The Inspiration that Grandchildren are.

I have gained another source of inspiration for my art in the last 18 months and that is my grandchildren. New life never ceases to amaze me. When they are born, they are so small, and it is a miracle when all their parts are there and everything works the way it should. I didn't have the joy of knowing and having a relationship with my grandparents due to the fact that I immigrated to Canada with my parents at a year of age. Initially I didn't really miss those relationships because I knew nothing else, however, when my children were born, they did have relationships with my parents and my mother-in-law. My father-in-law passed away when our oldest son was 5 months old. They loved their grandparents and those relationships brought a richness into all of their lives. We know all too well that illness and accident or other circumstances can cut those relationships short and so when my grandchildren were born, I decided that they were going to know how precious they were to me from day one. I am attempting to do this the best way I know how and the most enjoyable way and that is through my art. Each newborn in our family, and not only my own grandchildren but also the children of my nieces and nephews receive a graphite drawing of themselves at a few days old.


This is our youngest grandchild, born just over a month ago.

I have also started small sketchbook/journals for each of my grandchildren in which I make note of my feelings for them, milestones, special dates, sketches of them as they grow. When they are older they will receive these books from me as a keepsake and witness of their uniqueness and preciousness to us and to God.



A spread out of our first granddaughter's journal



A spread out of our first grandson's journal

When our children and grandchildren know they are loved unconditionally and are special in their own way, they can go into the world and its experiences with confidence. 

Scarf Wall Quilt

In my last post, I described a wall quilt I wanted to make using one of my mother-in-law's discarded scarves. As I told you, this project evolved as I was working on it, adding beads, stitching, cord and designs. This quilt was made with someone in mind so that also played into the kinds of embellishment I would use.

Finished Wall Quilt

This quilt is entitled "A Cord of Three Strands" which comes from Ecclesiates 4:12 stating that a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Detail of a section of the wall quilt



As you can see here I also embellished with some natural items, such as a piece of birch bark I found during my canoe trip this summer and also some small twigs.



Finishing a Project and Moving On to Another

Well, my Zentangle landscape quilt is finished and I picked it up from the framer this morning. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. It measures 16" X 24" and I think the new owner will be very happy with it.  



Lone Pine

 As soon as the last project was finished, I began immediately on the next one. I have so many ideas backed up in my brain at the moment that I'm afraid if I don't get a jump on them, they'll disappear! So this next project is also a fabric piece. I recently received a box of scarves from my mother-in-law who was doing some cleaning up at home. I decided to use one of these scarves as the basis of an embellished wall quilt. What inspired me was the lightness of the fabric, the design, the size and shape and the colours of the scarf. Below is a photo of the scarf attached to a black background. It has as yet no stitching or embellishment on it. I do not have a finished product in mind such that I don't know how exactly I will embellish it but I'm counting on those details coming to me as I work on it. I have several items laid out on my work table that might become part of the piece but this time I'm going to let intuition guide me. It should be interesting.

Dyeing Experiment

I was able to get away to a Provincial Park in Northern Ontario last week for a few days and usually I take my sketching supplies with me. However, this time I took a tie dye kit that I bought at Walmart and various fabrics that I had pre-washed. It was great to dye fabric outside. The dyeing took several hours and then the fabric had to rest for 12 hours to cure the dye. I only mixed up 3 of the 6 colours but I was really pleased with the results. I used silk and cotton fabrics cut into smaller sized pieces.



A card I made with some of my hand dyed fabric.

                            Also here is a glimpse of my Zentangle quilt as it nears completion.

Inspired by a Zentangle

Do you remember my post on Zentangles? Well, I decided to do an art quilt of one of my zentangles. I thought it would be really nice to do a piece in just black and white...or as it turns out....a creamy white and black. It will be a piece that is not as large as one of my wall quilts but more of a picture size that you could hang on the wall. When it's completed, I plan to have it stretched and framed just like a painting.

Fabric selections for the Zentangle Piece

Pattern for the piece

Some completed sections

Thought you might also be interested in the finished and framed Day Lily painting I was busy with.

Canoe Trip Sketches

Well, it has been almost a month since I put something down on these pages. That is not because I haven't been creating, however. The day after my last blog, we went on a 4 day canoe trip with 10 women into the interior of Algonquin Provincial Park. What a wonderful time we had! To commemorate that time, I spent this month doing sketches from some of my on location sketches and also from some of the photographs we brought back. The sketches were done on watercolour paper with a fine liner and watercolour pencils, which were easier to take along on a canoe trip than watercolour paint. I will give one to each of the women who were on the trip as a reminder of what a great time we had. I'm also thinking of using one of these sketches to make my Summer Art Quilt. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which one?


Joe Lake




Burnt Island Lake



Bartlett Lake



East Arm



Tom Thomson Lake



Tom Thomson Lake



East Arm



Willow Lake



Canoe Lake



Zentangle Doodles

I am not one who ever sits idle. Even when I am relaxing, I have something in my hands that I am working on. When I don't have enough time to get into my studio but have 15 minutes here and there, I like to work on small projects. While investigating journalling I came across Zentangles. This is what I used to call doodling. It is quite a calming and engaging passtime. It's something I can do in front of the TV or while I am sitting in the backyard in the evening. While most zentangles are quite abstract, I like to make something recognizable out of them. I was amazed at how many U-tube videos there of people zentangling. It's quite mesmerizing to watch.