Every Wednesday evening, most months of the year I go to life drawing sessions. I get to hang out with a group of wonderful artists for 3 hours and the time is well spent.  There’s nothing like drawing the human form to sharpen your drawing and observation skills!

I spend days as a tutor for DesignMatters advising students, but Wednesday nights are my chance to be a student. Our life drawing sessions don’t have an instructor, we all work independently in our own style and media but are there for each other to offer suggestions and bat ideas around.

We start with quick gesture drawings, (you would be surprised just how fast a minute goes by when you are drawing!)

In our sessions we gradually increase the time of each pose, from those quick gesture drawings to 5 minutes…

… then 10 minutes …to our maximum, a 20 minute pose. Having to look, really look at the model and get what I see down on paper makes me focus and the 3 hours just fly by! Some evenings the drawing goes well and others, not so much, but I always learn something from the process.

I know I will be a student forever,

Catherine

It was a damp and cold weather day but there was a warm welcome at  FibreWorks Gallery on what is usually the “Sunshine Coast”. Despite the damp it was good to see fellow Surface Design Association members and enjoy Reg and Yvonne’s wonderful hospitality at the opening of “The Game- Another Take on the Exquisite Corpse”.

http://www.gunboatbaylodge.com/fibreworks

It was one of those West Coast winter days ( I know it’s May, but it sure doesn’t feel like it!) yesterday when it’s hard to know where the sky stops and the ocean begins! just gray from top to bottom. But the exhibition opening at FibreWorks was full of colour and fun.

http://www.surfacedesignbc.org/

Yvonne and her team had done a wonderful job hanging the show, it looks amazing in the yurt.

The rainy afternoon  was a great time to have a good visit with friends and  to “play the game” and create some new corpses. Yvonne set up some paper , scissors and glue and bit’s of papers for us to play with. The perfect end to the day was a potluck dinner with some of the other artists and these two came out to say goodbye as I was leaving.

It was great gray day!

Catherine

The acronym above stands for the North Shore Needle Arts Guild  and today we started on our version of a sketchbook project.

Some of the members of the guild participated in the art house co-op Sketchbook Project http://www.arthousecoop.com/sketchbookproject2011  (me included)  and enjoyed it so much we thought the members of the needlework guild might enjoy the challenge. Bonnie arranged the purchase of some wonderful sketchbooks and we created a list of possible themes to get everyone started.

Today we had a “wet workshop” after our regular meeting and shared some of our favorite techniques with our fellow guild members.

Everybody shared their ideas about what might make an interesting page…

and what would be the best way to get rid of those brand new sketchbook white page blues! My theme is “In Stitches” and I will show you my progress from time to time over the next few months. I’ll be in my new studio next week ( yahoo!)  and this sketchbook will be near the top of my “to-do” list.

Catherine

This weekend brings the opening reception of  “The Game- Another Take on the Exquisite Corpse” on the Sunshine Coast just north of Vancouver.

It’s  terrific exhibition and this is the second venue it has visited, with one more to go. The inspiration for these works comes from the 1920s Surrealist game called Exquisite Corpse or Cadavre Exquis: a game of folded paper which involves several people composing a phrase or drawing collectively, none of the participants have any idea of what the other artists have done. This exhibition is created by the members of the Surface Design Association of BC and Yukon of which I am a member.  http://www.surfacedesignbc.org/

Lots of international artists have collaborated with local artists in creating pieces for his show. Linda and Laura Kemshall and I created an entry , it’s the piece on the right in the image below( sorry it’s not straight!)  and we are thrilled to have it on the cover of the exhibition flyer!

The show is on at FibreWorks Studio and Gallery   http://www.gunboatbaylodge.com/fibreworks.html and the opening reception is this Sunday the 15th. it’s going to be good fun!

Wow! It seems everyone is heading this way – there have been Orca whales spotted in Vancouver Harbour this morning, they were seen under the Lion’s Gate Bridge on their way towards town. It’s been years since whales have come this close to the city, they must have heard about the exhibit.

Catherine

but getting very close! The lights are up and working , the bookshelves are installed and I am moving in! There’s still the plumbing and some electrical work yet to do.  The heaters aren’t in yet  and with our unseasonable cold I am missing them, but the little space heater is working overtime to take the chill off.

Some of my favorite things are books and I have lots! I am really enjoying putting all my “studio” books out and arranging them on the bookshelves and then re-arranging them, of course!

I seem to mention the cold rainy weather in nearly every post but it has been a really nasty spring here. According to the local garden center we are 3 weeks behind for planting, blooming and anything garden related.  I know tulips are long over in most parts, but these are doing their best to brighten my garden.

Here’s hoping for warmer weather!

Catherine

The studio was looking  so clean and tidy ( that’s allot easier when nothing is in there) I knew it was too good to last, in fact it took barely 12 hours after washing the floor and cleaning out the cabinets that the moving truck rolled in and all the studio furniture arrived!

All the space I reveled in was gone! covered up with boxes and tables and well, everything…..

including the dog, who had to check out everything that arrived , just to make sure! (spot the tail end in the midst of the boxes below)

The movers brought sunshine with them as well and the little bit of sun we had brought out  the lilacs in my new garden…. they smell gorgeous!

Catherine

It’s coming along! my new studio is coming together really nicely. It’s amazing what a coat of paint and a floor will do.

The walls were barely dry ( in fact they weren’t quite!) when the floor started going down. It’s a wonderful “vinyl” tile with a sticky back so once it’s down it’s really tough and there’s no  need for any further work. Just stick the tile in place, making sure all the edges are straight and square and it’s ready to go.

About half way through the floor going down the cabinets and counter top arrived…

The studio looks so large now that the floor is all down and the cabinets are in place. The cabinets and counter will be installed in the next day or so and then light’s and plumbing….and then move in!

It’s  cold and rainy here today ….I know Bart is looking forward to being inside as much as I am.

Catherine

Well , just when you think things are going smoothly life has a way of turning you upside down! Sorry to have been away from this blog, I really did have all good intentions, but….I have moved house. Actually house, office and studio.

Settling in is taking allot  longer than I thought possible. But I am back on-line and almost finished wading through boxes in the house. The new studio is still in the works….see below! and I haven’t found the kettle yet, but other than that things are coming together.

There are 2 new windows…

and Lekk and Mike are painting as I type. I am hoping to move in next week if everything goes to plan. I can’t wait!

In the midst of all the mess and chaos there is a lovely welcome near the front door of my new home, this beautiful magnolia tree in bloom. The blossoms are glorious and  doing their best to survive the rain and cool weather.

Catherine

I think I’ve got it!

Thanks for looking up my new blog! I have been struggling with keeping up a website and have decided to make a change. A blog seems an easier way to stay in touch and let you know what’s happening in my world….so here we go!

I have been making nests lately. I’m working in one of my  favorite techniques , pen and ink and combining it with the fabrics I created using soy wax batik methods. The fabrics were the result of a 4 day workshop with Els van Baarle at Art Quilt Tahoe ( a wonderful get away!)

On a morning walk I noticed a number of  nests in the bare trees. I guess they had been there awhile but I was just noticing them with the morning sunlight coming through the trees.  As soon as I got into the workroom I knew what to do!

It’s still work in progress but it’s coming along. I hope to show it to you soon!

Catherine