The Life of a Dead Tree

Posted on August 22, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….recently featured at MOCA

Several weeks ago my daughter, daughter-in-law and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto. My daughter wanted to check out the zine show and I wanted to see the gallery. I’d never been to MOCA and the entrance fee was free that day….BONUS!!!

The zine show was packed with young entrepreneurs, displaying and selling their tiny self published magazines.

In the main gallery, the show that was featured was called ‘The Life of a Dead Tree’ and it consisted of sections of a dead tree that had been taken down here in the city. There was an on going study of the tree and there were experts around the room that could answer questions that you might have about what you were seeing. I’m glad we took the time to ask questions because it made the display that much more interesting.

The part that I found most interesting were the insects that inhabited the tree and were eventually the demise of the tree.

When I saw the patterns on the next two photos I thought that they were done by humans as part of the art project. To my amazement the guide explained how the emerald ash borer had made these marks….beautiful but deadly.

Friendly Friday – Fake

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to Snow for hosting Friendly Friday this week

The first thing I think of when I hear the work fake is ‘fake news’. I promise I’m NOT posting any of that. These are reproductions of famous art sculptures and wax dummies to fake Christmas trees.

Sidewalk Cracks Art #4

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to Carla Sonheim for the sidewalk cracks

Sidewalk Crack Art #3

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Carla Sonheim for bringing back the ‘sidewalk crack’

This one reminds me of our daughter’s Bassett hound, Lucy,

Sidewalk Cracks – Art Piece #2

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….my imaginary fish

Sidewalk Crack Art #1

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Carla Sonheim for reintroducing the art of sidewalk cracks

Carla has once again offered a week of free lessons for kids of all ages. This week her lessons are focusing on the cracks we find in sidewalks and creating animals, creatures, people or anything else we see in these cracks. Try it, it’s fun.

Introducing Chef Lucky Ducky

Back into Collage

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…another art project for the soul

Randomly gluing down bits of paper and then adding some marks is another very restorative way of making art. It started off as a way to patch up some pages in a sketchbook that I want to start using again. I took out pages that I didn’t like and discovered that I had to reinforce the front of the book if I didn’t want it to fall apart. Collaging the double spread with colourful bits of paper did the trick.

Art for the Soul

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….after a very long hiatus

It seems like I haven’t made art for a long time. I feel like I want to do too much and something has to go by the wayside. Unfortunately that something has been my art. Currently I’ve been very busy with baking bread twice a week at Montgomery’s Inn, lawn bowling two nights a week, taking ukulele lessons and trying to practise between lessons, going downtown to the Women’s Art Association of Canada to work in the library and trying to get up to the cottage on weekends.

My father tries to be as independent as possible but there are times that I need to drive him to doctors’ appointments, grocery shopping and the bank. Fortunately my neighbour has returned from the hospital and I no longer have to go next door to feed her cat every day. I did that for seven weeks.

This weekend I stayed home to spend more time with my husband. Unfortunately our plans to go out together didn’t pan out because he came down with a bad head cold. I am very grateful to our daughter and daughter-in-law who invited me to go to the art gallery today. It was a fun afternoon. I’ll tell you more about that in another post.

On Friday, I opened my sketchbook and took a line drawing that I started earlier in the week and filled it in with colour. It was very therapeutic.