Looking Back to a Warm Autumn Day in Regent’s Park

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….another day in London

As the temperatures dip below freezing this week I long for the warm sunny days we had in London, England. On day seven we walked to Ottolenghi’s restaurant on Upper Street and purchased a picnic lunch for the four of us. Then we hopped onto a double decker bus and made our way to Regent’s Park.

Regent’s Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It lies within north-west London. It is home to Queen Mary’s Gardens and the London Zoo. There are numerous facilities and amenities, including gardens; a lake with a heronry, waterfowl and a boating area; sports pitches; and children’s playgrounds.

One of the highlights for me was Queen Mary’s Gardens. I’ve posted numerous photos of the thousands of roses that have been cultivated her in previous posts. Here are some of the other lovely sites we enjoyed that day.

The park is also home to numerous events. When we were there we had a quick glimpse of the sculpture exhibit.

As you can see we were blessed with beautiful weather that day and every day up to this point of our trip. Unfortunately the next day the skies opened up and our trip to Brighton Beach was cancelled.

Good Morning Collage

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….#3 of 8

I’m not sure I’ll get to the other 5 pages before the new lesson comes up but there’s no pressure to do all eight pages. This new page started with the hand drawn coffee mug that I cut out. I then added the bowl of fruit and drew a table around it and the mug. I added the cloud shapes and placed the orange circle partially under the cloud to look like the sun was peaking out from the clouds. I added a small bird perched on the edge of the coffee mug and then I added line detail.

The last step was to add some colour with watercolour crayons and I drew in some plant material with my pencil crayons.

It’s Monster Monday!

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….love this colourful addition to my husband’s collection of Monday monsters

Climate Change is Real

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….collage #2 of 8

This collage morphed into a political statement, although I don’t understand how science has, in this day and age, become political.

The collage started out with the big orange circle. Then I found the orange steer and layer it over some orange sky and desert like conditions. I added the umbrella for protection from the sun on one side and the acid rain on the other. The dark eyes at the top of the page could represent the evil nay sayers blinded by what they see before them. You can interpret this anyway you like.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Pairs

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge

Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Inspiration

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….a new photo challenge

Going through my emails this morning I discovered that two blogging friends have started a new photo challenge and are inviting bloggers from around the world to join in. One of the bloggers is Snow from The Snow Melts Somewhere and the other is Amanda from Something to Ponder About.

This week’s theme is inspiration. What inspires me? There are so many things; my husband inspires me with his daily drawings, other artists inspire me, photos from around the world inspire me to travel, my friends inspire me to be a better person, reading books inspire me, music inspires me, etc., etc..

I saw these two sculptures at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto last week. They inspire me to get my hands on some clay and mold an image from my imagination. The only thing holding me back is not having access to a kiln.

Number One of Eight

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….the first one is finished

I’m not sure I’ll get all eight done and that isn’t the goal anyway. This one just spoke to me more than the others. I started with the bird, added the music notes and went from there.

Collage Grid #1

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….the first assignment from Carla Sonheim’s Year of Collage

After dividing a page in my sketchbook into equal squares I took a handful of small bits of paper from magazines and my own art papers and thoughtfully placed them on the grid. Here is my finished piece.

The second part of this assignment is to take eight pages in my sketch book and glue one medium sized piece of paper on each page. Then we’re so suppose to go back and add some line and/or another piece of paper. We keep doing this to all eight pages until we feel we’re done. It’s okay to skip some pages and come back later. This is proving to be more challenging for me.

Abstract Painting With Karin Husty

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….beginning with exercise painting using mixed media

My first painting was my name collage where I used collaged papers, acrylic paint, art Graf and white ink. For my second exercise piece I laid down colour blobs instead of paper to start my piece and then drew in random lines with my graphite crayon. I layered in more colour, using mostly Payne’s Grey, Azo orange and white. I dabbed on some cyan acrylic ink and stencilled in some dots and circles. Towards the end I scribbled random text over the entire piece using a 4B pencil and added some dark grey and highlights of white to complete the piece. Not sure that this is done. The next lesson will determine where I go with this.