Travellin' felter...

I was in the Sally Ann the other day and found this sweet little, vintage sewing box.

I looked at it a few times and then I thought...that would be perfect for portable needle felting!..

I do use a big vintage suitcase for most of my roving....

...but this one would be great for overnighters and long road trips. It is about 8 X 8 square and fits just enough stuff to keep me going on a project. Tom and I went to Vancouver for a few days to see a concert and I had this idea for my next sculpture running around in my head and REALLY wanted to get going on it...With ferry lineups and the hour and a half trip across, I had time to work on Mr Finn O'Malley...

Oh look! There he is!

Rain and Light...

Its raining, its pouring....seems to be the theme all over the place at the moment...I watch in awe as I see what havoc water can play...but in some ways I love this weather, cozied up in the studio and filled with ideas, finishing projects which sat in my head all summer...

I finally finished up a long anticipated sculpture of the Bremen town musicians and was able to have a few minutes of dry weather to take some photos for my etsy shop...It was great fun to watch the characters come to life and to revisit the Brothers Grimm fable...sometimes things pop into my head from long ago and give me that surprised, giggly feeling to bring it back to the present...
So today it became very dark in the midst of day and I took my camera for a brief walk around the house to capture a bit of light...

It is no wonder that we celebrate with candles and lights at this time of year for it's when we most need it...keep your fingers and minds busy...create, reflect, keep warm and dry...

Remembrance...

I wrote this last year  and thought I would re post it since I still find the words to hold true.
Remember, on this day, those who made the sacrifices for our freedom.

I have never known war in my life.
I have only been witness to it through the news and stories told in books and movies.
Some of my relatives fought in wars, but I never knew them and only saw pictures of them as young soldiers in uniforms.
I am in great turmoil to hear that the most popular game gift this season is a bloody, violent interactive video complete with assaults on innocent civilians.
I am disturbed to know that people play the game of paintball as a recreational activity.

When I think of November 11th I am filled with thoughts like these:

I am not the young lad who watched his comrade fall and join the ranks of lifeless bodies on the muddy field.

I am not the naked, young girl running down the road, burned by a bomb.

I am not the face in the black and white photo in the museum for the Killing Fields.

Nor am I the veiled housewife who is killed by a roadside bomb after buying oranges in the market mid day.

I was not shot trying to jump over a wall that divided a nation.

My race did not land me in a box car headed to Auschwitz.

Alcohol and heroin, I don't need, to exercise my demons in the middle of the night.

I do not walk with a cane or artificial limbs and neither is a wheelchair my only transport.

My religion did not create a Peace Line in my neighborhood.

I was not the one who marched in the rain and slept in the filth for weeks on end.

Or looked into the eyes of my neighbor as I fired the rifle on the battlefields of North Carolina.

I was never treated like an animal because of the tone of my skin.
I am not the old man, standing with the last of his comrades, remembering friends lost.

I am a Canadian. I am 47 and have only known peace and freedom.

I have choices.

I honor those who died or suffered trying to make changes in their world and mine.

I have never known war and hope I never will.

brown days...

We have had an immense amount of rain in the last few weeks which has really installed the hibernation mood in me...

Even Griffin is content to hang out in the studio...usually he comes in for a smooch and hello and then he wants to go sit on the porch but I think the weather has him feeling cozy in here as well..
But alas! I still have to venture out to the hen house for eggs and to let the chickens out for a wander around or they get cranky and stop laying such beautiful eggs...On the way from the studio to the barnyard, I have been encountering these little armies of mushrooms...

They are miniscule...about 3 or 4 centimetres at the most and I figured I had better take a few portraits of them before the predicted cold weather comes along...

Out in the garden things are brown and droopy but have a beauty all their own while they die down for a long winter sleep...

I have this giant pine cone which sits in various places of honor depending where I feel it looks good and I took a close up of it today on the studio porch...

So, just looking at things from a different view today through all the raindrops and mist...it all looks good.

site of the day...

Open this door to see more..
My favorite site of the day has become my favorite sites of the weekend and perhaps one of all time...I came across this womans blog via two other blogs and feel I must share with you...she has captured medieval, fantastical, old world, gypsies and everything else that is deep in the moss and woodsy...at first I was reminded of Arthur Rackum but then the further I dwelled I saw a unique style that could only be her own...spend some time in her world and I guaruntee you will be wisked away to another place and time but as she says "...that's also right here and now". Her blog is lovely too and she also has a few shops on etsy to enable you to have some of her world in yours...look through this door...  and here for her blog

Anyway, another favorite thing, I found at the Sally Ann on the weekend...this sweet little book which I couldn't resist to add to my collection...

Such sweet little paintings...a treasure on my shelf..

History lesson

When the weather changes and the days are dark, I poke around in old books, try new ideas in the studio or, like today, go through antique photos of my ancestors. My great grandparents were pioneers here on the coast and in particular Salt Spring Island where they raised chickens and farmed the land.

This is my great great grandfather from Ontario on a visit to Salt Spring...sure looks like he knows how to hoe a row!

I love this picture of him with my great Uncle Bill...the youngin' trying to be  cool like his elder....

These are my great grandparents, May and Jack Cairns...my great grandmother was an American whose father faught in the Civil war and came across to California by wagon train via Philidelphia...they are pictured here with my grandmas sister Agnes...we all call her Aunt San.

Here is my great grandpa Jack with my grandma (Marge) and sister San.Grandpa Jack was a camp cook with the railway and followed the work where it took him...the story goes that he was on a trip to California working with the food icing cars when he saw my great grandma in a cafe and fell in love with her long auburn hair...he brought her back to B.C and they settled on Salt Spring.

This is my mom on my great grandparents farm on SaltSpring when she was just about a year old...I love the fact that you can just catch a glimpse of my great grandma May harvesting something from the garden and smiling all the while...

Grandma Marge and Grandpa Gerry with my mom (Anne).

Here's my Grandpa Gerry looking all Marlin Brando-ish...handsome devil wasn't he?

When I look through these photos, I realize that so much of who you are comes from who you've come from...I am connected to them through my garden and love for rural air...When my hands are plunged into the soil, or holding a shovel, I think of these people often and wonder what they were like as young newlyweds and farmers...wouldn't it be incredible to travel back in time and sit a spell on the porch to listen to their hopes and dreams and stories?

All but a few are gone now but we can still sit back and pause through the pictures and look into the lives of those who brought us to life...

On Clouds...

It is raining hard outside...its dark early and I'm listening to some acoustic Jackson Browne...Something Fine...his voice takes me off to another time and place and I suppose I'm in a bit of a dreamy mood. So I've been looking at a small collection of cloud photos which I keep for future use in a painting I'll do one day...in the meantime I pull them out once in a while and drift away...