My Corner of the World - Canada News and Vacation Sketches

Last week I received news that the My Corner of the World - Canada Exhibit in which I have a quilt is being shown on September 14 - 17, 2017 as a part of the 23rd European Patchwork Shows Schedule in France and will continue to tour there for a year. I'm pretty excited about that since I didn't even think I would be accepted into that show.

I spent a week this summer in Wasaga Beach, Ontario with my family. The weather wasn't spectacular as has been the case all summer. We didn't spend a lot of time on the beach but that meant that I could spend more time "arting" with my grandkids and doing some of my own sketching. I did three sketches while there and all of them were given away.

There are a few wonky cabins left from bygone days still sitting on some beach property near where we stayed. It looked to me as I was sketching this one that the owners were attempting to renovate them somewhat. They look very rickety and were slightly hidden behind some bush in an attempt at some privacy. They had character though!

This was an attempt at a sunset at the beach. These are hard to do on location because the sun goes down so fast and the sky is always changing. You can see the Blue Mountains in the upper left.

I was sitting by the beach and it was so windy I had to hold onto my paint pallet and brushes while I painted this to keep them from flying away. I was painting quickly because those clouds turned into rain in the distance and with the wind, it was blowing towards me very quickly. Again you can see the Escarpment and the Blue Mountains in the distance.

Sewer Grates, Manhole Covers, Sidewalk Imprints.

During my morning walk one week, I took along some plain fabric and a watercolour crayon. I was hoping to get some rubbing images on the fabric. Rubbing is when you take a sheet of paper or, in this case, plain fabric and lay it over something textured and by rubbing a crayon or chalk over it, you create an image of the texture. As I walked I looked for things that might work with this technique.
I actually didn't have enough fabric with me to get all the rubbings I could have gotten. Did you know that construction companies stamp their name and year into new sidewalks that are being laid? Next time you go for a walk look down at the sidewalk and find out what year it was laid and by whom.

Some of the rubbings worked out better than others. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet but when I am inspired, I'll be sure to post about the project.

Quilts at the Creek

A few weeks ago I took a trip to Black Creek Pioneer Village with my cousin from Europe. It was a special weekend because it was "Quilts at the Creek" weekend and the whole village was festooned with quilts. It was a beautiful sight with quilts hung on frames and fences and around the pioneer buildings. They were displayed beautifully and looked very 'at home' there.

No, I Haven't Been Ill!

I have to apologize to my faithful followers for not posting the last two weeks. I have had company from Europe and just took a posting break. I have, however, still been busy in the studio so I thought I'd catch you up on some of my work.

I've been busy with some baby portraits and this year will be a fruitful year.

 I've also completed many fabric greeting cards.

I also completed a quilt that I made with my sister and a friend. It is a wall quilt and I just have to add a hanging sleeve to the back of it. 

And I have also started quilting my art quilt after pondering for a while how it should be done. I've finished the sky, trying to make the foreground clouds stand out at bit.