Some New Paintings

I've been reading Kelly Rae Roberts' book Taking Flight and getting my creativity engines going. I promised a few folks some pictures of my latest creations so here they are! (Apologies for the darkish photos. I didn't want to wait until tomorrow morning to take photos with natural light.)

The first project is an altered book that I've been working on. I'm enjoying this project. I like making artwork that is somewhat functional as well as different from the norm. I'm still not decided on whether or not I will keep the book when I'm finished or if I will try to sell it.

I used the theme of a robin and the word Believe. I realize that these are a bit unseasonal right now seeing as it's autumn but lots of my friends have been commenting lately on how autumn is their favourite season. I agree, the colours outside are very pretty but spring is my favourite season. I love how everything comes back to life and quietly promises that summer will soon follow.




The second project was done on a canvas that I got from work. The canvas had been labeled incorrectly and the front was splattered rendering it unusable for our projects at the studio. I took it home to do something creative with it. I kept with the robin theme and used the word Blessings and some Bible passages.

Fondant Class

For the last 3 1/2 weeks I've been taking a weekly Wilton fondant class at Michaels and I can't even say how much fun it was. It really surprised me how much I liked it. I enjoyed the first course too, which is a prerequisite for doing the fondant course, but it involved a lot of piping and mixing different consistencies of icing. Working with fondant was a lot more tactile; at times it reminded me of working with clay or sculpture.

The first three weeks of the course covered a lot of flower-making. We made all kinds of pretty flowers: daisies, roses, calla lilies, carnations and mums. We also made a large bow, like what you'd see on a birthday present and covered a cake board in fondant.


For the final class, we learned how to cover an entire cake with fondant. I really wanted to take advantage of having a Wilton teacher present so I brought in a square cake which is slightly more difficult to cover than a round cake. It ended up not being as hard as I thought it would be. After rolling out the fondant and flipping it on to the cake, I had to start with the corners of the cake (not the sides). And then trim along the bottom.

It's amazing what a coat of fondant will do to a cake! I wish I had taken a photo of before and after. My cake had had a little accident before the class so it was a little lopsided, plus the butter cream icing was starting to melt (not to mention that I hadn't smoothed out the butter cream icing very well and in some places it wasn't thick enough). Throwing on a coat of fondant made it look so smooth and pretty!

Here it is after decorating!




Some final thoughts after the course... I would never put a cake directly on to a fondant covered cake board again. It sucked all the moisture out of the bottom layer of my cake. Also, if I ever do a ball border again, I would prep the balls ahead of time. It took 45 minutes to get all of that border done and then I ran out of time to finish my flowers.

Taking Life's Reins With a Book and Some Coffee

This morning, I am quite happy because I have coffee again. I didn't have coffee in the house for a week and I missed it. I've been substituting it for tea but it doesn't work. Coffee to me means "It's morning and time to greet a new day." whereas tea is something that should be shared socially with friends. I can recall numerous conversations I've had with great friends over cups of tea (especially when I lived in the UK), but coffee is what helps me greet the morning (I'm not a morning person).

Anyways, today I have a cup of coffee in my favourite Eeyore mug and I am sitting out on the deck in the sunshine and reading a book. Life is pretty good.

The book I'm reading is called Taking Flight. I'm only a few pages in but so far I really like it. I've been needing to read something like this. I need to get my creative energies back and take back the reins on my ridiculously busy life.

At the moment, I am working 3 jobs, trying to play in 3 musical ensembles, attend a regular small group and have a social life, and go to church on Sundays. Let's face it. My life is crazy. It needs some balance. Fortunately, I have time today to take a step backwards and get some perspective.

My plan for today:
-drink coffee
-read some of my book
-bake and ice a cake
-do some cleaning (my parents are coming this week)
-make art

The Need to Create

“Artists reach into their colors or to the notes of a musical score, into the developing solution in a darkroom tray or to the flow of words on a page, they are interacting with the eternity God has placed in their hearts. They are trying to be significant in their universe — trying to mean something more than a random collision of molecules. Though modern philosophy tells them they are nothing, their hearts tell them something else. Because their minds cannot fathom what their hearts know, they feel the weight of the God-placed burden. Art often seems irrational, because the heart is reaching beyond the mind. A modern art museum displays the heart reaching beyond what the mind knows, trying to find the meaning of its existence.”
~ John Fisher

I finally have some free time this weekend (yay for Labour Day long weekend!). I haven't had any creative time for myself in a while so my plan is to spend most of the weekend crafting or painting. Funny how making art is like an addiction or an itch that needs to be scratched. I read this quote by John Fisher not too long ago that I thought explained my own need for creating perfectly.

Cutest Bumble Bee Ever!!

I am frequently blown away by the quality of artwork that the kids at my workplace create. There are not very many places where a person can teach and create art on a daily basis and make a bit of money doing it. It truly is an awesome job and every time I'm there I feel very lucky. If you're interested in the franchise that I work at, check out www.4cats.com Maybe there's one near you!

One of the tasks I worked on today was stretching canvases for some of the kids that have been coming to our summer camps. When I unrolled this painting I was absolutely in love with it. What a priceless piece of artwork- and too good not to share. So here I am, sharing this happy little bumble bee, which was made by Abby, age 3.

Cake Decorating

For the last two weeks, I have been taking a Wilton Cake Decorating Class at Michaels. It was really fun and I'm glad that I did it together with my good friend Melissa.

For our last class, we had to bring in a cake to decorate. My friend, Megan, had just recently shared a recipe with me for a Mocha Coffee Cake and I'm so glad I made it. That recipe is delicious!!! I shouldn't be surprised really; Megan got it from her mom, who used to be a home economics teacher. She has all the good recipes!

Anyhow, we learned how to make roses and lettering in our last class and then we spent the remainder of the class decorating the cakes we had brought. I decorated mine with roses, star flowers, daisies, and a scallop edge. I must say, I am quite proud of my little creation. Sure, it's no Ace of Cakes, but I'm quite pleased!

An Evening with Robert Bateman

Although this happened a couple weeks ago, I really wanted to blog about my meeting Robert Bateman because it was such a cool experience! If you are not familiar with his work, he is an incredible Canadian artist and he was one of my heroes when I was a teenager (I was obsessed with painting very realistic-looking animals in my late teens).

My boss is an alumnus of Royal Roads University in Victoria and she was able to get tickets for myself and a colleague to see Robert Bateman. It took place at Royal Roads (where they filmed X Men). It was a great setting for the evening. The old castle is such a neat building.



Bateman did a two-hour talk called 'The Mind of Bateman'. He admitted that the title was kind of pretentious but what he was aiming for was to show and tell about the things that happened to him when he was young. He wanted to explore the events and experiences that shaped his life and ultimately led him up to the point where his career became very successful. I found it very interesting and it seriously didn't feel like 2 hours!



He spoke about many different things; what he did in the free time of his childhood, where he grew up, different 'clubs' he was in, his first jobs, and what his early drawings looked like.

He is a fairly opinionated man. This didn't bother me too much; probably because I pretty well agreed with everything he said. Besides, if I had all the experiences that he has, I would probably be the same. I like to think that at age 81, I will have earned the right to express my opinion. :)

He gave us his opinions and perspectives on a variety of topics including Native peoples of North America and their culture, separatists groups, the short attention spans of today's youth, loss of natural habitat, etc.

It was a very good evening and I took home a book of amazing artwork that he graciously signed for me. Cool hey?!