resurrection fern

terrain

Dear blog

sorry to have ignored you for so long

didn't really plan this but i have been super busy with family, work and making since the new year

i mean if you had to choose between playing in the snow or baking cookies with lilith and lachlan in your precious spare time or typing on a computer 

what would you do

yes

of course

I did want to show you the work for my group art show Terrain  at the Craft Ontario Shop (formerly the guild shop) in Yorkville, Toronto running from March 23 to April 12.

my work was inspired by the north, the landscape of sea, snow and ice for the majority of the year and then the uncovered tundra with its mosses, grasses , sedges and lichen with its ever so brief appearance of arctic wildflowers

the stage for these photographs was created with ice globes made by freezing water in balloons

this was facilitated by the deep freeze experienced all of the month of february

when I photographed these it was snowing softly 

it was worth my frozen finger tips

xx

arctic blues

athabasca

blue ice road to tuktuyaktuk

felsenmeer

scarp

tundra

redrock

**

permafrost

spring on the tundra

 

 

 

the travelling stone diaries :: preikestolen

i mentioned that deborah had gone to norway to visit

rebekah and matthew

one of the highlights of her trip was a hike to Preikestolen

a mountain formed like a huge pulpit towering over the Lysefjord

on her return , she and rebekah surprised me with the most

beautiful photographs of one of my naturally dyed crochet covered stone

So here begins a first installment of the travelling stone diaries

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xo

m

photographs by deborah

 

i am definitely a gatherer

of fruit and berries

dye stuffs

feathers 

and of course 

stones

the last stone is my favorite 

it reminds me of a friend from a country full of sunshine that loves birds

who has the most beautiful book available now for preorder

(all of these treasures were gathered on the shore of lake huron)

bringing in the indigo

The weather is turning cool this week and may even tip just below freezing overnight. Time to bring the color indoors and find a suitable warm cozy place for the indigo and woad fermentation vats. I am thinking the warm south facing kitchen will be the best choice. That is where I was was shooting the product shots for my etsy shop. It was also a wonderful surprise to see my favorite etsy shop couple as the featured sellers today. 

 

This was really such a happy colorful family of stones and pebbles that it will be hard for me to send them out into the world. 

ps there are still some beautiful hand dyed stones and scarves in the shop. This might be the last update before the season of giving. If you would like any of the bamboo pebbles turned in to brooches just send a little message after purchase. 

xo

m

a real treasure

Have you ever in your life met a person and known right from the start that you could be the best of friends. It wouldn't matter that the person was half your age or twice your age. Your had so many areas of common interest and you knew that you both could learn so much from each other.

I had that experience the first time I met this wonderful woman that I went to visit at Lake Huron in August. When I entered into her home my first impressions were immediately confirmed when I my eyes were immediately entertained with all manner of trays of stones and fossils, paintings of lake stones , shells and the most wonderful nature books.

She even had a fossil of a sea scorpion and a very old and beautiful book called The Universe, the infinitely great and the infinitely small. I listened to her rock collecting stories with great genuine enthusiasm. She told me how she would deal with her desire to go shopping by instead walking up and down the pristine beach in front of the home she and her late husband built searching for treasures. The shore of the lake did not disappoint her. She also described how there were times she could hear the lake throwing stones up onto the sandy beach as if to say here look at this one. At different times and years, completely different treasures would surface. 

At her home she handed out some bags to my daughter and I and asked us if we wanted to go "shopping". Of course we did.

The brachiopod was my favorite find but I really think all these stones and fossils are so inspiring. I might try to use this as I prepare some fabric for  indigo dyeing in the course I am taking.

I apologize for the heaviness of this post:)