Self Portrait in Four Elements

24 x 36 acrylic on canvas

The task was to create a painting that represented who you were but to use four objects to represent yourself. This is what I came up with. I was very happy with this piece. I really connected to it for myself, and others saw other things in it beyond what I intended.

Day Olds - July 14, 2007

Plan in Motion...

I'm going to begin work on a reproduction of a famous painting, all done in friendly plastic. Since this will take a few days to work through I'll just post my progress
as I go along. I'll update you with pictures and maybe you can see how I build one of these designs. It's a project I've been meaning to do for a while. May as well try it now.

Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, here's an artwork from a few years ago that I love. The words were done in shrink plastic, Einstein in friendly plastic, and the background is acrylic paint on a 16 x 20 canvas.

Gravitation 16 x 20 modelling plastic, acrylic paint on canvas 2004
Quote: Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. -- Albert Einstein

Made Fresh Today - Friday July 13th, 2007

For a Friend

This kayaker and orca are part of a special mirror I am making for a client. She told me her friend has triumphed over some struggles and she wanted a gift that would mark that and also point to a happier future. I am hoping to do her justice with this mirror. I rarely do anything with sports, so I welcome the chance to try my hand at something new. That's what this blog is all about and why I try to make one thing a day. It's forcing me to make new things. The mirror will be complete tomorrow. Check back and you'll see the finished thing.

This is the completed mirror of positive affirmation. I gave her the mirror this morning and she loved it saying it captured her friend's spirit. Yay!

Here and Gone

Never Shy Away From Battle
8" x 24" acrylic on canvas

I painted this last week, debuting it at the Ottawa Farmers' Market last Sunday. It sold the same day. I really enjoyed painting it. The dragon was just so charming to me. Every stroke of paint made me feel that creature. I enjoy pairing up unlikely subjects with clashing colours. It's interesting to see how all that works out.

I'm working on several paintings now, getting ready for Art in Minto Park on Elgin Street July 21/22. I'm hoping to have several new works and a couple of extra large pieces as well. This year has been very strong for me creatively. I seem to have a lot of energy for making things. I credit going to school with that. It makes me happy to learn things and that happiness fuels my art. It's not always easy, and creativity does not always flow, so I appreciate times like these when it does.

Made Fresh Today - July 12th, 2007

Fly Away Home

I'm hoping one day to own my own house. I'd love to be off the grid.
I'd love one of those houses you see on Weird Homes. I worry that by the time I get a house, I'll be too old to make it interesting, too old to renovate and build giant concrete sculptures in the backyard, or glue all sort of found objects on the walls. I'd take a small house with a large garden. I would love to be near water, big water, ocean maybe. I'd like to be near other artists and a farmers' market.

I don't know where a home for me like this may be. I do know that right now I live here and it has to be home for one good reason; I may never get a home that I own. I'm trying to enjoy what I've got: a postage stamp backyard that's full of riotous plant life. A cat who enjoys patrolling the borders of our fence. Windows in two directions and three floors of living space for two of us plus one cat. It's all good, but a girl can still dream.

Made Fresh Today - July 11th, 2007

Chair-sitters vs. Standers

There's a lot of talk in the local media about people who attend music festivals and whether they should be allowed to bring a chair or not. Some say not everyone can stand for hours and why penalize them? Let them have their chairs! Others say, those chairs take up so much space, space that 3 or 4 people could crowd into. The Bluesfest made a chair only section, but they didn't enforce it, so some chair people moved their chairs into other areas and then got into conflict with those who were standing, thereby blocking their view. This was amusing when we were at the Bluesfest to see the White Stripes. Pre-concert as we were hanging out on the grass, having decided to leave our honking big chairs at home because:

• they were heavy to carry
• we'd have to keep track of them all night long
• I wanted to see if I still could stand for a concert

It was the right decision for all those reasons and as the music played the crowd grew and grew and they mashed in close to us, and most of those chair people folded their chairs and stood, cause they wouldn't see anything without doing so, and many filed past us through the crowd, chairs slung over their shoulders.

Oh I digressed.

So, I was going to say, we were waiting on the grass for the concert (over 2 hours) and there were these double camp chairs connected to each other by a canvas table just sitting there empty. They were holding space for at least an hour and a half; no one in them, no one revelling in their luxuriousness. Eventually as we had all settled in accommodating the chairs, the people sitting on the grass next to the chairs nudged them over an inch or two. Then a bit more, and a bit more. We were behind the chairs and my guy made a motion to lift the chairs and we could crowd surf them back a few rows. We didn't do it, boy everyone wanted to. You could feel it. As he said,

"Listen they don't know how far up they really are, they're just looking for their chairs. So what it they're 6 rows back? They'll never notice."

I've been trying to figure out why those chairs annoyed us so much. Definitely they really took up way way too much space. And their connectedness was annoying. I suppose if you're the happy couple sharing those chairs, you'd call me a cynic but it was irritating. When they returned they sat down, oblivious to the scowls aimed at them, never knowing how lucky they were to see their chairs where they left them (almost) and the eventually the concert
started, the crowd surged forward and they were blocked in. They were forced to stand and the female who belonged to those chairs was probably 5' tall if that. There was no hope for her to see the stage or even the big screen. I am 5'6" and I got glimpses only. It wasn't long before they packed their chair into the carry bag and made their way out of the crowd.

Is this right or wrong? I know the crowd 5 rows back trying to get closer doesn't care there's a chair in the way. People weave in and out looking for the smallest space to move forward or to claim for themselves. A chair in this kind of space will not win. Sure you can insist on sitting but you won't see a thing. It's your choice.

A guy said to me when we surged forward, after the chair people had left,

"Hey, you were one of the Get-Rid-Of-The-Chair-Faction
people right? "Yes I was," I said. "Peer pressure wins again."

Made Fresh Today - July 10th, 2007

National Capital Banana Growers Foundation

My brother is telling everyone who'll listen that he's got a banana tree, grown from seed, in a pot in his backyard and it flowered and now it's got fruit on it.

We're talking a tropical fruit in northern climes.

He doesn't remember what kind of banana it is, and it may even be inedible, and the reason for this, he tells me, is that the seeds took 6 months + to germinate and he threw out the markers he had placed in the soil with the seeds thinking it was a lost cause.

Now, it's a surprise.

The family's gathering at his place at the end of August for harvest time. We will all share in the banana together, enjoying a centimeter of the sweet fruit per person. Oh happy day!

Extreme Crafting No. 1

Knitting an Atom Bomb

Oh in the wrong hands... what havoc can be wrought upon civilization!


This is my first in a series called Extreme Crafters. I love this method of ceramic construction: flat yet not flat. Two slabs, joined in some spots, separate at others.

I am new to ceramic work, but I am totally enthralled by its possibilities. the process is much longer and more tedious that what I am used to. You really have to slow down. Ceramics are fraught with tension from beginning to end. All I know is you'd better enjoy your clay thing at every stage because it may not get from lump of clay to finished thing in spite of your best efforts. Hope and perseverance and patience. That's what's required of a ceramic artist. That's not a bad thing to learn no matter what kind of work you do.

Made Fresh Today - July 9th, 2007

Lightning God in My Garden

This morning we had a fantastic thunder storm complete with several flashes of lightning that lit up the sky. We haven't had any significant rain in a few weeks, so much so that just digging around my plants in the backyard here the soil is sandy-dry for several inches. It's just not good. And if it's not good for my little plant charges, it's even worse for the fields of corn and for all growing things. Now's the season. July. Summer. Everything's got to grow grow grow.

I look forward to great thunderstorms with lightning. The most memorable for me was walking down a snow-filled street in January when the sky above started to rumble and we had several lightning flashes. I didn't think that you could have a thunderstorm in the dead of winter. It stopped me in my tracks and just goes to show me that just when I thought things were the way they are, they aren't. Follow? Yeah.

This is the Lightning God found in petroglyphs from the Anasazi culture in the Southwest U.S. I have a particular fondness for the US Southwest. I had a dream once that I was on a senior's bus tour out of Las Vegas. I had boarded the bus and as I sat down realized I had no idea where we were going. Someone told me "you're going to the desert". We travelled a few hours and stopped at a red cliff. Everyone got off the bus in the middle of nowhere which really concerned me. It was really dark and I looked around and saw an orange glow up in the cliffs. I headed towards it and there was a campfire in the center of a cave. There were pillows set up around it to sit down on and I wondered as I sat whether we'd be there for the night. I was very worried and I looked around fearfully until I dimly made out some lines on the walls of the rocks behind me. I walked up to it and saw it was a petroglyph, a hand print, and as I reached to touch it my hand fit perfectly into the hand on the wall of rock. It was instant comfort.

I woke up from this dream many years ago feeling that indeed I was an artist, no doubt going very very far back with me. I had this dream before I took my first plane ride, to Phoenix and the Sonoran desert, and later to Sedona and my beloved red rocks. I am very very comfortable in that desert land, even though these days you just know that the desert was not made to accommodate so many thirsty folk.

Made Fresh Today - July 8th, 2007

White Stripes


In honour of their appearance tonight at the Bluesfest I am doing a pair of White Stripes to represent Meg and Jack. Thank you for righting my soul. Awesome. There is nothing like unbridled creativity in action, whatever form it takes. Thanks.

Made Fresh Today - July 7th, 2007

Red Daisy

The weather isn't very summery here. It's kind of cold. Time for the unbearable heat to return. I always think I need x number of very hot days to balance the x number of very cold days we are sure to have later on. Nevertheless, today's plastic piece is all about summer and enjoying the flowers that warm weather and sunshine bring. Daisies are some of my favorites. And red ones would be great.

Made Fresh Today - July 6th, 2007

Fiskars - a love affair that never ends

Ah my fiskars scissors. My primary friendly plastic tool. I cut everything with my fiskars. No loops for your fingers to go through so no callouses on my hands. Soft rubbery cushy grip. Tiny pointy sharp scissor ends to make small inticate cuts. A spring to keep the two halves ready to go at any time. A quality product. I bought my first pair of fiskars and used them, without exaggeration, everyday for ten years. Then the orange closer thing broke, and then the spring came off, and then they had to be replaced. Sadly, subsequent pairs have taken to breaking at the same part faster than 10 years, like 2 or 3 years, but still. I love these scissors. Fiskars, if you ever need a testimonial, come to me.

Big Box Store Scream

I feel like we all have a version of The Scream inside us if we paint... and other screams, non-painterly of course, abound all around us. Here's mine: Big Box Stores and their big parking lots, open all hours of the day, pavement for miles, selling stuff and more stuff.

AHHHHH. Will it never end?

Fish Faces

I completed these just minutes ago, took my trusty camera and recorded them for all posterity.

Four fabulous fish faces.
6" x 6" acrylic on canvas paintings.

Made Fresh Today - July 5th, 2007

Bluesman



We've got tickets to see the White Stripes this Sunday evening at the Bluesfest.
I'm looking forward to it.

Hopefully we'll catch some old blues guy at the show that night too.

But today I have a few paintings to deal with and the weekend farmer's markets to think about and get ready for so I am off to do that.

Made Fresh Today - July 4th, 2007

The Happy Cannibal

Unrepentant Joy.

He is what he is, no excuses.

Not only is he what he is, he is happy about it.
A lesson for us all.

Made Fresh Today - July 3, 2007

Happy Birthday to 2 Very Important People in my life.

To my Monkey who is always at my side, supporting me and growing with me. We've been together a long time now and if we spend another 50 years together it still will not have been enough time.

much love to you.

To my friend Karen M.

Oh Karen! When I think of you I think of glorious words... words like
persevere, charming, elusive, brilliant, thoughtful, sensitive,
talented, quiet, shy, strong, good, supportive, funny,
attentive, clever...

You are a person of great character and the world is way way better for you being here. I think of you often even if we don't actually see each other very much these days though we are always in touch.

Perhaps we'll make time for coffee soon... artist date perchance?

All the best and much more than that!

Happy Birthday :)

Made Fresh Today - July 2nd, 2007

Happy Sea Monkey

This is based on my 10th year anniversary gift from

my significant other, a sea monkey dashboard (we don't have a car) bobblehead.

Awesome!

We also went to see Rocky Horror that night... my first time...

Happy Hospital Happy Hospital

I decided to go and get something to show you where I am at with my painting.

Three panels, all 16 x 20, acrylic paint on canvas. Small canvases. I am never happy with the small canvas. Minimum size that makes me really happy? 16 x 20.
Does that mean I don't do really small things? Nope. But I digress.

I did this at school for my final assignment. I really loved it. And it has no title and that's odd for me. I love titles.

The assignment was make a triptych using a battle scene or a corpse, both of which were modelled for us in class. For this I just kept thinking "happy hospital happy hospital". Go figure.

One Friendly Plastic Thing A Day

I'm going to use this blog to get back to basics, which for me is making things out of friendly plastic.

I love this stuff.

I have been very lax in my use of it of late. My attention is equally taken by painting so I go back and forth in these creative realms, but I need to just start making things again, so I am going to post one new fp thing a day starting today. I say new cause I've made a lot of things over the last 16 years since I found fp. One of the best things I ever made was a ferret with a beard. It was a commission from a customer. And then, after I made the cute little guy, about a year later he shows up and hands me a crumpled, lint infested, mangled piece of black plastic and asks me if I remember it. Nope. Well, he said the ferret with a beard made it through the washer (must have been washing in cold cause warm or hot would DESTROY it) but the dryer did it. Dead. Melted. Over. Need a new one. Can you make me another? Well, can I I says...

So I've made two ferrets with a beard. It brings a smile to me poor ol' heart it does.

So I am off to make something. I shall return with the proof that I did so.