On perfection...

I am a perfectionist. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, or what I do is perfect, but I am always striving for perfection. This is a horrible affliction. It's stopped me from doing things my whole life for fear of not doing them perfectly. When I was in school, I loved art class but I rarely finished my projects - I'd agonize over them for ages and then discard them when I deemed them imperfect. The little canvas above, I worked on for days and days - moving things slightly, fiddling with the paint, making the papercuts. I have decided that I really have to loosen up and follow the Japanese concept of wabi sabi - beauty in imperfection. Because, perfection is absolutely impossible to acheive - I don't think it even exists. I'm getting better though - I've made huge steps in recent years by starting this blog, getting out there, and showing my work to everyone.

Having said all that, I'm planning to do a series of these little bird canvases - 8x8 square and 4 inches deep - so they'll look really cool on a bookshelf or mantle. We've had loads of hummingbirds in our backyard lately, feasting on bee balm - so I might do one of those next.

If it's a long weekend in your area - hope you have a happy one!

I love Ice Cream

Another unintended blog break. I think that this week, my mantra was - if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. I just had a bit of a bad week - felt a bit blocked with making things, and had lots of electrical problems with our house. No hot water, oven, dishwasher for a couple of days and the prospect of a large bill to fix it all permanently. I know I shouldn't whinge because I am lucky to have these things in the first place, but it just all combined to put me in a foul mood. But, it seems that when I am in these states, something really nice happens to cheer me up. My friend Denise, who is here in NS for the summer, dropped by and gave me this amazing piece of fibre art. She runs a little business with a friend called Waterside Fibre Art, and they make these lovely pieces.
The detail is absolutely amazing. Literally zillons (okay, maybe not zillions, but you get the idea) of little pieces of fabric formed into an image with freehand stitching. I was really touched that she gave me a piece of her artwork. I love it so much, and I am so happy to have such a good friend who knows me so well - she knows that I really appreciate all sorts of ice cream. ( ; Thanks Denise!

Paper, Rock, Scissors

Actually, the title of this post is a bit misleading. There is no rock included in this post, just paper and scissors - and a blade. I just thought that paper, rock, scissors sounded a bit...catchier. Anyhow - I've been doing loads of papercutting lately, and relying pretty heavily on these three tools, so I thought I'd talk a bit about them. First off is the blade - I broke down and got the Martha Stewart Crafts blade, because it's rubberized and has a kind of ergonomic shape - a lot easier on the hands. Also, it has it's own pretty brown storage box. Next up are these little scissors that I use for really fine cutting. They are super sharp, and are shaped like a tweezer. I love these - they are so handy.

Finally, my scissors - another fine Martha Stewart product. These are really nice and sharp, and also came in a very pretty brown box. Now, back to the cutting at hand....

More Scenes from the Studio...

I've now got a couple of employees in my sweatshop...I mean studio. One helps with the cutting...
...and the other one is here just to boost morale. Ok guys, back to work!

Great Quotes

I love this quote by artist Sol LeWitt, from his NY Times obit -

"To the sculptor Eva Hesse, he once wrote a letter while she was living in Germany and at a point when her work was at an impasse. “Stop it and just DO,” he advised her. “Try and tickle something inside you, your ‘weird humor.’ You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool.” He added: “You are not responsible for the world — you are only responsible for your work, so do it. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be.”

Here is another great one from him -

"Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically"

Sol LeWitt passed away a few months ago, but I just discovered these quotes, and his work. A very sad loss - his work and his thoughts are so wise and inspiring. I'm going to pin these quotes up in my studio.

Blue

Mixing paint to work on some new paper on canvas pieces.

Still Life with Book Covers

Another productive evening here at double happiness inc....

Sunday

What do you call a blog when the posts only happen about once a week? Right now, I guess you'd call it "double happiness." I really admire bloggers that can post everyday. I get ideas for posts each day, but then don't get time to do them, and then it seems like it's all too late. I resolve, from this day forth, to endeavour to post everyday - even if nothing happens. Which, actually, is most days.

Anyhow, the subject of today's post is today - Sunday. It was beautiful and sunny. We went to the beach and Milo came along. It was his first time at the beach, and I am sad to say that he hated it. I'm not sure if it was all the people, the wind, or the sound of waves crashing on the shore - but he was very uncomfortable. Forget about even going in the water - he hated sitting on the sand. We didn't stay too long, but every once in a while he would make this strange noise that I interpreted as - "please get me out of here -please!" Maybe he will grow to love it?

The other thing we did today is go to a yard sale. They had all these great ceramics - I really loved the colours and couldn't resist. The one above is by Beauceware, a Canadian company based in Quebec. The piece below is just marked "USA". I love the colour and the shape.
I am not sure what I'll do with these pieces, or where I'll display them - but I do love them. Maybe I'll become one of those mad collectors, scouting every yard sale, salvation army store and e-bay?

Craft Inc.

This book looks really great. More info here. Short post, must get to work.

Rock in the Country

I had a fantastic weekend in Pictou with my dear friend Denise (she is the one who makes these amazing fabric artworks - I got to see some over the weekend, and they are even more amazing in person!). She invited me up for the Riverfront Jubilee, but we did all sorts of other lovely things like swimming in the ocean, eating fish & chips and pizza (both in the same day!), shopping and relaxing. Denise is here for the summer staying with her parents who live in a beautiful renovated farmhouse in the country. They were all so lovely and hospitable, I was waited on hand and foot and loved every minute of it! Above is a funky old shed that's on their property.
The days were relaxing, but the nights were devoted to the god of RAWK! As mentioned above, we saw Sloan (pictured above) and Joel Plaskett. Another act I loved was Inflight Safety - they were really great too. It wasn't like a typical rockfest though, in that we weren't standing knee deep in mud, we could see perfectly, and everyone was so polite! People asked if it was ok if they stood in front of us! I love the country. Denise has suggested that we make this a yearly thing and I'm all for that!

Eight Things

I've been tagged by Shona to share 8 facts/habits about myself. So, here goes...

1. I'm a daydreamer. I guess you could say that I have a two-track mind - part of my mind is in the present, and another part is always dreaming away. This is why I'm always getting myself into predicaments - driving down sidewalks, locking myself out of places, forgetting things. But, now that I think of it - I wouldn't have it any other way.

2. I love to read. I feel lost if I don't have anything to read.

3. I'm a bargain hunter. One of my favorite things to do is shop at yard sales and flea markets. I also love those really junky shops that are a bit scary when you first walk in.

4. I love bright colours, like red and pink, but the colours in my house are all pretty muted. I am thinking of painting my TV cabinet turquoise.

5. I love all flowers, but peonies are my favorite.

6. I don't wear make-up. Well, occasionally for special occasions I do, but it's not an everyday thing.

7. I don't own a mobile phone and I never want to.

8. I love to travel, but I hate flying. It's not just fear of the plane crashing, but all the other stuff - walking through the x-ray machine, being searched, the endless waiting, being treated like crap, etc.

I'm meant to tag some other people, but it seems as though this has already made the rounds. So, if you haven't done this and would like to - please go ahead. Thanks to Shona for tagging me - as you can tell, I've been struggling to write blog posts lately - guess it's just a summer thing.

This weekend, I am off to visit a friend in the country. I'm very excited about catching up with her, and we are doing some fun things like going to a music festival and seeing the likes of Joel Plaskett and Sloan, going to the beach, relaxing and eating lots of yummy things. TTFN!