Share Your World 2015 – Week 15

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks Cee for four more interesting questions

Regarding your fridge, is it organized or a mess inside?

I’m embarrassed to say that at the moment my fridge is a mess. Over the years all the plastic shelves and drawers have broken. We looked into replacing these pieces but the cost was ridiculous, over $700.00. The fridge itself works well but It’s become increasingly difficult to keep it organized.

Have you ever been a participant in a parade? What did you do?

Why does this question sound familiar? The only parade I remember participating in occurred when I went to summer day camp and at the end of the summer or end of the session (I don’t remember) we participated in a parade where all the different city camps got together and put on a parade. I might have been in a parade when I was a girl guide. It’s all a blur now.

How do you stand out from the crowd?

I tend to have a very loud and distinctive laugh. People always say they know where I am in a building by my laugh. When I was younger I used to be the narrator in school plays and today I find myself quite comfortable being the master of ceremonies at large school gatherings.

How many bones, if any, have you broken?

I have never broken a bone. About 20 years ago I had a very bad fall. I fell from the top of our stairs to the landing below and didn’t break a thing. Apart from a slight concussion, a few abrasions and bruises my injuries were pretty minor. I think I hit my head on the way down and knocked myself unconscious so I fell I like a rag doll. Falling into a full laundry basket probably helped as well.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

This week I’m grateful for sunny weather and milder temperatures and time spent with a group of friends from high school. I’m also grateful for small accomplishments, like finally getting my solar light drilled into the brick wall over our house number. I also found time to do some sketching this week and completed 2 paintings.

This week I’m looking forward to another afternoon concert put on by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. My friend CL and I will be meeting for lunch and then heading downtown to the university where the concert is being held. I’m also looking forward to a new on-line lesson from the Year of the Spark, this time given by Lynn Whipple. I was also thinking of turning some of my bird sketches into paintings.

A Busy Weekend – Art, a Movie, Walking, Shopping, Gardening and Lunch with Friends

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….some of my followers have complained that I don’t post enough about my daily endeavours

Well, truth be told, only one person has complained, so this is for her.

On Friday I treated my husband to dinner. As many of you know K usually cooks most of the meals, not because he has to but simply put, because he enjoys doing it. He wasn’t feeling up to going out so I ordered in. We tried a new Thai restaurant in the neighbourhood and it was excellent. For those of you close enough to check it out, it’s called Nimman Thai Cuisine and it’s located at 2451 Lakeshore Blvd. W. It wasn’t cheap but then many things worthwhile are a little more expensive. The service was pretty fast for a Friday night. They said that it would arrive in just under an hour and the knock on the door came about 40 minutes after the order was placed. I’ve discovered that ordering and paying on-line (including the tip) is painless and very convenient.

Friday night is one of two nights that I like to watch TV. After dinner we watched The Amazing Race together. I haven’t decided who I’d like to see win this season but I definitely have a couple of teams in mind that shouldn’t win. We’ll see.

On Saturday I decided to do a little bit of shopping. First I drove to Curry’s art supply store to buy some more brushes, paint and wooden boards so I could make more textured Gesso art with watercolours. I love the process so much that I want to create more pieces using this technique. Here are the first two pieces that I made earlier in the week.

I still had some money left on my Marshall’s gift certificate from Christmas so I thought it was high time to treat myself to a couple pieces of clothes for spring. I tried on 10 items and found two tops that I really liked. Bonus! My next stop was Lowe’s. I picked up two fluorescent bulbs for the kitchen, a gasket to repair the sink and yard waste bags so that I could start cleaning up the yard. I also made a stop at Tartistry (I’ve written about it here) to pick up a couple of tarts to have with tea after dinner. I would have liked to stay longer because they had the jazz band playing again. There were a lot more people there this time. I guess the snow storm really did keep people away the first time we went there.

Saturday evening K made an amazing dinner of proscutto, pesto and mozzarella stuffed chicken breasts, pasta and fresh mixed vegetables. After dinner we went for a walk and we saw these funny faces up in the trees and one of the trees was wrapped in a blanket. I went back today to take some photos because it was getting a bit too dark on our walk.

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After our walk we treated ourselves to tea and tarts and then we watched the movie Big Eyes. The movie is based on the real life of Margaret Keane and her husband Walter Keane. Margaret is the artist who created the infamous ‘Big Eyes’ paintings in the 60s but her husband convinced her to let him take credit for her work because according to him women artists couldn’t make it in the art world. He was an amazing salesman and promoter but he was also incredibly egotistical. Margaret worked around the clock producing her popular paintings while her husband took all the credit. They became incredibly rich, even though art critics hated the work. The lies and deceit wore on Margaret’s conscience. Eventually she left Walter and with the help of her daughter and friends she confessed the truth and took her husband to court.

I remember the posters of these big eyed children that were so popular in the 60s and 70s. Apparently Walter Keane was the first promoter to turn art into posters for sale. The movie was nominated for numerous awards last season and Amy Adams won the Golden Globe award for best actress.

After the movie I prepared the boards that I purchased earlier in the day with a coat of gesso. Now I just have to decide what it is I want to paint.

Today I started my day with toast made from K’s homemade batch bread that he also made yesterday. Bread is definitely my weakness, especially homemade bread. I’m glad that he froze half of it and gave some away to our daughter, G, today.

After breakfast I started getting ready for my lunch date with six friends from high school. We met at La Veranda Osteria at Royal York and Bloor. For lunch they have a prix fix menu for $15.99 which includes an appetizer and a main dish. None of us had ever been there and we weren’t disappointed. I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t take one photo of our reunion and we were there for 2 1/2 hours. As we were leaving we promised that we would get together again in a few months.

When I returned home I put on some gardening clothes and started to clean the yard. There are definitely signs of new growth but the seed heads and dried grasses still dominate the garden. It’ll be a few more weeks before we start to see real change.

After filling in the last yard waste bag I took a walk through the neighbourhood and noticed a lot of activity. People were out and about, enjoying the sun and the mild temperatures. It was also very evident that a lot of spring cleaning had taken place this weekend.

Of course now that the weekend is over all I can think of are the things that didn’t get done. I did get out for one more walk before dinner with the dog but I’m probably still shy about 1000 steps of my goal. Unfortunately it’s too late to do it now because it’s after 11:00 and I need to get to bed. As it is I’m not going to reach my goal of 8 hours of sleep tonight, either. Oh well, c’est la vie!

Cheers!

Five Stories, Five Photos Challenge – Day 5

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Mama Cormier

Elizabeth from Tea and Paper invited me to take part in this challenge. She is a fellow Canadian who doesn’t live too far from me, although I haven’t quit figured out where. She loves to take photos, make art journals and write poetry. For this challenge you need to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.

This is the last day for me and I’m going to keep this one short. I’m probably not going to make the deadline here in Toronto but It’s still April 8 somewhere in the west.

Busy Making Art

I’m a little behind today because I spent most of my evening finishing this piece of art. It’s the same technique that I talked about yesterday but it’s a slightly larger piece and has more detail than the yesterday’s still life. I’m a big fan of Hundertwasser so you can probably see where I got my inspiration. Now I need to give it a title. Any suggestions?

Today I’d like to invite Melissa from The Aran Artisan. She resides on the Aran Isles in Ireland. I love her idyllic life style and hope to some day visit that region of Ireland.

Five Stories, Five Photos Challenge – Day 4

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Mama Cormier

I was invited by Elizabeth from Tea and Paper to join the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.” Elizabeth is a fellow Canadian who lives close by but never reveals exactly where. She loves to journal, take photographs and write poetry.

Tulips

My art is simple, almost child-like. I don’t paint to become the next Picasso or Frida Khalo or Matisse. I paint for me. If you like it, that’s wonderful; if you don’t that’s okay too. I take joy in the process. It relaxes me, gives me a sense of purpose and allows me to be creative and experiment with new techniques.

Tulips was done on a piece of birch plywood. The technique was new to me. I drew the flowers with a pink marker directly onto the board and then covered it with Gesso. When the Gesso dried the pink showed through enough to paint around the image. Before adding colour, more Gesso is applied to create texture. When the second coat dried, I used very wet watercolour to wash over the Gesso. When that dried the whole piece was rubbed and buffed with a damp cloth. The image was outlined with pencil and marker and shaded with charcoal.

Carla Sonheim taught me the technique. I’m taking a year long on-line art class with her and Lynn Whipple called Year of the Spark. I believe over 600 students, world-wide have signed up for this class. It’s wonderful sharing our work on a special FaceBook page and receiving comments and support from like-minded people.

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Today I’d like to invite Joanne from My Life Lived Full. Joanne is another Canadian blogger. I love her sense of humour and gusto for life. I hope she accepts the challenge.

Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge – Day 1

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Mama Cormier

I was invited by Elizabeth from teandpaper to join the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.” Elizabeth is a fellow Canadian who lives close by but never reveals exactly where.

I’ve decided to write a piece of prose based on some art that I’ve created this week. Hope you enjoy it.

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Spring Awakening

The last of the snow has vanished

But the wind reminds us that

another flurry or two is still possible

The earth is brown and hard

but the birds chirp each morning

singing of warmer days to come

Small green shoots push hard

to break through the frozen crust

to savour the sun’s light

and longer days

The Easter season is upon us

Children dream of the Easter bunny

and egg hunts and parades

while the elders flock to church

to observe the holiest weekend

of the year

Cloudy days and rain will become the norm

for awhile

and trees and the Earth’s carpet

will begin to green

The animal world comes alive

and offspring will soon be abundant

The cycle continues,

one season moving on to the next.

(Property of Carol Cormier 2015)

I’m nominating Boeta and his mom and dad from Our Rumbling Ocean to take up the challenge. They live in South Africa and post wonderful photos and stories about their corner of the world.

Sticks and Stones

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..make wonderful art

Last week I was assigned a project that involved gathering up bits of nature to create a temporary work of art. After we finished creating we could photograph our masterpieces and then return the bits back to the environment or leave our creations somewhere outside where others could enjoy what we made. This idea came from Lynn Whipple who is one of the artists from Year of the Spark. This is a year long on-line art class brought to us by Carla Sonheim and Lynn. Every month they take turns coming up with wonderful and innovative assignments that bring out our inner spark. Every two weeks we get a new assignment.

I was really inspired by this project and came up with my own ‘Learning Stick’ and a composition of stones and dried foliage and grasses that I turned into a card.

I’m hoping to make more but in the meantime I offered this assignment to my kindergarten class and they ate it up.

Before I arrived for our regular weekly art class, the children took a walk around the school yard and gathered up as many bits of nature that they could find. Between me and the ECE teacher and what the children gathered we had a very nice collection of materials to work with.

I told the children that we weren’t gluing anything down and when their picture was done I would come around and photograph it and then we would take it apart and if they wanted they could make another picture. When we finished with the materials we would return them to nature.

I printed the photographs on my printer at home onto regular sized photocopy paper and then I made one 4 x 6 glossy print to mount onto a card. Here’s what mine looked like.

After we mounted all the photographs onto a black background they were put up outside the kindergarten class for all to enjoy. Today they were moved to a more central part of the school so that more people would see them. The cards that I made will be given to the parents as a special gift on Earth Day.

A Visiti to the Aquarium Inspires This Art Class

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….a watercolour wash, crayon resist, and playing with salt

The kindergarten classes made a trip to the new Ripley’s Aquarium here in Toronto. They researched marine life before going on the trip and I brought library books to the class to use as a reference for their fish drawings.

We started with a crayon line drawing of the fish and surrounding sea plants. I showed the class how to make a wash for the background and while the paint was still wet we sprinkled it with salt to give the water an interesting texture. We also used white crayon to create bubbles in the water and some of the children wrote their names with the this crayon. The last step was to add colour to the fish themselves and the plants. I think they did a wonderful job.

Happy Penguins

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….tell kindergarteners that they can dress up their penguins and they instantly become ‘happy’ penguins

We started our project by painting our background with ribbons of watercolour. The only restriction was ‘no’ black or brown paint. While the paint was drying they drew and then cut out their penguin bodies, eyes, beaks and feet. This pretty much took up the entire first class.

In the second class I showed the class how to draw an ice flow so that it had some dimension and then I instructed the students on how to put everything together. When the penguin was glued into place with all parts intact the students then had the option of making hats, scarves and sweater from some scrapbook paper that I had.

The inspiration for this assignment came from Deep Space Sparkle.

Share Your World 2015 – Week 12

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….some unusual questions this week

When was the last time you sat on a park or garden bench for more than ten minutes? Describe the occasion.

The last time I sat on a garden bench was two summers ago. My cottage neighbour had built a bench on the beach for anyone to use. I used to love going down to the beach early in the day to have my morning coffee. Unfortunately the powers that be decided that all things left on this ‘public’ beach had to be removed. When we returned last summer the bench was gone.

Would you ever be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse brings out the needle?

When I attended university I had thought about being a doctor but teaching became my chosen profession. I actually contemplated about taking a gross human anatomy class where I would dissect a human body. A 400 level floral design class won out. I used to watch live surgeries on TV but I do turn away when the needle to draw blood comes out.

Where’s your favorite place to take out-of-town guests?

If people are coming from another country I like to take them to Niagara Falls. For my Canadian out-of-town quests I like to take them to the AGO (art gallery) and treat them to any special exhibitions that are featured during their visit. Luckily most of my friends like art.

If my guest come in the summer and they like a rustic setting I might suggest that we go to the cottage for a few days.

If you had an unlimited shopping spree at only one store, which one would you choose? Why?

It might seem strange that I would choose a discount store but Marshall’s has it all for me. Beautiful designer clothes that fit me and suit me, shoes, purses, kitchenware, gourmet food, dishes, and children’s and men’s wear. What could be better?

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week I was grateful for being treated to a trip to the new Aga Khan Museum, here in Toronto. My friend, D, is a member and we spent the morning walking through the galleries. I really enjoyed looking at the old Persian vessels, art and tapestries. When so many artefacts are being destroyed in the Middle East because of war and acts of terrorism I was grateful that these treasures have been preserved for all to enjoy.

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After exploring the entire museum and checking out the gift shop we had a very nice lunch at the restaurant located in the museum. The space was decorated with beautifully carved wall panels and mirrors and the food was attractively presented and very tasty.

I’m also grateful for slightly warmer weather and sunny days. On Sunday we had the family over Sunday lunch and game day. My husband made an incredible Irish meal in honour of St. Patrick’s Day (only a week late) and A and J brought Zeppole for dessert in honour of St Joseph’s Day.

This week I’m looking forward to doing more art, not only my own personal art but also art with my students. I’ve already started some interesting projects with the kids and today my kindergarten class made wonderful art with objects from nature (last 4 photos). The first six photos are mine. The owls are samples I created for my older students. They are designing their own owls and then transferring the design onto a foam plate and then colouring it and pressing it onto paper. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the kids can do.