The Olive Sparrow

Felted diet and a big Iceberg

I'm on a diet, the meal created late at night because I didn't have white serger thread to sew the crowns for this years Winterfair at our Waldorfschool:

At the fair, I volunteered with Jennifer doing candle dipping. She had the spur of the moment inspiration of turning our room into an ice cave, a wonderful idea of creating the basis for warm light within the caverns of frozen water. So, I headed back downtown, procured us some ice fabric in the form of japanese nylon organza. While driving I got thinking about paper snowflakes and how wonderful they would look all over the room. Back at the school, I went about finishing the decoration of the room and cutting the flakes. We both agreed, that it looked marvelous. Sadly, I didn't have the camera at night, and when it was time for takedown, the light came right into the windows, eliminating some of the effect.

The iceberg was created by hanging a large oak branch (found across the street by the parking lot) upside down and hanging lights within, then covered with blue organza and snow flakes pinned to it. 

And, how was your weekend?

Fibrous Nurishment

A bit of puttering for my soul.

For a scarf for me, inspired by Stephanie's excitement and originally from Brooklyntweed. I was very disappointed though, as I wanted to make a scarf to match the acorn hats I knit for Huxley and I, but could not find colourway 203 anywhere at the Knittingstore. Actually, they had no colours in regular silk garden that appealed to me. So, I knit one scarf out of colours 10 and 7 in Silk Garden Chunky, but the one out of 2 and 10 will be for me (I think I might also have mixed up some of the taggies... the red is definitely number 2, but the other one might be a number 8. I'm not knitting it exactly as the others did. For one, I only cast on 31 stitches, for another, I'm doing a moss stitch on the one for me, a texture that I like a lot more, but I'm also thinking that I might need to go and purchase another 2 balls, as I would love to have this scarf be very long.

This I did for the Winterfair at our Waldorfschool this Saturday:

Don't want to give them all away though, as some I will sell at the party I'm attending next weekend. 

If you are interested to attend, send me an e-mail and I will send you an invitation with the details. 

Also, one or two will become Christmas gifts and swap gifts as well. Huxley of course had first pick and choose one that I like too. Oh, yeah, there was also number 19, a quite different little number that I'm now doing some straight stitch embroidery on and that will be mine, all mine.... 19 bags in one day, not bad.. but it also meant that I didn't make it to the studio to work on paintings. Went there today though and painted some backgrounds, laminated some old portaging maps to some other panels and generally got myself excited in the next series of vessels, i.e. boats, i.e. canoes, i.e. boats. Most to go to the Galleries in Whistler, Vancouver and hopefully also some to stay in Toronto. All in all there will be about 14 pieces of work forthcoming. 

Horse-play

Okay, you might at this point wonder how all this horsey-business fits in with my "Twitters from a Creative brain"... well, it does, in that everything I do feeds my creative mind... also, being an artist does not cleanly separate itself into being in the studio and creating, while I then go and live the rest of my life separately.

So, here we have some images to share

We started to call this Taka-Tuka Land, as in the Island where Pippi Longstockings dad is a pirate. In actual fact, it's an island in the pond on the farm.

Huxley's other Lucy, a little, wee doggy that loves chasing him and play-snapping at his bum.

The paddock with Nina, Primo, Abby, Bobby, Caveat and Rosco the donkey. 

Big girl Abby, the horse which has to put up with my out-of-shape riding habits. Then again, she's getting back in shape too, after a couple of years of little riding. I have more than once apologized to her today for my sorry ability to give her direction of what I like her to do. 

Primo, Bobby and Huxley

Nuzzles for the little boy playing his instrument for the horses, a private concert for sure.

Becoming friends

My favourite picture -- sharing and handing on my love of the elegant four-legged friends.

In the car, arrived at home, safe, with Mommy-doggy-woof-woof kisses.

Tomorrow, there should be a thing or two of the fibrous creative efforts I'm currently engaged in.

Snow & The Kingly Court

Snow, oh beautiful snow:

 

One nights' worth of snow resting on garlic chive seed heads.

This one is just for Robert!

 

Huxley came with me to the studio on Thursday. He's been having a bit of a challenging time falling back into the rhythm of things after his teacher was off sick for three days, so to give both of them a break, we took the day off. When I do that, I'm always reminded of bringing him there as a teeny-tiny two week old baby (that's how fast I was back in creating. I didn't have a choice, as I had a large show 6 weeks after he was born). I didn't do any toxic work when he was with me, and we used to only go for a few hours every day. There was a play area set-up with a nice rug, a sheep skin and toys, in a very large free-form play-pen. Somewhere, there must be some photos of that. Once he hit 8 months though, it was no longer possible, he just cried and cried and simply wanted to be on me, not just in the same room with me. So much for the fantasy, that he could grow up in the studio with me. This lead us to have him go to daycare for 3 days per week until September 2007 when he started at the Waldorf school for 2 days (8:30 - 3:30) and 2 days (8 am - 6pm) at the daycare. Now, this year he is at school every morning form 8:30 until 12:30. Details I'm providing, because there might be one or the other artist mom out there who is wondering how I did it. 

The main thing I wished to have known/had, way back when is a Beco Baby Carrier I only got one of those when he was about 3, and mainly for hiking, but I have said many times, that a proper back-carrier would have meant that I could have kept Huxley with me at the studio for longer. 

So back to now.... Here is what we did on Thursday.

While I had my hands busy, Huxley played with my little drill, put tape onto an old chair to make it more comfy, (It's fun at mami's studio, as not many things are creatively off limits), and built a pretend castle set-up with his animals. Note, that the "elephant" was a dragon-horse that the knight was riding. I love the fantasy play going on right now. The Waldorf school really encourages this kind of play, as do we at home. I've seen other children, that have had the early academic "training" and they already at 4 and 5 don't play like this. 

 

I dyed felt crowns. Many of them will be for our Waldorfschools' Winterfair, the other ones will be available through The Olive Sparrow, e.g. right here. I will post images of the finished pieces when they are ready. Last year the school was selling them for $30 each, and sold all 10 pieces I gave them. 

 

Huxley modeled one for me:

 

Quite a kingly presence, isn't he.

Then Huxley wanted to direct some photos and told me exactly how to pose with the crown:

 

This weekend, I'm finishing the crowns for the school and on Sunday we're planning to go back to the farm to go riding again. BTW, in the background of the picture above, there are some unfinished paintings, some specially dyed fabric that I will do a separate post on and also a huge 4' x 6' abstract that is in the works, and yes, I'm sitting on a spare bench from our last mini-van, my studio couch and napping place. Oh studio naps, how I covet thee.

Back-Tack

This is my first time participating in BT4 organized by Alison of 6.5 St. and Nicole of Craftapalooza. I had some bad luck with my first partner, in that conversation was never established from her end. Now though, I've got a new partner: Pam from Hortensia. 

It is in her honour that I am posting some very unseasonal pictures here (we're expecting 10 cm of snow over night - gulp - )...

Tomorrow, pictures of what will happen tonight. One thing I know, it will be beautiful, it always is. 

A medley of Things

There was some fabric coloured at the studio, with the sun behind the clouds

some I'm not showing, but that I love so much (a girl has to have some secrets...)

Then there was a "Party with Everything" that I attended with my wares

At Dvorah's house on Saturday evening, while rain turned to sleet.

Then there where the 2 day old piggies, born at the Royal Winter Fair

Today, I'm not allowed to go to the studio, as there is a laundry basket full of papers that need to finally be sorted and put away. This will ad greatly to my feeling of getting stuff done at home, after I also re-arranged the under-the-stairs clothes closet and the back room. I'm trying to get the house in order for Advent. 

And, what are you up to?

Itty-bitty-little-tiny-treasures

Since 4' x 6' (122 cm x 183 cm) is the other end of the spectrum of paintings currently in the works, these 6" x 6" (15 cm x 15 cm) and 8" x 8" (20 cm x 20 cm) pieces do seem puny.

These are the little reworks mentioned a couple of days ago. Some will go to the Magic Door Gallery, the others are still available. 

8x8

8x8

8x8

6x6

6x6

6x6

6x6

6x6 (sold)

6x6

6x6

I purposely post images that are a tad blurry to protect them from CC infringement.

Planning

Before I go into the planning details for my family cooking, which is the topic of todays posting, I would like to introduce "Odillon", Huxley's friend I made for him for last X-Mas. Odillon also has a full set of clothes, but Huxley did not take to him until I made Odillon the same doggy-costume that Huxley has. Boys and dolls? Huxley is more interested in his stuffed friends, currently a large dog from Ikea., but his friends, as he calls them are very important to him and play a very significant part in his imaginary play. 

But here, without further ado, Odillon:

So, planning and cooking. For the past ten months or so, I have made it my mission to try and learn more about cooking. I have years of experience cooking for my family, for myself, I even had a very short stint many years ago in baking cakes for a catering company. 

Last year, I listened to My Live in France by Julia Child. It was inspiring to hear that she didn't cook like a whirlwind until she was in her 40's and ended up with the rest of her life engulfed in cookery. The best way to learn more about cooking, I thought, was to just get a whole bunch of cookery books and start trying out recipes. I accumulated about 12 new books and love looking through them as I'm going to sleep (strangely enough, I don't wake up hungry and go raid the fridge). 

So, almost all of the books are now sitting beside my bed, with the intention of flagging all the recipes that I would like to try out. Sadly, when I go to bed, I am so sleepy, that within minutes I fall asleep. Hence my plan, as follows is still in its beginning stages. 

Plan to learn more recipes and make discoveries along the way:

1. Go through the books and flag pages of recipes that make my mouth water, are do-able, vegetarian, healthy (more or less), are meant to become family favourites.

2. Photocopy all the flagged recipes

3. Sort them into folders (order still to be determined)

4. Pick 2 copies per week (ensure that I read through the whole recipe to gage time needed in preparation) and incorporate ingredients into weekly shopping trip.

5. Decide on day to try recipe

6. Go back into cookbook and annotate recipe with notes

7. Share my findings with friends, family, blog readers

I will post a list of the books that I'm getting inspired by, but not tonight (grin), tonight, I've got pictures of my latest 3 books added to the stack. If I die before I cooked from these, at least they where amazing eye-candy, something important to me at this point of my cookery-adventures. 

DH and I love middle-eastern cookery and this book is an amazing book. Full of stories, gorgeous pictures and do-able recipes. I saw it in the bookstore, got it from the library and had to possess it. Not Vegetarian, but with all the meat substitutes out there, much can be accomplished. Also, the vegetable recipes are what sounds delectable.

A recommendation from Ellen, Lilly's mother and a great cook. She is a cookery soul-buddy. This has all the right ingredients to teach me new ways of soup-prep. Also nice pictures, and lots of information about how ingredients work together. 

This had to come and live with us, as it is a fully vegetarian book about lunches, picnics and appetizers. With Huxley needing lunch for school, DH working from home and appreciating ready made good food in the fridge, and our love for hiking, it fits the bill. Haven't spent much time with it, but there is a detailed list of spreads and bread combination ideas. 

I will do a separate post about my darling Tessa Kiros and her books and how they have changed my cooking over the past year.

To me, cooking is just one other way to be creative. Recipes are a guideline that can teach you the framework for nourishing your loved ones, without limiting you to follow exactly. In the end, I'm reminded of my mothers comments when I first learned to cook "If they don't complain about the food, you know it's good, otherwise, they will ALWAYS let you know".

Bouncing around in the middle of nature

Sunday:

Rise when it is still dark; clean up living room; eat breakfast; fit into special pants I've had since 16(!) -- yes, they are very stretchy; say goodbye to daddy; drive for 150 km; be welcomed by Lucy, Tonka and Hope, and their humans; go to the paddock with a bowl of apples; feed the lovely beasties, Abby, Yikes, Primo, Nina, Cavenaut, Gravko, Bobby and Donkey; check out the pot-bellied piggy; put Huxley on Donkey's back; seeing my little 3 foot 2 inch tall one being gently nuzzled from all sides by soft horse noses and followed around the paddock; drawing in breath deeply and smelling the horsey scent; going to the pond; across the rickety bridge; onto the island; into the small house with the old wood stove; back to the paddock; tacking up Bobby; finding a helmet for Huxley; having him mount Bobby; going for a half hour walk through the enchanted woods; running with Bobby on the lead and Huxley trotting for the first time; unsaddling Bobby and feeding him treats; driving Huxley up the street to his Grandparents; driving back to the paddock, alone; meeting Horse human; brushing and tacking up Abby; all the while falling and falling for Primo; getting on Abby's back; and then....

Riding....

high above; in the arena; alone on the path in the forest; feeling like I have come home; letting the wind stroke my face; admiring the beauty of this cloudy day and all the leaves on the ground; back to the barn; legs sore; mind soaring; untacking Abby; rubbing her down; cafe and cake with her humans; back to the in-laws to pick up Huxley; Huxley sound asleep before we hit the highway; driving back home 150 km; arriving home safe; a quick dinner; a bath; sleep.

Pictures? In my heart; camera stayed home; not by choice; forgotten in the excitement. 

Repeat? Hopefully next weekend.

A Warm Afternoon Outing

The forecast predicted 20 degrees celsius for this afternoon. It didn't quite get that warm, but Huxley and I put our bikes into the back of the car and drove down to the Commissioner's Street and went for a ride along the bike path. 

At 4 1/2 he is already riding without training wheels and having fun. It is interesting to see though, how at this age, the human brain is really not yet wired to do more than one thing at the time. It is so easy for him to get distracted and swerve to the side. I have to be on hyper-alert to not run him over. 

We went to Cherry beach and discovered a brand-spanking-new playground that is bound to become a city favourite once word gets out. 

Here is also a view of Toronto, taken from the playground, that includes mountains (grin-for those of you who know our city)

Isn't it scary to know that this is salt, waiting to be dumped onto our streets? 

I know that this blog has been a bit Huxley-heavy lately, but with his new haircut, I can't resist, so please bear with me, while I show off two more:

On the studio front, I worked on 8 pieces 6 x 6 inches and 8 x 8 inches. They are all re-works from that awful Triart Topcoat disaster that damaged over $20,000 of work a couple of years back. Luckily I was able to rework them and most pieces are sold now. These little ones are almost the last batch. 

I'm also contemplating making another bunch of smaller pieces, even though a couple of years ago I decided to not work smaller then 16 x 16. It's a money question, because the galleries take 50%, and at less than a hundred dollars, and calculating all the time that I spend on them, it's not worth it for me. Now I'm thinking that it might be a good way to test new colours and experiments. Then again, it does provide some instant gratification. I'm gonna try and take some pictures in the next few days to show you what I've been doing.