Reflections of the Past

Posted on March 3, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….fond memories of the High Park Zoo

When I was very young, about three to be exact, I remember going to the High Park
Zoo with my parents and little sister. I loved feeding the ducks and seeing what I thought at the time were exotic animals. Those exotic animals would have been bison, deer and camels. I remember bringing bags of carrots and I can still feel the pull that the deer exerted when nibbling on the these treats as I held them through the wire fence. fullsizeoutput_6c52

I recall going there quite often because we lived fairly close by. I loved walking on the stone ledges pretending to balance on a precarious cliff. In the warm weather my parents would dress us in our Sunday best and we would walk down by Grenadier Pond and around the beautiful gardens. It was also a favourite place to take visitors.

Last Sunday my husband and I drove to High Park (it’s a bit far to walk to now), parked the car and started to walk along the pathways. When we got to the top of one hill I made a request to head down towards the zoo. I felt like a kid again. The camels are no longer there but the deer and bison still reside in this zoo. Feeding the animals is now completely forbidden.

Do you visit a place that brings back fond memories from when you were a child?

March Squares – Day 1

Posted on March 3, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Becky for hosting March Squares

I’m combining today’s challenge with Evelyn’s Collage Challenge and my 365 days of art (day 52).

Week 8 of the Collage Challenge from the book The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman is Reassemble. This week we were to take an image and cut it into squares of the same size. Then we were to reassemble the squares into a new collage. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of the original picture. It was an animated penguin.

fullsizeoutput_6cda

Weather for the Dogs (and their owners)

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..spring like conditions continue in the Northern Hemisphere

The sun has come out and the temperatures have climbed well above freezing for more than a week now and it looks like will continue for another week or more. On Sunday my husband and I drove to High Park and took a nice long walk in the off leash area where dogs and their owners can walk, run and play. Earlier in the day I walked in the neighbourhood, where I also came across some dogs and lots of swans.

In High Park there were a lot more people and dogs and the walk was quite challenging due to the steep hill at the end of the walk. When you start downhill you know that at some point you have to go up again.

365 Days of Art – Unconventional

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….day 51 uses unconventional art tools

Tuesday’s prompt from Carla Sonheim was to create a piece of art using unconventional tools. I chose to use a toilet paper roll, a chop stick and a wooden skewer.

On a piece of heavy watercolour paper I placed the toilet paper roll upright and dropped a small amount of two or three acrylic paint colours and some white down the middle of the tube. I also surrounded the tube with some white paint as well. Then the fun begins. You start moving the tube around and the paints mix to create an almost marbled effect. If I try this again I’d use less paint and have three or four tubes on the paper in different locations.

When the paint dried I put a dollop of black ink on random areas on the painting and then using the chopstick and the skewer I moved the ink around to add some visual interest to the piece.

Here’s the final creation.

fullsizeoutput_6ca5

WPC – A Face in the Crowd

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….this week’s theme focuses on photographing strangers or a A Face in the Crowd

It’s not about capturing any one face or even a group of faces in the crowd but more about capturing a moment. It could be a silhouette, the back of a person or just a crowd.

P1050290 P1050233 fullsizeoutput_7829 P1040745 20160713-_dsc0453jpg_28488500336_o

365 Days of Art – Strips

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….day 47 and week 7

I’m a little behind with my collage art so I’ve posted two assignments back to back. This week’s assignment was to take two different images and cut them into thin strips of equal size and alternate them to create a new image.

For my first one I had two different images of snakes and for the second one I used an image of a tulip and one of my art papers that had similar colours.

365 Days of Art – Image Pairings

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..day 46 and week six

I’ve returned to work on some more of the 50 creative exercises from Randel Plowman’s book The Collage Workbook. Evelyn Flint and her sister, Carolyn, have challenged themselves to work on one exercise each week and I’ve decided to join them in their challenge.

For week six we were instructed to take an image and cut it into two pieces and create two different collages. I found an image of a Joan Baez and Bob Dylan poster that I used for my two collages this week.

Share Your World – February 12, 2018

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….thanks Cee for hosting Share Your World

Are you a practical jokester?

I might take part in planning a practical joke but I’m not one to do it on my own. I’m all for a good laugh as long as no one gets hurt or no damage is done to property.

Who cuts your hair? You, a friend, or professional.

I used to cut my children’s and my husband’s hair but I’ve always gone to a professional to get mine done. I’m very loyal when it comes to my hairdressers and I’m devastated when they leave the salon. If I know in advance where they are going I’ve been known to go to the new salon even if it’s out of my way. Of course if they leave the profession I have to find someone new and it can take awhile before I find someone I like.

Did you have a stuffed animal when you were a kid, if so what kind?

I don’t remember having a favourite stuffed animal as a child but my mother told me that I had a beautiful teddy bear. When I asked her what happened to it she said it ended up in the kiddie pool and she threw it away. My mother did that a lot. If we stopped playing with something it went in the trash. She hated clutter. I did have a favourite baby doll that I named Dorothy and I think I had her for quite a long time.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

This past week I went cross country skiing with a friend and her daughter. I had a great time and it felt good to be in the outdoors for such a long time. After two solid hours of skiing we went back to the chalet and had a late lunch. It started to rain so we pulled out a scrabble game and played for about 45 minutes. By that time the rain had subsided so we went for a short walk and then it was time to board the bus and return home.

365 Days of Art – Flowers

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..days 42 and 43

Yesterday I left the house at 8:00 in the morning and didn’t get home till almost 8:00 in the evening. I spent the day cross country skiing but almost five hours of my day was spent on a bus getting to and from the ski centre. On the way home I pulled out my phone and my sketchbook and looked up some photos I had taken of flowers that I thought might make good subjects for sketching.

It was pretty dark in the bus so it was a good opportunity to work on my blind or semi-blind contour drawing skills.

fullsizeoutput_6c8c

Today I took those drawings and redrew them in a larger sketchbook, adding more detail and shading. With the rose I added colour with watercolours.

365 Days of Art – Chinese Brush Painting

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..days 38 and 39

I started these late last night and then finished in the wee hours of this morning. So I guess that still counts as a painting a day.

I’ve always liked the simplicity of Chinese Brush Painting but there’s nothing simple about it. I can see why Chinese artists take years to master their craft. I took this book out of the library as a reference. It’s beautifully illustrated but I’ve discovered that I’m not very good at following directions from a book. I’m in too much of a hurry to take the time to read all the directions. I’m much better with a video demonstration but I did enjoy this process so I think I will go back and read some of the chapters.