Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Schrödinger's Cat on the Pet Museum

Schroedinger1

There's a lovely post about my thermochromic Schrödinger's Cat and me on The Pet Museum this morning.

Coincidentally, I've been thinking about how best to hang and demonstrate the thermochromic history of science prints for an art show I'm planning! More soon...

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

2100 hearts!

JRT love Another ♥s milestone on things from secret minouette places today: 2100! It's gratifying, encouraging feedback from the invisible people out there on the internet who actually find and appreciate my work. So, I'd like to take a moment to thank each and every one, as well as the 822 Etsy followers, 858 twitter followers, 1331 pinterest followers, 598 fans of the things from secret minouette places fanpage, and last but not least, anyone who follows this blog!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Remembrance Day

Poppies close-up In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
-John McCrae, 1919

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Circles and Balloons

In The Round

These are many of the circular artworks, just 10 cm or 4" in diameter, by over 100 artists, exhibited for the entire month, at  Graven Feather at 906 Queen St W (just west of Trinity-Bellwoods park). There's a huge variety of media - including mobiles and books as well as some more scultural wall-mounted pieces - and subjects and styles. I remarked that the entire installation was like some sort of bespoke wallpaper. Each piece is only $35, so this is a great place to get one of a kind gifts for the the hard to shop for person on your list.

In The Round detail

My contribution of 6 works are in the middle of this image, of the east wall.

In The Round show

The sailing ship has sold, but the squirrel, fossils, winged walrus, harpy and dinosaur are still available!

I went and saw the show yesterday with my mother. I also got the chance to drop off Ma: The Horse at Proof Studio Gallery, who will be hosting their Year of the Horse Show for Chinese New Year. I wanted to be sure to submit my prints before the end of the month because I might be overwhelmed after that.

Speaking of which, we're still working on projects for the nursery. RJH made a bookshelf and I'm working on a hot-air balloon mobile.

bookcasemobileinprogress

Monday, November 4, 2013

Baby Quilt

BabyQuilt

Maybe I'll ask RJH to take some better photos, but I wanted to share the baby quilt. It's hexagons (broken into trapezoids... commonly known as tumbling blocks) in yellows, purples, grays, turquoise & teals. The front features hexagons with some of my animal linocuts including the raccoon, owl, butterflies, panda family, seahorse, nautilus, and the baby tapir - as well as some patterns like clouds and feathers. The reverse is the entire alphabet of linocut animal monograms, with sashing, and a pieced border of scraps from the front.

BabyQuiltReverse

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Zed, new and improved

ZZebra2

Honestly, I was so keen to finish the alphabet, I didn't even notice I failed to reverse the 'Z' prior to carving my zebra, until it was politely pointed out to me. RJH says now that my backwards Z for Zebra can be a 'collector's item' when I'm famous, hahaha. Anyhow, I was able to carefully re-jig the block and insert a new piece of lino to produce a new edition with the same zebra and a correct Z.

The instinct to draw letters in the right orientation is so strong that I really find it remarkably easy to forget to reverse them for block prints.

While I had assembled my quilt, I hadn't actually quilted it (or sewn the layers together) yet... so I was able to replace the reversed-z quilt block with a normal z quilt block.

Friday, November 1, 2013

In the Round


For the entire month, Graven Feather at 906 Queen St W (just west of Trinity-Bellwoods park) will be featuring more than 600 circular artworks, just 10 cm or 4" in diameter, by over 100 artists, including me. You're all invited to the In the Round reception next Thursday, November 7th, 7 to 10 pm!

Finishing the alphabet

YforYak3
ZforZebra3

with y for yak and z for zebra. I considered making y for yeti, to go with the mermaid and unicorn, but frankly, the sketch was too scary for a baby quilt (my ulterior motive for printing these monograms).

I've now completed the back and affixed the front, batting and back of the quilt. I still have to quilt it together, but the baby quilt should be finished soon too!