….had to ask where the cubby was
When our granddaughter saw today’s drawing she said it had to go in the cubby. We know that at preschool she has a cubby to store her personal items. Maybe all Valentine related things need to stay there until the big day.
….#3 of the transparency film collages
I’m really enjoying this technique and as promised I tried something other than flowers. One of my random cuts turned out to look like a duck so I built a landscape around him. I can only assume he’s a he because of his bright colours. I added some marker detail on the duck, such as an eye and feathers. After gluing everything down I felt there was too much white so I added a wash of colour with my Winsor Newton Promarkers.
….with the spike in temperatures this weekend I’m not sure how long these will last
Unlike parts of England where they are already contemplating spring, we will certainly see more snow and ice and low temperatures. Right now we’ve gone from an Arctic Vortex to above freezing in a matter of days. It’s not very pretty out there with all the slush and run off from the snow banks. Fortunately I went out on Friday and found these beautiful ice sculptures along the shores of Lake Ontario just a couple hundred metres from our house. The ice is created when the waves hit the rocks and come up over the banks onto the trees and bushes.
It’s rare for Lake Ontario to freeze but you can see the ice flows close to the shore in some of these photos and yes those are swans out on the lake. Most of them have their heads nestled close to their bodies under their wings.
….of the feathery kind
Kevin named this drawing Mommy Bird, Daddy Bird and Winnie Bird. Our granddaughter loved this drawing and her comments were:
“Little Winnie owl……awww!”
“She’s so cutie.”
…thanks to Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge
….turns out I have another week before the next lesson
I thought I would never be able to get all eight of my collage pages that Carla Sonheim assigned us to do before the next lesson. Well there was no new lesson this week because the lessons happen every two weeks. That’s probably why we’re given so many projects to do. There is, however, no pressure to do all of them but since I have the time now I went back to my sketch book and completed my fourth piece.
This one started with a stone monolith and I added an owl face from an Inuit artist named Laakuluk Williamson Bathory. I didn’t know where to go with this piece until I found a picture of a large snake. I decided to make this one fun so I added some speech balloons and small critters reacting to the snake.
….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.
….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.
….even though I haven’t found time to make art in the last 6 weeks my husband has
For about a year now my husband has been making cartoon drawings every day for our granddaughter. Certain days have themes like Monster Monday and Fishy Fridays. For this past Christmas Winnie gave her Papa a set of markers so that he could add more colour to his drawings.
When I first met Kevin, back at University, he had just finished a graphic design program at his local college and he worked as a graphic designer for the Ministry of Agriculture. When he switched careers in his mid 30s I was a little sad that he gave up his art but his job was changing with the times and computers were the way to go in the graphic design business. Unfortunately the first computers were very expensive and with a young family to think about he switched careers and his artistic side was put on the back burner.
Over the year I’ve seen his confidence grow and his drawings are developing a unique style of their own. This past week he’s gotten a bit of a head start on his drawings and he’s created six birds and a rabbit. Winnie loves to name them or she asks her Papa to give them names, which she often declares are silly. Here are his latest creations.
I’d love to create a children’s book around some of these characters.
II
Mama Cormier 