Art.. On the Tip of a Pencil

Hi!  I'm back... vacation is over (sigh)!  The kids have come for a visit and are back home.  Our visit up Island to spend time with some old, dear friends was wonderful.  The rest of the past month has been spent doing one of my favourite summertime pastimes...hanging out on the beach getting some beach therapy time in. LOL.  It still amazes me how a good dose of beach therapy is so highly beneficial to my "art making" process!  I get some of my best ideas  there.   I just let go and go with the flow... something that is dead nuts simple to do while you hang out at a quiet (sans noisy kids or teenagers) beach... and ideas bubble to the surface.  I just have to remember to write them down! 

Tilly at the Beach

The weather in Victoria has been absolutely gorgeous the last couple of weeks and there is no place in the world I would rather be in the summer than hanging out at one of my three favourite beaches here...reading, sleeping, eating some fruit, admiring the view, snoozing, thinking about art, drinking ice tea, snoozing again... Here's a photo of me enjoying the relaxing sound of the waves at China Beach in the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park and along the Juan de Fuca hiking trail on the very west, west coast of Vancouver Island.  I was actually sound asleep in my chair, my Tilly hat covering my eyes,  when hubby took this photo.  I think it's a great photo and I call it "Tilly at the Beach". 

What's a Tilly hat?  Well they are an "institution" on the west coast of Canada (and are quickly becoming that around the world).  The fabric they use protects you from the sun and UV rays.  The hat actually floats.  It has a "secret" pocket inside the crown to store valuables when you are at the beach.  It even comes with an owner's manual.  These hats are so durable, they never wear out.  People have been known to consider them "family heirlooms" (BIG chuckle) Everyone just HAS TO HAVE a Tilly. LOL.  Want to learn more? Click here

1..2..3...A...B...C

As our granddaughter has been telling us over and over and over again, school is going to begin in a couple of weeks.  She is about to enter Grade 1, is really excited to be going to "big kid's" school and can hardly wait for school to begin.  Naturally, the ABC's are on her mind... and she sparked gramma to think about them too!

So with that in mind, allow me to share with you, nine small 4 x 4 inch canvases I painted and collaged awhile back. 

All the letters in the alphabet were designed and printed on heavy watercolour paper, cut out (very patiently) with cuticle scissors and painted either with watercolours or acrylics.  I added old dictionary paper to the painted canvases, then embellished the canvases with whatever struck my fancy LOL.  Tags, fibre, marbles, a touch of glitter, paper and clay beads are just some of the things I randomly found in my stash of "stuff" to add to my little masterpieces!  I am planning on putting them on the wall above the top of a double door closet in our family room... that is, of course,  when I can con my TALL hubby into putting them up there.  I'm afraid these SHORT legs of mine just don't cut it when it comes to putting stuff up high.  Ah... just another thing to add to the "honey do" list on the fridge!

Art on the Tip of a Pencil

Another treat I have for you today are some fantastic photos from a most amazing Brazilian born, micro sculpture artist, Dalton Ghetti. A professional carpenter who lives in Connecticut, Dalton carefully carves the tips of graphite pencils into fantastic little works of art.  Dalton has been perfecting his art for the last 25 years using only a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife!  Some of his tiny sculptures can take anywhere between a few months to a few years to complete.  Can you purchase his art?  Well no, he doesn't sell them... he only gives them away to friends as gifts.  Look closely at this first photo and you will see the alphabet! 

Many thanks to my friend Nancy for forwarding some info and photos for me to share with you.


Hope you have a wonderful, arty week ahead of you!  As soon as I finish this post, I am about to get arty in a different way. 

Today I am going to turn the twenty pounds of peaches I got from the Okanogan yesterday (the wine and fruit tree capital in the interior of British Columbia) sitting on my kitchen counter into ten peach pies for the freezer, another extra pie to nibble on today, some peach and blackberry crisp (we have tons of blackberries practically in our own backyard... HUS-BAND, go pick! LOL) and if there is anything leftover, some peach and mango chutney. 

I'll make sure, like I do every year, to open the windows while I am baking those pies so that the mouth watering wafts of smell from baking fruit floats about our neighbourhood. One of my neighbours once told me he can always tell when fall is approaching.  I start baking pies.  He loves the smell of the baking pies and gives a knock on the door every year.  And yes, he gets a piece of it when they are done! 

I really enjoy baking pies and pie is something my hubby loves eating.  He is particularly fond of peach pie whereas I am a devoted apple pie fan!   Hmmm , even still  I can taste that warm peach pie with a dollop of ice cream on top already.  Oh yummy says my tummy!!!  Gotta go... see you soon.

Sharon

Father's Day Card & Beach photos

Back from vacation and raring to go!

First on my agenda was to finish off my submissions for the upcoming Sooke Art Festival! This time I took pictures (GRIN). I'll be posting them once the art show begins... unfortunately they are not to be shown beforehand. But a little hint... I am in an oriental mood...something quite different than I have done in the past.

Getting Ready for Dad's Day....

Next on the agenda was to make a Father's Day card for hubby. Last year, I found the cutest little tool belt box/card and decided that I wanted to make it for hubby this year. He loves tools and I'll enclose a gift card for him to go wild with at his favourite tool joint! Here's how the card box turned out... complete with some little tools I found in the dollar store some time back, an ad page from the tool "joint" and if you look closely at the photo, you'll see some brads that look like screws...

My sister is a tool junkie too... her idea of a glorious way to spend an afternoon is browsing through the hardware store looking at tools and gadgets! I just might make one of these to put in her Christmas package this year along with the roll of duct tape her and hubby have been exchanging back and forth for years!

Want to make one for your favourite guy? You can find a tutorial and template on Mel's blog

Topsail Beach, North Carolina

Our vacation in the Carolinas was wonderful... in spite of me catching a cold on the plane (the first one I have had in absolute years!). It rather cramped my style for about five days... I was miserable! Having my head covered with a towel and suspended over a hot, steaming pan of Vicks was not quite my idea of vacation fun!

However, being at the beach helped a lot! I love Topsail Beach (just north of Wilmington, N.C.) and hubby and I have spent many a vacation here. When we lived in N.C., we would go to Topsail at least twice a year for a couple of weeks.

Coastal Carolina beaches are much different than the beaches in British Columbia. It's hard to say which I like better... in comparison, the Carolina beaches are "manicured" whereas the beach that is five minutes from my house in Victoria is strewn with old. bleached by the sun logs and is very rustic! They both have their appeal... of course you can swim in the Carolinas... the water is bathtub temperature... you wouldn't dare step into the cold, north Pacific ocean waters that surround Victoria... brrhhh... instant icicles on your toes!

Here are just a few of the photos we took... so far these are my favourites...

We called him Mr. Crabby... he hung around the beach house the whole time we were there and provided much entertainment watching him scurry back and forth to his little crabby home! Isn't he just the cutest little crab you ever did see?

Here's a photo of the sun coming up over Topsail Beach... only a morning person like me would get up at 5:30 a.m. to take a photo like this! Hubby (a night person) thought I was going bonkers from the cold medication to get up at that time of the morning.

But I love getting up early at the beach. There is something magical and lovely about sitting on the deck with a fresh cup of morning coffee, listening to the birds and the pounding waves hit the shore and just enjoying the dawning of a glorious new day. Those night people haven't got a clue about what they are missing out on (BIG GRIN) at the crack of dawn.

Here's a sandpiper pecking away for his lunch in Carolina blue waters! It was a gorgeous day... not too hot... not too cool... and what fun it was gathering shells and watching the pelicans swoop down and dive into the water. The beach was quiet at this time of the year... the shrimp large and fresh... the strawberries plump and juicy... ah just the way I like it.

Here's wishing you a wonderful "arty" week. Tune in next Tuesday to see some of the other art projects I have been working on. I'll also have a little surprise for you...

Cheers,

Sharon

Beach Therapy!

Today was a gorgeous west coast day so my muse and I (both being solar powered) went to the beach. Just a short, five minute car ride away, these are photos I took this afternoon of one of my favourite beaches in Victoria.

A couple of years ago, I had the honour of being the delegate from Vancouver Island and representing the Victoria Storytellers Guild at the Storytellers of Canada conference in Calgary, Alberta.

That year, I made a quilt square that was included in the Storytelling quilt which was raffled off at the conference. Each quilt square was accompanied by a small "story" about the piece and the artist. The quilt and stories were on display during the conference and the lucky winner , a Newfoundland storyteller, got to take this "one of kind" quilt with accompanying stories home to enjoy for years to come.

As I was getting ready to write this post today, I re-read the small "story" I wrote at the time. I re-worked it some to add to this posting today. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the quilt square at the time, but did save the story!

"Stories and Art are Beacons of Light in the World"

The guiding light of the Fisgard Lighthouse at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour (near Victoria) first shone in 1860. It was the first permanent lighthouse on Canada’s West Coast.

With the lighthouse on the left, the sweeping vista of the Olympic Mountains off in the distance, the swirling waters of Juan de Fuca Strait and a log strewn beach, it is a magical place of beauty on earth. This is where you will find me on any given day of the year, sitting or laying in a log “fort”, sheltered from the ocean wind, wiggling my toes in the warm sand or wrapped snuggly in a colourful quilt.

My only companions are the waves lapping quietly against the rocky shore, the distant greeting cry of seagulls, herons, or eagles flying above and the bobbing heads of harbour seals coming up to say hello as they swim lazily back and forth in the water near the shore. My companions know that this is my special spirit place... my place for meditation, inspiration and creation. They welcome me to this place where I come to read, think, dream, create and every now and again, enjoy a small, but delicious afternoon snooze!

Being in this place, immersed in its quiet splendour and simple beauty has taught me that stories and art are like lighthouses.

Navigating our lives by the light of a good story, the sounds of a beautiful piece of music or the creation of a meaningful piece of art can lead us to a safe harbour when the sea of life gets stormy. Help us journey back to who we are when the way ahead seems misty or foggy. Stand graceful and tall when the sun sparkles on life’s gentle waves. Look beyond the horizon and be awed by the beauty and colours of simplicity. Inspired to dream, create and love by its guiding light.

What inspires you? Where do you go for renewal? If you could do one thing this coming weekend that would bring you joy, what would it be? Will you do it?

Have a great weekend... see you next week!

Sharon