Delays

The airline has just called me to say that tomorrow morning's flight has been cancelled due to 'impending weather'. Yes it snowed a little, but its now turned to rain and should be warmer still by morning. So now I have to wait til Sunday morning - a 6am flight which means I will need to be at the airport by 4am as there will be a lot of people if flights have been cancelled. Which means I will have to get up at 3am. Travel is bad enough at the best of times. It is more so when delays happen. At least I can relax a little now and stop running around quite so frantically trying to get last minute things done.

I need to be a bird and be independently able to travel at will. This little cockatiel was a little watercolour that started as a sketch. Of course on the wrong type of paper to accept water so it buckled and never regained shape, but I still rather like its form and soft colours. Years ago I used to breed these birds along with several other kinds. They were quite beautiful and good natured. I had considered starting again with some new birds, but just haven't gotten around to it.

Hood ornaments

When the Muscovy ducks were young they were light enough to fly,, especially the females, and they tended to be attracted to cars. That wasn't a good thing. Muscovy ducks have substantial claws and are fairly large birds, so they can scratch a car. As soon as someone would drive up for eggs, the 'girls' would make a beeline for their car and hop up there to see if there were any interesting bugs to eat. Most people would laugh at them but a few were car proud enough to get annoyed so the ducks were banished from getting onto cars. But often when my back was turned, they tested my patience again. Like here.

Learning

I discovered several things this week that don't please me. The latest involved the drawing that I uploaded last night in the previous post. It being pastel and prone to shedding its pigment everywhere, I decided I would give it a quick spray of fixative to ensure that it stayed put.

I don't know if it was the paper or the type of pastel but I sprayed it and the colour faded and darkened to a mere shadow of itself! So I've spent some of tonight reapplying pastel to the paper. It doesn't look quite the same however and I wish I had known that fixative would have this effect. I guess because the surface is so rough there was probably little chance of the pastel coming off too much, but old habits die hard. I've learned a lesson.

The other learning experience is that of understanding people. Or not understanding them. There are reasonable people in the world and then there are unreasonable who you cannot get through to no matter how hard you try. I come across both in work and in my personal life and neither cease to amaze and both can make me soar or sink.

I think its why I prefer animals in many cases. This photo was taken on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands which are off the west coast of Ireland and was taken in about 1975. I stayed on the island for about 3 days. The donkey was friendly and reasonable.

Oranges and Mangoes

I received a piece of colorfix paper in this intense deep blue and I wondered for a few days what to draw on it. The paper has this fine sandpaper-like texture that I can't resist running my fingers over. I cut the paper into quarters and one quarter into further quarters to experiment on.

The paper was originally produced for pastel but I've also seen it used with coloured pencil. I tried both. The coloured pencil experiments were ok, but I didn't do more than play really. Then the pastels and pastel pencils came out. This image was in the weekend drawing event at WetCanvas and the colours were perfect - blue being a complementary colour for orange and it jsut seems to flow from there.

The paper has an amazing feel when drawing. I love the texture and sound it makes when pastel is drawn across it. It also gives that orange peel texture for the fruit as well as being able to blend it to a smoother skin for the mangoes on the right.

Now I just need to track down a package of colorfix and stockpile it as I can't find it anywhere in Canada.

At last

After keeping me waiting for awhile, my first grand daughter has finally arrived.

Kiora Elizabeth
8lb 6.3 oz
3:06pm Saturday, January 27, 2007
Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alberta

Welcome to the world.

When a child is born, so are grandmothers. ~Judith Levy

Masks

I drew this image in my Moleskine very early this morning. The image is a bit unsettling to me, but I'm not sure why. The metallic sheen of the face and the half real/half unreal reed mask probably does it along with the intense gaze from that one dark eye.

Masks aren't often seen in North America except at Halloween or cultural festivals and are more comonplace in some other other countries. They do transform a person and provide mystery.

The image made me think of how many invisible masks that we wear in real life to mask our emotions without realizing it.

Blockages

Tonight Blogger won't cooperate. Each time I try to post an image, it makes my whole browser shut down. It may be Blogger, it may be my computer, it may be the snowstorm raging outside and interfering with electricity. So I'll stick with words and leave images to your imagination as I don't want to lose this post for a third time.

Each day I drive to and from work, a journey of about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. I rather enjoy that time to myself, cocooned in my car. It gives me time to think, to listen to music or to prepare for or unwind from the day. It also gives me time to consider what I will write in my blog. Some days I am bursting with ideas and am anxious to put words to computer. Other days, I draw a blank. Friends tell me to write anyway, to post images, to let my mind spill onto paper.

I can see how a writer's block is the same as an artist's block. During those times I must satisfy myself with snippets of nothing. I draw tiny vignettes that may be no more than 2 inches high on scraps of paper or sketch obscure objects, anything to keep my mind moving in the general direction. It may not have immediate effect but it eventually works and something flows, either words or images.

Tonight I'm not uninspired, but rather spoiled for choice and lazy. I know what I want to draw, but am too lazy to go through the necessary steps to make it happen. So I'm instead drawing an eye in pastel pencil on colorfix paper- one inch square. Its a test to see what detail I can fit into a tiny space. Quite a lot in fact!

Finished

I've completed the drawing of the Westie and it wasn't as stressful as I'd anticipated. There's always room for improvement and I can see some areas that I'd rework, but just doing it was a good experience as I'd avoided long haired dogs wherever possible in the past.

Now the next challenge, a long haired black dog!

A friend who I met through an art forum sent me a piece of Colorfix paper that arrived today. I have wanted to try this paper which has a very fine sanded texture that works with pastels and coloured pencil. I can't wait to try it but deciding just what to draw on it is the next decision. Should I use the whole paper about 9 x 12 it looks or should I cut it into smaller pieces and experiment. I think the latter may be a good idea. I'll see what I can come up with over the next few days.

Another winter storm is due tomorrow afternoon. Not large amounts of snow but very high winds - 100- 120kpm - which makes that wonderful horizontal snow that whips into you and around you, making visibility virtually nil. I've driven in many blizzards before, not because I enjoy driving in blizzards but its usually a necessity. Blizzards don't often cooperate and start overnight, making it a simple decision at 6:30am to look out the window, go 'nawwwwwww' and head back to bed. Blizzards usually start after you've gotten to work and then you have to fight your way home at some point when everything shuts down through snow clogged city streets, sliding sideways, white knuckled at the wheel vowing to move somewhere south as soon as the airport is open again. How many days of winter are left now??

Snow day

This is my driveway after a winter storm. Its been plowed and another light layer of snow on top of the stuff piled up there.

A severe winter storm shut down most of the city today. High winds and heavy snow put about 20 cm of snow down then turned to rain late in the afternoon. There haven't been many snow days in the last few years. Perhaps another effect of global warming. We get snow but not in the same quantities as we once did.

A snow day is a bonus holiday in the middle of the week and even though I know nothing is operating, I still feel somewhat guilty about not being at work. But I got over it. I cleaned and did laundry and drew.

I also started cataloguing photos that I have on various computers in the house. They build up quickly and take up substantial space on the hard drive. Today I catalogued and put on cd 2300 photos and drawings. That was just my laptop. I then started on the desktop computer. That one is scary.

What did we all do before computers? Where did we file all those photos or are they like the ones I have from my mother's house, in folders and boxes, rarely in any order and people racking their brains to find out who the guy in the back was?

Then comes music. I have a lot on my computer that I load on to mp3 players or listen to on headphones. Music is another space eater but using my cds in the sound system at home seems a rarity lately. Actually I prefer headphones. The sound level is more intense and I can hear more with them than when I am surrounded by music in a room.

Art stamps

In March 2007, Canada Post will issue two new stamps showing the art of Mary Pratt. Jelly Shelf, shown here is one of my favourites of hers. I love how the light shines through the glass and is reflected on the shelf. I visited Mary's exhibition Simple Bliss at the Rooms before Christmas and saw this image there. Her ability to create works of art from everyday things is amazing. From cakes under glass to basting a roasting turkey, the reality and colour of each piece is exquisite.

The second stamp will be both local and international and will feature an iceberg. I listened to an interview with Mary Pratt on CBC this morning talking about these paintings being turned into stamps and how the paintings were produced. She is so down to earth about it all and gives the impression that it isn't a big deal, in fact, quite the opposite. Its refreshing to find an artist whose career is established, accepting that art is art, and not a pretentious object to be revered, analyzed and solemnized.

More white

Its amazing what a snowstorm does for creativity. I spent more time yesterday working on the white dog, refining hair and trying to achieve that hairy, yet soft and appealing look. I can see that this drawing is going to take some time to get it where I want it to be. I'm a little worried about it becoming too dark, after all, it is a white dog. The animal has that 'I've done something wrong and I'm in big trouble' look on its face.

I used to have a West Highland Terrier many years ago. She was so full of energy it took all mine to keep up with her and keep her out of trouble. She was fearless, attacking any other dog that moved, true terrier style. I remember prising her jaws off the neck of a large German Shepard who she took a dislike to while I let her run off her energy in the corn field near my house. The GS dog was pretty unperturbed by this little hairy creature attached to its throat. Luckily no one got hurt - especially me.

In that field there was a badger sett still being used by a family of badgers. Badgers are fairly large animals and low slung with fierce jaws and claws. The sett was deep in the ground and had been there for many many years. Misty would occasionally head for the set when I let her off the lead and I remember lying flat on my stomach, arm down the badger hole dragging this dog, who was muttering under her breath out into the air again so I could clip her on. I lived in fear that my arm would become badger food one day and I so hated it if she tried to go down into the sett, so she was usually kept on her lead in that field.

Testing

I'm testing myself with a new dog portrait today.

Its a West Highland Terrier and they are so very hairy to draw. I've been inspired by Mike Sibley's book Drawing from Line to Life which I just received and want to make myself tackle more complex pieces. I've always shied away from long haired dogs and have found that it's a perceived notion of difficulty for the most part. Once I break the piece down into manageable sections, it doesn't become quite so horrific. So I'm drawing hair. White hair. I do like to test myself, don't I?

Meanwhile outside, another mini storm is hitting with horizontal snow falling. (Does it actually fall if its horizontal? More like pile up in a corner. ) Wind and snow go together here it seems. I rarely see it snow where the flakes fall straight down. We don't have fairytale snow here very often.

So I'm going to sit by the fire and draw white hair, drink coffee, eat cinnamon rolls while a home grown chicken roasts for supper. Winter demands comfort in whatever form it comes.

Waiting

I wandered into the All Media Event in WetCanvas today and found a group of images from Bejing, China which were there for individuals to draw. This gentleman looked so elegant that I had to draw him. It was done in a Strathmore sketchbook 9 x 12 with graphite and pastel pencil and took about an hour to complete.

The man is from one of the minority groups in China. His photo was taken in Xian, a southeastern city in China. He is Chinese but from a group that practices the Muslim tradition.

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a lot of time to draw anything, so I'm taking this weekend to indulge myself and make sure I get back to speed on some projects. I'm also waiting for news on the impending birth of a new grandchild, sometime soon I hope! Each phone call makes me jump and want to see who it is. It will arrive when it is ready I'm sure. I just hope I am too!

Illustrated journals

There is something curious and fascinating about drawings enclosed with text. Its like a peek into someone's private life and I guess it is in many ways. Illustrated journals have always been around for a long time but are more in the forefront now since the reintroduction of Moleskine sketchbooks. Danny Gregory's lavish books and website feed ideas and generate more interest in creative journaling. Aleta Karstad has created some simply exquisite naturalist journals.

I want to challenge myself to create an illustrated journal for a month to start with and see if I can keep up the momentum. It will include aspects of life in writing and drawing. Nothing will be torn out or censored. Nothing will be erased or corrected. It will be truly illustrated life.

What if?

What if it truly doesn't matter what you do but how you do whatever you do?

How would this change what you choose to do with your life?

What if you could be more present and openhearted with each person you met if you were working as a cashier in a corner store, or as a parking lot attendant, than you could if you were doing a job you think is more important?

How would this change how you want to spend your precious time on this earth?

What if your contribution to the world and the fulfillment of your own happiness is not dependent upon discovering a better method of prayer or technique of meditation, not dependent upon reading the right book or attending the right seminar, but upon really seeing and deeply appreciating yourself and the world as they are right now?

How would this affect your search for spiritual development?

What if there is no need to change, no need to try to transform yourself into someone who is more compassionate, more present, more loving or wise?

How would this affect all the places in your life where you are endlessly trying to be better?

What if the task is simply to unfold, to become who you already are in your essential nature - gentle, compassionate, and capable of living fully and passionately present?

How would this affect how you feel when you wake up in the morning?

What if who you essentially are right now is all that you are ever going to be?

How would this affect how you feel about your future?

What if the essence of who you are and always have been is enough?

How would this affect how you see and feel about your past?

What if the question is not why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be, but why do I so infrequently want to be the person I really am?

How would this change what you think you have to learn?

What if becoming who and what we truly are happens not through striving and trying but by recognizing and receiving the people and places and practices that offer us the warmth of encouragement we need to unfold?

How would this shape the choices you make about how to spend today?

What if you knew that the impulse to move in a way that creates beauty in the world will arise from deep within and guide you every time you simply pay attention and wait?

How would this shape your stillness, your movement, your willingness to follow this impulse, to just let go and dance?

Source: Sense of Self

Drawing opportunities

I will be flying to Calgary in a couple of weeks to spend time with my daughters and a new baby that I'm expecting to make an appearance into the world any day now. That in itself is a drawing extravaganza. A new environment, people, some of them new and a city to explore too. I really do hope to spend some time drawing. I say that when I go away and end up getting caught up in schedules and work and seeing new places and drawing goes out the window a bit.

I do need some quiet time to be able to draw well. Yes I can do it on a crowded plane or airport, but there I can be more or less anonymous, interrupted occasionally by someone passing by who stops to see what I'm doing. But when with many other people around its difficult to get that time alone to draw.

I'm also planning a short side trip to Southern California to see some friends, find a few art supplies that I can't get in Canada and to fit in some drawing too. I haven't been in the US for many years and can't say I relish the thought of the travelling part of it. I'm not a great traveller. I do it, but can't say I truly enjoy it and delays and plane changes seem inevitable with rerouting and flight amalgamations happening constantly.

But the change of scene will be wonderful and hopefully a few days to relax before heading back to Calgary for the weekend, then home again. I will be travelling light, leaving room for goodies... So now I'm searching out good art supply stores, drawing and art opportunities in the Irvine/Anaheim/Laguna Beach area. Suggestions are more than welcome.

Winter's summer

Its bitterly cold today - at least to me. -15C with a wind chill of -27. Even with the fire blazing, I'm still chillly and have to keep getting cups of coffee to warm me. The snow that is down is blowing around and it looks distinctly winter like out there.

So I'm immersing myself in summer again. This time in the form of a shrimp shell. Not particularly a souvenir of summer but the colours are warm and soft and summer like. This was done in Derwent Graphitint pencils and Faber Castell water colour pencils, both dry on a small sketchbook.


I'm also rearranging my medicinal herbs. I keep a variety of herbs that I have grown, harvested and dried, rather like an emergency natural first aid kit that treats everything from coughs and colds to digestive disorders and aches and pains. A number of years ago I took a Chartered Herbalist course that I found very interesting and firmly believe that a large number of ills that are present these days can be treated effectively and much more cheaply by herbs than the current concoctions of over the counter drugs.

I make tinctures and salves, hand creams and teas. Its another part of the creative cycle as well as art in its own right. There is something satisfying about being able to produce and use something beneficial that once was no more than a tiny seed in my hand.

The photo above is of sweet cicely. This herb has a lovely aniseed like smell and sweet taste. Unfortunately, in the right environment it becomes a bit invasive. But it is a beautiful plant with soft leaves and that wonderful scent. The seed heads can be used fresh in salads or dried and ground like nutmeg. The leaves and seeds also make good wood polish. Its quite hardy. It has to be to grow here! But the seeds do need to overwinter out doors or in the cold of a fridge or freezer for them to successfully germinate in the spring.

Savage Creek

And so, as one smart bear once said..."If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you." - Winnie the Pooh.

This small cove exists in Outer Cove, about a 10 minute drive from my house. I drew this from life in the pouring rain, ducking into the car for shelter when it became too harsh to bear. Sea, rocks and sparse vegetation clinging to existence always interest me. Its the harshness of the landscape or the ancient feel which calls me. Savage Creek is a good name for it, even if the creek running to the sea wasn't too wild on this day and was spotted with wild ducks enjoying the rain.

Experimentation

Quite my accident I think I found a source of mylar or something similar. I was in a hardware store and walked down an aisle that had all the stuff for making scrapbooks - I am in the process of making a little book for the newest addition to be in the family. Among the hundreds of squares of fancy paper a translucent series of sheets caught my eye. I bought 4 or 5 sheets from white and neutral to pastel pink and blue, with the thought of using them as an overlay for some of the book.

When I got them home I looked at them more closely and thought that the surface might be good for coloured pencil so last night I tried it using a reference picture of me and it seems to work more or less as I've heard it described for Mylar. I can't get mylar locally - well I did get something that I believe was it but it is stiffer and used more for quilting templates. But this is finer and probably more a cross between parchment and rougher wax paper.

The scanned result doesn't do it justice as it looks much better in real life and changes again with a different coloured sheet behind it as a ground. This version has a plain white sheet behind it. The sketch took about 40 minutes using Prismacolor pencils. If it is mylar or similar, I rather like it and now that I have found a source, I can experiment without worrying where the next sheet will come from.

Head in the clouds

I've been playing with clouds and skies in a landscape class by Diane Wright. Landscapes have always been something I've tackled reluctantly but like most things, once you break it down into smaller, more manageable sections, it become doable.

This working drawing was done on Strathmore Windpower Drawing paper that, at least for this technique, didn't please me much. There was too much tooth on the paper to allow me to blend smoothly. As a result the sky and clouds have a grainy look that I'm not happy with.

I'm having a problem getting a reasonable image of this drawing as well, either with the scanner or through a digital photo. Seems the lack of light is against me day or night lately. I was even at the point of considering buying a new camera to see if that helps with the problem, then sanity returned, albeit briefly.

I'll let my head stay in the clouds a few days longer. Its often a nicer place to be than reality.

Random acts of kindness

I'm always amazed when someone goes out of their way to do something nice for me. We have become so desensitized to other people these days, we try to shut ourselves off from the world and concentrate on ourselves.

I talked about Colorfix paper in a thread in an art forum and a friend who I have met through that forum is sending me a piece to try. I can't access this paper in Canada (that I know of) so would have to mailorder from the USA. But before investing dollars in the paper, I'd like to try a piece first. This random act of kindness is truly appreciated. She didn't have to go out of her way to do this for a virtual stranger, but she did and I will wait for it to arrive impatiently and plan what I will draw on it with coloured pencil.

Today is my youngest daughter's birthday. This sketch was done when she was about two from a tiny reference image. It was an image that was taken at a preschool group that she attended. They had a photographer, perhaps the school photographer on loan, and young madam obviously did NOT want to participate. This expression was the result. It speaks volumes.