The painter in me has really taken to backgrounds for collage. I used to happily smoosh paint over big canvasses; now I'm doing it on paper: huge sheets of heavy watercolour paper that I tear into rectangles and get that deckled edge that I love. Initially I shied away from backgrounds for collage because I found all that layering and painting over the layers and layering again, on and on, a bit tedious, and I really didn't care for the effect except in very few cases. Now I've discovered that I can paint the way I normally do, adding a bit of stamping, and get an effect I really love.

This is a detail from the latest collage. I copied the bird from one of those old engravings and painted it to look like a stencil. The portrait is from one of Stampington Studio's free clips (summer 2008, my debut issue!)

Friday's child

A little colour before I dash off to my Friday joblet.

Windows in Venezia.

Colour My World

Yesterday I hosted a workshop for making backgrounds. It was fabulous: we were awash in gorgeous colours! Martha, Susan and Jocelyn created a gallery of backgrounds that could stand alone as art in their own right. These artists really inspire me, and I am lucky to be able to call them my good friends too.

This was mine. I stamped my birdcage stamp in white acrylic and added the birds. Voilà!

For Anon the Elder (somewhere in Wales)

So she dared me to show the cherry pits (see post below) here on my blog, and here they are.

Summer fruit

The time of the cherries....
In English, that means summer. In French (le temps des cerises), it means "the good old days."
I like them sweet and crisp, so I take advantage of the season.

Special post for Grace (in Wales)

Hello Grace !
I wanted to answer your questions:
My sister's dog is named Cleo, and she is an Old English Sheepdog. The photo was taken when she was a puppy, and she's grown now and much bigger!
Give my love to your Nana.
XOXO
Colette

The ties that bind

My maternal grandfather was a professor of philology -- ironically the only exam I failed at university and had to take a second time... He loved words, language, books. I only knew him for five years or so because he died while I was still a child. One of the memories he left me is showing me how he mended old books whose spines were damaged or broken. It was only after I made this piece with part of a book spine and binder's thread that I remembered...

Linen and lace. Hearts on Sunday

Green. Abstract.


I mixed olive green with cadmium yellow, a touch of white, and used a sponge to paint it on. To relieve all that green, I added yellow and red.

The week's collection

Stay cool.

The rain finally arrived and washed my headache away. Now we're back to the humidity levels that sap my energy. Still, it's better than a headache. I've made it a habit to find a positive in everything.

Favourite family photos

My sister with a member of the family.

Dallas, Texas, a year or two ago.

Midweek and I'm living with a headache that started yesterday morning. To my dismay, I found that the new HST applies to ibuprofen as well. So, I said to the cashier, jokingly, "Now my headaches are taxed, too!"

The cashier, who seemed to think that ibuprofen was not a "necessary" item and so should be taxed, answered: "You don't need medicine for headaches."

Have you ever had a migraine, I asked.

I've had headaches, he answered.

Migraine? I asked again.

No, he answered.

Then let me tell you that nothing shifts a migraine or a persistent headache but medicine.

He looked a bit sheepish.
I put it down to youth: he has a lot to learn.

Ah, life on the red planet.....

I don't know who she is, but I wouldn't be surprised if she were an Irish Canadian or American named Eileen. That's what keeps coming to mind. Her shade hovers across the room watching me as I record her on paper.

Little stories

This child strides confidently towards his destiny. One hopes that he grew up to be an enlightened and good man, that he lived a long, rich life.

This piece is available here.

Backgrounds Part 3

Healing the child

So, you've made your backgrounds...now what do you do with them?

The sky is the limit when you think about it.

You can paint on it -- here I did an abstract and stamped it using acrylic paint instead of an ink pad. Photo shows a detail. It looked like the funnel of a ship. A ghost ship, perhaps?

I was getting ready to collage this next background when I thought, why not use fabric instead of paper, and stitch it.

Happy weekend!

Time flies when you're absorbed in something.
My good friend and art buddy Jocelyn and I spent a few hours creating backgrounds, and time flew so quickly that I was shocked. We turned out some pretty fab backgrounds though. Jocelyn already had big pieces of painted watercolour paper that she cut up, and we used them as a base for more painting. Right now, this is my favourite thing to do ;)

Le Pays des chapeaux

I tried a little experiment: separating cardboard. I soaked it in water until it was soft enough to come apart, and from one piece of cardboard, I got two sheets of paper and a ridged piece (which was in the middle). After the pieces were dry, I used one piece to make a black and white collage. With a dash of red, of course.

Lovingly made.

An artfully paint-splattered envelope, stitched on all sides, arrived in the mail today. I opened it very, very carefully to preserve it, and inside was a very moving gift from my friend Roben-Marie. A perfect heart, and a postcard I fell in love with. If you've ever wondered where the joy in Roben-Marie's stamp designs (Paperbag Studios) come from, let me tell you they come from her!

Thank you "Sweepea" ;-)

Still life with lace.

Proteccion de la naturaleza

I did some shopping at the YWCA's charity shop this weekend. I found a couple of things and was ready to pay for my purchases when I spied a pile of sheets of themed cancelled postage stamps near the cash desk. Among them, two sheets of bird stamps. Obviously they came home with me. One migrated to this ATC.

Seeing beauty

When I saw this Japanese fabric at mantofev, I was taken by the leafy patterns and thought I could maybe cut it up for project. But when the fabric arrived and I opened up its silky folds, I saw its perfection. There will be no cutting of this fabric. I may hang it up, or I may even wear it around my shoulders, but it will remain intact.

Today was my mother's birthday. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her with love.

Canicule

The heatwave was supposed to break today. So far it's raining and steam is rising from the ground. A tad cooler but still sticky.

The stitching progresses.

A stitch in the fabric of time

When in doubt, stitch. That is, when you don't know what to do next, pick up a needle. Stitchers all agree that it's a soothing occupation. My friend Roben-Marie credits me with inspiring her to stitch; it's enough to make me blush...you buy her rubber stamps (Paperbag Studios), you love her style, and one day ... you become friends (inspiring each other)!

Yesterday evening, I stitched while listening to a program on the Dalai Lama. You cannot get more soothed than that!

The shoe and I

While visiting family in Enniskery, County Wicklow, I took a lot of walks. On one of them I came across a shop that was filled to the brim with vintage and antique treasures. One of the things I found was a tiny bisque shoe. I've since used it to create a mold for plaster casting. I made this one a couple of years ago and it has stood the test of time. (I also made the bird head in my banner above.)

We're having a heatwave this week. 30+ C and the forecast for tomorrow has it at 44C (including the humidity factor). It's rare that I cheer when the meteo says a "cold front" will be coming in at the end of the week and get the temperatures down to normal. I hope so. I've been doing what I call the Washington Hop: when I'm out, going in and out of stores just to cool off. I used to do that in Washington, D.C. I walked everywhere (it's that kind of a city) and I would drop into Peoples Drugstore who had the air-conditioning cranked up so high that you froze in seconds. It was necessary to survive.

Anyway.......... I took a painting break. Which means I painted. Colour. Abstraction.

Using it

After dyeing my cloth, I washed and dried it. Then it was time to use it.

A heart for my shop , and a mini art quilt available on eBay.

Not much happening here, except for the Queen who attended the Queen's Plate this afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.

Here she is with Sagkeeng First Nation Chief Donovan Fontaine.

Natural dyeing No. 2

I wanted to try marigolds to get a soft yellow. I couldn't find any right away so I tried another yellow flower. It didn't work so I threw in some turmeric. The trouble is that I forgot to check it in time and when I pulled out the fabric: Pow! Blinded by yellow.

Today we stopped in at an Anthropologie and I saw that same yellow everywhere. The yellow is darker/brighter than in this photo.......... Ironically, this was the yellow I really wanted.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to Canada and Canadians everywhere! It's a beautiful day, so enjoy it.
Tonight, from my balcony, I'll get to see the fireworks; no buildings block my view right across to the lake, so I get a ringside seat as itwere.

Meanwhile I experimented with natural dyeing yesterday, and this morning I was very happy with the result. the photo isn't really accurate; in reality there's less violet and more pink.

I was blog-hopping when I came across a couple of blogs that talked about using avocado skins to get a pink shade. It made sense to me because I've often wondered about that spot of red that can appear in avocados sometimes -- it has to come from somewhere. There were no instructions except to boil the skins and soak the fabric for 1 - 2 days. So I boiled the skins until the water looked red (about 15 minutes) then took out the skins and put in the fabric, intending to leave it there for 24 hours. But at the 8-hour mark, I got the pink I wanted (pale, the only pink I like), and put the fabric out to dry.

Fabulous!

New listing on Etsy: four sweet little hearts.