new work

Esmae came downstairs this morning, saw the new piece I'm working on, and said "OOOOOH, BEEOOOO-FUL!" Sweet critique! She's generally a fan.

I just started this yesterday for AWOL's annual Square Foot show, Friday August 5th - 21st, 2011, opening on Saturday, August 6th at 7pm:  http://www.awolgallery.com/square_foot/

It's wood burning. I just discovered, at my local lumber yard, "karate boards", square pine boards that are meant for breaking! Right now I am working with damask and floral patterns, but this has inspired me to start doing some drawings of karate chops and kicks....

Esmae's Sketchbook

I created a blog just for Esmae's drawings. And collages, and photos, and.... all things that she makes, which I'm sure will only expand as she gets older. I hope she always loves to draw as much as she does now.
Here's her very own blog address: http://esmaessketchbook.blogspot.com/

Zilberschmuck

Yes, that's a real word. It translates (from German) to silver little treasures. I was introduced to this great little jewelry shop/gallery yesterday afternoon.  http://www.zilberschmuck.com/  What a splendid way to treat myself on the last day of the school year! The jewelry is delicious and brilliantly made. I purchased these two beauties - a lost-wax cast silver pebble pendant with a tiny blue topaz by Anat Kaplan http://www.anoukjewelry.com/  and a "One Footer" sterling ring by Dorothée Rosen, http://dorotheerosen.ca/, who I just discovered is also a graduate of NSCAD. 

Cake, Party hats, Loot bags...

Esmae's 2nd birthday party is on Sunday. I just ordered this amazing cake from Dufflet's. Simple vanilla layer cake with vanilla buttercream. Their website is amazing - they have images of all of their cakes with drool-inducing descriptions, price list, online ordering... it's brilliant. And their cakes are awesome. I can't wait!  http://www.dufflet.com

I looked everywhere (in vain), for party hats that did not have princesses or Disney characters! Failing that, I just downloaded a template for a simple party hat from http://www.firstpalette.com/. They have a lot of pretty hokey "kids' craft" stuff, but a few great printable designs - a wicked pinwheel template and some sweet butterfly colouring pages (though Esmae generally draws in a blank sketchbook.) I don't plan to have any organized games or activities, but the kids can colour their own hats and plaster them with stickers! This also goes along with the craft paper loot bags that Esmae decorated herself for her guests to take home. I know you're wondering - loot bag contents: beaded necklace, glass ring, small blank sketchbook, a pencil with novelty eraser, a few pages of stickers, a mini Slinky, some noisemakers and balloons, and a tiny dump truck. Fun for all!

Abstract Expressionism at the AGO

We went to the Abstract Expressionism show last week at the AGO. This Philip Guston was my favorite. It brought back memories of art school - late nights in the studio, looking through books, conversations about artists and painting... A lot of the work was great to see, like walking through an art history textbook (I love that about visiting galleries!), and the exhibit was well put together. Esmae (my 2-year-old) was particularly fond of the Frans Kline black & white paintings, and loved watching and listening to the videos of him painting. Most other gallery visitors were tolerant of her squeals of delight!

The unfortunate thing about galleries/museums is the insane prices for pretty crappy food! Mark took this photo, saying "Now there's an art piece!"

http://www.ago.net/abstract-expressionist-new-york

Fruit, Fowers, Fish

I have a little art show opening this Sunday afternoon. The work is from a class where I studied still life painting with Michael Gerry, a recently retired colleague. What a pleasure to be a student! The show will be low-key, at his studio, with a little wine/beer and nosh. The weather looks like it will be beautiful and he has a lovely garden.

dot dot dot

I couldn't think of what ... is actually called. So I looked it up:


Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission" or "falling short") is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word in the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate  a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis). When placed at the end of a sentence, the ellipsis can also inspire a feeling of melancholy longing. The ellipsis calls for a slight pause in speech.

The most common form of an ellipsis is a row of three periods or full stops (...) or a pre-composed triple-dot glyph (…). The usage of the em dash (—) can overlap the usage of the ellipsis.

The triple-dot punctuation mark is also called a suspension point, points of ellipsis, periods of ellipsis, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis