bodner015

Mannie went off to a workshop on quilted fabric "manhole covers"!?  Apparently the Japanese make something of a fine art of designing coverings for the holes in their streets and sidewalks, and each community takes great pride in its contribution to the genre.  Helen Fujiki led the workshop, sh has travelled to Japan.  Mannie extended her picture works to fit the manhole cover format.  And as usual she quilted,  appliquéd, painted with acrylic paint and Sharpies, printed, embroidered and beaded with Czech crystals.  We will wait to see its final, final form. Do you see the hidden sunfish? Remember there had been a post that showed Mannie's beginning of her manhole cover -things certainly have changed from the  Beginning a "Quilted Manhole Cover"  Here are google images of Japanese manhole covers As well, on line there are people who have done fabric replicas of manhole covers from various cities. ( https://www.etsy.com/listing/63338292/nyc-sewer-printed-pillow-l

Mannie had taken a course from Hag Gunnel regarding printing on fabric.  From the workshop came this new fabric art piece. Mannie used dyed lace on the printed fabric background.  Czech glass beads, found objects and embroidery stitches embellish the image of this whimsical art piece.

Mannie has been working on a quilting/embroidery piece that is large.  She has been working on it as she watches TV and has been balancing it on her knees with a lot of difficulty.  So I took time from my painting to go down to the workshop and make her a pair of legs to attach to the quilting/embroidery frames.  As there are only the two legs they can be put on any frame. Note: Mannie can pull the work right to the couch where she works. We will try a series of clamps.  With all the movement Mannie does while working the clamps can come undone.  We may need to scre the legs to the frames.  We will see. One of two legs made.  Note I rounded off the leg ends so Mannie can tilt the structure anyway she wants.  As well, to save the rugs she put socks on the ends (we may find a better system). The extensions at the front and the back are the places for the clamps, although they can be put along the top part of the leg.

Purple crocuses awaken under the lilac trees when the Spring sun shines and warms the backyard.  (I am doing a work from last year's garden.)  I am amazed that they can push up through such covering and add colour to the snow.   In the original piece the background is softer, paler; the tree trunks less black (especially when I used no black anywhere). The starkness of the terrain was a challenge to portray.  I put some colour into the white snow -but the white snow appears so white that it becomes hard to depict with the pastels.  The Sennelier oil pastels are so thick and rich that they impart an actual thickness to the strokes and the picture which I hope will be picked up in the final picture and especially when viewing behind the glass. Speaking of glass -the photograph of the image behind glass is quite different from the image without the glass.  I am not sure how to resolve this.  As the images of the actual painting and the photograph can be quite different as well, I wond

Mannie has been creating fanciful images  -some small, some larger.  Lace, beading, embroidery stitches, dyed material, Mannie-made material, all combined for another of her embellished works. About 9" x 6" French dye are used in the background canvas, further embellished with dyed antique lace, hand made thread fabric, and many colours of embroidery thread incorporated in the French knots.

My second process for transferring my image to a surface involves carbon paper.  Finding the carbon paper took me some doing but I found some. 1. As before I do a full scale drawing related to the final image. 2.  I place the carbon paper onto the illustration board surface and place the drawing over the carbon paper. 3.   Trace over the drawing . 4.  Add fixative to cover the carbon tracing to stop it from bleeding into the oil pastel. And now I am ready to paint with my oil pastels. Certainly the carbon process cuts out a step over the other charcoal method.

You know -preparing my drawings and then transferring the images to illustration board or wooden panels is often the most arduous.  And just the time taken...omg!!! Now I have tried transferring my images using two methods. The first involves conte (charcoal) rubbing. 1.  I do a drawing the actual size of the finished piece .   (Often I do a number of thumbnail sketches be fore doing the actual drawing). Here I work out rhythms and the composition in a size actual to the final work. 2.  Rubbing conte over the back of the drawing . 3.   Redrawing onto the illustration board. Going over the lines is a tedious chore but I can make some adjustments to the image. 4.   Now I had to go over the transfer lines   on the illustration board (or wood panel or canvass) as this transfer method creates faded lines.  Again I can make adjustments with the drawing. 5.  I use a fixative to set the lines so the lines are not blurred when I apply the oil pastels. Now I will use my oil pastels to paint t

Six bird feeders and 4 suet holders adorn our trees over-hanging our back yard deck.  Today 26 gold finches joined the Juncos (13), Chick-a-dees (21), cardinals (3 pair), Blue Jays (6), Mourning Doves (10) woodpeckers (2), and a variety of sparrows (29). So why not put out another bird feeder.  I had a plastic bowl and a plastic dip/condiment container, a coat hanger and some wire and built a bird feeder that the birds could fly into and eat without the snow falling on top. Time went by and along with snow blowing and shovelling I did no art work for the day.  But soon the push will be on when Mannie and I sit down to look at the shows for the year. In the meantime the flocks of birds in our back yard continue to grow, especially with the temperature today being at -21 degrees Celsus (-6 F) at 7am.  They need the food to generate their heat. And thus, we go through a lot of bird seed in the winter. Now, another reason our back yard feeders are visited so much is the temperatures in the

the lines in my Oil Pastel work of late have strong burnt lines in the illustration board.  Those lines have their beginnings in my drawings. Spring will come to us and so I got out some works from my garden and the woods and began drawing. I put them up on the website because when I view the site I often see the drawing -and my finished pictures in a different light.  And, sometimes, I make further changes, if I can. The swirls are my directional lines that will not appear in the final painting. I am not pleased with the dark back ground for this beginning  Spring painting. 

As usual there are at least two sides to every perception.  In cottage country the snow can fall with a vengeance.  But, that snow fall can be an economic blessing when the snowmobilers are able to don their suits and head out onto the terrain.  On the other hand, the snow that piles up on the roof and in the lanes can be daunting to remove.  And just where do you put it.  Thus, this cartoon. And, at home in Waldemar, with a driveway 40 feet wide and 125 feet long, the snow can be a real issue -and it takes a long time to snowblow.

Just finished up a show at the Headwaters Arts Gallery.  Some sold; some left to bring home. Mannie and I spent Sunday  -and I mean all day- at the gallery.  We talked to a number of artists in the Alton Mill, and chatted with many people who came into the gallery. All artists need to be present at any show they are in.  One potential customer asked me about the title to my piece "I never met Gauguin."  Being present enabled me to give my story and there was a chuckle about the story behind the picture.  No sale but who knows about a future encounter. I remember speaking to someone years ago at a show and 3 years later she came to my studio saying it was time to buy one of my pieces as she had seen my work at a number of shows over the years.  You  never know. All that aside, it is now time to produce work for the next season of shows.