Wednesday 30 September 2015

Walking the Beaches of Inverness


Our B&B was close to the beach in Inverness
We made sure we found time to walk the beach
at least twice a day
and what a treat that was.


The waves roared in across the Gulf of Saint Laurence


and some days the wind was quite something


but there is nothing like sea air to clear the cobwebs of the mind!


On one windy cloudless morning a juvenile eagle
flew right over us
and was already down the beach by the time I focussed the camera!


I found several pieces of sea glass
and some beautiful driftwood which I agreed to leave behind!


A boardwalk runs between the beach and the golf course
which Handy Hubby would have loved to play
.....perhaps another time.


Moody clouds scuttled over the beach one day.


I think we all love a beach
and the rhythm of waves and tides


Every evening


the sunsets were amazing.

Tuesday 29 September 2015

Inverness County Centre for the Arts


Handy Hubby and I drove my work
all the way up to Cape Breton
We started with my Daily Scratchings
which now need a wall at least 21 feet long.
Don't you love the shadows dripping down from each loop.


We filled the walls
according to our plan which we previously worked
out on our basement walls.
Must say that trying to work out a hanging plan before we got there
really helped.
We had worked out all the kinks before getting to the gallery.


Working things out ahead was of course Handy Hubby's idea.
He often has such great ideas!


As we worked away hanging in our gallery
the artist and printmaker Maria Doering
was climbing scaffolding in another gallery
 as she worked on her installation "Inside Me".
SAQA Atlantic Canada show "Structures"
covers the walls around Maria's piece.


Outside the gallery knitted windsocks danced on the sea breezes.


So many thanks to Handy Hubby for all his help in all I do.

Tuesday 22 September 2015

September Has Been Magnificent


September has been magnificent on the Basin


The Rusty Pups and I 
wanted to check out an old haunt
The Queen Ann Dyke which we avoid in tic season!
As you can see the grass has been cut
and gathered in bales....


....some neatly piled on farmers' trailers.


We know it's fall
'cos the osprey have left
and the geese are practising


Some flights are still a tiny bit chaotic


but they will practice up and down the Basin
honking away
until they get it just right.


Monday 21 September 2015

Bringing it all Together


Behind the Woodland Scratchings
are stitches and knots
unchained by self consciousness


Around the measured edges edges of older works
bindings keep them on the straight and narrow



Daily Scratchings
neatly joined and folded
but no neat edging here.

Friday 11 September 2015

Scratching The Surface - A Show


Letting you know
I am still stitching away for this
and slowly getting my mind around
all the administrative stuff....


....as well the six hours it is going to take us
to drive up there!


Will also have to steel myself
for a big opening
since the SAQA show
Structures will also
be there.

It is so natural to stitch away in my studio
openings are not so much!
But galleries full of textiles
is always a good thing.

Thursday 10 September 2015

Scratching Lately


What with organizing workshops
and my show
Not much time
Have to admit I am now using old samples
from early years and City & Guilds
to add to my daily scratchings.


I am happy to give them a home
where I will see them more often
than where they were filed away in boxes.


This thingy was stitched in the seventies!


Weeks joining weeks.


Weeks fading away in time
as memory fades in old age.
Though Handy Hubby remembers everything!
How does he do that?

Sunday 6 September 2015

A Special Gathering of Kindred Spirits


After a year of planning and organizing
Diane and I were able to welcome
A creative group of people
to ARCAC


for a week with Dorothy Cadwell
making Human Marks


What a great week we had.
Even the Carol Mahtab show
in the gallery downstairs
fit our workshop perfectly.


The weather was perfect
Diane created lunches for us to munch on outside


We made marks of every kind


some we hung in the garden to dry


then made them into books.


Dorothy was able to give each student a lot of individual attention


We were kept busy for five glorious days
and most evenings too.

Wish my battery hadn't run flat
I could have shown you photos of our last
evening with Dorothy
digging up earth at Red Head
and grinding it to a dust.
Then the perfect finish of Harold's fresh cooked
scallops and haddock.

With many thanks to
Diane who cooked and played house mother for the week
both at the art centre and my home;
Andi and Jocelyn who made us some lunches;
Handy Hubby who helped me host; 
and Rusty Pups who behaved quite well!

What a privilege it has been.
Now I am pooped!