Circles and Balloons

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.



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



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.

Baby Quilt

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.

Zed, new and improved

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.

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

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!

Happy Hallowe'en

Hope you have a marvellous Hallowe'en! I decided to carve a hippo-jack-o-lantern. I'm planning to hand out candy to the kids, with Mom (who doesn't get any kids in her condo, so she invited herself over in exchange for a chili dinner, which sounds like a good deal to me).

It's a big news day in Toronto. No rest for the journalists, so it's just me and Mom.

Tips for Craft Sale Season - in Today's Parent, November issue

Today's Parent interviewed me recently about my tips for making a successful craft show display. The resulting article appears in the November issue, page 140, in the Toronto News About Town: shopping, tips & bright ideas section! You can see it electronically and download the issue here. They selected my Frog and Lily linocut (and a tiny head shot by RJH). I'm flattered to see they've identified me as an 'expert'.

On page 144, they have 'to market, to market', a guide to Toronto seasonal craft markets and more, including the Shopcats Pop-Up Winter Show at Scadding Court, which runs through to December. This nifty shipping-container housed shop is one of very few places I'll be showing my prints this season.