Inside the artisan

Mixed Media Mystery

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Here's a mixed media piece in progress.....

I thought I'd put out a little challenge to go along with it. What is the brown material that forms the top part of this?

Any ideas? Go on - have a guess!

Landscape

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:35:00 +0000

Here's a brooch that I worked on at the mixed media class last week using nuts and bolts. Not my usual style but good for techniques.

Gosh, I really don't enjoy soldering on those fiddly little brooch/pin findings. Definitely not my number one task!

I love the colors in this - and the blackened copper sets it off nicely.

Mondays with Marly - Three Metal Collage

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:08:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER MARLY

You can see more of Marly's work at Studio 28 - Waterloo, Canada.

Oh dear! We’ve been so busy with summer projects and get-aways that I almost forgot that its THIS Monday that my next guest blog is due. Where does the time go? Its been fun having time for new projects like updating the little kitchenette in the front apartment and putting in a perennial garden in the front of the house. And we had a little get away to see Sting perform with the London (England) Symphony Concert Orchestra here in London (Ontario) on Wednesday night. Wow! What an amazing concert!

Not much time for the studio these days, but I’ve managed to create a few new pieces in the last while that I thought I’d share with you. I’ve grown to love working with copper and bronze clay along with fine silver clay. Although bronze and copper can be a bit more difficult to work with sometimes, the result of three metal colors in one piece is really worth it. Both Angie and I have found working with Hadar Jacobson’s bronze and metal powders to be our preferred choice. You can mix just the amount that you need, and the clay when it is first mixed is supple and very easy to work and manipulate. I currently am working with the three metals in a collage form that looks like a little temple. I like the form and hope there is lots of room for playing with texture and shapes within this format. Here are some of my initial pieces using this format.

I purchased some tree stamps at the art clay conference last year and decided to make a few pieces using this tree design.

The next two pieces incorporate some “Lake Huron Series” earrings that I had left in my “odds and ends” box.

I’m looking forward to playing with more copper, bronze, and silver soon. Just a few more projects....like clearing some space in the studio and I’ll be on my way!

Sunday's Spotlight - The Photography Walk

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:27:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER PETE

For my Fathers' Day present, Ruth had booked a photography excursion for us both in a nearby vineyard. It was a good day out, but unfortunately, although much larger than Ruth and John's the vineyard was no where near as attractive.

There were 5 of us in the group - led by Dave from Rohnert Park, who had been a wine maker. It was a bit disappointing that he spent so much of his time telling us about grapes and wine-tasting and very little about the art of photography. That could have been because 2 of the 5 participants weren't photographers and came to accompany their photographer daughter.

Ruth and I enjoyed the day and found some great shots to take. I overdid the bunches of grapes photos but with a digital camera that's not at all important.

Almost unbelievably, it was a cloudy day. This was fine because the lack of sunlight made the taking of photographs a lot easier than in conditions of bright sunlight and dark shade.

About three quarters of the way through the tour, Dave reminded us to look out for snakes, adding the rider that they wouldn't be out in the overcast conditions anyway.

Some of the most interesting shots were the rows of vines leading the eye up to a feature in the hills beyond.

The vineyard - B. R. Cohn - is situated just out of Sonoma. Bruce Cohn, the founder and owner, had at one time been the manager of a group of musicians - The Doobie Brothers. The group had broken up and Bruce had then bought the acreage for the vineyard. A few years later he arranged a charity music festival and his old group reformed for the occasion in order to take part in the concert.

That night was so successful that the group have stayed together and the one off concert is now an annual event. The vineyard is a perfect setting in which to enjoy music.

When we returned to the visitor center a huge lunch was given to us. I'm sure that my lunch along would have fed all 5 of us!

After lunch, Ruth and I took some floral photographs and also four unusual and attractive fun sculptures by an artist living nearby in Sebastopol - Patrick Amiot. If you are ever in that California town - hunt out Florence Street where the sculptor lives. Almost every house on that street has a piece of his work on display in their gardens.

A good, enjoyable, fun and even unusual day. And the sun broke through the fog at lunch time.

Songbird festival in San Francisco

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:42:00 +0000

I'm going to be a songbird on August 8th - along with Karen Clark, Lindsey McLennan, Celeste Winant and Joyce Todd McBride.

It is the Songbird Festival in San Francisco and Vajra Voices - the new quintet I sing with - will be performing that day along with Katy Stephan and pianist Allison Lovejoy.

The concert starts at 4pm and we will be singing the early music of Hildegard von Bingen and St Martial.

If you around SF that day - it would be great to see you at the Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street, SF. Check out the website as the festival runs for five weeks and we are in the fourth week so there are a lot more other songbirds before us!

Hope to see you there.

Eggshell Mosaic

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:32:00 +0000

As part of my mixed media class, we learnt a technique using eggshells on metal.

First - eat the eggs!

Then the tricky part is taking the membrane off from inside the egg shells. I hadn't realized it, but the membrane on the inside of an egg shell is pink in color - just a pale pink - but definitely pink. As you remove it - it's actually a few layers - the shell gets more and more fragile.

We then learnt how to apply the eggshells to the metal to create a really tough surface and also add some color. I used a turquoise/blue color for mine, but I'm afraid the photo doesn't really show that as the lighting wasn't good in the studio.

It's an interesting technique and here's a couple of examples of how Diane - our instructor - has utilized it in created two brooches.

I wonder how I will ended up using it????

Mendocino Art Center

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:54:00 +0000

I'm in Mendocino (northern California) this week, taking a mixed media class at the Mendocino Art Center with Diane Falkenhagen.

It's a great class. There are only 4 students and we are getting to try lots of different media and techniques. The aim of the class isn't to make something, but rather to play and try a few samples and see what we like and see what inspires us.

Here are some of the samples that I made on the first day applying pictures to polymer clay. The one on the far right is on liquid polymer clay.

I'll show you some others as the class progresses.

It's a great place to come for classes. I am staying at the art center housing - and good sized room - basic but shares a tiny kitchen too. The whole place - town as well - has just a great feeling to it. I really like it.

Master Muse Challenge 3 - Faux bone rings with metal clay

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:50:00 +0000

My third Master Muse challenge is up on Tonya Davidson's blog for Whole Lotta Whimsy today.

Our challenge was to combine metal clay with a faux bone ring blank. I've had some faux bone sat in my drawer now for probably a couple of years - never touched - so this challenge finally got me to give it a try. I really enjoyed it - apart from cleaning up after sawing it as it does generate lots of little tiny white bits!!

As Tonya's blog described, I did the challenge in the run up to the wedding at our home. During that time we were just hoping that all our flowers would keep flowering and stay looking good for the wedding - and so I made two flowerings - (flower-rings) for this project - ones that would keep flowering!

The first one is an interchangeable ring - where you can make multiple components and swap them in and out as you choose.

A lot of the fauxbone things you see, utilize the "bone" like coloring, adding browns and blacks etc to create the look of an "aged" piece - but if there is one color I avoid and don't like, it's brown!!! So I decided to brighten up the faux bone with some pretty colors!

Yes - it is a large ring! Here are some variations:

The second ring I made for the challenge was a flowerpot!

Each flower is "planted" into the flowerpot and left to grow!

Happy rings that I hope will encourage the wearer to "keep flowering"!

Tonya's blog shows a brief synopsis of how to create the flowerpot ring. Full step by step instructions with around 70 photos will be available from Whole Lotta Whimsy shortly. I hope these will inspire you to give faux bone a try! I'm certainly glad mine finally came out of the drawer!!

Every Wednesday Tonya posts another Master Muse challenge on her blog - and the next few are all faux bone rings - so pop by and see how others interpreted the challenge.

Fields of Lavender

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:15:00 +0000

Our lavender is just perfect right now - and we have a lot of it. It is full of busy bees - lots of different species of bees. Did you know that in California alone there are 1000 species of bees!

We always gather some and dry it for baskets etc, and I've made quite a few lavender wands in the past. While my mum was here - she decided to make a large wand as she'd told some friends in England that I'd made on with 90 stalks of lavender one year so she set about to make her own large one.It's pretty fiddly with that many stalks - especially the first couple of rounds.

And each year I always dry a little of the Provence lavender. We have a few different varieties of lavender but the Provence is the one that is good for cooking and eating. But remember - a little goes a long way! I even have a lavender cookbook - bet you didn't even know such a thing existed! A friend bought it for me a couple of years ago.

The best lavender recipe I have ever made is lavender and honey ice cream. To say this ice cream is rich is an understatement! If I recall - you use 8 eggs in it! But it certainly is yummy and one of those things saved for a special treat. Last time I made it with lavender shortbread.

What is your favorite use for lavender? Is there something new I can make this year with it? I'd love to hear your ideas....

Monday's Millinery Musing - France on Foot - part 1

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:30:00 +0000

By guest blogger Jennifer

In 1999 a friend at work dropped a book on Dave's desk and said. "You and Jennifer should do this." The book was France on Foot by Bruce LeFavour. It completely changed our view of what a vacation could be. It changed us.

We bravely ventured forth in 2000, armed with our map 903, France Grande Randonee or France Long Distance Walking Paths. This map traces nearly 37,000 miles of trails in France alone, and as Le Favour points out this is more than one and a half times the distance around the world at the equator.

The French trail system was established in the 1930's by the FFRP(translation: French Long Distance Walking Federation). This group of activists along with other individuals and preservation organizations were concerned because the paths, which had always been open to everyone, had fallen into decline and were being swallowed up by the automobile and modern agriculture. In 1999 there were about 6,000 volunteers who did the hard work of maintaining these trails. The trails are not only maintained, they are meticulously mapped in the IGN Serie Bleue maps.

We have never rented a car in France. We fly into Paris, take the metro from the airport to one of the train stations, and a train to the area where we want to walk. To avoid the highways and traffic we take a taxi to the trailhead. This always entertains the taxi driver who invariably gives us outstanding recommendations for local restaurants, wines, and on occasion, excellent recipes. He basically drops us in the middle of nowhere, waves cheerily and shouts, "Bon Courage!" We love that. It's always the same.

At this point we are out of touch for several weeks. We carry everything we need in backpacks. We have maps and a compass.

Once we are within the trail system we can walk locally or regionally. The pleasures of walking through the French countryside are infinite whether it is through the lovely villages, vineyards or forests. We rarely see other hikers. Dave walks faster than I do so we are often far apart, meeting up several times a day. On the silent path one can hear the cuckoos in the forests, pick wood violets and wild geraniums, and hear the sound of ones own breath and footsteps. It is deeply relaxing.

We are often asked why we don't ride bikes instead of walk, we could cover more ground, get to places more quickly etc. For us it's too fast. Life whizzes by on a bike. When we walk we can really see where we are and an intimacy with the countryside develops. It is a friendship that is slow and welcoming with not only the land but with the weather and bird life.

At the end of the day there is always a good meal and a real bed. You may be wondering, "Where do you sleep?" Stay tuned!

Sunday's Spotlight - The Wedding

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:50:00 +0000

By guest blogger Pete.

After an abundance of worrying and concern by all involved, the wedding of my niece, Caroline and nephew-in-law (if such a term exists!) - Jamie - went off very well.

The vineyard and the surrounding areas were all neat and tidy. The vineyard oak tree, by the time the wedding took place, provided plenty of shade - especially for the bride and groom - plus me! It was a hot day and every little piece of shade that could be garnered was extremely precious.

The oak tree stands in the center of the vineyard atop of a slight grassy rise from the house. Each group of members of the families etc made their way up this slope separately. The ring boy did well and then he realised something of the indignity of such a position and stopped. For a few moments it looked as thought he was going to make a dash for freedom, taking with him the two rings as well. However, his dad was the best man and managed to persuade him to complete the journey.

I always feel sorry for the ring boys and pages at weddings. Dressed in all that fancy costume it doesn't do much for the lad's street credibility - especially if any of his friends are in the congregation. It's not exactly a "macho" job is it?

I have always been grateful that neither my brother (15 years older than me) nor my sister (10 years older than me) asked me to be a page boy. I think I'd have runaway and hidden long before the ceremony and appeared only after it was long ended. Page boys and ring boys ought to have a union. At least they could demand more reasonable and financial compensation than the so called perk of being able to take the little Lord Fauntleroy suit home with them!

The actual ceremony went well and the vows etc spoken in a voice clearly audible to all present. I had a good think and this was not only my first occasion to officiate at a marriage outside of a church but the first time I'd officiated at a marriage since my retirement.

The heat remained until about 7pm. The meal was great. The formal photographs in the heat exhausted the bride and groom and every bit of shade available could have been sold to any unfortunate in the sun - like Caroline and Jamie - for a King or even a Queen's ransom!

A lovely day, a lovely setting and the best wishes of everyone go to Caroline and Jamie.

Painted birdhouses

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:05:00 +0000

Here are the rest of the birdhouses that my family painted this past week.

First off, there is a lighthouse - positioned by the water! Can you see the flying fish? Maybe seagulls will go in this one?

Next up are a couple of vehicles - a fire engine and an airplane! What type of bird do you think would go in these?

And then one more house - larger than the others I showed this week - with lovely flowers and bushes growing in the garden:

We did all enjoy our little activity and hope the birds will too!

Three birdhouses

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:55:00 +0000

Following on from Tuesday's post with "action" shots of the creation of birdhouses by my family - here are the first three houses. They are small - but just look at those details!

Little flowers, grass in the garden, picket fence, trees, friendly birds.....

Gosh - what more could a birdie ask for?

Doesn't it make you want to come and stay with us so that you can paint your own birdhouse too? We will hang these up tomorrow in the garden and I'll photograph the others too to show you. Even though the birdies have finished their nesting for this year, I'm thinking they may want to fly by and check out where they are going to live next year!!! Which one would you choose?

Charms for Charity

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:35:00 +0000

It's time for the second biennial fundraiser for Cancer Research, organized by the metal community - Charms for Charity.

Metal clay artists from around the world honor cancer survivors and those who have succumbed to the disease by raising funds for The American Cancer Society and The Marrow Foundation. We do this by creating and donating charms that are then made into incredible charm bracelets and raffled off.

It seems that this year there will probably be about 30 separate bracelets to be raffled. The raffle takes place at the Precious Metal Clay Conference in Perdue, IN on July 30th, 2010.

At the first charms for charity two year ago, we raised $12,270. The goal this year is to reach $20,000.

If you'd like to buy tickets, you can do so online at this link: Charms of Charity

At the first such raffle two years ago - I won the very first bracelet! So yes, it's definitely worth a try - especially as the tickets are only $5 each.

And yes - you've guessed it from the first photo! Look who is on his way to join the other charms! Little Quentin Quail is heading out to be attached to one of the bracelets with lots of other cool charms!

I hope you'll consider buying one or more tickets for your chance to win a wonderful prize and also make a difference.

Spread the love by changing lives.

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:11:00 +0000

You may recall if you've been reading my blog for a while, that I support Nest - a non profit organization that provides micro-financing for women artists in third world countries.

I list a few of my items on their website and when they sell, I donate a significant proportion of the sale to Nest.

Nest have recently updated their website, so thought you might like to take a look. If you an artist - I hope you'll consider becoming part of the group of artists who support other artists. And if you feel like shopping, it's a great place to choose something and know that your purchase will make a difference.

Birdhouse Creations

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Before my family leave, we had to have a creative day painting birdhouses. As I've mentioned before on this blog, we ask anyone who stays with us to paint/decorate a birdhouse during their stay, which we then hang in the garden. It is lovely to wander around the garden and remember all our family and friends - and the birdhouses all turn out so differently.

So we got going on the painting! The birdhouses were all different shapes from cars, planes, castles to more traditional houses. But I'm afraid I let the side down a little as I couldn't find the red paint. Turned out that EVERYONE wanted red paint!!!!! - just because I didn't have it!

But when you are creating, you have to be able to stretch and go wtih the flow - so pinks and greens were selected instead of red (I have about 5 shades of green paint!!!).

Matthew and Peter even found time between swimming to paint theirs!

Phew - hard work by the looks of it - need a good cup of tea afterwards!!

I'll show you the finished pieces when they are dry.

Mondays with Marly - Stepping Stones Part 2

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:05:00 +0000

By guest blogger Marly

A major heat wave has hit Southern Ontario. Nothing like it since 2007. I gratefully bow to our little window air conditioner which is managing to keep the house comfortable and cool. A perfect kind of day to write a blog entry since its way too humid to venture outside. In my last blog entry, I wrote about some early artistic adventures...weaving, printmaking, picture framing, and watercolor.

Around 2005, my color palette started to change. The turquoise blues and greens that predominated my earlier work shifted to warmer colors...maroons, reds, browns and earth tones. I realized how much I loved doing collage and started to integrate watercolor and acrylics with photos and Japanese washi papers

I decided to take an early retirement from teaching in 2005 so I could make art and travel a bigger part of my life. I took a course in fused glass and fell in love with the process. I very quickly started to experiment with collaging different colors of glass together.

It didn’t take long before I fell in love with dichroic glass and the way it reflected colours.
I started to make jewelry pieces using this specialty glass.

In between creative adventures, Angie and I travelled to the southwest in my camper van several times between 2005-2007. It was there that we discovered the silver metal clay community and took some introductory courses that got us hooked on creating metal clay jewelry. It wasn’t long before I started experimenting with previous art mediums and metal clay. Could I put in some of my collage art into a metal clay frame?
I discovered that by laminating miniaturized versions of my collages, I could, indeed, include my art in metal clay jewelry.

I really feel drawn to making artisan jewelry right now. My work in various mediums has always been small, so translating my art to jewelry seems like a good direction to pursue. I also love the personal nature of making wearable art. So many people have told me how they think of me when they put on a piece of jewelry that I’ve made. Its feels good to know that people enjoy wearing my creations.

My art experiences have truly been stepping stones. All of life’s learnings can be built upon and used in many ways. So embrace the desire to learn something new. Trust that pursuing new experiences and having the courage to leave your “comfort zone” will only broaden and enhance the creative spirit within. Here’s to the journey!

Sunday's spotlight - Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:15:00 +0000

No: This week's blog is not an advertisement for the Redding Chamber of Commerce. Actually its a commendation to two of their staff - Vicki and Terri. Let me explain....

On Monday, we returned to Glen Ellen from a four day trip to Northern California, stopping at Redding, Eureka and Mendocino. Redding was our first stop and having driven for some time, we decided that we'd take a walk to the Sundial Bridge. It was an extraordinarily hot day and we were relieved to see an ice cream stall in the bridge area. The sale of mango ice cream from that venue certainly went up that day.

We crossed over the aforementioned bridge and started looking for a riverside walk to take us back to a nice rest on our beds. However, we could find no walkway out. A couple of roads and a highway but we didn't fancy such a dangerous stroll.

Two 70+ year olds were getting increasingly tired. We could find no locals to help but at 4.50pm, we spotted the Chamber of Commerce building - due to close at 5pm. The two ladies there couldn't have been kinder. They insisted we sit down, gave us all a bottle of cool water and then drive us back to our lodgings.

Thank you Vicki and Terri. You made our stay in Redding a memorable one through your kindness.

From Redding we went up to Lake Shasta, visiting the dam there and taking a boat trip across the lake to the Shasta Caverns.

I particularly liked Eureka, which we visited on the day that the England Soccer team went out of the world cup. Not before time because they were atrocious. Lincoln City, my home team who just avoided relegation out of the football league, would have shown more enthusiasm than their international colleagues. I digress, however...

Eureka has some wonderful varied old Victorian houses and buildings in its old town area. I enjoyed wandering around taking photos whilst the others went shopping. Weren't they the lucky ones!!

Our last port of call was Mendocino; a really small place no larger than a village but very attractive and by the sea.

I was amazed at what this small town offered. It has a small theatre but produces shows most of the year round. On the Sunday evening we went to see the play "Mr Marmalade". Very good evening's entertainment.

The town also boasts its own Music Festival, Film Festival, Arts Centre and is home to courses in various arts and subjects. They also have a good cup of coffee in The Mendocino Hotel.

As I write this, next Saturday is the day of my niece (in law's) wedding. I am conducting the service. First time I've ever married anyone in a vineyard. Sounds as though I've got wires all over the place. With my memory for names, it's just as well I haven't.

Keep on enjoying the sun. We've had it over and around 100 degrees all this past week.

A new Quentin at Birdland

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:55:00 +0000

We recently visited Mendocino with my parents on a little road trip north - but my dad will tell you more about that on his Sunday's Spotlight blog post this Sunday. While we were there however, we saw lots of California quails running around the little lanes and then met this little Quentin in one of the galleries.

We loved it so much - and so bought it. It shows Quentin and Queenie and their 8 little babies!

Isn't it beautiful. It's made by the artist Gordon Stennett from lots of different hardwoods.

It looks wonderful by our fireplace. Now we have Quentins inside and out!

Wedding Photo

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:10:00 +0000

My cousin Caroline's wedding at our home on Saturday went really well. It was a perfect day.

Thought I'd share just one photo with you. As a surprise we arranged for Steve, the "dove man" to come by and greet them as they walked back down the "aisle" of the garden. He gave each of them a white dove to release and then released 30 more. It was lovely to see. The dove man actually lives across the creek from us and the doves regularly come and fly around our garden - but it was quite a surprise for the bride and groom!

I was delighted when I managed to catch both of them releasing their doves in this photo. Perfect for a wedding at Birdland!

Still enjoying family time but also looking forward to getting back to creating next week - probably do some things with my mum as she and dad are with us for another week yet.

Finally got internet connection back so I'll be able to catch up on what you have all been doing too!

Frustrations!

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:31:00 +0000

When I wrote my email last week about taking some time away from the blog for "family time" - I had only envisaged missing a couple of days - but since then, I've been without internet access! It's driving me crazy. Apparently my provider can't repair it and I can't seem to find another provider who can give me anything better than speeds of 56kbps!!!! Ahh..

So I will continue to away from my blog until one of these many phone calls I seem to be making for hours on end every day, actually comes up with something useful!!

Hope you are all having a better week than me!

Monday's Millinery Musings - Deep in Dye

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:01:00 +0000

By guest blogger Jennifer Whitmer

To prepare for my flower making and hat workshop at Art Unraveled next month, I have been deep in the dye. It is my job to dye lots of silk charmeuse for the students flower-making adventure. It starts in this unglamorous way outside under the arbor. You've been under the arbor with me before.

I can never seem to FOCUS and mix up just a few colors. Who can do that? When one can choose from the most luscious colors in the world: plum blossom, robin's egg blue, palomino gold, rose red, chartreuse, raspberry, deepdeep eggplant, black cherry, moss green, citrus yellow....and those wine colors: burgundy, bordeaux, claret....honestly, who can choose only a few? Believe me, this is a partial list. This is a few. I used many more.

My husband, Dave, is an acupuncturist and herbalist. He makes unique Chinese herbal formulas for his patients. He recycles the empty herb bottles to me and they are perfect for mixing dye powders. A good shake quickly mixes them up and I can move right on to the fun part: dyeing what is white any color imaginable. I use fiber reactive dyes from Dharma Trading Company.

I am not a professional dyer. Professional dyers would cringe at my technique (zero technique), which is to spill or squirt on the dye and see what happens. Oh, sometimes I'm more "artistic" and twist, scrunch, or fold the fabric. But let me make something absolutely clear: I don't know what I'm doing. Gratefully, I don't.

The students will make beautiful roses with these shimmering silks. I hope they go on to dye their own fabrics and experience the joy of working with color. To celebrate the students, and you, dear readers, I'd like to share with you a special rose recipe:

Rose Petal and Almond Restorative Drink
1. Soak 8 raw almonds in 1 cup of water overnight.
2. In the morning, save 1/2 c of the soaking water and rub the skins off the almonds.
3. In a blender put:
    1/2 c almond soaking water
    the 8 soaked almonds
    3/4 c milk (or "milks" made from soy, almond, or rice)
    6 or 8 organic rose petals
    tiny pinch of saffron
    pinch of cardamom (optional)
    1/2 tsp honey (or to taste)
4. Whiz it all together.
5. Sip slowly under the arbor, if you have one, and enjoy immensely.

Serves 1

Family Time

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:44:00 +0000

My parents are here with me from England at the moment. My sister and her family arrive tomorrow, as do other family members from Vancouver, BC.....then my cousin's wedding is on Saturday. So there is little time for blogging and even less time for creating right now. Right now it is family time.

But I'll be back soon and I'll look forward to catching up then.

Mondays with Marly - Stepping Stones - PART 1

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:31:00 +0000

By guest blogger Marly
Marly and Angie own Studio 28 in Waterloo, Ontario

I must admit I used to feel rather sheepish about my seeming lack of ability to focus on any particular art medium for any length of time. But the wonderful thing about seeing the decades go by, is that I've gained perspective. I am able to look back on the bigger picture, and I've realized how each shift in focus provided context and good insight for the next step (and art medium) in my life. Stepping stones... each experience building and informing the next.

In the 70's and early 80's, a college room mate taught me how to weave and I fell in love with creating tapestries and learning how to operate a loom. I even opened a weaving shop in the nearby tourist town of St. Jacobs.

I quickly learned that trying to pay the bills from weaving was an arduous task. Oh, I loved designing the first placemat and seeing the colors and patterns slowly emerge, but then to weave five more of exactly the same thing to make a set was absolutely painful. Boring. My little shop was in an old silo....no air conditioning in the summer and I felt like Rapunzel locked in her tower, literally sweating over my loom, watching the shuttle go back and forth and back and forth...Not exactly the perfect dream job I was hoping for. Although my loom sat in my living room for years, I finally admitted that my love of weaving had waned. I sold my loom, and vowed that I would NEVER try to pay all the bills from my artistic endeavours again. Below you can see a picture of the Village Silos, where various artisans still sell their wares today, including the weaver that took over my store!

A few years later, I became involved in a photography and picture framing studio and loved pursuing the craft of framing and purchasing Canadian art prints for the store. An acceptance letter to teacher's college sent me in a different direction for a while. I was fortunate to be given a teaching contract here in Waterloo, but I missed picture framing. I still knew my framing suppliers and contacts and they were happy to give me framing corners and mat samples to set up a little picture framing business in my newly acquired house. So I was a teacher by day, and a picture framer evenings and weekends! A welcome supplement to help with my mortgage payments! Although I had to give up my custom picture framing business a few years ago when a big framing manufacturer bought up the local company I dealt with, I still love cutting mat for artwork and find that the skills I learned come in handy for all kinds of art-making.

In the late eighties and early nineties, I had the opportunity to learn more about printmaking and joined a group of nine other artists to do group shows together at various local galleries. Those were wonderful years. Our group, called the Spiral Art Makers, seemed to have a similar approach and aesthetic to our print making and we learned a lot from our collaborations together.

During this time, I realized how much I loved to piece things together in collage form. I would often take a print and cut it up, rearrange it, and add odds and ends from other projects to create something new...a process that I still find totally addictive. I went through a phase of creating art pieces around earrings I no longer wore. An early introduction to the metal arts!

Ohhh, but watercolor was something I always wanted to try! In 2000, two good friends, Rose, Jenny, and I decided to combine a camping trip with a watercolor course at the Haliburton School of the Arts. It was called Watercolor for Dummies. Perfect! Kind of took the pressure off!! And we learned a lot! For the next few years, Thursday night became the time for Rose, Jenny, and I to get together in my studio for some watercolor play time (accompanied by glasses of wine and good music.) The artist that had the biggest influence on my watercolors during those years was Jeanne Carbonetti. I felt a deep connection to her abstract and spiritual approach to art making and poured over her beautiful books to learn more about her techniques.

O.K...that's enough reminiscing for today! It's off to the garden to plant some more flowers. Yes, the ones that have been patiently sitting there for two weeks! Stay tuned for Part Two of my art journey. The 2003-2010 period! Coming up in two weeks!

Sunday's spotlight - Fathers' Day in the UK

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:30:00 +0000

This year Fathers' Day weekend - if that's not a contradiction in itself - was spent with my daughter Mary, Fin and the two boys.

Friends from Lincoln gave us a lift down to Mary's home in Croxley Green, taking with us all the luggage we "needed" (Pam's word, not mine) for our trip to the USA.

The Saturday was the day of the annual Croxley Green Revels, which is, I was told, the largest village fair in the country. I find it difficult to classify Croxley as a village but it certainly was a good fair. We arrive in time to see the parade - mainly children - a few photos were taken. I haven't downloaded the photos yet but, hopefully, I get that completed in time for Ruth to add them to the blog.

There were quite a number of stalls at the fair and we wandered around. At one stall we won rather a nice floribunda rose which Mary planted in her garden and which, also managed to survive the exercises on the next day.

For the Sunday, Mary had arranged a barbecue in her garden. Readers of last weeks blog will, doubtless, be disappointed to hear that no beer was poured on the meat and no flat large stones were laid across the fire! However, despite these shortcomings, the food was both good and plentiful.

Mary and Fin had invited three other families along to the celebrations. They also brought their children so a good crowd was present.

In typical Mad English fashion a football match was arranged between the men and the boys. The men challenged the boys and a 75 year old grandfather was in goal for England. The men lost 4 - 3 but we showed far more enthusiasm, skill and concentration than the English team showed during their first two games in The World Cup! They've yet to play their 3rd - and possibly last - game as I write so perhaps pigs begin to fly after all and the English team managed to win.

Ruth and I are to go out together next month for a Fathers Day out. I'll tell you about that in a future blog.