Baby Bliss

It's becoming more and more obvious that I've reached the child-bearing age. Not so much yet for myself, but for close friends and family. To try and incorporate my art with something useful I've been trying to make a few baby blankets. The first I made for Mike's niece Lily. Before we knew she would be a girl, I decided to make the blanket very gender neutral with yellow, turquoise and white, and created a soft checkered blanket.

I purchased the acrylic cotton "baby" yarn at Wal-mart with understandably low expectations, but once it was washed, I was extremely surprised at the softness! I was so happy with the result of this blanket, that I decided to make one for the newest member of my "family" Leiland!

This is my best friend Christie's second child, and her first is my Goddaughter, Faye. So I wanted to make him something extra special! Since I started the blanket already knowing what the sex was, I was able to choose yarn more "boy" oriented (sorry to all those gender-sensitive!). I purchased two variegated yarn colors from Michaels, and created a series of thick and thin stripes.

One of my biggest frustrations with weaving larger projects such as a blanket is that my shuttle, while it is immensely beautiful, the bobbin on it is so small that I can only weave about an inch at a time with a thicker yarn. Thankfully, I'm awaiting a Leclerc standard shuttle from a place in Ontario which should arrive any day!!!

I tried to create some horizontal stripes with the darker colored yarn that I had purchased, but because the yarns were so similar in color, it didn't go as well as planned. I ended up weaving the rest of the blanket with the lighter of the two, and placing another darker strip at the end.

I had procrastinated in weaving this blanket for a while, for whatever reason. Probably because with such a small bobbin, it was getting frustrating weaving such a small amount, and having to rewind. It felt as though the weaving was creeping along. But I finally finished and I'm pretty impressed with the results.

I feel that this blanket doesn't scream "baby" and will be good for Leiland to carry on to older years. Or at least until the point where he doesn't fit it anymore (although it covers me!) and I'll have to weave him a larger one! I'm currently working on one as well for Faye (have to be fair now...). If anyone is interested in having a blanket woven, please contact me!

Wedding Prints

Recently I was asked to create a piece of artwork that I had never done before, and ended up being very interactive! Friends Matt and Lisa were getting married and Lisa approached me and asked me if I could make her a Family Tree Guest Book. I'd never heard of it before and decided to do some research. Apparently it's frequently advertised on Etsy, where a bare-branched tree is painted or created, and during the reception at the wedding, the guests place an inked thumb/fingerprint on a branch posing as a leaf. Some versions will also have guests sign their names by their print! I was very excited to try this new concept, and add it to my artistic wedding repertoire.

A close up of their names and font

A close up of the date and font

A close up of the texture on the tree

The finished result when I handed it over to Lisa before the weddiing

The finished result at the wedding reception

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. The painting was pretty large (30x36inches) and really made a statement within the reception room. Matt and Lisa opted out of having everyone sign next to their prints, and had a separate guest book for their guests to sign. All in all I'm pretty pleased with the end result and I have a new skill to add to the list.

Tell Me Who You Are

So it seems like forever since I've posted last. Been really busy with the visit from my parents, training Zoe, and getting into the hang of working full time, and really just trying to find my place in the world now that I've finished school. I recently had business cards made to hand out to people who may be interested in having some work done, and in that spirit, I feel like I should post some pictures and information on my Solo Exhibition so that prospective clients can get an idea of what I like to do, but am not limited to.

The idea for the show Tell Me Who You Are started from multiple ideas. I really enjoyed the process of "breaking down" a photograph to be as simple as possible, only keeping key details of a person's face, and seeing if the end result still maintained the character and "essence" of the original person.

 The second idea was to play with the notion that social Networking sites offer a place for individuals to recreate themselves, and in these portraits that we see, which have been significantly reduced and highlighted, are these who these individuals really are? Or are we seeing what they want us to see?

Also to mention, these portraits are now for sale. Please contact me for more details! A special thank you to Bobby Craig and Jo-Ellen Sterling for buying their portraits and showing your support!
Anyone interested in commissioning a painting, please contact me, I am able to create all types of artwork. Below are some further examples of my work...

This drawing was done in high school from a photograph of myself and two friends. It's done in pencil crayon and drawn in our favorite colors of the time!

This painting is done in oil and was a school assignment in my third year at NSCAD. It's done from a photograph I took on Vancouver Island.

This painting is done in Acrylic and is a portrait of my friend Connie. I enjoy creating portraits of people and incorporating their interests and personality into the image. This is another example of how I've "simplified" a portrait.

This was another school assignment in my third year of NSCAD. It's a mixture of rubber latex with soap, food coloring and a screenprinted image overtop. The assignment was to experiment with unusual items to create a painting. One thing kinda led to another...

This again, was a school assignment in my third year of NSCAD. It was to create a 3D painting. I was really inspired by these Mexican Jumping beans given to me by a friend, so I experimented again with the rubber latex to create a kind of "skin." One I painted more realistically, the other I tried to make it look like there was a worm inside with a stuffed nylon.

Impossible Possibilities

So my dear friends, I promised last time that I would stop talking about my new little puppy and start talking about art that I've been working on... so I'm hoping this post will satiate you for a while!
So I had an amazing time at Erin's wedding! But it was definitely not relaxing, and now I'm back in Halifax and have only one week left of my art school career (or at least for now...) and I have SO much work to do in a short amount of time!
For my upcoming show I've made about 40 small paintings. All portraits of my nearest and dearest. I also wanted to include some larger paintings of the people in my life who are literally larger than life.
The first one was of my sister. My first post contained an image of it unfinished. I've been trying to not show too many images of my work until my show so that the surprise is not blown! The second painting I made was of my Grandma Eaton who passed away a few years ago. The third painting that I literally started and finished today, was of my Dad, who passed away when I was about 7 or 8 years old.

 I chose this photo of him (he's in the lower left hand corner) and I soon learned that this photo was taken on his 30th Birthday. I found it really interesting to work on this painting for two reasons: Mike is turning 30 this year. And the other paintings I've worked on, most of my decisions surrounding image choice and color choice were based on what I thought were characteristic of that individual, or reminded me of that individual. This was a totally different experience.

 Because I'd only known my Dad for a few years, I've had to rely on information gathered from other people who did know him really well. I know he was a goofy guy, and many of the images my Mom had sent to me were of him sticking his tongue out (and if any of you know my sister, you now know where she gets it from!). So it seemed only appropriate that I select an image where he's making a goofy face!

This is a bit of a close up so you can see the line work in the face. I had a bit of difficulty with the mouth. I made some of the recessive teeth a bit gray so that they would fall back a bit. Let me know what you think, and if you guys think I should make any changes or if something looks off.

So my other project from this semester has been my Tactile Notebook. In my class we had to do a research presentation on an artist who maintains a Notebook practice, and I chose Danny Gregory. (www.dannygregory.com). I was really inspired by him because he also has a blog, and has inserted images from his Notebook where he's written an entry about his day, and then written again in his blog about it. His Notebook perhaps may be more personal, but I thought it was a great idea to share the Notebook, so I thought I would do so with you guys!

So these are just images of my Notebook... notice how fat it's already getting and I've only covered a third of the pages in the book! The next few images are pages within my book. I'm not going to say much about them, perhaps you can give me your thoughts, but I just thought you might like to see how different one day is from the next!

Just Me and Zoe...

So, it's been a few days since my last post, and it's mostly because I've been home alone with Zoe. Mike's brother, Daniel and his wife Crystal are expecting a baby. Her due date was March 31, and Mike had already booked a few days off to go "see the baby." Trouble is, baby's never come when they are expected! It's now April 3, and there's no sign of the baby! So Mike left for PEI on Wednesday night, and it's been just me and Zoe...
Wednesday evening went off without a hitch. Zoe and I went for a walk before bed, and because we had thoroughly wiped her out earlier in the day by taking her to a field and making her chase us from end to end, she fell asleep quickly. Now, Mike and I have been waking up (if Zoe doesn't already) to take her out in the middle of the night. We take turns, although I do admit, Mike was taking her out more than I. So, on Wednesday night, Zoe got me up at 1am and thankfully went back to sleep quickly. But when she needed to go out again at 4am, she was fully awake... and I was not.
She doesn't let you go back to bed if she's fully awake, and she'll either start whining, or jumping up on your side of the bed, chewing and scratching at your hand/arm! SO fun!
I had a bit of a meltdown that night to Mike on the phone. Having the stress of school, work, preparing for Erin's wedding and my upcoming show, and now the dog, it was a bit much for me to process on my own, especially so soon after getting her. I was told I'm not allowed to have children...
The next day was better. I'd decided to let Zoe sleep as long as she wanted without waking her up to take her out to see how she would do. She slept until 5:45am, with no incidents! That was a bit of a sleep-in for me, to be honest, and I was a bit happier in the day. The only other troubling thing was that she figured out how to get under the bed, and she'll scurry under there like a little mole, huffing and puffing while she does it!
I'm happy to now report that Zoe and I are now in a bit of a routine. It's helped that I haven't had to work all weekend, and I can take her out every couple hours, and play with her, and while she's sleeping at my feet, I can finally do some artwork, which feels like it's not really been at the forefront of my thoughts lately. I promise that my next post will be all art related, and no more doggy talk!

Doggy Daydream

So I've discovered that having a puppy is almost like having a baby. No one tells you exactly what you are in for. Sure you get the "Having a dog is a LOT of work" comment, and "Why would you do that? That'll really tie you down!" comments. But the only two people who were truly honest with me about how the first few days, weeks and months would be, were my co-workers, Cheryl and Will who have a 10 month old puppy named Bosco.
I have a few friends who have babies, and many of them have said that no one really prepared them for how hard breastfeeding would be. I like to use that analogy when talking about getting a puppy. No one really tells you that you'll be up every hour of the night to take her outside for a pee. No one really tells you how immediately you attach to this little creature. No one really tells you how her whining is heart-wrenching. And no one really tells you how you life suddenly orbits around hers.
Will and Cheryl were completely honest with me. With Bosco, in order to housebreak him, they woke him up every hour and took him outside for a pee. Will trained him rigorously, and Cheryl was on the verge of a meltdown when the puppy challenged her Alpha status.
Having this in mind, we were strict with Zoe from the very first moment she was home. We introduced her to the crate, and every time she went to take a nap, we would put her in there. During the night, we've had her segregated to our bathroom, with her crate and food and newspaper, with a barrier across the door so that she can't chew up anything in the house, or have an accident wherever she chooses. I'm not going to lie, the first night was really rough! Zoe woke us up at 1am, 3am, 4am, and again at 6am. By that time, we were somewhat awake and zombiefied. But, as short on sleep as we were, we were still completely in love.
The next day, we tried to get her accustomed to the collar and leash, which she still resists occasionally, and scratches at her collar. She walked into her crate of her own accord, which we praised her lavishly for. That night was pretty brutal however, as I had to work a double shift the next day, and Mike had to work as well. We put her to bed around 10:30pm, and she woke up at 1am and 3am, which Mike got up with her for. And at 4am, it was my turn. I took her out for a pee, and then brought her inside. We are now starting to realize that taking her out for a walk doesn't wear her out. She comes back from being outside, and rips up the house. She starts running around, sliding on the laminate floor, playing with her toys, and chewing on everything... including me.
So, at 4am, she comes inside, and it takes me almost an hour to settle her down again. By this time, I was already preparing to get up at 5:20am to get ready for work, and take her out (just in case she didn't get me up already). So I crawled back into bed for a meager 20 minutes before I got up and dragged my tired ass around.
The lack of sleep though has been the only downside. When I came home from work that day, I got the best welcome home I'd ever received. And while I feel like I'm constantly repeating myself, and talking to myself, I'm in it for the eventual dog that she will become.

Lost My Boyfriend to a Puppy Named Zoe

So after my last post, I was feeling somewhat relieved and saddened by our experience with the puppy we'd dubbed "Toby." (I keep being told not to use this name since we never really had the dog, and may want to use it in the future :P) We carried on about our business, Mike working full time as usual as a Sonographer, and me trying to pick up the pieces of my classes, and pick up as many shifts at the hospital in the glamorous dishroom as possible.
We had kinda decided that after such a heartbreaking experience with "Toby" we really would wait til we had the time, and wouldn't be disappointed again. I pledged to not look at Kijiji until May... However, that of course didn't happen.
During this week, Mike again was looking on Kijiji at puppy ads and came across an ad for a Schnoodle (a cross between a poodle and Schnauzer) litter in Moncton. He was planning on going to PEI next weekend because his brother and sister-in-law are due to have their baby. He decided to write to the woman and arrange to meet with her to have a look at the puppies on his way back that Sunday night.
Friday night, I'm waiting to start my shift at work, sipping my Tim's Tea, and Mike calls me. The breeder was apparently shipping one of the puppies on a flight to Newfoundland on Saturday, and was willing to bring the puppy we were interested in for us to have a look! We thought this was a stroke of luck, and would be a much better situation than Mike potentially driving home with a puppy by himself.
One of our reservations with Toby was the fact that he was white, and that he was male. When we originally started looking at dogs, we liked the idea of having a multi-colored dog (preferably black or brown) and that it be a female (I didn't want any little penis' hanging around :P) From the pictures in the ad, there were two black puppies. One was a male and all black. The other was a female, black with one white paw, and a white chin. We decided to tell the breeder to bring her for us to have a look at her.
When we drove up to the Air Canada cargo bay, as soon as the breeder opened the sliding door to her van, this little black face poked out, and I knew we would be taking her home!

So this is our little girl Zoe. So far she's been an excellent little girl. Hasn't had an accident in the house (although we've only had her for about 8 hours now, but I'm staying positive!) and we are slowly crate training her, and she's quite the little suck, been trying to climb onto my lap for some pets and lovin!
I'm happy to report a positive note to the last post, and we are quite happy with this sweet little girl. We took her out for a pee about an hour ago, Mike carrying her to the outside door, and he looks at me and says, "I'm in love!" So I guess I'm now even lower on the Mike-love list, coming after a dog and a BMW! I can't complain though, my life is pretty damn good!

Puppy Love

So Mike and I have finally decided that the next move in our relationship is to get a puppy! We've been casually looking for some time now, however I've said that with the coming busy-ness in my life what with school finishing, my dear friend Erin's wedding, my solo art show, my parents coming to visit AND now finding out I'm in the Graduation Exhibition, that the best time for a dog should be AFTER all of this.
So last weekend, Mike is casually looking in the pet section on Kijiji... and happens to come across the most adorable puppy ever

He is a mix of a Scottish Terrier and Poodle (a Scottie-poo or Scoodle). I'd already seen many puppy ads Mike had shown me, but for some reason, this little guy really got to me! I have allergies and asthma so we need a dog that has a mix of poodle in it. We were originally looking at Goldendoodles and Labradoodles, but weren't sure if a larger dog would fit into our condo lifestyle. We began looking at smaller dogs, and needless to say, this little guy seemed perfect!
After Saturday and Sunday hoping I'd come home from work to find that Mike had surprised me with a new little puppy (and being disappointed) and after much humming and hawing and convincing each other, we decided to start up a conversation with the breeder.
Sunday night we arranged to drive all the way to Sheet Harbor to have a look at this little guy on Tuesday evening after work. We weren't 100% percent we were going to take him, knowing how busy things would be, but I knew once we got there, we wouldn't be able to leave without him!
Monday morning, I woke up feeling nervous, anxious, and excited. I'd spent the whole night thinking "Are we ready for this?" We decided to spend Monday evening shopping for doggy essentials, we're planning on crate training our dog, as well as getting a collar, leash, food dishes and toys.
I'd decided to check out the new pet store downtown on Barrington called PetValu. They had a lovely selection of collars, and as I was perusing, my phone started to ring. It was the breeder, calling to make sure we WERE coming the following night. I had previously asked in an email that because I have allergies, would she be willing to arrange a return on the dog if I had major problems. She said she wouldn't be able to do that, as they were moving, and asked me what I would do. I said that we would just have to figure something out then. She asked again if we were for sure coming on Tuesday night. I said yes, we were definitely coming to look at the dog, but that we weren't 100% positive we were going to take him. (Can't buy sight unseen).
About an hour later, she called me back, saying that she had a buyer who was willing to come and get the dog right then and there. She said she felt awful, and that because I said I wasn't 100% sure, that she just wanted to get rid of the puppy (he was the last of the litter to go). So I told her I understood, and sadly, hung up.
So our search for the perfect puppy continues. And while this little guy seemed to speak to me, and seemed like he would have been the perfect match, it wasn't meant to be. I could have fought for him, but in a way, felt like it was a sign that we should wait. We're on the hunt again, perhaps we'll find that perfect miniature Labradoodle or Goldendoodle we've been looking for at a more opportune time! All I can say is, I can't wait!

First Attempt...

Due to the increasing interest in my very active social and artistic life (:P) I have decided to create this blog in hopes that it will help me show my artwork to those interested, gain inspiration as well as clarity about past, present and future works.
My name is Danielle and I am an emerging artist in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am set to graduate from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and am currently struggling to figure out how I am going to carry on an artistic career without the aid and help of those around me at school. Perhaps readers can post suggestions, but the task is daunting, even though I am bound and determined to make my mark on this world!
Artistically I paint and draw, but I also dabble in the textile arts. I have experience with fabric dying, screen printing, and weaving, and currently have my own loom. My paintings currently are centered around portraits of my most cherished and dear friends, and most of my source images have been taken from Facebook. I'm trying to create a discussion around identity, and creation of identity through social media... I think...

I'm also currently working on a Tactile Notebook, which, in the simplest form is the combination of a sketchbook, journal and scrapbook. Like this blog will hopefully provide, it's a place to create and not be judged. A place to play. So let's play on, and I hope my future blogs become more interesting than this first one :P