So it’s 2014 and there’s some stuff going on!

I mentioned the other day I had various plans a go for the new year.  A couple are already under way.  First, I signed up for Lisa Vollrath’s  A Year of Altered Books.  I know absolutely nothing about altered books and little part of me feels uncomfortable about the idea so I decided to just jump right in and learn something new.

These aren’t finished pages, just the first attempts at the start of something I hope.  This month we are working on backgrounds and different ways with paint.



Maybe a day or two after I signed up I saw a friend share on facebook that she had signed up for  Life Book 2014. 

“Life Book, a celebration and honouring of YOU”is a year-long mixed media art classorganised by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts.

It sure sounded like a whole lot of material and looking through the line up I wasn’t familiar with the names but I was sure liking what I was seeing.  I rationalized that I already have so many of the supplies on hand just sitting, it’s high time I put them to use.  I learnt last year with the Focus on Life series that I could manage a weekly course…Well, I’m “behind” already but that’s ok I will get there.

I did manage to get the curl out of the paper on the warm up exercise seen at the left above, giving it a skewed look.  We had a guided meditation and this warm up lesson and the main lesson I’m still going over in my mind.  It will include my word for 2014 so I’m not telling my word yet to make sure I get it done!  The painting on the left was our second week lesson, a happy affirmation. 

Now, I can’t have you think I’ve left polymer and jewelry behind! Alicia Marinache was kind enough to invite me to take part in a little blog hop.  You can read all about it and the fine participants under the name The Creative Continuum of 7 Artists.  I have finally decided on what to send for my turn, you won’t be seeing what that is until July but until then each month on the 26th we will be sharing our creations.

Monique is first up, and for me especially, her inspiration was a real treat.  You can read all about Monique’s choice of the inspiration.  When Monique first shared this link to the Artists, Architects & Artisans exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada, I knew we would be fitting a trip in.  The weather made it a bit tricky, but we got there, and it was such a treat indeed.  They are pretty explicit about where you are able to take photos at the Gallery, only in the public areas and not inside the exhibits.  So I left the real camera at home and tried my very best to obey.  I did not take the picture below, it is from the link above to the exhibit.  The hardware on drawers was about the size of my hand, the Gallery has tall ceilings as you would imagine, and this still looked massive.  I wish there were photos of the light fixtures that were in the same room, again large scale and gorgeous. 



I’ll save some of my other favourites for reveal day.  I will be armed only with vague references though since attending such an exhibit with a three year old and no access to my cell phone means I don’t remember a thing I read.  Next time I’ll remember to bring a pen and paper. 



Here is Monique’s butterly soaking up the scenery in the Garden Court where they have all kinds of activities for kids to enjoy.  They have a piece of sculpture along the lines of a spiral staircase and you can move each step.  I didn’t stand up to take a nice wide shot of that fun, instead I have these two little sneaky ones. Note, this is the same garden as seen in the video Monique shared, only with a season planting change.

Well that was a little on the long side, but thanks so much for joining me on the journey!