Hope She’s Not Offended

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I chose to draw the portrait of a good friend….the image came from a photograph

One of the assignments, yesterday, was to draw a realistic image from a photograph. I had a great shot of my friend L taken at my daughter’s shower a couple of years ago. It’s not a perfect likeness but it’s pretty close.

The assignment required that I add water to the pencil to shade the picture. Parts of it turned out darker than I would have liked so I think it ages my friend a bit. Other than that I’m pretty happy with it. Makes me want to experiment with my watercolours.

Cheers!

Exploring Faces

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….3 days into a new online course

I recently signed up for another on-line course with Carla Sonheim. It’s called Faces 101 because by the end of the five day course I should have drawn and painted 101 faces. I’m already one day behind on my assignments but the good thing with this course is that once you purchase the program the assignments and videos are always available to you. I can post up to six of my best pieces onto a group page on Flickr daily and Carla will comment on my progress.

Here are a few of my faces so far:

Share Your World – Week 4, 2014

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Mama Cormier

,,,,some interesting questions this week….had to think about some of them

Do you recharge your energy by going out with friends for a good time or by spending with quiet time alone? For a person who likes company and likes to ‘party’ you might find it surprising that I enjoy quiet time alone to re-energize. Going out tends to zap my energy. Staying home and reading a good book, painting or writing gives me a sense of accomplishment and that for me is energizing.

What is the most number of blankets you’ve ever had on your bed? I don’t like heavy blankets on the bed at night. I much prefer one cozy down comforter to keep me warm. I think the most number of blankets at any one time would be three but just the thought of that makes me uncomfortable.

You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met. Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself? I’m not sure I would go, especially by myself. If a friend wanted to go I might consider it. After all it might be fun meeting some of these people. My one concern would be that the evening could be a bust and then what would I do. If I went with a friend we could at least salvage the evening and go for a drink together and enjoy each other’s company.

Do you like talking to people on the phone? Or do you prefer voice mail or email? As much as I like the convenience of emails, I prefer to talk to people on the phone. An email and a one sided voice mail can be misinterpreted as to the person’s meaning or intent. Did that message have an angry tone to it?… is he joking? ….should I be concerned? On the phone you can address the person directly and probably hear in their voice how they’re feeling or what the intent of a statement meant and if you can’t you can ask them right away.

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/01/27/2079/

Away ….(Continued)

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Mama Cormier

……the wedding and reception

After lunch last Saturday we all went back to the hotel to get ready for the church service. We were toying with the idea of taking a taxi to the reception so we wouldn’t have to worry about drinking and driving later on so I made the decision to not take the wedding gift with me to the church. Instead I would drive back to the hotel and then call a cab. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

On our way to the car we met up with some guests who we had met earlier in the day. They were also going to the church but had been waiting a long time for a cab. They had a similar experience earlier in the day when they waited 45 minutes before a cab picked them up. The van I rented could seat 7 people so we invited them to come with us and the hotel cancelled their cab.

The wedding ceremony was very moving. Of course I started crying when my sister came down the aisle with her 25 year old son but I pulled myself together quickly. It was a choral wedding which means that the church choir sang throughout the service.

: The three sisters taken 6 weeks ago.

Both my sister and her husband are members of this church and my sister also sings with this choir. The service was about an hour long and afterwards the families stayed behind so that pictures could be taken in the church.

The couple that we drove to the church needed a lift to the reception so I offered to drive them if they didn’t mind waiting while the photographer did his job. This, however, slightly changed my plans. After all the pictures were taken I drove everyone to the restaurant first but I still needed to pick up the wedding gift so I drove back to the hotel. My girls accompanied me so that I wouldn’t be alone and in the end we decided not to order a cab, considering how difficult it had been earlier in the day for the people that we drove. If we drank too much we would leave the van in the parking lot and order a cab from the restaurant.

The reception was a lot of fun. Instead of clinking glasses to make the bride and groom kiss, you had to take the cap gun and ‘shoot’ the new couple. It sounds a bit disturbing but that’s what they wanted. They both enjoy target shooting and D gets out with his brothers a couple times a year to go hunting. Living out there is quite different from the big city. In the end I only had one drink and really didn’t miss having more to drink. I danced all night with my sisters and nieces and nephews.

The highlight of the evening for my baby sister and I happened when our sister and our father danced together. My Dad is 87 years young and still loves to dance. He brought his dancing shoes with him and made sure to tell the DJ that he had done so. Everyone was in awe when they saw how spry my father is and how well the two of them danced with each other. My little sister cried. It was at that moment that we realized how lucky we are to still have our father with us.

To be continued……..

A Word A Week: Undulate

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….Sue’s word challenge this week is ‘undulate’, meaning to move with a smooth wavelike motion

From subtle ripples in the sand to man made structures (pipe organ and hallway at the AGO) and back to nature (The Cheltenham Badlands).

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-undulate-waveyripple/#like-11928

Tissue Collage Landscape Done by Eight Year Olds

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….here are the results of the lesson I started a couple of weeks ago

Tissue Collage Landscape

It was a bit of a struggle but with a little bit of encouragement to keep going and add more detail the first few tissue landscapes are finished.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Juxtaposition

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

This classic old building “The Flat Iron Building” in downtown Toronto was the focus of this shot but one can’t help but see the modern skyscrapers that hover behind it.

This is a quirky coffee shop in Queen St. West. Part of the decor includes a wall of art with old classroom desks used as tables and a hobby horse for added measure.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/photo-challenge-juxtaposition/

Away and Down for the Count

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I feel like I haven’t posted in awhile so here’s my week in review

Friday, January 17

My bags are packed and I’m on my way to Chatham for my sister’s wedding. My husband is suffering a great deal of pain from his fall earlier this week and isn’t coming with us. I booked an appointment to get my hair cut before I headed out to meet my father and catch the train at Union Station.

I arrived an hour early and looked out for my 87 year old father who had to come into Toronto from Oshawa on the Go Train. Unfortunately Union Station is undergoing a lot of renovation and finding anybody is a bit tricky. I sat down in a waiting area figuring his train wasn’t due to arrive for another half an hour. Little did I know that he caught an earlier train. Luckily for me my Dad isn’t shy and after asking for some directions he ended up waiting in a waiting area on the opposite side of the station.

When I thought his train was about to arrive I stood up to see if I could catch a glimpse of him as he arrived. I happened to look over to the other side of the station and sure enough there he was wandering around looking for me. All ended well. We got on the train together and settled in for a very enjoyable 3 1/2 hour trip.

One of the things that my husband arranged that both my Dad and I very much appreciated was upgrade our seats to business class. My father was very surprised when he pulled out his wallet to buy a drink and was politely told by one of our seat mates to put away his money. All drinks and food on business class are complimentary. The meals were excellent, better than any airline meal I’ve ever had.

When we got to Chatham the car rental company picked us up and drove us to the rental office to pick up our van. The hotel was just down the street. We booked into the Holiday Inn Express and freshened up before going to the wedding rehearsal.

My sister came by and we followed her to the church.

After about an hour of running through the ceremony and making final adjustment we got back into our cars and headed out to Pain Court (French pronunciation – pan cour) for the rehearsal dinner.

When we finished our meal we headed back to Chatham but in the meantime it had started snowing so driving was a little treacherous. My other sister and her family were flying in from Calgary and were landing in Windsor which meant that they had to drive from Windsor to Chatham.

When we got back to the hotel we inquired about my sister’s family but they hadn’t yet arrived. About 15 minutes later my phone rang and my sister announce that they were in the hotel. A few minutes later all five of them came down to my room and we had a bit of a reunion. Dad was already for bed for he didn’t join us.

After catching up and meeting T’s ( my nephew) girlfriend we made arrangements to meet for breakfast and then apparently we were going to the hall to decorate it for the wedding.

Saturday, January 18

Breakfast was in the hotel. We all met downstairs and enjoyed the complimentary coffee and breakfast foods. Dad finally greeted the rest of CS’s family (my baby sister) and we planned out the rest of the day.

We drove to the restaurant where the wedding reception was being held. A friend of my sister who was getting married was already there with instructions on what to do to decorate the space. I organized the name tags on the tables and my baby sister helped the bride’s friend decorate the head table.

My brother-in-law picked up my girls from the train station and we had three more sets of hands to help decorate. My sister’s theme was a rifle range because that’s where she and D met over 30 years ago when they were both at university. The tables had cap guns, rifle lighters and the walls were decorated with targets.

At one point my sister proclaimed that we needed more tape so again my brother-in-law volunteered to go buy some. Little did we know that he was checking out the local dollar store and he bought most of the glow sticks in the place and bought more toy guns and caps. He returned with two huge bags.

The original plan was to meet the bride for lunch after she got her hair done but she ran behind schedule so we were on our own. We couldn’t agree on where to go so we decided to go our separate ways for lunch. I had to take the girls back to the hotel first anyway so that they could check in. Once we did that we found a Tim Horton’s close by and had a quick lunch before we returned to the hotel to get dressed for the wedding.

To Be Continued………

Scratch Art

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….brown craft paper, oil pastels, and black acrylic paint

Last week I discovered that I was running out of some basic materials, like glue sticks and my supply order that I made weeks before the holidays still hadn’t arrived. After rummaging through the supply cupboard I found enough brown paper for two classes. I had plenty of oil pastels and 2 jars of black acrylic paint.

Some of the students were still finishing their Hundertwasser style landscapes using chalk pastel, so it was interesting for them to experience a new medium, oil pastels. Everyone was busy, either finishing projects or starting a new one. I set up one table for painting to limit the mess and thank goodness for my new drying rack.

Scratch Art from Scratch

I’ve never attempted to do scratch art projects because I’ve only ever seen them done using pre-made scratch boards. As I was going through one of my many art book for children I discovered a simple way to make our own black scratch papers. I have to say that making our own papers was very satisfying and gave the children some experience using oil pastels. I loved using the brown paper and the students were encouraged to leave some of the brown edges exposed.

Students are encouraged to lay down a thick layer of pastels. No background paper should show through. Once we were satisfied with the amount of pastel on the paper we painted a thick layer of black acrylic paint. Before you do this make sure that each student has written their name on the back of their paper or you will have quite a time trying to determine who belongs to the blackened sheets when they come back a week later.

As soon as students finished painting over the the pastels they placed their papers on the drying rack. (This is not a one day project). In the remaining time students can start sketching on copy paper a rough copy of what they would like to draw. I have numerous drawing books available for them to look through and be inspired.

In the following class each student was given a paper clip that I bent open and that was their scratching tool. It works fairly well, especially if you hold it like a pencil and gently rub away the black paint. The assignment was to draw some animals but some of them chose to create a landscape or they did a combination of both. I mounted the finished pieces on two pieces of different coloured construction paper so that it looked like it was matted. Again I think that the grade 2/3 class did a great job.

Share Your World – Week 3, 2014

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…I think the first question is the hardest

In what do you find the simplest of joys?

I guess one of the ways that I find the simplest of joys is baking or cooking for my family. I don’t do much of that anymore because my husband does most of the cooking. I’m not complaining mind you, I love being pampered by him and he is a wonderful cook. I don’t bake much because I like my own cooking too much and I have a weakness for baked sweets.

Another way I find joy is to simply curl up with a good book and a cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon. I’m still working so I don’t often get time for that but in the summer I make up for it tenfold.

Jello or Pudding? And what is your favorite flavor?

It would definitely be pudding and my favourite flavour would be chocolate followed by coconut and banana.

Is there a language you would like to learn?

I’m terrible at languages. My first language is German and I’m sorry that I didn’t keep it up. I understand most of it and I can get by but I’d love to be more proficient. The other language that I wish I had worked harder at is French. I took French for about five years in school and I’ve taught in French Immersion schools for over twenty years but I discovered that you can’t learn a language by osmosis. Finally I think I would love to learn some Italian and maybe a little Spanish, just enough to get by when I travel to Italy and Spain (hopefully in the next two to three years).