Whales!

My husband joined me for my last week of summer vacation. He suggested we take a whale watching tour but turns out we didn't need to. As we were enjoying the end of a beautiful long afternoon we heard the sound of whales blowing and we looked out to see three whales passing by!
I wish I had been quicker with the camera but just glad I saw these beautiful creatures. So my summer started with the eagle and ended with the whales ... it doesn't get any better!
And here's one more sunset before I start back into the clay and fiber.

Paper and Paint

I finally cooked the bits of seaweed I picked up at the beach and tried it in my paper making experiment. Because I felt bad collecting seaweed I did not pick up much; just enough to try it out. I cooked it for several hours with washing soda because I didn't have any soda ash, so it didn't get very soft. But once it cooled I cut it into small pieces and put it into the blender with some water. I really didn't have very much so added some cut up used paper that was destined for the recycle bin. With very little I simply poured directly from my blender jar to my screened frames. Below are the pieces drying. I found this batch dried very crinkled and some broke as I tried to press them flat. Next time I would be careful to press more water out when making them. I did a lot more pressing the first time round. But they will be fun to incorporate into some work this winter.I found some very old fabric paints and an old white sheet in the rag bin. Below is some of my paint play.The top left is a layer of pretty peach tissue that a friend had wrapped the giant zucchini from her garden in. (Thank you Sandra for the tissue and zucchini!) I used paint to adhere it to the sheet and then continued to paint over it. Next time I'll wrinkle the tissue so it adds some texture that the sheet alone could not have done. I continued on with the piece below and now it awaits for some netting and sewing to hold those pine needles in place. And speaking of pine needles I'm anxious to put some of my dried bits of nature into some fiber studies and pots this winter!

Inspiration Shots

I haven't any new clay or fiber work to shoot but I have lots of inspirational shots. A day at the beach is so much fun with jelly fish (I don't get in the water!), seagulls, seals, and lots of unknowns in the tidal pools.



Watching the Canadian Snowbirds was awesome! (not the ones who go south for the winter!)

Of course I can't stop taking sunset photos .... may the sun be setting beautifully wherever you are.

Making Paper

My husband and I are down to very little garbage with almost everything that isn't kept for reuse is recyclable. But those recyclables pile up! So I've been wanting to try paper making for a long time. I've taken a couple books out of the library and have learned enough to at least give it a try....
So I picked up some inexpensive frames and cut some screening from the hardware store to fit them. I'd read about using tacks to hold the screen down but I thought that would lift the deckle away from the frame's surface and mess up the paper so I bought some nice green duck tape. I've heard you can do anything with duct tape and it seems to be working. One of my online friends, Judi/Approachable Art, said I could even use old pantyhose stretched over a small frame. Having lived in South Florida for several years I'm glad wearing pantyhose is now only a memory, so good use for some old pantyhose!

I simply tore up bits of newspaper and put them into the blender with some warm water. I decided to add some allspice for color and speckle it also gave a nice aroma. I'm noticing some of the allspice speckles may come lose from my papers but I'm not planning to write on this paper but rather include it in some way with my fiber studies and hopefully with my clay.Above photo shows a piece where I've added some cut bits of yarn to the paper.Then I thought I'd add some weeds and flower pieces I picked while out walking yesterday. I also sprinkled some turmeric on the pulp while it was still on the screen to add the yellow.A little piece of crochet cotton yarn was added and onion skin to another sample.I'd read about enclosing texture in your paper so I poured some pulp into my frame than laid a thicker piece of cord on it and poured another layer of pulp to create this raised piece.And then I threw some turmeric into the pulp to give a golden paper rather than the gray. This was so much easier than I expected so I'm sure I'll be experimenting lots more. One book suggests creating paper from seaweed so a beach excursion should be coming up soon!

Beautiful Nothwest

I'm so thankful for digital cameras - I am snapping, snapping, snapping! Looking down at these rocks the green looked fluorescent!

...a path at a campsite ...
Here's the almost full moon. I set the camera on a railing to give it time to catch the light.

Look Who Came to Visit!

This guy (or girl?) flew into the tree just above me as I was enjoying the view. He/she was very patient while I ran to grab my camera.

Leaving on a Float Plane

I'm visiting paradise and it was quite fun getting here. The jet planes took me from Miami to Minneapolis and then to Vancouver. But the last few miles was by float plane. The plane in the photo is a little larger than the one I was on but same idea. I took the photo from our plane as we taxied away. Here are a couple shots as we approached the harbour for landing in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. My friend Sandra picked me up at the harbour and the last part of the trip was by ferry. A couple hours later I was enjoying the sunset ..... welcome to paradise!