The World is but a Canvas to the Imagination

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Week 4 - These are a little done

You may have noticed the title of this blog recently changed to something new: Canvas to the Imagination. The words are from a quote by Henry David Thoreau, “The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” They were suggested by Ariane, and I felt immediately it was the best title for my blog. I’ve always wanted something better than “the art of Rachael Ashe.” Thank you so much Ariane, because it makes my blog a much more special place for me than it has been for awhile.

The new template design and upgraded WordPress is all thanks to Boris. Now I just need to get in there and do some tweaking.

Sometimes there is more art than space

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Faith

This is the very first image composite I created when I was just learning how to use Photoshop. I still think it is one of my best.

On my trip home to visit my family in May, I went through most of the stuff I left behind when I moved to Vancouver, and as usual brought back a few things with me. Among everything I reclaimed two long lost giclée prints I did of this image in a workshop at Toronto Imageworks many years ago. They’ve been sandwiched carefully between paper and cardboard waiting for me to do “something” with them. It can be one of the downsides of being a creative person, to have more creations than one person usually has wall space for – and so some become gifts to appreciative friends (though not these.)

Bird foot prints

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Bird foot prints

This week in Leo-dom, brought to my inbox by Free Will Astrology:

Leo (July 23-August 22) – Are you up for some cutting-edge slashing and smashing and crashing? I’m talking about slashing the price you’ve been paying for following your dreams; smashing beliefs that made sense years ago but are irrelevant now; and crashing parties where your future teachers and allies are gathered. Once you get the hang of all that, Leo, you can move on to other brilliant demolitions, like cracking codes, breaking trances, and shattering spells cast on you by the past.

I like the sound of this.

Week 10 – Peonies and art

Week 10 - Peonies and art
The rest of my 52 weeks set on flickr.

Sometimes it is a struggle to take a self portrait every week. Most of the time I don’t really feel like taking my own photo, and then there is the lack of inspiration… I really want to use this project as a means for producing a body of my best work and not just do a quick one off to fulfill the weekly obligation.

For week ten procrastination got the better of me and I left things to the last minute. I was also really uninspired. Then I bought myself a bouquet of peonies and decided to use them as the focus of the shot. The original version was quite a technically weak shot, with bad lighting and me looking very tired. Thanks to photoshop and the final touch of a free texture from NinianLif on flickr, I came up with an image I like a lot.

Happy Friday

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Poppies

Five Good Things from the last two days:
1. Lemon meringue tarts from the Swiss bakery at 3rd and Quebec
2. Making dinner for two good friends, and making sure a third friend enjoyed a lemon tart after a stressful day.
3. Being one of the first thirty people to have lunch at the newly reopened Moderne Burger. (I have waited a very long time for it.)
4. Excellent weather on a Friday afternoon.
5. Brightly coloured peonies for my apartment.

Chronicle

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming show of collaborative works by Neal Nolan and Eben Bender. He’s one of my favorite Vancouver-based artists. The above shot is one of his most recent pieces (located on Pender Street), and he was also one of 150 Vancouver artists in last Saturday evening’s “Cheaper Show” in Gastown. His works are done with a mix of airbrush, acrylic, inks, and text, with imagery focused on portraiture.

A full set of Eben’s work on display for Chronicle can be seen on Flickr.

The show opens Friday at Little Mountain Studios on Main Street, and runs until July 7th. Both artists will be in attendance opening night.

Chronicle: Collaborative Works by Neal Nolan and Eben Bender
Little Mountain Studios
195 East 26th (One block west off Main.)
Opening: June 27th, 7pm to 11pm

Camp Moomba Yogathon & Blissfest

Lotus mudra

In seventeen days I will be participating in the Camp Moomba Yogathon & Blissfest at UBC. The yogathon is a yearly event to raise money for children whose lives have been impacted by HIV/AIDS, and where participants do a whopping 108 minutes of yoga.

The much needed funds raised from this event will help send a child to summer camp for an experience of a lifetime. You can help change a life of a child…

This will be my third time participating in the yogathon, and I am really looking forward to the challenge. Last year it rained the whole time, but it only added to the fantastic experience of doing yoga with a few thousand people.

Please help me reach my fundraising goal.

Camp Moomba Yogathon & Blissfest
July 12, 2008
UBC Thunderbird Stadium

Weekly collage and Ruby Dog

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moleskine collage 30001

RubyDog’s Art House, a collage and art supply store located on Main Street, has become one of my favorite places to shop for inspiring things to use in my work. Unfortunately the wonderful store is closing it’s doors this week. I will be very sad to see it go.

Tomorrow is Ruby Dog’s last day and the owner Leanne has decided to have a closing party:

Wednesday, June 25th we will be open from 12 noon to 8:00 pm. After 3:00 we’ll be serving tea, coffee and wine as well as nibblies. There will be lots of markdown specials (rubber stamps at 70% off, collage sheets for $2.00 and much more) and freebies.

Leanne has requested for people to bring in their work to show and share when they drop by. I’m planning on bringing my moleskin sketchbook, chock full of all sorts of wonderful ephemera purchased from Ruby Dog.

RubyDog’s Art House
4738 Main St.
Vancouver, B.C.
V5V 3R7
604-873-2825

Weekly Collage – The Backlog

moleskine collage 30002

A few friends have recently been asking if I’ve still been keeping up with the weekly collage in my moleskin sketchbook, and the answer is “Yes!” I just haven’t been posting them to my blog because the book has become very thick with work and it makes it difficult to scan. I have about nine weeks worth of collages to post. I will try to upload a few more this week.

Please view more of my collage work here.

Poppies

Rachael Ashe: Poppies

I walked part of the way to work yesterday morning, and on the way I stopped to photograph some of the poppies in the community gardens along sixth Avenue between Maple and Burrard. I think this area is one of my favorite places in Vancouver during the summer. The people who care for the gardens do such a wonderful job, and I’m glad these are in a public area for me to appreciate.