December's Long Night ~ Full Moon

To everyone a very happy Winter Solstice ... this is a photograph from my front porch very early this morning. I missed the lunar eclipse but this moon was still in the sky went I got up this morning.

So, a lunar eclipse on the winter solstice has not happened in almost 400 years and will not happen again until 2094. I am somehow sorry that I missed it ... but I couldn't do it, not in the middle of the night!

The full moon in December is know by a number of names ... the Long Night's Moon, the Cold Moon and even the Moon before Yule. All the names make sense to me but have different backgrounds ranging from Algonquin to Colonial to Pagan.

I truly believe that this is a beautiful time of the year but slowing down to really enjoy is another matter ... I wish you all a quiet, beautiful season filled with whatever is beautiful to you.

Very best wishes, Barbara

25 Years ago tomorrow - Arrow Air Flight 1285

When I was younger woman, I lived and worked in the community of Gander, Newfoundland.

Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the crash of Arrow Air Flight 1285 in that town of roughly 12,000 people. There were 248 American soldiers and 8 crew members on board and all perished ... the soldiers were from the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. The "Screaming Eagles" had been on a 6 month peace-keeping tour in the Sinai Dessert as part of a ten-nation force overseeing the 1979 Camp David Peace Accord. All were on their way home for Christmas, returning to their base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The photo above is of a painting that I completed of the crash site after the memorial was erected ... it is of the lake, where the aircraft came to rest and also of the statue that was placed on the site. The statue is of a soldier in casual dress with two small children, both holding olive branches symbolizing peace.

I spent a great deal of time at the crash site, sketching, photograghing and just being there ~ it is place that I am very familiar with. I was so very honoured that the local Masonic group created prints from my original and I believe that most of the families were sent one (if they so desired).

Many lives were changed that day and I think of those families very often and the small town that came together to offer support and receive the loved ones of those lost.

New Fibre Work

I am thinking to myself ... what have I been doing, and then I remember that Christmas is almost upon us. The handknits to finish, the packages to post and the unwrapping of those decorations that have been around forever but come back every year as old friends. There are stories to read, cards and cookies to make ... it never all gets done as one might envision but that is perfectly fine by me. I find it is the small things that make it special ~ the walks at night, the music and more time by the fireplace ... I think those are the things I cherish the most.

And of course, starting a new piece (which has no name or final goal yet) but will eventually have layers of sheers, some vintage fabric and perhaps the addition of watercolours. I am looking forward just working on this in which ever direction it might take me.

I wish you time to linger!

November's Full Moon

It has been so cloudy here for the last few days that I haven't even been able to catch a glimpse of our full moon this month, not to mention photograghing it. So, I am photoless ...

This month's full moon was know as the Beaver Moon by Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. The arrival of the Beaver Moon signalled that it was time to set traps before the swamps and rivers froze in order to have a sufficient supply of warm winter furs. European settlers often followed these customs and sometimes created a few of there own. This moon has also been known as the Frost Moon.

I am wishing everyone a warm and wonderful week and a very Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating!

Lilies 2 ~ finished

Happy Monday


Lilies 2 is complete, and I am very happy that it is ~ I was much more deliberate in my stitching path with Lilies 2 ... making a choice every time I turned a corner or stitched a curve. Choosing the thread to darken or lighten a shape. Slowing down made it easier and harder all at the same time ... I very much enjoyed the detail.

Here are a few photograghs for a more up close view

Lilies 2 is watercolour on muslin, wool rovings, and hand stitch with varigated 12 weight thread.

where to work on a pretty day

Today is one of those days where my work inside beckons me and the work outside calls ... it is a beautiful fall day, with crisp air and plenty of sunshine. I will head outside shortly to plant a few hydrangeas for next year and move a few things around ...

Lilies 2 is coming to an end very soon, I am finishing up the last few places of thread sketch

I will post them post very soon, to see them together ... then the presentation of the pieces which always leaves me a little wondering ...

A new piece is on the drawing books for a juried show after Christmas which will include some reclaimed and vintage fabrics that I have stumbled upon ... I am still developing the images but it is always exciting to have new thoughts racing around, the fabrics are soft and delicate as well as some of them being a bit more on the sturdy side ~ a great contrast.

The sketches have started and then will come the watercolours ~ lots of options and direction

Have a great week!

best wishes to Island Sweet

Tiny Ballerina, Holly in the Snow, and Pink Sand

Holly in the Snow (detail)

Pink Sand (detail)

I wanted to send out my very best wishes to an artist I have met in person and through her blog ... it is Shawn O'Hagan of Island Sweet, she is an exhibitor at the One of A kind Show here in Toronto and will be here in a couple of weeks. Here are some photograghs of my knitting with her work and I am knitting up my very last skein (Tiny Ballerina) of her handspun wool. So, Shawn I will see you at OoAK ...

Everywhere I go that I am either wearing her work or knitting with her wool ... I get tons of compliments and many inquiries. I have gifted scarves that I see my friends wearing all the time.

So, I wish you all the best at One of A Kind in a few weeks ... you can find Shawn on my blogroll! I love her work and can't wait to see her booth in a few weeks!

It's the Great Pumpkin - Charlie Brown

Just finished watching "the Great Pumpkin" for the millionth time it seems but once again, I never tire of it. I love Snoopy and the Red Baron, and Linus staying in the pumpkin patch until 4am ... it makes me look forward to Charlie Brown's Christmas.

Here are a few photographs from around our house ... there are still little children in the neighbourhood, and despite being a teenager ~ my son still enjoys Halloween. My daughter enjoys the decorating and pumpkins but nothing too scary.

Have a great weekend ...

The Hunter's Moon

There is a full moon here tonight and thankfully the clouds cleared in time to get a photograph. The full moon in October is known as the Hunter's Moon, named so because in the past ~ plenty of moonlight was ideal for the hunters of migratory birds and wild game, they would have been stockpiling food for the long winter ahead. For us, it provides a beautiful light to enjoy our fall evenings. Have a wonderful weekend ~

to gift

I have been away ~ with friends and family and enjoying myself immensely. I do find this time of year incredibly satisfying as we come together more often ... to make warm meals and sit together talking further into the night.

One of my other passions is knitting ... and again I come to it more often in the fall, with a fireplace and warm light. This past weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching a young person to knit and she took to it famously ... off to knit her first scarf. Truthfully, mostly what I do is scarves ... and then give them away to dear friends or a stranger who might need one.

These are gifts for some very dear people in my life and my introduction to knitting lace ~ very beautiful to knit and I think I may do more ...

Fall's Gifts

green tomatoes
a blue pumpkin

and a peanut pumpkin

Fall gives us so much ... the tomatoes are ripening in a bag, the blue pumpkin will be roasted and the peanut pumpkin has made a wonderful, comforting soup.

I know it is not Thanksgiving everywhere right now but it is for us this weekend in Canada. I just wanted to say "have a great weekend to everyone" ~ Thanksgiving or not.

It has been wonderful to meet so many new people through all of your blogs, exchange ideas, read about your lives complete with all the ups and downs.

And to hopefully give as many kind words as I receive.

Happy Thanksgiving ~ for now and the coming seasons

Lilies 2 of 2 ~ in progress

a little closer detail

First, I hope that eveyone is in the middle of a lovely weekend.

Here is the second of the "lilies" set (still in progress) ~ shown with a little detail work.

I find that as I explore this medium more and more ~ that I am using my reference sketches less and less. More intuitively following the composition of the piece as it sits in front of me, letting the work dictate to me how I go from place to place.

This is watercolour on muslin, wool rovings and hand stitch

Lilies 1 of 2

and some detail work below

I showed this as a work in progress a while ago ... so here it is finished (with some details) and the second piece of "Lilies" is well underway. I have been reading about everyone working in their gardens, collecting,and harvesting. It has been the same here ... I love this time of year and find it so hard to come inside.

This is watercolour on muslin, with wool rovings and hand stitch

The Harvest Moon

September 22, 2010

This was our Harvest Moon last night ... and rightly so, one could have worked in the fields until the wee hours last night. We don't have any fields to work in but it was easy to work outside last night ... warm and bright.

The Harvest Moon is the full moon that falls the closest to the autumnal equinox. Mostly it is in September, but sometimes it can be in October ... and last night it was within hours of the equinox. It was a special one ...

I have only of late been fascinated by the moon, we have such a good view ~ it is hard not to become entranced.

The Harvest Moon in medival times was also know as the Barley Moon. Who knew ...

Quick Trip to Newfoundland

We made a very quick trip to Newfoundland to visit family, did take a few hours to take a few pictures out and about in places such as Quidi Vidi, Cape Spear and St. Phillips.

It is a beautiful, rugged place ... and the water is cool, in more ways than one.

Best wishes for a great week !

Lilies in Progress

details

This piece is progressing well, although sometimes it heads in a totally different direction that I certainly never expected ... and then I say "hmmm' that is not what I had in mind a week ago. I find it very interesting how the work progresses and changes through apparently no cause of my own, at times I really like it and then other times, I take it out and work in a different direction. I find my work with fibre is more susceptable to that than my paintings were, perhaps I am planning less now. Not a bad thing ~

I hope to work a lot this long weekend and to all of you I wish a wonderful September weekend.

August's Full Moon

I know I am fascinated with the moon especially the full one's ... it was just on the 24th. Apparently, this full moon was the farthest from us, so in theory should have appeared smaller but I couldn't really see any difference. ~ it was still big and bright and lovely ~

Very best wishes ...

New work ~ getting started

Details ~ (and pardon my basting stitches)

OK ~ I think I am back, this is a piece I have started in the last week or so, inspired by lilies in the garden. This is the first of two ... also watercolour on muslin, wool rovings and hand-stitch. I have discovered for myself that hand-stitiching is so very calming, methodical and quiet. I love my machine but find that I have to walk away after awhile as the sound can become too much.

I hope to do a good mix of both over the next few months ...

Will post the finished piece when it is done!

The Faces of Places

The last photos ~ of all the willing participants that would sit still (and some that would not) ~ perhaps just to humour me ... such beautiful faces indeed!