More Work in my Needle and Thread Series

two more small pieces and two larger ones

A while back I told you about wanting to honour my past with art that reflected my family’s influence on my Joy of Making. My great great aunt and her family on my mother’s side used to own a very successful business where they made and sold ladies leather gloves in the early 1900s, in Germany. Old photos of my great, great grandparents clearly depicted how important fashion was to them and of course looking one’s best at all times.

My mother taught me how to hand sew, make clothes, embroider and knit. Later in life I worked for a needlecraft company in my spare time and taught other women the art of needle crafting, like cross-stitch and needlepoint and I worked at the community school teaching people how to knit.

The following works are collage and mixed media with some hand stitching or implied hand stitching.

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“Stitched With Love”, 8″x10″ matted and framed
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“A Stitch in Time…”, 11″x14″ matted and framed
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Tante Paula, 1910″,11″x14″ matted and framed
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“Brocade”, 8″x10″ matted and framed

What One Does on a Rainy Saturday

for us it included painting, walking and cooking

Last Saturday the forecast was very wet for most of the day. In between downpours I did manage to get out for a walk and snap a few photos.

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When I returned from my walk I set up my art table to get ready for some more painting. Only 7 more sleeps before my solo show.

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Kevin on the hand got into complete ‘chef’ mode and made empanadas from scratch.

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Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Frolic

thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/04/22/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-frolic/

Nothing says frolic more that young children and dogs playing.

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Carrying On a Running Tradition

46 years ago Kevin ran in this race and yesterday our daughter took part at the High Park Spring Run Off Race

Back in the day my husband was an elite runner. When the kids were little we used to bundle them up, strap them into their car seats and drive off to races all over Ontario and New York State. One of the races that was closer to home was the High Park Spring Run Off. When it first started back in 1978 it attracted an impressive 1200 runners and yesterday’s race saw over 5000 men, women and children running in the 8k, 5k and children’s race.

This is not the first year that our daughter, Andrea ran in this race but it was certainly her best performance. She placed 1st in her age category for women. Kevin and I arrived after the race started but we managed to find a prime spot just at the top of the hill so we had a great vantage point for taking photos and caught her just steps in front of the finish line.

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Needle and Thread

the name of my new series of paintings for my solo show

The Joy of Making is the name of my solo show in May. I not only wanted to highlight my love of painting and making art but I also wanted to pay tribute to my family’s talents and the things that my Mom taught me when I was younger. From a very young age my Mom taught me how to make doll clothes with hand stitching and later how to use a sewing machine. She also taught me how to mend socks and sew on buttons.

As I got older I taught Family Studies and taught 11 to 13 year olds how to cook and sew. They learned how to embroider, quilt and sew clothes. I continued to learn and practise other needle crafts such as knitting, cross stitch, weaving, basketmaking and more. In my 50s I learned how to use watercolour and later I ventured into abstract painting using acrylics and collage.

Here are the first three pieces of my Needle and Thread series.

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Mending a Broken Heart
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Those ‘Darn’ Holes
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Mom’s Button Box

Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Anything in Flight

thanks to Cee for hosting CBWC https://ceenphotography.com/2023/03/23/cbwc-anything-in-flight/

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Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Content

thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/03/18/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-content/

When I thought of the word ‘content’ my mind went immediately to the meaning, ‘a state of pleasure or being satisfied’. Of course it also means ‘subject matter’. Which do you think I chose to represent?

Today we attended College Royal at the University of Guelph. In the Food Science building the students made milkshakes. This has always been a popular event but we have not seen it since 2019 because of COVID-19. Clearly people were happy to see it come back. The line-up was huge. We heard that the students were prepared to sell 4000 shakes.

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Thursday Trios – From Valentine’s Day Treat Holders to Art on a Wall

….Thursday, February 23, 2023

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Four Trios of Valentine’s Day Monsters
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A tiro of burrs
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A trio of art pieces at the Ruth Upjohn Gallery

If you have any trios to share, copy my link and paste it into your post. I’ll be sure to leave a comment.

RDP – Spellbound

thanks to the Ragtag community for hosting RDP https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2023/02/21/rdp-tuesday-spellbound/

Children are spellbound with carnivals and fairs. At the CNE last summer our granddaughter was ‘spellbound’ by the sights and smells of last year’s Exhibition in Toronto.

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I appear to be spellbound by the dessert in front of me. I think I was more gobsmacked by the price of this classic cake.

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Eccles Cake with a wedge of Cheddar