Summer Stars

Here is a new series of Summer Stars painted with encaustic.

For the Bees

I recently created this image in encaustic on slate as part of a fundraiser for local organizations. Beeswax has been my medium over the last 3 or 4 years. I rely on the cooperation of bees and beekeepers to keep the wax flowing.

There are reports that the health of bees is as risk in our world. These diligent workers play and important role in our food production and like all living beings on the planet are essential to the living vitality of our natural world. Dorothy Maclean, cofounder of Findhorn Foundation is working to create awareness of the importance of bees. She does this using this affirmation:

'The successful functioning of bees on the planet is a vital need. I choose to invoke the vast loving power of my inner divinity to bring about the successful functioning of bees here and around the world, bringing joy throughout'.

Her intent inspires me to continue to remember the bees in my daily like and especially as I create with their beautiful wax. I am grateful for the magical elixir that they create as they build their hexagonal structures to support their next generation and my inner need to combine wax and pigment and make images that wouldn't be the same without the bees.

Baby is 13

My son is 13 tomorrow. This image was taken a few years ago and is chosen because of the disguise that expresses the amazing creativity that is this young man. It is fun to discover new things by the lake and this trip certainly was one of those finding gold kind of days.

Tomorrow is a celebration of the gold in my life.

Coffee Roasting

Recently, we decided to try roasting our coffee. We purchased Sumatran green coffee beans from Just Us! with the intent to try roasting our own. Others in our family have been roasting coffee in a popcorn maker and haven't looked back. It is cheaper and the coffee tastes better. We thought we would give it a try. I awoke on Saturday morning and realized that today was the day as I looked in the coffee grinder and saw that our pre roasted beans had run out.

One piece of familial advice was to roast outside as the smell can hang in the air for quite some time. I did it in our back porch with the fresh winter morning air blowing in the open door. I felt like I was camping.

I did the first batch with the plastic popcorn maker lid on it and found it took a long time. The cold air was making it difficult for the beans to heat to the desired temperature to make things happen. For the second batch, I got rid of the plastic lid and fashioned a foil plate on top of the maker leaving a space for heat to escape. This sped things up immensely. You know things are working as the chaff from the beans start to blow off and they begin to turn a golden yellow colour. Stirring the beans occasionally with a chopstick helps to release the chaff. Soon they start to crack and not too long after that they crack again and little dark coloured specs pop out of the hopper. After doing some reading on coffeeresearch.org, I found out that the roasting limit is halfway into the second crack. I haven't tried roasting past the second crack so I am not sure of the halfway mark. Perhaps some more familial advice is in order. I decided that once beans were glistening with oil it was a good time to stop. The next experiment will be to roast and mix beans from other countries.

Epic Shift Visual Art

I spent this past weekend with creative youth from Huron County at the Epic Shift Youth Festival in Blyth. My role in the event was as Visual Artist Mentor. I had the pleasure of travelling to the high schools in Huron County gathering the current art work of students via their supportive art teachers. The result of our collective efforts made for a very vibrant and highly skilled collection of work. The viewers were impressed with the visual expression of these young people who ranged in age from about 14-24.

I purchased two of my favourites that happened to be for sale.

The energy and simplicity of this image comes to our home just in time for Valentine's Day. It is called Freedom of Feeling by Danielle Kehoe.

This painting is by emerging artist, Monica Eckert. It is called Shed Party or at least that is what was decided in the moment. There is something comforting about the gathering of people outside on a farm....a rural communion of sorts. I enjoy the simplicity and love in Monica's images of both the subject matter and the colour and paint.

New Eyes

I often remind myself, especially when walking in nature and looking at the great Lake Huron that is just down the street from me, to really look and see what is there. Lately I have been noticing the lake and its colour changes even as I stand there for 5-10 minutes to look. There are amazing and different colours out there. I am reminded of the children's book I am an artist.

Another place for me to really look and see and appreciate is in my own artwork. I have just scanned an encaustic piece that I haven't been valuing incredibly. It is fun to look at it in detailed segments to appreciate what is really there.


This piece is about 8"X10 inches and is created in encaustic. I haven't thought of it as one that I would share and sell because it is wax on canvas which is too flexible to support the wax properly. It could crack.

Regardless, it is fun to look a the imagery that has been developed.

I have long been intrigued by this image (left). It has a number of associations--the bull, devil, uterus... I choose not to go to a dualistic place of good or evil but honour its energy and my own impulse to represent it in my work.






Towers or torches or spears often emerge as talismans or places of power.
They come from dreams of Persian architecture and flying on magic carpets.





I love to draw and find ways to do it in the medium of paint. Scratching into the wax, rubbing with oil stick and wiping off the excess allows for a more gestural mode of representation. I will call this section (left) Scarab.






It is important for me to remember the beauty of the medium and to simply play without concern for imagery. It is good practice to look and see the gems that seem to effortlessly emerge from the wax.

Celtic Festival Artwork 2010

This year's Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Celtic Roots Festival artwork has emerged from the Celtic creative soup. It is a rooster! It was fun to draw because of the energy of the tail and the comb around the head. As usual I work on representing the four elements as animals. This year the plant world also plays a role. He is standing on the sun--calling us to wake up and celebrate.

My Hands

I find it amusing that on the day that I commit to creativity everyday I burn my right hand. Thankfully not in a debilitating way but one of those 3 hour this hurts! kind of things. A reminder of the importance of my hands. A reminder to slow down. I am not good at going fast.

Creative Action

My blog has been dormant for a while. Life as a supply teacher at local high schools has been a focus of my time and energy lately. Exams are coming up and there is less need for my role in that community of learning. So yes, I have a reprieve. Time to gather my creative wits within the luxury of more time.

I confess my studio is in a state of neglect, the result of dashing in and out leaving boxes of things and not sorting them and putting them away. A mouse has taken up residence finding solace in the stillness of little human activity. I found a chewed bar of soap in the sink yesterday--yum!

With the help of my very generous mom we are sorting through things and reducing my collections of things to make room for new creative energy. One great prize of my neglect was finding a bucket of rotting plant fibre intended to be left so that the fibres would break down to and become more manageable in my blender. After a couple of years we opened the bucket and it seems blender ready! No smell either--bonus!

I know there is always time to create you just need to show up says creativity guru Julia Cameron. Book creative time just like you do a dentist's appointment, says Jodi Ohl in a recent Cloth, Paper, Scissors article. A creative appointment with yourself is a lot more fun. OK. In the back of my mind I am reminded of my physical and mental fatigue after a day in the classroom but what could be better than some creative play to sooth my creative spirits? Is this where I make a 365 day commitment to creative activity every day for at least one hour? WOW that might be fun.

OK--oh my Goddess here we go.

Huron County Youth Mural

I have been an artist mentor this summer for a local project called Engaging Huron's Youth in Arts and Culture. For the past two month's local artist Natalie Hussey and I have been meeting with youth in Goderich and Blyth. Each artist has painted a piece of the mural on 3'X4' of unstretched canvas offering their visual perspectives as youth in Huron County. The mural pieces have been linked in groupings and hung in the reception area in the Blyth Theatre. Our opening reception takes place on Thursday, August 6 from 7-8pm. The mural will hang at Blyth Theatre until September 19 when it closes for the season. The mural will then tour public buildings in the county until January.

What has impressed me the most is the committment and enthusiasm of these artists to the medium if paint of canvas. Painting is alive in Huron County!

Sketchbooks

Journals and sketchbooks have been a part of my life for many years. Lately it seems that words have overcome the images. Writing about dreams or doing Morning Pages as inspired by Julia Cameron's, The Artists Way have been an off and on ritual in my life. I began sketchbooks as a way to collect ideas for my body of work. My art comes from a fairly non literal place so I often write to develop a more conscious understanding of what I am creating. I love making discoveries in this way. Sometimes meaning emerges through poetic writing.

I have an artist friend who makes books. Both of my current books have been made by her. When on holiday recently I spent some focused time with a book that has a colourful textured cover and Fabriano pages that accept watercolour. At the outset this book is more about colour and image than written word. Creating each page becomes a form of meditation that is different than journalling. The messages are simpler as visual language tells a different kind of story.

Notebook Drawings

I was just going through my son's reading journal from school and discovered these drawings. It was fun to scan them from the journal and see them as unique moments of creation. It is really easy to overlook someone's doodles. Doodles are great! They are an expression of your unique visual language! They deserve a closer look.

Nest Making

Birds are great weavers of nests. Recently, some young people and I tried to figure out how the birds do it by constructing our own nests out of clay, sticks, wool, moss and a variety of fibres. We designed beautiful eggs with plasticene. New species of birds were hatched from vibrant imaginations. I am always amazed at what can emerge out of the magic of the creative process.

Happy Year of the Ox!

Two loved ones in my family are celebrating birthdays in March that are exactly a week apart and both were born in the year of the ox 36 years apart. In honour of their special year we had a party last night and I made an ox cake. I used a recipe for snickerdoodle cookies for the legs, horns, ears and tail. Hot milk sponge cake makes up the forehead and haunches and fudge brownie fills in the rest.

I remember a dream that I had a while ago about doing work with a shaman somewhere in South America and I was given the job to make a cake to get the ritual started. There was a sense of honour in the task. I had the same feeling while creating this lovely creature for my family and friends. I wonder what the eating of the ox will inspire?

Celtic Roots Festival Art Work

For a week or so every January or February I am hard at work with a now familiar creative task. Since 1993, I have created a design to celebrate the Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Celtic Roots Festival. This is number 17 in the series. A slide show of the all of the work is available on the Celtic Festival website.

In getting started I am guided by the four elements that take form as human or animal. Sometimes there is a theme that needs expressing. This year speaks of "the scattering" of Celtic people throughout the world. I started with the image of a house and gave it the wings of the geese to suggest a house taking flight. The roof suggests furrows in a field, making reference to scattering and taking root.

The animals, ox, goose, dragons feeding the hearth and the fish all speak to me of home in Huron County a place where many found themselves after scattering. Lake Huron and the agricultural land continue to be a valuable resource and a part of our natural heritage.

And so, the act of scattering becomes taking root in a new place called home.

My Stars

It is Valentine's Day and instead of sharing hearts I am sharing my stars. I started rug hooking early this summer while travelling around Nova Scotia. While touring shops on a rainy day in Pictou I found a rug hooking kit by Deanne Fitzpatrick and subsequently became hooked on rug hooking. On our way home while passing through Amherst, Nova Scotia we stopped at Deanne's downtown studio on Electric Street. It is an inspiring place and so is Deanne.

At Christmas time I began making stars as gifts. Choosing colour is about intuitively responding from one section to the next. Most of my wool has come from Deanne's shop where you can order online as well as from The Rug Line in Hensall, Ontario. Recently, my mom has become enthused about rug hooking and has been spending time in second hand stores looking for wool clothing to recycle into rugs. She has had great success. We have also discovered there is a herstory of rug hookers on my mom's side of the family. My grandmother was a rug hooker and so was my great grandmother. There exists in the family a rug hook that my great grandmother used. It made by my great grandfather from the bone handle of a fork.

About Encaustic

About a year ago I began experimenting again with encaustic medium-- a mix of beeswax and damar resin. I had first used it in university but decided to learn more and take a workshop with encaustic and mixed media artist, Andrea Bird. The workshop resulted in transforming my working process from mixed media and acrylic painting to one of wax, oil paint and heat. It offers the texture that I love and a luminescent quality that I have yet to see in any other medium. I can continue to incorporate collage as well as scratch and scrape into the surface, transfer images and add oil stick to enhance the rich colour quality. Every layer is fused with a blow torch or heat gun. Even this can produce inspiring results.

The paintings in the slide show below are from this year's body of work.

Encaustic Paintings

Communication

This blog is inspired by my word for the year, communication drawn from Angel Cards by Innerlinks. My purpose is to celebrate and communicate the creative energy that I see in the world.

On New Years Eve I gather with family and friends and make Chinese dumplings. Making food together is a great way to celebrate. It creates an aura of welcome and comfort especially for those that are new to the party as they don aprons and roll, cut and flatten dough into discs to envelope the mix of ground pork, ginger, onion, garlic and shredded nappa cabbage. These tasty pockets are steamed or boiled and served with Jiaozi sauce, a mix of tamari, garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar and sesame seeds. The energy of celebration continues as the dumplings are consumed into the New Year accompanied by non verbal expressions of gustatory pleasure.

This recipe is reprinted with permission from page 268 of the cookbook Extending the Table...A World Community Cookbook by Joetta Handrich Schlabach.

Pork Filled Chinese Dumplings
(China)
Makes 75 dumplings

Dough for Dumpling Skins
(I often find that I need to make 2 batches of this to cover the amount of filling)
Stir with chopsticks or wooden spoon 3 minutes
2c. cold water (500ml)
6c. flour (1.5L)
Dough will initially be dry and crumbly; Knead about 5 minutes until smooth. Cover with damp cloth and rest 15-30 minutes. Roll into long rope about 1-inch diameter (2.5cm). Cut into 1 inch lengths (2.5cm) and shape into balls. Flatten with fingers and roll out on board into very thin disks, about 3 1/2 inches in diameter (8cm). If dough sticks, sprinkle board with flour. Lay disks on lightly floured board or table, not overlapping (they stick together easily). If several people are working together, one can immediately begin stuffing and cooking skins, while another continues shaping and rolling dough.

Filling
1 1/2lb. ground pork or beef, or a combination (750g), mixed with
1/1/2T onion or green onion, minced (20mL)
1/2-1t.ginger root, minced (2-5mL)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
(I always use more garlic and ginger than this)

Add:
1-2 T. soy sauce (15-30ml)
2T. sesame oil (30)ml
1 egg (optional)

Finely shred, to consistency of coleslaw:
1-1 1/4 large heads of Chinese cabbage (sometimes called Nappa)

After shredding , squeeze out all excess water. Add cabbage to meat mixture and beat until mixture is pasty. (Filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.)

Stuffing Skins:
To stuff skins, place 1 heaping teaspoon filling on each disk.Use fingertips to dampen edges of skin with a little water. Fold disk firmly over filling and press and roll edges together to form half moon. Set on lightly floured or oiled board or plate until ready to cook; Jiaozi should not touch each other so they do not stick.

Cooking:
Fill large saucepan or soup pot half full of water. Bring to a boil. Add dumplings, 10-15 at a time. Bring to a boil. Add 3/4 c. cool water (175ml). Bring to a boil. Add 3/4 c. cool water (175ml). Bring to a boil. Add a third 3/4 c. water (175ml). Bring to a boil. Scoop out Jiaozi with slotted spoon.
(This year one of our cooks used 3 tangerines as reminders of each addition of cool water)

Dumplings will be firm and creamy white, and are best served while still piping hot. Often one person continues cooking while the group begins to eat. If not eaten immediately, keep cooked Jiaozi warm in covered dish, overlapping as little as possible to keep from sticking together. Serve Jiaozi in bowls, with small dishes of Jiaozi sauce or Simple Jiaozi Dip. Slices of fresh fruit or vegetables complete the meal.

Jiaozi Sauce
(China)
Makes about 1 cup (250ml)

Mix:
1c soy sauce (250ml)
1/4-1T Tabasco pepper sauce (1-5ml)+!
3 cloves garlic, minced
2t. sugar (10ml)
4t. vinegar (20ml)
2T sesame oil (30ml)
1/4 c. Toasted Sesame Seeds (50ml)


Photos are courtesy of enthusiastic party photographers Pam Hanington and Karen Melady.