. . . . . the creative meanderings of Kim Henkel . . . . .
I had a very quick visit to Louisberg National Historic Site (Nova Scotia) in February... the lighting that afternoon was lovely. I loved the look of this wall, and it made me want to throw some paint around. 
And I couldn't choose which of these three pictures to post.... 
So I choose all three.... 
As I have mentioned before I am a messy creator... but this past Saturday I told myself I MUST clean my studio. It was the goal for the morning, and if I hurried I would have time to create in the afternoon. So I started cleaning...... 
And pretty soon I came across this piece of messy paper that I had layered with ink, and teabags and paint, and I remembered that I was going to try transfering some images onto small pieces of it. So sidetracked I became...
I had already printed off the little image of trees I had photographed, 
I have been waiting for my copy of this magazine, and it finally arrived in my mailbox this past week. It is always slow getting to me, - it has been in stores for quite some time.
The reason I have been waiting for it is because it has one of my mixed media pieces in it. 
It is fun to see it there with a bit of a write up beside it. 
The colours in the actual piece are a bit more intense then what it shows in the magazine. 
Just over a week ago I took a course on making lino cuts. But we weren't using the nice soft "cuts like butter" lino type material - rather the thin inexpensive type of lino that is used for flooring. 
I cut the flower stamp at the course, and the bird stamp last night. Tonight I found the tubes of ink that I have had for close to 20 years (and haven't used) and made some prints. 
I like printing on a variety of papers - pages out of old books that have browned with age is one of my favourites. 
The women instructing the course was great, and does beautiful work. She talked about striving to get perfect lines on each print. And if you are making prints to be framed and hung on the wall, I can see why you would do that. - But that is not really what I was looking for. I like the shabby look where some paint sticks and some doesn't. 
I am not sure what I am going to do with the pile of prints I made tonight.... but I am sure I will come up with something!
Hello Friends.... It is time to give a few items away, but to receive an item, you too must agree to give away some items...
I am joining in the Pay It Forward event. I joined up by leaving a comment on The Fairy yellow bug Queen's site and in turn I will be giving away 5 handmade things to the first five people who leave a comment on this post. Each of the 5 people that leave a comment on this post, should then blog about this on their blog and give away five items that are hand made, 
I have made some little booklets and envelopes out of my stash of old posters, and these will be my give aways.
These booklets can be written in, and then,
put into the decorated envelope and sent off to a friend. 
If you are interested in joining in this event, and would like me to send me one of these little booklets and envelopes, just leave me a comment letting me know! 
I am continuing to teach myself to draw. I decided to try to learn about 4 years ago, but have very little time to work on it, but I will continue trying.
I create in a variety of mediums.... often ones that are not normal to work in (this is teabag art), in art making I tend not to follow rules ...
I love to work on the floor - could that be because my desk is always full of stuff???
I love to take pictures of doors and windows (and I have no idea what that means)
I have played hockey since I was a young girl, and today love to play with my two teenage daughters . 
As promised I wanted to show more of the wee book I made while I was in Nova Scotia. 
Sometimes the need to create is so great that unless I do it I find myself feeling grumpy inside for no reason. This was the case when this booklet was made. I knew I needed to make something - I had taken some paper, pens and a small watercolour set with me. 
And close to our inn was an art supply store that carried these lovely rolls of tape.
And so with paper, pen, tape and paint I set out to see what I could make. I taped pages together to make a little booklet....
and then drew and painted little images to tape onto each page. The pages were bound together with tape inside,
as well as tape along the spine.
I haven't done pen and watercolour drawings before, so I just decided to play and see what would happen. 
The booklet sits nicely in a star like shape on my shelf. 
I enjoy the puzzle of making something out of whatever I have on hand. 
I spent the last couple of weeks in Nova Scotia, and had so much fun taking pictures.
Living in North Western Canada, I am not used to seeing old buildings, and was constantly gawking and taking pictures.
We spent a week in Halifax, and stayed in an old inn that was built in 1867
Everywhere I looked there were pictures to take
but still I had a deep urge to make a wee book.... I will take some more pictures of it to share with you soon - I promise. 
And I really enjoyed making this one.
The covers and pages were all coloured with watered down ink, and once dry, layers of stamps using both ink and paint as the medium were added.
To finish the book I cut out words and added them to some of the pages. 
It made me happy to make, and now it is ready for me to write or glue things in it....
