rainbow

I tend to wear mostly neutrals and muted tones, but often throw in a little touch of colour. I am especially drawn to mixed up rainbow multicoloured pieces like this scarf which I just bought for myself on etsy.

backyard

I took a short break from painting today to take a few pictures in the backyard. The light was grey and wintery. The yard has changed so much since the last time I took photos back there.

new specimens

I picked up some new mineral specimens today from a rock shop in the Annex. Most of the ones in the front compartment are from this purchase. I needed a new specimen for the last painting I'm doing for the upcoming group exhibition at Narwhal Art Projects that I'll be participating in. And I stocked up on a few more for future pieces. It's pretty exciting to have a practical excuse to buy pretty rocks.

yarn basket

Andrew and I took a trip to Ikea on the weekend and I picked up this fantastic PS KRONA crown-shaped basket to hold all my yarn. I love it!

mitten progress

My Selbu mittens have been going well. I ended up designing my own chart and tweaking the pattern a bit. I found the perfect buttery soft baby alpaca to knit them with. They are coming along slowly, since I'm working on a few projects at once. I've set aside these mittens for now, to focus on some Christmas presents I have to finish knitting first. I finished my hat recently - after finishing it once and ripping it all out and doing it over again with smaller needles because it was too big. I'm glad I did that, though, because the second time it turned out perfect. I'll have to take a picture of myself in it soon to post here.

more layers

Isn't this amazing!?

'This is an extreme closeup scan (2400 dpi) of a paint chip retrieved from the ruins of Belmont Art Park from a piture taken by Amy McKenzie earlier this year. The fragment is about 1cm thick, and appears to consist of about 150-200 layers of paint.'

- from here

Lately I have been looking at a lot of natural history illustrations, and scientific diagrams. I have become particularly obsessed with images of geological layers. I'm starting to play with some art ideas based on these images... it's kind of like a different perspective on the mineral subject matter of my little paintings - a much broader perspective without all the minute physical details. I want to try playing with some other media and to create something that is not necessarily photo-based. I have also been enjoying just looking at all the patches of colours mixed on my pallette through the process of doing my mineral paintings, and thinking how I'd like to play with those colours in a more direct way for a change, rather than manipulating them to the point of not seeing each colour for what it is. So, yeah... geological layers... layers of colours... umm... Ok, my first step now is to sharpen my pencil crayons. We'll see what happens.... 

1843 mushrooms

also from ebay

this seller has the best natural history prints

1846 geometry

 from ebay

Bas Princen

Bas Princen is a Dutch architect and photographer.

Images from Van Kranendock Gallery via Dossier.

Some of the most exquisite photography I've ever seen.

a very bunny weekend

On Friday, before the Halloween bunny madness, there was some other bunny action at my house. I had the privilege of helping Sonja do a photo shoot with her bunnies for a new project she's working on. It was super fun, and I'm looking forward to a second round next weekend! Luckily her bunnies are very photogenic, since I don't really know what I'm doing, photography-wise.

my halloween contributions

My contributions to Saturday night's festivities were both pumpkin-oriented.

I made bunny jack-o-lanterns to fit the rabbit-themed evening.

I also made a pumpkin spice bundt cake. Soooo yummy.

Halloween bunny madness

Our neighbours who live downstairs, Sandy and Mike, have a huge collection of bunny garden ornaments in the front yard. They dressed a bunch of them up as famous pop stars and staged a concert for Halloween. It was madness. Three stages, music, strobe lights... um... wow. They had been planning this since last Fall, and Mike had been decorating the bunnies since August. It was quite a spectacle.

The Beatles

Elvis

Elton John

Michael Jackson

with the strobe lights in action