A commission I did for someone for Christmas. I used charcoal, carbon and graphite to create this piece.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and the best New Year ever!

Simon, the stray cat that I have been feeding for seven years, has finally moved in. He came in last Sunday during our first snowstorm and he's still here. I've tried everything over the years to get him to come in and he never would. John and I made a shelter for him under our front porch so he would be comfortable in the winter, but I still fretted over him when it was really cold outside. We are so freaked out about this. He is so affectionate and he loves to cuddle, especially with John. He must have been a house cat a long time ago because he went straight to the littler box and used it. He is very weary of people and a little jumpy, but I think that will change over time.

This is a mixed media/collage painting that I completed a few days ago. The transparent image of the house you see is from a photo my husband took several months before the house burned to the ground on or very close to halloween. The house was decrepit and abandoned and looked so out of place in its setting that we just had to stop and photograph it from every angle. Now when I go past the place where it use to stand, it looks as if the house never existed. There's just a huge sad, empty spot there.

Time Stands Still

I participated in the craft fair today and I did very well. People really liked my stuff, especially the sand dollar necklaces; I sold quite a few of those. The fair only lasted for three hours and I had such a good experience. Both my sisters were with me and that made it so much more enjoyable. The above painting is another tea stained watercolor of an abandoned house. There are many of those in this province.

The stores are filled with Christmas trees and decorations. Christmas commercials are playing on tv and it's zero degrees outside now. So...I thought I would post this watercolor painting of a Christmas scene. Although there is no visible sign of anything Christmas in the painting, that's what I think of when I look at it. I don't have this painting anymore because a very good friend of mine saw it and fell in love with it, so I gave it to her last year for Christmas. I do think it is time to do another little painting like this. Toasty warm in my studio, with carols playing softly in the background, I will paint a beautiful little Christmas scene just for me.

This is a painting of a lighthouse in Bonavista. I used pen and ink with a sepia colored wash. I'm busy getting ready for a craft show next week. Although it's only a small show I'm feeling nervous because it's my first one. I'll be offering my jewelry for sale as well as my sand dollar necklaces. I'd like to create some small mixed media pieces and offer those too. I'm making sure that I will be ready days in advance so I'm not running around in a panic the day of the show. I'm trying not to have any expectations, good or bad. I'm creating a simple display to showcase my work...something festive.

A watercolor painting of a door of an old, weathered fisherman's shed.

Here's another beach rocks painting.

I love painting beach rocks, and this painting is one of several that I have painted of beach rocks.

Happy Halloween

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would post a watercolor painting I did of a graveyard. I stained the paper with tea and I used ivory black to paint it. I call it Standing Stones.

Why is it that so many years can pass and things remain the same. Here I am day after day doing the same things over and over again and really going nowhere while life zooms by me. What is it that I want out of life...do I want to be part of it or do I want to watch from the sidelines as everyone else lives. I really don't know. Some days I feel like joining the rest of the world and most days I feel like hiding from it so no one can see me....*sigh*

This is a pen and ink drawing I did a few years ago. For the past year I have been doing a lot of different things creatively -- mixed media/collage, altered books, assemblage and more recently, jewelry making. It's been almost a year since I did a watercolor painting and I still haven't cut it off the board. Although I do enjoy drawing and painting, it's not as much fun as what I'm doing now.

I finally found a pair of flush cutters! Now I can make nice straight cuts on my wire.

Illustration Friday -- Grow

Study of a Sunflower was done in oil on stretched canvas

Available for sale on Etsy

Above is an image of my very first watercolor, done in 1998. I briefly took some classes with an artist called Christopher Peet before he left the province.

Old Rectory

Watercolor

12"x16"

Above is a watercolour painting I did of a scene downtown.

I've been tagged by a friend of mine, a wonderful artist, Illustrated Life, to reveal seven things about myself. Here goes:

1. I'm an avid reader and I always have a book by my bedside. I'm reading a book now called the Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher that I read years ago and it's as if I hadn't, because I can't remember a word of it.

2. Stray animals seem to seek me out, especially cats. My husband, John jokes that there is a sign somewhere on our property that says "Kind lady lives here and will feed hungry cats." There are two strays cats that I am currently feeding.

3. I hate shopping for clothes so much! I do go into second hand clothing stores because I find the clothing more interesting and you never know what treasure you will find. I recently purchased a brandnew, long, black 100 percent wool coat for five dollars.

4. I have a lizard, a leopard gecko named Pluto, who can live up to thirty five years. He eats only live crickets and meal worms.

5. I once saw this really cool Charles Dickens creation in a store window. She was a Christmas caroller and she cost $200.00. I had John discreetly take a picture of it for me and I made one like it for myself. It cost me $20.00 and she's the coolest thing!

6. I make all the soap for my family.

7. I love driving with my husband when there is a big snow storm. I know, it's weird but true.

I now have to tag seven people, but I don't know anyone who hasn't already been tagged at least once or more. What will I do..... :)

Some earrings I made for my Etsy shop.

It snowed briefly yesterday. Yikes! This is a watercolor painting called Grampy's Shed in Winter. I know, it's way too early to be talking about winter, but I think we're in for a long one this year.

Here are some earrings I created for my Etsy shop.

While resting on the couch yesterday recovering from an injury, I made these earrings. While making them I realised that I need some other tools to enable me to do a better job. Some needlenose pliers without teeth so the wire doesn't get marred would help, and a pair of flush cutters to make a nice straight cut, not an angled cut, when making jump rings. As well, I need to work on my wraps to ensure that they are even on both earrings. I used steel wire to create these.

Here's a series of paintings I did a while ago using tea to stain the paper and pen and ink. The tea wash is not very strong in these pieces.

This is the second drawing of my father taken from an image when he was almost twenty years older. I drew the image below about a year after I drew the above portrait; my drawing skills had improved somewhat.

Graphite Drawing

Here's a graphite drawing I did of my father a while ago. The photo that I drew from was taken twenty years ago, so he looks older than this now. He had quite the funky hairstyle going on. :)
Tomorrow I will post a graphite drawing I did of him when he was older.

Illustration Friday -- Extreme

Here's a watercolor painting I did a few years ago, didn't like and completely forgot about. I came across the image of it yesterday and decided that except for some perspective issues, I like it very much. So I went from one extreme to the next -- not liking to liking. :) It's an old house that lives on a beautiful, tree lined road not far from where I am. I'm not sure if anyone lives in it because it always looks neglected, but I could happily spend my days here.

Making jewelry is very relaxing. I enjoy making it for me and my daughter to wear. When I am stressed, I will go into my studio and make something. Painting and drawing can be stressful, especially when you are doing it for someone else so it's nice to have something that will take your mind off of these things....I noticed after I looked at the image of the earrings on my blog that one of the earrings was slightly different from the other one. I fixed it. :)

The wonderful thing about being an artist is creating something. As long as I'm creating something I am happy. Yesterday I spent making these earrings for my daughter. Today I cut matts for new artwork.

Inspire Me Thursday -- Intimacy

For some reason I feel very comfortable in the cemetary where the image of this angel was taken, and I have used the image many times in my work. I feel an intimacy with her because of it.

Fragments

This is a piece I started months ago and never finished. I worked on it a bit over the weekend and decided I couldn't do anything with it, took my paintbrush and painted black squares over the whole thing in frustration. Now I do like it and I've titled it "Fragments". 16"x 20" on stretched canvas