One World One Heart

I have 2 items to give away ... the first one is a package of 5 handpainted face cards...

To find out what the second item is, please read on....

One World One Heart is a way for bloggers from all over the world to
connect with each other - So if you haven't visited here before... Welcome to my little corner of the world!

To tell you a little bit about myself, I will start by saying that I have always loved to create things, but about 5 years ago, I decided to teach myself how to draw and dedicate more of my time to creating. Today I try to spend a bit of each day either drawing, (here) painting,(here) making jewellry,(here) making books (here) or exploring another creative medium (here).
I enjoy it and it keeps me balanced.

I live in a small village in Northern Canada, and enjoy the beauty of the natural world.

I enjoy spending time with my husband and my 2 teenage daughters.

As part of the One World One Heart event I am offering two give aways - the first being the package of cards at the top of the post, and the second item is this small (about 2 inches square when closed) accordian style book that I created.

It is made using handmade stamps I carved. I had lots of fun making it, and I would love to pass it along to someone in the blogging world. Leave me a comment and on Feb. 17 (end of day) I will randomly choose 2 winners (make sure I have your e-mail address) and mail the items off somewhere in this big world!

Having Courage

"Remember as you go about your day that we who create are

part of the solution for what ails the planet.

We are kind, we share, we encourage and nurture.

We are powerful. Pass it on."

These words are from Judy Wise's blog, and I love them.

These words came to life for me a few days ago when I received such a lovely gift in the mail. Pam Kirch makes wonderful books, and offered to trade me one of her books for something I had made. When I recieved the book, I told her how much I loved it, but that I would struggle to draw in it, as I am always afraid of making a beautiful book less beautiful by drawing a picture that is not as good as I want in it. Pam encouraged me to draw in it.....

and so I gathered my courage, and put pencil to paper, and drew in my

beautiful treasured new book

It is not my best drawing, but it is fine, and I will continue to draw in this lovely book, and will try not to worry that the drawings will not be perfect, but rather that they add to the treasure that this gifted book already is.

To Draw and Paint

I had a bit of time today and decided to draw another image for the sketchbook challenge. This month we are supposed to draw things that are highly prized. The mask I drew is highly prized, as it was a gift from a man that had very few possessions in life. Our family went to Bali a couple of years ago, and we hired a man to drive us around to different parts of the island. He was a wonderful man, that taught us so much about life in Bali. He explained things to us in such a kind way, and one evening wanted us to go and meet his family. Compared to families in North America his family did not have much, but we enjoyed a cup of tea with his family in his yard outside his house- I felt very privilege. While we were there he went inside, and brought out this old mask and gave it to my husband (who had been looking at old masks one day on our trip). The mask is treasured not so much for the mask itself, but for the gift it was, from such a kind individual that gave our trip to Bali so much meaning.

I also had time to paint a picture...... but painting this picture took me about 4 hours!! and I struggled with it every step of the way. It is done with acrylic paint, and I have only painted a handful of faces with acrylic, and they were all last January...... I know to get better at it I have to practice, but my creative time is so limited so I will have to decide if I want to spend it trying to paint.

Accordian Style Book

I really enjoyed making this accordian style book over the Christmas Season. It is quite small (2 inches square) but not as small as the itsy bitsy book I posted earlier.

For this one, I took a long strip of heavy watercolour paper that I added some colour too

....once that was dry

I stamped it with my new fish stamp I carved and added bits of the seaweed stamp I also carved. A few bits of white paint, and words and a black border were added to finish the inside of the book.

The outside is stiff cardboard covered in paper,with a piece of the painted watercolour paper on which was stamped with the seaweed stamp. I added a fabric tie to wrap around the book for when it was closed. What fun it was!

I wish I had more creative time these days.... but it will come again, I just need to be patient.

Drawings

With the very little creative time I have these days, I am trying to keep up with the drawing assignments for the class I am taking. It is not working, I can't keep up with all of the assignments. But I am being gentle with myself (one of my "rules"), and telling myself not to worry and enjoy what I am doing (another "rule" - enjoy the moments). So this is a pencil drawing that we were supposed to do joining a couple of different ideas together. When I post it here, I see some things that need changing, but oh well......

Here is the first drawing I have done with charcoal... a bit messy, and again I see where I should make some changes now that I am posting it here. I will have to get some more practice with this medium when I have some more time....

Stretching Within

I have just started an online course with Misty Mawn entitled Stretching Within. It is as I knew it would be a great course. The unfortunate part for me is that I don't have much time to work on the assignments. But I will do what I can.... Last night I had a few hours and managed to do the following bits

a pencil drawing with shading....

a pencil drawing with added watercolour


a drawing of a lynx with an Stabilo All Mark pencil that was then shaded by adding water

Another Carved Stamp

I was looking through a book, when I saw a lovely image of a goldfish, and decided to try and carve a goldfish stamp. Then I went about making a card with my stamp and adding just a touch a colour to the fish.

The card opens up in the middle

and when open shows 4 happy fish swimming around.

It was my husband's and my 19th wedding anniversary last Sunday, so I made the card for him. We have 2 children, so the card represents the 4 of us happily swimming around together.

Itsy Bitsy Book

Some days ago, when I was supposed to be doing other things, the muse came knocking and told me to come and play.... often times when that happens I can not play, but that day I could. And so using my newest hand carved stamps, some ink, a few small scraps of paper and book board...

I created this itsy bitsy......

accordian style book.

When closed it is like a little treasure waiting to be opened... I can't decide if I like it better closed, knowing there is a surprise inside, or open showing me the surprise.

I guess I don't really need to decide.

I Come From Love

A component of the class I am starting with Misty Mawn (Stretching Within) is about writing. I am not a writer, although I am a lover of words. Our first assignment was to write a poem using the prompt "I come from " and so I (bravely) share with you my poem, and a picture of the mountains that I live beside.

I Come From Love

I come from a land big and pure,

a land of mountains so high they cheer my heart and rally me on,

a land of glaciers so old they hold the tales of which we learn.

I come from the fleeting life of the damsel fly,

the passion of the grizzly bear mom,

and the crooked growth of a wind blown poplar

as it holds onto its place in a land welcoming and yet not.

I come from the love of parents and children,

so briefly tucked under the wing - a lifetime of growth in the blink of an eye.

I come from you all that I meet along the way

that move me in directions I did not know

- a life so filled with bits and pieces that at times I disappear.

I come from the everyday wonders of the stars smiling in the night sky,

the wind whispering across my face,

and the many miles resting in my legs.

I come from a journey lived already, and yet to live.

- I come, unsure, but content and willing,

as I come after all from love.

Highly Prized

I have joined the sketchbook challenge for 2011. Every month we will get a new theme of which we can use whatever medium we want to interpret it. For January the theme is Highly Prized. The two pictures I did for this theme is of the above bird.....

and this kind of strange looking frog. (I have never drawn frogs before) I choose frogs as one of the things I highly prize as they are indicator species that help us know whether the environment is healthy or not. They are very sensitive to pollution and habitat alteration, and therefore many different species of frogs are going extinct. I love listening to frogs in the spring during the few weeks when they are extremely vocal.

If you want to see more people's interpretation of this theme go here, or if you would like to join the group, learn more about it here. If you are already participating let me know!

Creative Time

During this Christmas Season, I have enjoyed having some time to create without the pressure of having to produce things to sell, or to give as gifts. I have spent my time creating for the pleasure of creating. I have enjoyed it immensely, and have followed my muse wherever she wanted to take me. Unfortunately it means I have a few unfinished projects, as one bit of creating often headed me in a different direction. Oh well.....

One project I did was designing and carving these two stamps. I have other stamps in the designed stage..... just not sure when I will get to the carving stage.

This is a cover of a book that I used these two stamps on. I will actually fold one of these the other way, so that it will sit as the inside cover. You will see the the face of the bird on the outside cover, and when you open it you will see the tail of the bird on the inside cover. On the back inside cover there will be the face of the bird, and the back outside cover will have the tail of the bird.

Will it get done?...... I don't know, as tomorrow is my last day of holidays, and then

we are back to the busyness of our lives

- jobs, driving and hockey.....

New Year - Believe in Possibilities

For the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about the new year, and deciding what word or thought or guiding "rule" I wanted to think about to provide me some direction for 2011. I wasn't coming up with anything that fit. I wanted to continue following the 3 "rules" I have been following for a while

- Be Gentle with Self

- Enjoy the Moments

- One Step at a Time

And so I had decided that these three ideas would continue to guide me. This morning, when I was uploading images for this post, the above "Believe" image that I created some time ago popped up, and then I realized that this is what I should add.

And so this year, besides being gentle, enjoying the moments, and taking one step at time

I will BELIEVE in the possibilities

- not just in my creative life that I post about here, but in so many aspects of my life.

I would love to hear what others are choosing for a word or guiding thought for 2011!

BELIEVE!