relationship with tissue boxes (constant runny and itchy nose)... I'm trying to get ready for the upcoming art show/sale, and there is so much to do and I'm getting close to panic. Worst part is that I have to take a lot of breaks between painting and drawing, my eyes get tired from always having to squint because they are so blurry. And if this is not enough, the light we get from out side is all really blahhh, just constant rain and grey skies. And when is gets sunny, no one wants to stay in so we all run out and what do we do, yes, clean the garage or hang laundry... Of course take a moment to sip cider on the deck.

Sorry for the blurry pictures, but its hard to zoom or focus when you cant see right. But here is a paint sketch I did for a painting I will be doing soon. And below is my studio area, that's a total mess {trust me, this is a picture of the one and only good corner of it}... I have paintings, furniture {that I'm painting on} and other stuff all over the places.

But I happy in my mess, and work is coming along, slow and not as fast as I would like it too
but its coming and after this show is done, I'm so cleaning out this space, and I will get it finally done {meaning, getting contractors to come in to measure and tell me how much it will be} I still don't have my walls, and its time!!!

And I would like to make a neat little spot for my new addition for my type writer collection, I was so excited when my brother-in-law brought this to me {Thank you so much Kevin}. It used to belong to my mother-in-law Marguerite and she bought it, I don't know if it was for school, work or for pure fun to write. She is fantastic with words {and I'm sure she gets a few small heart attacks each time she reads what I have to write here in my blog, but English was my forth to learn and I do have a slight touch of Dyslexia, okay, a bit more than a touch}. But, I will have to call her and get more information on this beautiful type machine. All I know, that's a Remington, style 3 and it was made cr 1928 {far before Marguerite's time}. I just love it and cant wait to fix it and get it working again.

Any how, enough of my mixture of things. I now have to get back to my studio and get cracking on some painting. I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend so far, and you had much better weather than us {although it did get sunny for a while here and I was able to enjoy it from the garage}.

Happy weekend and happy painting!!

Mari

Happy Victoria Day!!

2011-05-22T17:42:00.006-04:00

Its the long weekend, and between doing things around town with family that's visiting (touring the tulip festival and nice drive out to the country). I have found time to do a little bit of painting and sketching. I tried something a bit out side of my comfort zone, drew and painted a barn with out any ink or lines. I like it and especially how the roof top turned out of the barn. And then I went back to my ink again and did another barn, I like it, but I regret that I put the fence in (just like in the picture I took of the barn). I might have to make a new painting of it, its really neat, it has both a stone section and a wood one and it looks like the stone part is much older.

And here is one of the many pictures I took from the Tulip festival, this one is from the Dows Lake area.

And I will leave you with a picture I took today from our nature walk down by Mer Bleue bog (board walk), you can see here how much it has changed since 10 days ago when I was there last time (you can see the other picture in my last post).

We were lucky to get some nice warm rain free day to do this today, and we even got to sit in a patio and enjoy a nice lunch (thank you so much K & R, love you both)... And now we are back home, taking it easy and yes, the rain is back. But the weekend is not over yet, so hopefully better weather tomorrow.

I hope all of you are having a good weekend so far, Happy Victoria Day!!

Mari

Im back, been absent...

2011-05-20T13:54:00.003-04:00

But I'm here now, have been off blogging and doing anything at with computers for two weeks or so, my allergies have kicked in again and with it I had a nasty infection in one of my eyes. I was on different antibiotics and eyes drops and gels, and all that just turned in to a bad case of blurry vision... It is getting better and I have been able to do some painting and drawing, and even read a few pages of my book that I cant wait to finish.

And on top of everything, spring here has been very slow, wet, grey and wet again... It has been very painfully slow, that it has felt like there has been no end to this rain and grey days. This picture below is from nine days ago, it looked like beginning of April. But it was sunny and a bit warm, so I went out to have lunch by the Bog board walk.

After that, we have had only four days of sun so far. And now, everything outside finally look like May, most trees have leaves and flowers are out (tulips are now in full bloom)... And to forget, a HUGE amount of pollen all over the place, its a allergy nightmare.

I did try one thing on the computer during this time, I took a picture of one of my paintings and played around with it a bit with my Bamboo. And its just something quick and simple (and what I could see ; )

I will post new pictures of what I have been able to do so far, just have to get a few things done first. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm around, and a huge thank you to all of you for your past comments and emails, they really mean a lot. So thank you and I hope all of you are doing well and able to enjoy spring to the fullest.

Cheers,

Mari

Here is the draw...

2011-05-01T17:32:00.008-04:00

Okay, so after a long day on my feet (and it was long for my feet, stuck in high heels for hours) in the gallery and enjoying the whole vernissage. At first it was quiet, but then it got busy and there was a good amount of people who came to see the work, chat and enjoy the food. I finally got home and knowing me, I wont be able to stay up much longer, so Charlie and I wrote down everyone who wrote to the Give-away post (all in the order they were posted). And I want to thank everyone of you, thank you for leaving your comments... I also wish to thank all of you who sent me emails, lots of great support, ideas and tips on how to get away from the arts rut.

And lets hope non of us have to go through an "artist block/rut" ever again. So as promised, here it is "the draw" and Charlie was more than happy to help out (he knew he would get a treat after : )

So all the numbers went in to a bowl, and right away Charlie wanted to dig in...

And he stuck his head right in, and started to take a bite, and after a lot of "Drop...Drop... Drop!... DROP!!!" He finally did drop a piece of paper

And it was # 3 Carole Moran, who wins the book I illustrated, congratulations Carole and yes, I will sign it (Dan told me too : )

Then next piece of paper, that I had to run and chase to get it from Charlie...

Goes to # 9 Anna Wolf, Grattis!! Anna lives in Sweden, and its funny she got this, as this series I have been doing is about my memories of Skargarden, Sweden.

And my third draw, and this I have to tell you came after a lot more of running around, catching him and trying to open his mouth... Ended up with me having to show him the treat to get him finally to spit the paper out... And after me getting breather, I open the paper and this (two hand printed and painted gift tags) goes to # 1 Dan Kent. Congratulations Dan

Congratulations everyone, you please send me your address by email, I will mail it to you as soon as I can.

This was fun, but now I'm tired and I will hit the hay early tonight. Thank you again to all of you, and thank you Charlie for giving me my weekly work out all in one evening (I guess it was good, after all I did pay a visit or two to the vernissage treat table today).

Happy spring to all of you, keep painting, drawing and creating

Cheers,

Mari

Easter weekend

2011-04-25T15:24:00.005-04:00

I hope all of you have had a wonderful Easter so far, and the weather has been nice where you are. Ours has been been nice and we finally had some good spring like weather here, with sunshine and blue skies. So after the treats had been eaten and chocolate wrappers cleaned up, the kids and I went down town to the market area, and we walked around and enjoyed the market and some shops. And it was really nice and warm, so we stopped and found a great patio to have an early dinner.

This was the view from the patio (sketched it quick when we sat down, did the rest at home). The patio is in a small courtyard with old stone and brick houses around it, there is a few large trees and small water fountain. I love old buildings and I like how they keep that modern traffic and block the noise out of the courtyard, where time almost stands still and we can eat while birds chirp and people laugh. Spring at last!!

Shadow shot of our drinks, I really like the colours on the stone surface of the table.

And afterwards, we drove home along the River and stopped to look at the view, and so I could take a few more pictures of the kids (ha, kids, look they are way taller than me now).

But it was a wonderful day, so glad I got to share this with them. I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter and great time with your loved once.

New toys, trying something new

2011-04-18T23:18:00.004-04:00

I'm trying out something totally new to me, and that's getting out of my comfort zone of the very bare basic computer usage. I bought my self a new computer about a month ago, and along it a Bamboo tablet and scanner. And with the Bamboo came Photo shop Elements... But no instructions (I need visual clues and how to's), so I have been trying to figure this out and how it works. So far computer is working (that's okay), the Bamboo and all that neat stuff that comes with it (that's not that good, didn't even scratched the very first top layer of all the possibilities and fun stuff). And the Scanner, that's still in the box waiting to be hooked up (yeah, I know, sad eh). But this is what I did so far, and boy was this a huge to figure out. I used this picture I took a few weeks back (brick wall), and then I tried, tried and tried about two hundred hours worth to get the pencil effect to work. Sweet and tears and words that I cant repeat here was used during this grueling task. And then Bingo (or so I thought) I got it working, I was so happy, excited and proud, I finally had the pencil working and I could sketch on my photo. But that pride was short lived, because I soon learned that I was using the eraser rather than a pencil and that's whats showing (can you tell I got frustrated in the end, the poor bird looks like road kill). But road kill or not, here it is. My first Bamboo and Photo shop Elements creation. And the bird is still on the nest (and not fallen down flat on the ground), so I'm happy with it.

Barn details

2011-04-16T08:25:00.004-04:00

This is just a small corner of a huge barn on Russel Rd (its a very long road), and behind the barn are these neat small silos in a row, hydro poles and wires. The barn and a big beautiful Victorian house that is on the property are all boarded up and abandoned. I think I have to go back and take more pictures and maybe some how I can find out the history of that barn and house. This painting/sketch is done in ink and watercolour.

New barn & Giveaway

2011-04-13T19:09:00.006-04:00

Oh it feels good to be back in blog land, and back doing art again... Have a I ever been missing it. Of course I have been doing some small sketching of and on, but most ended up in the trash can or left a box, nothing that I was excited about or felt that that was sometihng worth looking at for the second time. So finally I was able to get a new barn on paper, and this one I drew by after my sons and mine dentist appointment (we both hate dentist, so we took the country road back home to calm our nerves). And there it was, a beautiful old barn with wood boards so weathered to different greys and browns (all falling apart) and it still had all its windows left and they are light blue stain glass window panels. Just loved the colours of that glass against all that wood. Okay, so I wrote in my last post that I wanted to do something for my dear blog friends, fellow artists and creators, and I'm doing this because I really enjoy blogging and the whole blogging community. Not only have I met other fantastic artists from all the corners of the world, I have met people who are sweet and caring, full of ideas and support and great sense of humour (some of you really crack me up with the things you write and draw) and I love seeing your work and reading your stories. I have met people by blogging, that I would never other wise have had the chance to meet, that's so neat. What I also like about blogging, is that I can travel all over the place and visit back to Scandinavia by just a click of a button. Sa hej alla ni over dar!! So here it is, my first (ever) Blog giveaway and its for all of you, and I want to keep it simple and all you have to do, is leave a comment and tell what got you out of your last slump, rut or painters block... Was it a kick in the pants, a colour, a song or nagging thought in the back of your mind?... That's it, easy and hopefully not too much of a painful reminder from your creative blues!!

And this is what I have for the giveaway, 3 things for 3 lucky winners who's names my dear secretary Charlie will pick (he loves to eat paper)...

# 1, is a copy of my last book I illustrated for "Shoe Shopping With Dad?"

# 2, an original watercolour and ink painting from my "By The Sea" series

And # 3, is two hand printed and painted tags (the stamp I made my self) and the back side is from a 1926 vintage music paper.

And I will do the draw on May 1st... May Day, one of my favourite days of the year and why not, this is a great way to kick start the summer : ) I'm looking forward to your comments on how you got out the creative blues

Cheers,

Mari

Hello!!!

2011-04-12T08:15:00.003-04:00

I'm back and I wanted to thank all of you for your absolute fantastic support, all your comments and emails... What would I do without my blog art friends, so thank you so much!! I have had the worst case of artist block, painters block or what ever it should be called, I felt like I hit a brick wall face first and I wasn't able to move away from it. I know why I have felt like this, and it has to do with all the extras that life sometimes throws at you and this time (over a month of it) it was a lot that I (we) had to deal with and it really sucked all my energy and more. But I'm back, and I'm here ready to get going with my art again... I'm so ready that I even made the plan to clean out my studio today (I haven't stepped in there for weeks), I got the word that I got in to a big arts show/sale that will be held in June and I finally got my self my own computer, scanner and Bamboo tablet. Bust best of all, its warm out with blue sky and its finally really spring like. I'm Ready!!! And I want to do something for all of you blog friends and fellow artists, something to show you how much I really treasure your support. So please stand by, I will post that tomorrow. Happy Spring everyone and thank you again, Mari

Trying something different

2011-03-17T10:04:00.005-04:00

So not done or even close to what I want to accomplish here, but I do like how the first 3 steps went. I painted the back ground colour and let that dry, then I put on a thick layer of white and while that was still wet, I drew with my pallet knife. And I like how that turned out, however its the colours I added on top that its all wrong

I don't know what to say, other than... I'm stuck!!!!

paperwhites

2011-03-10T08:20:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the poor quality picture {as you can see, I even included old leaves and plant dirt next to it}... But I have been planting a bit, some bulbs and other new plants that I bought {as you know I'm on a mission to bring spring in here, meanwhile we have a snow storm outside and later it will rain}. So in between getting down to the dirt, I took a break and I sat down a painted my paper whites that are in bloom right now.

Now back to planting & then time to dig out my car!

Cabin fever, virtual dog park and latte...

2011-03-08T08:04:00.011-05:00

Since my last post "Me Wanting for Spring"... Well, that post kind of back fired on me and this is what we got instead... Ice rain, rain, snow, wet snow, more rain and more ice rain, then followed by more snow. It was impossible to walk outside, even Charlie refused to go out... So, I had to do something to lift up the spirits around here (I really like different shades of grey, but the sky here was so blahh dirty grey, heavy and just down right depressing. And that was also what the grounds looked like in between the snow, wet and grey). And this is what we woke up too after the heavy ice rain and rain, winter wonderland (sigh).

So, if nature wants to hold back spring, I will bring it in here! I got some fresh flowers, just love the scent of fresh flowers and how they look. This one was placed by my kitchen window, something nice to look at while you are down to your elbows in dish water.

And I pulled out a new "rag rug" I bought a few weeks back, I cant tell you enough how much I love these colours "Oranges, Teals, Greens, Greys (nice greys) and lots of White" just the colours we want for our kitchen (if we ever get (or started) the renos done : )

With a little touches of spring all around the house, I sat down and went through my pictures and I found some that I took a few weeks back in the dog park. I made a few sketches from the pictures... Too bad Charlie didn't like this virtual dog park visit as much as I did, lol!!! But we are heading out as soon as I'm done here, haven't told him yet. Because today the sun is shinning and from the looks of it, you can walk out on the sidewalks again (everyone are staying upright, that's a good sign).

When I took these pictures, there was about ten dogs in the park and all of them just loved a blue floppy disk, and they all took turns pulling the thing apart...

Even my Charlie gave it a try against his play mate Jazzy, but Jazzy won, she is a very head strong gal...

And last sketch is one I did a week ago, sitting at the coffee shop sipping my latte. Noticing that there was a lot of ladies with their bonnets still on,while they were sipping their coffees. The red one was an acid red colour and it really stood out in the crowd. Any how, that's pretty much from my last weeks adventures, other than that I have been painting between working and running around like a chicken with out a head (my typical life, being all over the place & multi tasking).

Here's to spring!!!

Spring Yet!!??

2011-02-27T13:01:00.007-05:00

Okay, I'm so ready for SprinG!!!
I love winter and all that comes with it, the cold, snow (love lots of snow), the crisp air and the wonderful winter blue skies against frosted covered trees and berries. But now I want spring, I want to be able to crack open my bedroom window and stick my head out and breath in the air. Let the stuffy winter house air out and fresh new air in. Been a bit sick again (nasty sinus cold) and lack energy so its been hard to do anything. But I did a little bit of drawing and painting.

A few days ago, I found these so very cute bowls... Love them!!! And I just could not help my self, just had to get two (might just have to go back and get four more). They will look so good in our kitchen after I get it all done (we are going to paint and replace the counters and do some fixing it up a bit, make it brighter and fresh)...

8th Line Rd Barn & farm animals

2011-02-24T20:53:00.003-05:00

This barn is located on 8Th Line Rd, its in a very poor state and I don't think it has too many winters left in it. It was the brilliant green roof that caught my eye, it was so beautiful {its much brighter than how it came out on the picture}, and it has so many missing boards that you can see right through it. I wonder what name this barn has or had.

And these cute guys {and gals, I'm sure}, were so funny to watch. There was this great looking billy goat, and sheep {you can see the butt of one}, horses and a donkey all living together. If I remember this right, this barn was on Route 400.

from my hand...

2011-02-24T20:23:00.006-05:00

Well did a few more hand sketches, and I had fun, but after a half of dozen sketches later I got tired of them {that picture I will not show}... Or maybe I just got tired looking at my own hand, lol.

This one below was hard to hold for even a short period of time (me and my joints, sigh!!). The small one on the right hand side, was inspired from one of my favourite early 90's shows
"Kids in the Hall"
And one of my favourite caricatures, was a goofy man who liked to sit on a park bench and pretend he was crushing peoples heads with his fingers "I crush your head... I crush your head"... The Chicken Lady was my other favourite, but that's a story for another time.

These fingers are made for walking {sorry, couldn't come up with anything better}

yoga "Oommmmmmm"

Route 400 Barn

2011-02-19T08:40:00.004-05:00

Another barn and this one is on Route 400, and I just love the whole building. I have heard about round barns and seen some pictures, still trying to find them so I can take my own pictures. But I found this beauty, now how cool is this with all its rounded sides and roof. And it looked so good standing there in the middle of all the open fields all around it.

This one is the sketch I started a few weeks back, now I just added the ink and I might just leave it just as is and if I'm going to do it in water colours, then do it from scratch.

On to the next barn!!

twirl, fingers and fur...

2011-02-19T07:50:00.006-05:00

New painting and its finally done, this one has been bothering me for months and it was just not coming along, until something just sparked and it all felt right... And its good it did, I was super close to rip this canvas apart and throw it out. It has all the right colours in all the right places, and its abstract and I love that.

"Nesting Dreams" Acrylic 40 x 30

And then I have been trying to brush up on my sketching skills... I enjoy drawing hands (nude drawing is my favourite, love the human body), but I don't have time to take evening classes, so I have to use my own models. Including my own hands (that's why all are of left hands : )

And last sketch, is of my trusted secretary Charlie (hard at work)

Just for fun...

2011-02-09T16:55:00.007-05:00

Two small water colour & ink paintings and two sketches I made while being bored and while waiting... Just wanted to try to relax and not over do something, and just do it for the heck of it. I love colour, so I picked two {Blue & Orange} and did something around those colours.

And these two sketches are from two different days, first one is from last weekend and while I was waiting for my son {he was taking his exam}. I walked around the little town of Russell and found this neat little cafe, went in and had brunch and I sketched a bit of the view from my seat.

And this sketch is from a few weeks back, I had a whole Saturday to my self (been a while). I went down town and walked around until my feet bleed {no really, they were in bad shape and yes both heels bleed}... Nasty, I know. But Mr B came to my rescue, and while I waited for him I sat in a pub and sketched some people and things around me. Including my "guilty pleasure" comfort food, and when I tell you guilty, that doesn't even cover the half of how I feel after eating it (with all my food intolerance and all)... But, this is so goooOOod, I just cant help my self. Flash Fried Pickles (and at this place, they make the best once I have ever tasted) and cider. Mmmmm so good!!!

Springfield Road Barn

2011-02-09T16:44:00.006-05:00

A new barn!!! What else is new, you know by now that this is one of my favourite subjects to draw... Just after I down loaded the picture, I noticed the tree tops {they look like a canon ball flew and ripped through them and cut them in half}... Hmmm, I might have to fix that.
Made with water colour & ink.

Drive in the country side...

2011-02-06T12:30:00.005-05:00

And you guessed it, more barns : ) I absolutely love barns {nothing new there} and yesterday while waiting for my son to take his aviation exam and interview, I got some time to drive around the area we were in and take some pictures of barns. Those pictures however are not in this post {just started to work on one today}, but here is barns that I did during the week and they are both from Prince Edward County. So this first picture is of a barn that I really like, as it has tons of different angles. But I'm not happy how this one turned out, will have to do it again, but for now it will be put a side.

This one is also from PEC, and its more a detail part of the "Orange" barn, love the colour of it.

And this one is the starter sketch of one beautiful white barn, and this one will have to wait too. As I found some amazing barns from my drive yesterday and I cant wait to get started.

However, before I get started, I just had to share this picture with you from my drive. I just love how the sky looked at one moment, it looked like a strip of gold painted cross the sky, and I love how it was shinning through the trees. This one of my favourite colour combinations, the soft blueish grey, grey, white and yellows with hint of chalk black.

And, the whole bonus from this day, is that my dear son passed both his exam and interview. I'm so proud of him, oh my baby is now a huge step forward to his pilot license... I'm proud and at the same time worried, after all this is my baby and he is no longer running around the house with a Lego plane in his hand and making engine noises. Nope, no more toy planes or models, but rather real planes with wings and engines {that makes their own noises}, he wants to soar up high through the clouds. My Lord, do they ever grow up so fast, wow, my son a pilot, what a thought. Congratulations son, I'm so proud of you for following your dream.

Now, I'm of to my studio and paint. All the best to everyone of you and thank you so much for all your sweet comments in my last post, thank you so much.

Mari

More barns...

2011-01-28T09:04:00.009-05:00

Few more of them, and I think I'm on a mission... A barn painting mission, I want to paint all the barns I have seen and taken pictures of this past 4 years. They are all from around Eastern Ontario regions and Prince Edward County (one of my favourite places to be and where I would love to live, convert an old barn to a studio and art gallery)...

This picture, is not so much the barn it self but rather the little details around them. Like a sweet sun yellow tool shed, the old vintage green lamp and some other small details.

More of a close up of the barn details.

And this cool converted barn, now a vineyard {Closson Chase}. Two summers ago, a dear friend of mine Sandra and I went for our annual wine tasting your around the county, and we found this fabulous purple barn. In side is a small bar and store for their wine and also an art gallery. Both Sandra and I took pictures like mad {like we always do on our trips}, in this case I had to use one of Sandra's pictures for reference to my sketch {thanks Sandra, I guess I had tasted one too many by then, some of my pictures came out a bit blurry}.

Again a bit more detail picture

Now this barn below {Drouin Barn}, I made two years ago and its right now hanging in a small art exhibition in town, and I just found out I got "Viewer's Choice Award" for it.

So that's it for barns so far! This sketch/painting I made after my very cool hiking trip with my son Alex and side kick Charlie. It was absolute a fantastic day, only -13c and it was snowing. We went hiking along a small ravine and I so kick my self for not having my camera with me {took a few with my cell phone, but its not the same}... But we had a great time, and I only feel once and injured my shoulders again {yes, both of them}. I fell down the ravine and landed with my face in the snow, laughing so hard I must of scared all the birds away to the next county.

Today my shoulders feel like I have been bench pressing an elephant.

But I had a great time, and once in a while we need to fall and feel like we're alive.

Also along our walk {and falls} I found some neat seed pods and berries. I know the first two, Milkweed and Rosehip, but the last one I have no idea what it is {the berries are very small}. Any ideas?

And last picture is of my food experiments I have been cooking up {or more like baking}, I finally found something that looks like its agreeing with my stomach and everything else.

Almond blueberry muffins {in the tin} and Muesli Bread, also made out of almond meal. These are also very good for people who suffer from Chrons, IBS and Celiac disease.

Any hooo, that's it again from my end of the world!

All the best and have a great weekend, keep drawing, creating and try not to fall : )

Mari

Oh baby it's cold out side...

2011-01-24T10:35:00.004-05:00

But ever so beautiful this morning, just had to take a picture {looking out my back window}. Charlie and I went out for a walk, idea was to do only around the block, but it turned out to be a good 40 min to the dog park and back {my friend called me, so we went out together} and oddly enough no one else was out walking their dogs {wonder why}.
It was very, very cold, okay as long as you don't stop and just keep walking. But even then on my way home I could feel my legs turning to ice {still defrosting} and when we got home I noticed my hair was frozen to my hood, and my eye lashes were frozen too.
Oh, forgot to mention, it was -32c last night and this morning not much warmer, but no wind so that was a blessing.
Good day to stay home and play in the studio!!

Happy {Brrrr} Monday everyone, and stay warm {if you live in a snow covered place} and if you live down south or somewhere you have heat, send some in a bottle for me : )

Mari

Crazy week, busy Saturday...

2011-01-23T18:39:00.008-05:00

Relaxing Sunday. But before I tell you about our relaxing day today, I just want to share with you my week until now. All week I have been running around like a chicken without a head, just so much to do and get done, it really has been one of those mad hatter weeks... Work, painting, more work, meetings and running around getting stuff, groceries, driving the kids to their extra activities. And top of it all I have been dealing with my allergies and food intolerance issues, having to make huge changes to my diet {again} and it has been super hard to find the right foods. It just feels now like no matter what I do I just cant win, and I'm so sick of feeling tired and sick in my stomach, fighting head aches and sore joints... Not to mention the brain fog, ughhhh!!!
However!!! on the positive side I have found a way to make something that kind of look like bread and the taste is livable if not kind of good, but Boy, are they ever so time consuming to make. Saturday I worked all day for the art group {for an upcoming art show}, and it was fun but was I ever beat after. And I got my paintings in on time : )

And here they are, top one is "Passionate Spirit" mixed media on paper, and the one below is "Standing Ovation" also mixed media but on canvas. I like drawing hands, but haven't done it as often as I would like to do it and it really shows, I so need to get back to it. I'm okay with the hands on the ends, but the one in the middle I'm not happy with it {didn't have time to fix it before it was due}.

Hard to take picture of {due to size} and I just noticed my foot got in the picture too. Below is more detail pictures, see what I mean about the hands?

And then our relaxing Sunday {Ahhhhhhhhhh}, its super cold here and its so cold that Charlie refused to go out for a walk {don't blame him}. So inside we stayed in and just took it easy, and while Charlie watched "Lassie" on TV, I painted a bit {both of us under a blanket}.

And this is what I painted, I'm not sure if you don't know this. But I love old barns, I love how they look, the designs, colours, texture, the weathered look and the amazing history of them. And the whole thought of the hard work that went in to build them. Every one of them have so much to tell us about the past, how they sheltered the animals and stored farm equipment and food. And sadly, many barns today are left empty and abandoned, sure they look beautiful with the weathered wood and rusted roofs. But when they fall down, they'll be gone forever.
I drove by this barn a few times last year, and finally one day I had to stop and take pictures. And today I drew and painted it using a new water colour book I got for Christmas, I love the size of it 6" x 12" {Strathmore Watercolour, cold press}, and this book I'm going to keep for barns only.

Any hoo, back to my {our} relaxing Sunday, sitting under a big fluffy blanket and watch a movie and try to paint another barn.

Stay warm everyone & Happy Sunday!

It works!!!

2011-01-18T22:01:00.006-05:00

Finally got it working, but it took me many hours of me telling the computer "not so nice words", freaking out and yes, even crying to Mr B about my problem with the pictures...
Ended with him looking at it for a second and clicking a few times and boom, there they were.
Me so happy!!! Thank you baby!

Any hoo, the story about "what have I been up too" since my last post and Christmas holidays. I have been painting a few pieces that I'm going to enter to a jury show {will post them after} and I have been doing a few small things, didn't spend much time in my studio so far {that will change very soon}. But I have been doing a lot of just doodling, sketching and just a little bit of water colour... And I have worked a bit with mixed media.

These two sketches I did in a small sketch book, not sure if I like the paper or not. First one {with the flower} is a hyacinth we have in our living room and it smells heavenly, and I drew it while watching tv, I don't like the text {means spring in Swedish} so I'm going to take it out.
And the one below is a sketch of a old metal scoop that we have at work {yes, it was very quiet day in the store so I drew this}.

And this thing below here, is something I'm working on in stages {when I have time}. Last fall I made the nest part out of scrap fabrics, antique lace and buttons, sewed it all together... And now I finally got around to it and started on the tree part of it, using all kinds of found objects to make it {even has a chop stick in it}. I'm making this for my friend, and its about spring {thinking about putting a small tag on it saying "spring is just around the bend", tell you more about it later}.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, so for your own good you're better of viewing it this way and not bigger... Save your eyes! And yes, its a small bird at the bottom of the tree, so you're not seeing things.
So that's it, well, parts of it and I will post again soon... After this weekend I can post the work I'm doing for the show, lets see if any will be accepted for the show. here is too computer smart husbands and beautiful winter snow days {first picture on top is from our garden I took today}.

Cheers,

Mari

One picture

2011-01-18T07:06:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I got some of the pictures to work and come through, however not the pictures I want, but rather the once of my messy workspace *sigh* Just what I want to show to bring in the new year, mess... But! There is something good about this, and that is that this year we will have the space renovated and hopefully by the end of it, I will have my walls up, new ceiling, floor, lighting and {drum roll} a door. Yes, a door! Just a thought of me being able to close my space and keep the rest of the clan out of there, is very exciting for me. And the big bonus part is that we will also fix the storage area and the laundry room, meaning all that stuff that is not for my space will stay out of my space {keeping my fingers crossed}

Now back to trying to figure out whats going on with my pictures, it might have something with a virus we had {all cleaned up} Now that was a big head ache to deal with, what a way to ring in the new year, virus {computer and some of us with colds and flu's} messy stuff and spaces and stress. Ha! But at least now we have light in the end of the tunnel.

Here is to the new year 2011, Happy New Years everyone.

Im here, but...

2011-01-17T23:34:00.002-05:00

don't know why, but I cant download any of my pictures of my computer to post here.
I can view them on my computer, but not in the program here... So I thought I best say something before you think I have fallen of the face of the planet.
I will post some things I have worked on this past two weeks, as soon as I get this working.

So until then my friends, I hope everyone is doing well and having a wonderful winter so far.

Cheers,

Mari

Christmas memories

2010-12-29T22:51:00.006-05:00

Cant believe that Christmas is almost over and a new year is just around the corner. It has been a very busy Christmas for us, lots of entertaining, cooking and celebrating and it has all been great fun... But I'm beat, I need a holiday, time to relax... And I want this time to come back, it went by far too fast. And on top of everything, Mr B is fighting a nasty flu, our daughter had a bad cold and I have had a very hard time with my joints again (stiffness and aches). I have tried to draw and paint, but nothing really looks the way I would like it to look... But here they are. Top one is a sketch of tree candle clips.

This painting is in my Moleskin book (2 pages) of birds. My favourite Christmas/winter bird is the Bullfinch (Domherre in Swedish) and I was so excited yesterday when I found out the English name for it. I so miss that bird (never seen them here), and along with it I drew our different Christmas bird ornaments that we have collected through the years. We get a new bird for each year (some are gifts), be it silver, glass, ceramic, wood or fabric, they all hold great Christmas past memories and traditions.

Now, I'm sorry for the poor pictures (darn my camera), but its the best I can do at time being (oh how I wish I had a scanner)...

I made a small painting (again in the Moleskin book) of our Christmas stockings, I made them last year and that was one sewing project I really enjoyed and might even try it again one day.

And that's it for my Christmas drawings and paintings for this year, now I have to start working on some art for two shows coming up. And its time to get ready to ring in the new year, wow 2011, just imagine... I really hope that all of you will have the most wonderful year ahead of you, that you will create wonderful new works or art. Wishing you all Happy New Year, good health, great blessings and good cheers.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T15:52:00.002-05:00

Wishing all of you Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays... May this season bring you Joy, Peace & Good Cheer. GOD JUL till er alla, Jag hoppas ni alla har en trevlig Jul, med familg o vanner.

Ice rain, snow...

2010-12-14T10:32:00.005-05:00

and now more snow, winter is finally here with a boom... And I love it! This has finally put me in full Christmas mood. I had a again some time to play around with my Moleskin water colour book, here is a painting I did after I had the sketch of the three little houses. The sketch is about two weeks old and then I drew drift wood in front of them, after that I didn't know what else to do with it until this morning. All in water colours and ink.

Just a picture of my dining room window {you can see the ice rain on my window}, the old Advent star is mine since I was born, I just love it, but sadly its showing its age (the star is, not me : ). The paper is sun bleached and torn and its falling apart in the edges, but it hold far too much memories to be taken down. Below I have different things, dried cranberries, paper whites and a vintage table runner my mum bought when she was young.

And here is a small quick sketch/painting I did of a little Santa Lucia.

Happy winter everyone & Happy Santa Lucia

Inbetween

2010-12-09T17:29:00.006-05:00

working, cleaning the house, preparing for Christmas (cooking, baking, more cleaning and decorating) and running around... I have found time to create a bit. These wooden Santas, I made out of pieces of wood I found in the forest while walking with Charlie. So easy to make, you just cut them to the length you want, paint red on one side and white on the other. Then you use fake snow paint for the beard part, drill a hole and tread through wire or string, and you have a Santa stick. If you want a real rustic look to them, don't cut them but rather break the stick.

Then yesterday I had a day off from work at the store, and what do I do on a day off... Well I waved bye to the kids as they left on the school bus, I took Mr B's car to the garage and had an oil change done, came home, took a shower, picked up a friend and we went to a meeting at the gallery, then dropped her of and I took my car to the garage for snow tires and oil change... I tell you, I know how to have good old fun and relaxing time. Any how, while waiting for my car to get done, I sat in a coffee shop and sketched a bit. I started to play around first with this "Let it snow" cube set (saw them at work while in a box a few weeks back) its just not going in the direction I would like to see it go and I don't like it and not sure if I will keep it and try to fix it.
Mental note to self: Start drawing lines and drafting again, I'm so out shape with that stuff.

And I drew this little girl with her Christmas tree and treats, just something I thought of. Thinking maybe I should try to make that in to a painting and or a print (start carving again)...

Tomorrow is Friday again, I'm so excited... Not only its the weekend ahead of us, but I'm going to have some time to paint and be in my studio. Saturday its girls night in at my place, and on Sunday we are expected to get a lot of snow... I want snow, a lot of snow, it just makes everything feel so much more like Christmas and I cant wait to make snow lanterns again.

Happy Friday everyone!

Winter is finally here

2010-12-06T07:56:00.004-05:00

and it snowed, we have finally snow on the ground and its amazing. See we have had the worst November and beginning of December weather, a ton of rain and grey skies, everything was grey and just down right depressing. It got so bad that not only I have I felt all blahh, but I have been fighting a cold of and on now for weeks {still have it and now its a sinus infection}. But feeling like that it was so hard to get back in to swing of things, feel the passion to draw or even to step in to my studio. I have worked in different fairs {did one again yesterday along with a vernissage for one of the galleries I work for}.

Then something happen yesterday, before I left for the gallery and I was getting my stuff ready, I found my last Moleskin book and I took a quick peak in to it. I found it, I found my inspiration and I found that drive again to draw {thank heavens, I was starting to go nuts}. So I drew and painted two pages in my book {in my new book} and it felt so good. First one is of a ornament my mum made for us and sent us, and a tree we have in our kitchen {a nice 36" pine tree}.

This picture is of an idea I found from a blog Lisbeth sin lille verden, shes in Norway and she is a super crafty lady, I just love her blog and her Scandinavian design style. So we made the gingerbread cookies I saw on her blog and they are so sweet to have with hot chocolate. And super easy to make!! And of course I had to draw and paint that, and share with you, check out her blog its a great place to visit.

And the last picture is of my advent lights in my living room window {you can see the first snow we got, now the ground is covered and it finally looks like Christmas is coming}. Cant believe how fast the time is going, it was already second of advent... Time to draw more!

Happy winter to you all, o glad andra advent till er all over dar borta.

First candle

2010-11-28T09:59:00.006-05:00

Today marks the first advent, we all sat around the table enjoying breakfast by candle light. We have two different advent candle sets in the house, and this one I put together yesterday {got the inspiration from a few blogs from Sweden I follow}. However for my tags I used vintage music paper and then printed the numbers on them. And the bottles are both old and newer, and I'm not sure why the candles in the picture look like they are all swinging to the right.

This brings me so many memories of when I was a child, of my mums fantastic fresh baked breads and dark Swedish winter mornings {I'm born in Finland but lived in Sweden, but our Christmas season feast(s) was always a combination of food from both countries}. Mum would get up way before the rest of us and she would bake and prepare for Christmas, she would do this for a good month ahead and at times it felt like she never left the kitchen. She made a ton of different bake goods, my favourite was {and still is} plum stars, ginger bread cookies and Karelian pasties {karjalanpiirakka}. Thinking about all of this, I had to call mum and sure enough, she got up early today and she baked and lit her advent candle. So she is still going strong with her baking and traditions, sure wish I could just go over there and share the moment with her. Happy first Advent mum, love you.

Happy First Advent to you all far and near, may the light bring you warmth and joy.

Mari

Finally back on blog land...

2010-11-25T09:18:00.008-05:00

Its been so much going on here this past month, that I have had very little time to blog or draw for fun {drawing for me and for my therapy}... Same thing was for my "other therapy" {things to do to relax and stay out of trouble} like sewing, crafting, decorating, reading and even cleaning the house.

But now, finally done with all the art shows, arts & craft sales and book fairs. I can finally breath and start doing things for the pure enjoyment and relaxation... So need it!!!

This how my booth or table looked like at my last arts & craft sale, I had my book there that illustrated, small simple paintings and some small crafts (including the tags and banners I have worked on)... This show was good, sold the painting in the far back {the birds looking at the birdhouses} and the small once up front and "Margarine Fields" {not in this picture, but you can see it in my last post}.

So now that's over and now I'm in between cleaning and decorating, yes getting ready for December {got so inspired by some blogs I saw last night, all with wonderful Scandinavian white on white decorations}. And with pure luck {when I was looking for something else} I found the little German Advent & tree candles. So Last night I put together our Advent display for the table, cant believe its going to be first Advent already.

And I'm not sure if you noticed the picture on top, the Paper whites? They are already blooming {too soon} I followed the gardeners suggestion when to plant them so they will bloom for Christmas, and here they are end of November. But that's not too bad, because I learned the hard way, that these very pretty flowers are super stinky {how can something so pretty stink like that??} I walked in one day after work and I looked at Charlie, he back at me with this look on his face "Oh dont you blame for this one" and "who could you leave me home alone, and with those things"... Poor guy, and Im so happy he's a good boy and does his business outside.

So ton of phone calls later, I finally found a florist that will have Hyacinths ready too bloom for Christmas {will get them mid Dec} and my complete traditional Scandinavian feel for this Christmas will be saved and not stinky : )

Now on to drawing for me!!! Will post again soon, and until then I wish all of you south of me, the very best Happy Thanks Giving Holiday and happy weekend to the rest of you all around the world : )

New paintings...

2010-11-13T08:46:00.005-05:00

Some new paintings {kids art} for the arts & crafts show, this one is 12" x 12" in acrylic.

Dancing in the sun, 10" x 36" in acrylic {sorry for the messy picture}.

And this one is not as new, but I like the colours in it so I'm going to bring it along. "Margarine Fields" 10" x 26" mixed media... The title has a bit of a funny story behind it, when I was about 4 or 5 and my parents took us kids out for long summer drives in the country. I loved looking out the window at the fields and yellow once were my favourite, these beautiful bright sun yellow fields looked magic to me. And one time my dad told me that's what they make margarine out of, I started to call them margarine fields and my dad thought that was funny. So even when I was 18 my dad would point them out to me when we drove by one and he would say with a smile "Oh look Mari, margarine field". Good memory!

Hyacinth & Heavy fog

2010-11-10T08:31:00.007-05:00

Been a while again since I posted last, just been so busy and well tried to find some time to sit down and do just this... Have a cup of tea and my laptop, blogging and looking at great pages and find inspiration. I'm trying to get the Hyacinth to bloom for Christmas {Scandinavian tradition} not sure but I think I might be too late. But they have had their cooling period, and now they are out on the counter under their hats hopefully rooting and growing. Did a quick sketch of them and added a bit of water colour.

Two pictures from a early morning walk I did a few days ago, there was this heavy fog and the sun tried hard to peak through. It was so beautiful out, really enjoyed that walk. And the air was still cold enough that frost was stuck to everything, including this Honey suckle.

And this is for my dad, he loved walking and that's something we did a lot when he visited here and I miss that very much, I miss him and all the fun things he used to say. Here is to you dad, love you and miss so very much.

Yrjo, Sep 3, 1932 - Nov 8, 2008

New prints & some decorations

2010-10-29T08:22:00.006-04:00

New addition to my prints, Mr Owl and Miss Birdie. This is the first print, so they are not all done yet, still have to add things to the flags (they are for banners and or garlands, not sure what to call them). So more to come very soon!!!

And with little time for anything else around here {between working at the store, in my studio or in the gallery, plus being my kids personal secretary, cook, driver, problem solver & detective for missing laundry}... I did find a small moment of just doing something for the house, little decorating and as you can see, I'm still in the fall mood.

{I love text and letters (numbers too), and I found these ceramic marbles with letters on them}

My very small vintage glass bottle collection... okay two on the left are really vintage {or old}, the one on right... not so much... but the colour of the glass and the size worked for me.

Charlie {on the left} and his friend Trevor who stayed with us for two days. They get along so well, yet both have such a different personalities. Trevor the big social buff and he loves to carry things in his mouth {be it a ball or a huge log}, while my Charlie is shy, scared of his own shadow {needles to say Halloween is not a good time to take him out for a walk} and he loves to hug. Any how, that's my week so far... Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Run rabbit, run...

2010-10-23T09:35:00.005-04:00

Tags that I have been working on for the upcoming Christmas art & craft show {November 21}, right now testing printing on different backgrounds and i think I like this one the best.

I used to love to carve and work with wood and lino printing, but I gave it up a few years back due to my sore joints. But I found this soft carving block, well saw it a while back but now finally got it and gave it a try. I can carve again, yeahhh!!!

Coming along...

2010-10-20T22:27:00.007-04:00

Its slow, but its coming along and here is my first flags and garlands. These once are more with the old look and small details.

And here is one of the garlands, made with antique & newer lace, buttons and hand painted letters.

Detail shot "O"

And here is two pictures from my two last morning walks, I love fall walks with all the colours and crisp air.

And there is no doubt that winter is just around the corner, we have had frost and the Rowan trees are heavy with berries {I remember my parents predicting the upcoming winter by how much berries the trees would have, and most of the time they got it right}... And by the looks of things, well, it looks like I'll have to get a new shovel for Mr B.

And working on more stuff...

2010-10-12T13:06:00.007-04:00

I have been busy with getting my stuff ready for the art & craft show, still a bit behind... But I'm on the roll and trying to clip, snip, rip, stitch and paint as fast I can, main thing is that I'm having fun with it. I'm still working on garlands, these once are a bit different from the other once I'm working on. Fabric is a cotton linen blend and I love the natural look and texture of it.

Then I cut the edges.

Paint with acrylic {3 different whites}

And here they are drying... More to come later on : )

In between working both at the store and here at home, it was Thanks Giving weekend and the weather was fantastic. So we went out walking in parks and hiking in the bush, enjoying the crisp air, clear blue sky and the wonderful colours of fall.
I hope all of you had a great weekend.

2010-10-08T10:15:00.005-04:00

Wishing all of a very Happy Thanks Giving and a I hope all of you will have a wonderful long weekend... And to all my friends south of me, I know your Thanks Giving is in November... So I wish you all a wonderful weekend : )

My dear friend Sandra, who drove 2 hours to come and see me for my birthday, that was so sweet and it was a huge treat to be able to spend my whole day with her. We had a great time (as always) and we spent our time to dine out, eat treats in the park {although here we look like we're being force feed... "eat or else"} and shop until we dropped.

Thank you Sandra, you are sweet heart.

Things we found and so much more, just had to take a picture... Just love the colours, my favourite time of the year. There is no pictures of my art this time {still working away on them}, but will be in the very neat future. Mr Owl, came home with me... he is now watching over my antique books (doesn't he look great?)

And I did some fall decorating around the house, changed the picture in the frame by my kitchen shelf. I just love the old ledger page {I found it at a antique market last fall}, looks nice beside an old Victorian Thanks Giving post card.

Happy Thanks Giving to all of you!!!

September was busy...

2010-10-01T13:29:00.007-04:00

And Hello October, its one of my favourite months of the year. Cooler air, crisp blue skies and beautiful colours every where you look. And lets not to forget harvest time and farmers markets, Thanks Giving and Halloween, and its the time to get ready for the cold winter months ahead. Love it!!! besides from working and again dealing with a ton of stuff, I finally got my piece ready for an upcoming art show. I'm putting in two paintings (both mixed media), one that I made a few months back and this one that I made when I found the time.

"Non'sense" its about all the things we dream and create with our dreams, at times we are told its all just nonsense and it wont work. But holding on to dreams and we create the most amazing things, even to the smallest and the most simple things... Like the clothespin, someone had to dream up that. painting is 18" x 18"

I'm also working on somethings that I want to sell at a arts & craft sale. Along with my children's painted furniture and wall hangings, I'm also making small garlands, so far a lot of painting (a ton of different layers) and cutting... I will show you more when I get them done.

I also took part in a new program they will be running in Ontario "Culture Day" and it all happen pretty fast and without much warning for one of the art groups that I belong too. But we did it, I showed different water colour materials and techniques. And even if it was a whole day affair, I had a great time and it was a bit relaxing to just do one thing "art".

And believe it or not, but I found a few hours to my self {Ahhhhhh} and I went to the old side of town, walked around, checked out a few old antique stores and shops. Then I went to a coffee shop and sat down and drew while drinking my nice latte (ended up being two). Drew some numbers and letters I had seen through out the day and then sketched other coffee loving people in the shop.

So that was my September, and now on to October and new busy days... Starting with me heading out (I'm of today), and I'm going to have this whole afternoon to my self.

Happy October everyone!!

Battle of Britain

2010-09-24T13:16:00.010-04:00

Last weekend, we got to do something nice together and we went to the Aviation museum and the Battle of Britain 70 th anniversary ceremony. My son who is in the Air Cadets, took part in the parade (so proud of him). After the ceremony, we went in to the museum and looked at all the planes, met with veterans of WWII. And in between, I found some time to sketch a bit.
(Page 1) This one I started to sketch at the museum, but finished most of it here at home. The text, is a poem that was written by a young pilot of WWII, and I find it so beautiful and inspirational and I understand now why my son loves to fly and wants to become a fighter pilot. And I'm so proud of him, for the amazing person that he is and that he has this dream and he is doing everything he can to full fill that dream. (Below is page 2, the poem you can read in the bottom of this post)

Sketch I did before the ceremony started (also finished most of it at home)

Sketched a bit while watching the parade.

Photos from the parade.

And I just love how this picture turned out, its in the end of our visit at the museum and both kids were really tired. They took a moment to just sit down and take a breather.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed,

And joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,

I've topped the winswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew-

And while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put my hand and touched the face of God.

By: Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee

No. 412 Squadron, RCAF

Died December 11, 1941

Im back...

2010-09-24T13:00:00.005-04:00

Hello my friends, I have been away a lot from my blog and from drawing... And this fall has been very full with a mixture of things, things that I took a lot of my time away from art and many other things... But I'm back now and I have started to draw and paint again, and after weeks of stress and ton of stuff, I finally had some of "me time" again. And thank heavens for that, I started to lose my spark to draw and it was driving me batty. And I have to say, visiting my favourite blogs and see what all of you have been up too has helped me to get back on to my art. I so needed that inspiration.

I found these really cute owl mugs, don't like to buy more things, but these once just reminded me of things I grew up with and I just love owls. I drew it in my Moleskin book, used ink, watercolours and little wood stamps.

Sorry, havent been around...

2010-09-15T17:25:00.004-04:00

I have not forgotten about you my dear blog mates!!! (or my blog)... It's just been one of those few weeks that just flew by really fast, a ton happen (some very good and some not all that good) and not enough time to do everything. I have been working on my art, but most of it is only half way and or my sketching is been put on the shelf for a few days (or more like three weeks or so).

Things will slow down a bit, its fall after all and this is my favourite time of the year... I love this time when the leaves change colours, the air is cooler and its harvest time. This is the time for changes, and I have some of my own changes that I want to do.

1, get my studio up and running (meaning the walls & lighting) 2, paint more 3, stop laundry from growing &... 4, discover more time : )

I will be back soon, and I will have then some new work to show (keep my fingers crossed). I wish to thank all of you for taking the time to write me and for all your comments and support.

Hugs to you all,

Mari

Just a few more vacation pictures & illustrations

2010-08-29T17:20:00.007-04:00

I found this drift wood and its small but it has ton of beautiful details on it. So today while taking a break from cleaning and doing laundry (its amazing how dirty things get when you are in the bush), I sketched it with ink.
Then I used four colours (watercolour).

I didn't think I would post this one, its a sketch I did while on our trip... Its about our clothing and the state we are in after a few days out. All covered in mud, swamp juice and dirt. Mr B always has a dark shadow in the end of the trip (the man in the right top corner is my brother-in-law, who got stuck in swamp mud, it was lite black tar and mega stinky).

Its amazing what you can get away with when it comes to camping fashion... like wool socks and sandals, clothing that would never see day light in the city and hats that look like road kill. The picture (of me) down is not me sleeping on the portage, but rather me being stuck between boulders after have tried to stay clear of mud. So hard to get up with a 65 Lbs backpack on, but I bet you it looked pretty funny when I went down.

Annnnd!!... these are just some pictures of things I found, all fantastic natural things. Love the textures, the colours and feel of them. I don't know what these are called, but they grow on trees (pine) and this time I was able to take some home as it was on a tree that had fallen down.

Drift wood pieces, that I think I'm going to make gift tags out of them (all between 4-8 inches long)... I think they are from an old cottage or barn that used to be in the area a long, long time ago. I love the grey worn look to them.

And this I just love the colour of this moss.

PEC & Sandbanks

2010-08-27T11:59:00.009-04:00

We had a few days left of our vacation, so we went down to PEC {Prince Edward County} and Sandbanks, there we enjoyed time on the beach (beautiful long sand beaches) and touring the county. And we lucked out with the weather. I did some sketching on the beach, a bit hard to do as most people wont hold still. Love watching people as they enjoy the beach {well, the girl in the bikini looked like she was sleeping standing up, or just looking bored or scared stiff from facing the water}

Quick sketch of my feet

And ink & water colour sketch of this poor little guy, who sadly did not make it through the summer {there was ton of Monarch butterflies all around the beach and camp sites}.

Love this view, very windy day and the waves were amazing

My daughter and I running in to the water, she loved the beach and still talks about it and wants to go back next summer. And below is some of the goodies we brought home from the county. Cider from Wapoos, we ate at the small country cider orchards {wood over baked pizzas, and we had cider to go with it} and enjoyed the fantastic view. Goat & Sheep cheese from Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co, we toured the factory and our daughter thought this was just the greatest. Fresh produce from local farmers markets, Gluten free bread (the best gluten free) and Pure maple syrup from Fosterholm Farms...

Temagami Canoe Trip

2010-08-27T10:40:00.008-04:00

I'm back from summer holidays {no internet access where I have been, and it has been great to get away from it all, the city life}. One of the trips we went on a week long canoe trip in the Temagami region in Ontario {the trip was 52+ km of paddling and portaging). We had every weather thinkable {all but snow}, and I have never paddle so hard as I did this time... And its huge to me as I have joint problems and old shoulder injuries, at times I thought my arms would fall right of me. But what trip it was, rain, wind storms, white caps, mud to your knees, sharp rocks and lot of bruises and scrapes... It was fantastic!!!

I didn't get too much drawing or painting done during this trip {took a ton of pictures}, most was due to nasty weather or from just being beat from a whole day fighting waves and wind. But I did this one of a plant I saw and just fell in love with it {have try to grow it my garden next summer} Bristly Sarsaparilla {Aralia Hispida, Ginseng family. Ink and watercolour.

Pencil, Ink and Watercolour sketch, wonderful view from an island we stayed on Diamond Lake.

The Trip: Day 1 we started from Sandy Inlet {Ferguson Bay, Lake Temagami} to Diamond Lake {apx 13km, 2 portages 760m & 70m). Day 2, rest day on Diamond Lake. Day 3, down to Wakimika Lake {apx 12km, 2 portages 390m & 400m... the 390 portage was horrid, all huge sharp and tight fitted boulders, hard on knees and every inch of the rest of the body}. Day 4, down to Obibika Lake {apx 14km, paddle through Wakimika River, lot of shallow waters and lift overs, oh and one branch in to my face *snap*... We faced a ton of hard head wind, so we had to "Aquatage" new word I made up, instead of portaging on land, we did it in water} Day 5, to Lake Temagami {apx 21km, 2 portages 870m & 570m} I faced one of my fears head on "huge waves, white caps to paddle through"... It was so bad at times the canoe surfed and I could swear my part of the canoe lifted more than 4 feet of the water (I sat in front). Day 6, back to the put in only 2km... But all in head wind, and did I mention that all these lakes are like inland oceans, huge, huge and huge bodies of water and no matter what direction we went, we had head wind {never failed}.

Not a Glam picture!!! Me with my trusted side kick Charlie {we are on one of the portages}, I have Big Betty on my back (about 65 Lbs), plus my hip bag {where I keep my knife, bear spray and bear banger, camera and some other stuff} three paddles and water bottle... {Mr B carries the canoe and a back pack... and later goes back for the barrel, where we keep our food and hope the bears cant smell it}.

Aquataging {My brother-in-law on the left side and Mr B on the right}, our last stretch and we were all tired and so ready to go home. But what a trip it was, love it!!!

You Are On Hold!!!!

2010-08-04T18:48:00.004-04:00

Had to make some phone calls today, and Oh how I hate the automated recordings... Press 2, press 6, press 763 blah blah blah... and it just goes on and on, and then they put you on hold and was I on hold today *sigh*. Not only did I get the dishes done, laundry folded. And I thought I would get a head start on my grocery list, but this is what I did instead.
And this, I guess by this point I was dreaming that I could float away somewhere else than just sit here and be on hold.

This sketch I did last week while in a meeting, it was out doors and a very long meeting, so I drew every once feet...

Antique file cabinet...

2010-08-03T16:40:00.006-04:00

Okay, now before I tell you about this cabinet... I just have to share with you how it ended up in my garage. This morning after dragging my daughter out of bed {only took two hours. teens grrrrr...}, we finally drove my car down to the mechanic garage and we got a replacement car to have until my car is fixed {I'm sure my car will cost a good penny in the end}. Then we had to run a few errands {took far too long}. Finally we were driving home {had to make one more stop before} and I noticed by the road side an old antique filing cabinet put out for garbage. So after a few turns I found my way back and I checked out the cabinet, no dead rats, dirty mags or old dirty laundry... I declared it safe to touch and carry. One lady was kind enough to help me get the main part closer to my car {its super heavy, all oak}.
Then came the fun part of getting the thing in to the car, and I did it after a few hours of scratching my head, calculating in my options and swearing at the fact that my kit was in my car {all my ropes, cords and blankets... anything that you can use to keep junk safe in the truck or the roof}... I finally got it in and all without any scratches to the car. Drove very slow to the hard ware store, and boy was I ever pissing other drivers of. Got new rope and tied the thing down well, and we drove home {still slow and yes, still pissing other drivers of I'm sure}.
And here it is, the old antique file cabinet. TaaDaa!!!

It will need some work, and I'm sure I will have to talk Mr B in to help me carry it down stairs {I know he will shake his head, after all what did we do all this past long weekend... yep, get a ton of junk out}...

Don't mind my garage, its full of junk that's going {including that huge cabinet behind the file cabinet... And that was a heavy beast to get up the stairs}. But here it is! 4 drawers, and it will need some fixing and cleaning, but its beautiful. I saw one before in a antique store, and I think it was going for about $ 400. But I wonder how much it would be worth, any thoughts?

Oh! And my mechanic just called, my car will need a lot of work {I knew it needed some} and it will cost me more than a pretty little penny... But, I got this smashing cabinet for nothing {only the cost of the new rope $ 5.00}.

{more} Beautiful Long Weekend

2010-08-03T15:51:00.007-04:00

I know I posted already about the long weekend, but the weather was so nice and even though we were more or less just cleaning, painting, clearing junk out and gardening... We did get some time to sit back and relax in the back yard and I just have to post these pictures... I love the colours this fruit salad {jum}, and my little push lawn mower... Its all about summer!!

And then Sunday evening, we went for a short walk and we noticed the fair was back in town {okay, we did noticed before the walk, we could hear it all the way to our house}, but it was fun to watch a bit... Again, I just love the colours and the lights.

Monday we took the day to take it easy and we drove down to the west end to sit by the water and have a picnic. I did a small ink and water colour sketch in my Moleskin book.

Long weekend

2010-08-01T09:41:00.005-04:00

And what a weekend it has been so far, we are renovating the family room and now Mr B is painting away (we picked a soft white for the whole space)... I'm working on new paintings, that we'll hang up and then I have some sewing to do (new covers for the cushions). In between being stuck down stairs and being covered in dust and paint, we have enjoyed a bit of time out side. I did two quick sketches, one with only water colours (trying to work without the ink).

Here is to the long weekend, sun shine and beautiful blue sky and time spent on the deck relaxing. Took a picture of one of our bushes out front, love the colour of it... but forgot the name of it, any one of you know what plant this is?

Summer Colours

2010-07-27T22:06:00.005-04:00

A few years back I had a small greeting card collection I made "Summer Diva", inspiration came from a friend of mine... Thought I would pick up where I left and see if I could come up with a few new pictures of my Diva.

" Dare to be different"

I always have my camera with me when I go out with Charlie on our walks, and yesterday I we walked past this big metal storage chest by a ball park... I just loved the colours of it, the blues, greens and the rust. And after I took a picture, I noticed the shadow on top of the box.

The project I worked on...

2010-07-25T20:37:00.006-04:00

Today, I finally had the art project delivered to my clients home, all with huge help from my Mr B and my client Christine who kindly came with her van to drive it to her house. It all started with Christine, contacting me after she had seen one of my paintings in a store {see below}. She wanted me to paint her a mural on to her wood screen, for her living room.

This is the screen, almost 7 feet tall and each panel 20 inches wide solid wood panels {very heavy}... Don't mind the messy garage, yes, yet another space that I have taken over for my projects {sorry dear, but your car will have to sleep outdoors for now on}.

Before and then first 6 coats of whites and yellows, followed by the bottom blue green part, again followed by yet another 2 coats of white.

Then all different reds, oranges and yellow circle like flowers {all with different amounts of coats, all from 2 to 6 coats}

And the after and finished screen, I put 1 coat of varnish on top to protect it.

Christine was very happy with the end result, and she was a great client to work with. I really enjoyed this project, only thing it took too long to get it done {all due to the weather, too hot and humid and then I got sick in between}, but thank heavens Christine was wonderful about it and she was very patient with me.

Just for fun

2010-07-23T12:39:00.008-04:00

I love birds, but just not in the mood to draw them like any other day, so I just had to put a little twist in to it, just for fun!!!

"Something is different about you, hmmmmm..."

Happy Owl {I always wondered what they do at day time}

This picture didn't come out as good, but its a set of three owls... so here they are below.

And the fish, I just had to draw some fish {idea came from a Swedish cook book I have}... sorry for the poor picture quality.

"Show of"

All made with ink and watercolour {new book}

Been busy...

2010-07-21T16:28:00.006-04:00

I have been away from posting and doing anything really fun "art wise", I was working on that project for a client (I think its done, just waiting to hear the okay from my client)... And then I got hit with a summer cold, I hate colds at best of days, but when its hot and humid... It really sucks to fight a cold. But much better now, and feeling a bit better too with having a project done. So I finally got to do some fun art, art just for me and its so relaxing.

Ink and water colour painting on "Strathmore" Bristol smooth paper, I just wanted to see how it would take the ink and water colours. Its different, not sure if I would use water colours on it again.

And then I did a bit of sewing, love working with different materials together {paper, string, lace, buttons and fabrics}... The big nest, is something I did for my silk cocoons to be stored in. The smaller nest is for a friend of mine, I was thinking about one of my favourite birds {Magpie} that I really miss here. In Sweden we had tons of them, but in our yard we had the funniest Magpie couple and they took stuff from us {and all shinny and blue things}. I love them and miss them terribly. And I made another pin again.

And I got time to do a wash, my new fabric that I got from Sweden... All 10 meters of it, now hanging outside drying and waiting for me to finally sew us some new curtains for our kitchen. The new banister on our deck came in handy : )

Now, on to my next project!!

Sketch day & Christmas in July

2010-07-16T14:43:00.011-04:00

Well, the day started with the intention to sketch, and I was well prepared... Had to take a picture of my little travel art kit, as Dan (one of my blog mates) made a comment to one of my posts and and about my "travel art kit" (he thought my bag has to be really big). Look Dan! I even got my feet in the frame, so you can see that my bag is not that big (and no, I don't have big feet, ugly maybe, but not big).

So my friend and I ended up in Little Italy, and after looking around a bit we went in to a small Italian Bistro for lunch. I saw this small side street from the window and I said that's what I want to sketch (I like the way the street goes up and all the different roof tops). But my dear friend said "no"... "too hot" Okay so granted it was super hot, but, but!!! So I got no sketching done and we ended up with a treat after lunch. This amazing lemon merangue pie, it was so beautiful so I just had to take a picture of it {mmmmmmmmmm}

And after the treat was down to a single crumb and the pain of getting back in to the hot car, we went looking around a bit before heading home. And in one store I found a bag full of antique lace, all stuffed in to a big messy ball. Later that night I did some painstaking ironing, and this is what was in the bag and I got it all for $2.00.

And in a different store I found this, what they called it a antique paper holder. Not sure if how old it would be and when or who made it, I got it because it will hold our butcher paper. Have any one of you any idea about something like this?

And I found this beat up clip board (going to paint it), and two old books (Boys cub book from 1970 and a delightful Gaelic book about 1920)

Here is one of the images from the Cub book, its has funny illustrations in it (its falling apart as you can see)
And here is my Christmas in July. I don't celebrate this or anything, but my daughter is a huge fan of Christmas and seeing that we got a parcel in the mail, well that only means Christmas gifts. And I guess its fitting in one way, now that I finally got my fabric and mags from Sweden... Stuff that I ordered last October. My dear brother sent all of this to me and that's so sweet of him, but boy does the man know how to stretch out the waiting time : )

Alskar dig brosan, tusen tack igen... God Jul!!

10 meters of this fantastic graphic design fabric from Sweden, I so cant wait to sew it and finally hang it up (its for our kitchen). Christmas editions of some Swedish Mags. And a ton of Swedish movies (comedies, mysteries and dramas). So all in all, not too bad for not getting any work (sketching) done.

A bit of this & that

2010-07-13T15:08:00.008-04:00

Did a few small sketches/paintings in my Moleskin book again. I love working with pencil and ink, and these old Christmas light we hung up under our umbrella our back, just looked neat and I had to draw them.

Then tried to draw a glass bottle have (I make our own home brewed ice tea)... I still find glass very hard to draw or paint, and not my favourite object to take on.

This one I drew after I found a old seed pod from this plant (Cyclamen), and I just love how it looks, so small and delicate. The plant it self is not doing too well right now, so I had to incorporate some of the flowers (what ever is left) to the sheet. Its a really lovely plant, like little angel wings.

And then I just had to share this with you, my daughter is finally learning to do some sewing and she is having a blast with it... She has always had difficulties with hand & eye coordination, so this is a huge step for her. I just love how she looks when she is concentrating very hard.

I had to help her a bit, but boy, was she ever so proud of the end result... Now miss Bell is even more beautiful, or as how she says it "Oh wonderful, beautiful princess".

Mad rush to see Rush

2010-07-12T09:40:00.007-04:00

What a night, we went to the Rush concert and it was just amazing, I just have to share with you... And I have to post this for Lesley Purcell (of Wild Things blog, if you haven't seen her paintings, you should check it out, beautiful work) she is a huge Rush fan... Lesley, I thought of you at the concert, they played all the songs from the Moving Pictures album (and songs from Snake & Arrows and two new songs from their upcoming album).

But I have to tell you, before we got to the concert place... Mr B almost had a heart attack while trying to beat the traffic and good old Ottawa road work signs (its summer and every street in town is under some kind of construction).
Its was what he calls a "S**t show", I truly believe the City road workers cant read or understand maps, roads or their own signs. It was a miracle that we got there on time. But we made it, and we had a great time, Rush is a amazing band, and they know how to put up a great show.

What a night, standing for over 4 hours (dancing, jumping, trying to see the stage and protecting my feet from other happy stompers). Now my body aches and I have a head ache... So now I'm going to take it easy, mend my crushed toes and I think I'll take a nap : )
I'm in no rush to do anything today!!!

Finally!!!

2010-07-11T12:11:00.012-04:00

Despite the heat, I finally got some projects done & going... And it feels great!!!

First, I finished my painting (its 4.5' x 3.5') that I have been working on of and on, for a long time. It has been beginning to many different paintings, a canvas that did not like me too much and nothing ever worked out. Until now, and I love it! Its a abstract piece and it will be hung in the living room when its all done (yes, still a few details like the canvas frame that broke, fix that and put on hocks and its done, done, done... Oh, pinch me is this true???)

I did this together with my daughter and we had fun putting them together, not sure if we will keep it as is or do something for the top half.

I took some of my fabric ends out and made a cloth pin, it was fun to work on the sewing machine... These pins usually start with no plan whats so ever, turned out pretty good.

On Friday, we finally got some rain (well more than just rain, we had rain warnings and it sure came down hard... I didn't have my camera out at the right time, but this is the slow rain after the storm)... But the rain felt so good and I finally got some much needed work started (the art project I'm working on for a client).

And we're back to the mega heat again, +30c (+38.8c against my back wall). We finally got the back deck done and its so nice, so today Mr B and I thought we would have breakfast out side. Sure was nice, except that you feel like you have to eat super fast before you and everything around you melts.
Below is my camera shy man Mr B, he is so enjoying the deck being done and he can take it easy while I try to paint...

Tonight, Mr B and I are going to a Rush concert... Cant wait, its an a amazing band. Looks like it will be good weather for it, thank heavens for that as it will be out doors.

I hope all of you had a great weekend so far, stay cool my friends and keep creating.

wow, Im back...

2010-07-09T09:30:00.006-04:00

And what a week (well two weeks) it has been, Hot, Hot, Hot and sticky!!! and my interweb service has been down for a few days (maybe it was the heat??) I have been trying to work on the project I have to do for a client, but with the weather being so hot, I have had to put it of a few days (a whole week) as I have to work on it in the garage due to its size.
Thought I would get a break today, but its already +34.5c and its only 09:30 in the morning.

I did get a few small paintings and sketches done, this one from my laundry day (it was two other water colour paintings before, but I hated them, painted over and this is the end result), and I really like it.

This is a small sketch and water colour illustration, its from a 1950's book I found and it has neat B/W pictures in it. Love the shoes.

I tried to paint some flowers that we have in our garden, but the heat got to me in the end and I just didn't have the energy to finish it. And the one below here, is a sketch I did while waiting for my appt at my Dr's office. Finally got my results back from my tests and good news is that its not Rheumatoid Arthritis (I was so worried about that, I need my hands to work), but its still Arthritis, so I have to get some more tests done. I hate joint pains... But any hoo, here is the sketch I did while waiting, its of an article I read about an female neanderthal. And in the article they wrote about the weather and temperature they had during the time she lived, and they said that she and her mates would shed their clothing (furs) when it was hot, so they could cool of and they most likely even hunted naked... Hmmm, maybe that's a trend we all should look in too (not the hunting part).

And a picture from our garden, a little tiny bird house (its about 3 cm in height) between flowers. Maybe a little tiny lady bug lives in it.

Happy Canada Day!!!

2010-06-30T14:02:00.004-04:00

Wishing all you a very Happy Canada Day!!! I hope all of you will have a wonderful weekend, with sun, blue skies, warm water and being around lots of friends and family, celebrating and have fun. This is what Canada, my home is to me (when I'm not in the city, that is : ) Beautiful lakes, open skies, lots and lots of forests, loons, yes beavers too and peace.

And to all my dear blog friends south of us, I wish you all a very Happy 4th of July and all the same good things in life to everyone one of you.

Cheers & Happy times

Mari

something to have & critic night

2010-06-30T13:42:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure why, but I would really would love to have one of these old antique dress maker dolls. I saw one a few weeks back at one of my favourite antique stores, but it was more than I wanted to pay. But it kind of stuck to my mind. I think I want it because of the shape and the texture of it, it looks lovely with the old linen fabric and the numbers and pins stuck to it. Some day I will have one... But for now, a small drawing of it will have to do : )

And this is a small sketch and painting I did during on of my art groups that I belong too, it was critic night. And as you can see, it was not a very successful night (after all I had time to make this during it, so that tells you a lot), the lady spoke with a very soft low voice (I heard about 20% of what she had to say from the whole evening) and she stood most of the time in front of the painting, so no one could see what she was mumbling about.

One thing was clear to most of us there, that the lady who did the critic, was and is a huge fan of plants and flowers. So when I pulled out my painting (along with three other artists) that she had no idea or understanding what to make out of "abstract"painting. It was funny to watch her how she tried to find something to say about it, and the things she did say, well... Lets just say, flowers is her calling : ) But it was fun and hey, at least I got this sketch done.