Ten Good Things About Moving

June 7, 20105 Comments

Last Monday Boris and I moved across town into a larger apartment in East Van. Today we moved all the stuff I’ve had in storage for the last eleven months. That’s two Monday’s in a row we’ve spent hauling boxes around and I can’t be more glad that part is over. I love our new place though and I’m glad we moved.

Ten Good Things about moving:
1. Upgrading from a two room bachelor to a two bedroom apartment. Hurray for more space!
2. Finally having a small studio space at home for art making and housing art supplies.
3. Living in East Van which is a quieter, more interesting neighbourhood than South Granville filled with neat stuffs.
3. Sleeping in a bedroom at last. (The old place had built in Murphy beds and no bedroom).
4. Getting rid of things I no longer need and wonder why I’ve held onto.
5. Unpacking books and art I haven’t seen in almost a year.
6. Having about a zillion times the wall space than before to hang lots and lots of art.
7. Figuring out where to put everything and how to arrange the furniture in the new space. (I see Ikea in our future).
8. Paying a bit more rent than before for a much larger space. We really lucked out.
9. Ending up at La Casa Gelato every other day in the last five (so far) because we live SO close. (Always with different friends though).
10. Unpacking twenty-five Frogboxes and having them all go away at the end of last week.

Spool of Thread

June 2, 20104 Comments

Last weekend I dropped by the new Vancouver “Art Strip” which is an area on the Kingsway between 15th and Fraser. It is quickly becoming creativity central with stores such as Collage Collage, RubyDog’s Art House, as well as a few galleries located there. Spool of Thread is the latest addition to the area, with a drop-in sewing lounge and many classes on offer.

The space is newly renovated with high ceilings that give the store an airy feel. There are lots of beautiful and colourful things to look at including the front counter which is covered in vintage yardsticks. At this point I should mention I don’t actually sew but I do love threads and textiles.

The store was having a soft launch last weekend with their official opening day this Saturday, June 5th.

Did I mention the gorgeous fabrics Spool of Thread has for sale? These are pretty wow. Some of them would be dreamy as a summer dress or as curtains in my new place.

Thanks to Spool of Thread owners Lili and Henry for being so welcoming to their shop and allowing me to take photos. I’m sure the store is a welcome addition to the Vancouver craft scene.

Tangled Threads

May 26, 2010

I first met Kirsten Chursinoff at Northern Voice a few years ago, when she came up to chat with me between sessions. She recognized me from Flickr and as we talked I realized I’d seen her textile work a few years before at The Secret Garden Tea Company.

This portrait session was very much inspired by the colourful fibre art Kirsten creates with fabrics and threads. She provided all of the objects I worked with and she brought over a large variety of things to choose from. She was also very patient as I placed layer upon layer of thread over her arms and upper body. I wanted these photos to be similar to the portrait of my sister. I was interested in exploring the theme of fibre arts further and feel there are many interesting ways to use thread as a prop.

The final shot is a composite pulled together from two photos. I created the set using spools of thread and a cute pincushion Kirsten brought over, and then had her pose separately holding the giant scissors made by Peter Kiss. It all came together nicely in photoshop – after a few hours of hard work that is.

A Vibrant Embrace

May 23, 2010

Sometimes I don’t have a clear idea of how I want to photograph the person I’ve asked to pose for one of my portraits. This was the case with Kristi, though I did know I wanted to use a natural setting.

My original idea was to use her garden as the setting, but it was too early in the year for the garden to have much growth. I decided to improvise and scouted around for a location near her home just before the shoot. The ivy was located at the front of her house and proved to be the perfect setting for the portrait. The vines were thick enough to crawl into and I disentangled a few and layered them over her body.

I like the smaller series of nature portraits that is slowly taking shape within the larger body of work.

Nature Is An Infinite Sphere

May 17, 20102 Comments

Since starting this portrait series back in September, when I’m out walking I find myself constantly scouting for interesting locations to do more shoots. I was out on a walk in Stanley Park when I came across this wonderful tree. I knew it was the perfect spot to photograph Jess, who I’d just asked the day before to pose for me.

It’s a beautiful old tree with multiple trunks and you can climb inside and sit amongst them. I explained to Jess that when I use natural settings like this I’m trying to convey a connection between nature and the person posing, not just use it as a backdrop. For me nature is a place to recharge, clear my head, and become centered. I think Jess captured this beautifully.

In mid-April when I took this photo, I ran into Jess in the middle of a two month sabbatical she was taking from her job. She had a wonderful attitude and emanated positive energy. When I asked her what she was up to she said something to the effect of, “hanging out, spending time with friends, learning new things, and just enjoying life.” Her words made me realize I hadn’t been enjoying my own life, and this probably goes back farther than before the art-focused sabbatical I’ve been on for the last few months. Talking with Jess was like a splash of cold water in the face. It woke me up and made me realize I needed be more conscious of taking pleasure in what I was doing, of making time for fun, of letting go, and of enjoying my life. And so I have been.

Nature is a way for me to recharge, clear my head, and become centred, but the influence of good people around me can do this too.

Altered Book: Experimenting with Pull Tabs

May 13, 2010

I did a quick project yesterday to experiment with putting a pull tab mechanism, with object, into a book. I really like the results, though I’m not treating what I’ve made as a finished product. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, think back to those childhood pop-ups books where you come across a tab at the side of a page. Pulling the tab would make something move within the book. Usually the whole mechanism is made with paper, but because I want to eventually make altered books with movable parts I probably can’t only work with paper.

Pictured above is the finished project I made the other day. Below is the simple inner workings of the pull mechanism using cardstock and part of a resistor. The pattern I learned from uses a washer/lever system that comes through a hole in the background paper to attach to whatever should be moving on the front. This method is better suited to moving something back and forth, but I wanted to move the butterflies up and down. I decided to make slits in the background paper for the wires to run along when the tab was pulled.

Altered Book- Experimenting with pull tabs-3

The tricky part was figuring out how to position the wires correctly through the background paper to match up with the butterflies, and then slip the resistors through the paper once they were glued.

The finished movement isn’t dramatic (pictured below) but I’m satisfied with having figured out a new approach I can apply to something else.

Here’s the top view of the project so you can see that I actually did all of this inside a real book.

Mailing List Postcard Giveaway

May 11, 20101 Comment

Yes, you heard that right. I am giving away free postcard sets to the mailing list subscribers for my monthly newsletter. If you’re not already signed up please go here to add your name and email address. I will be drawing three names and announcing them on Friday.

The postcard sets include five different collage images taken from my moleskin sketchbook. They’re fun, pretty, and I love getting these into other people’s hands to keep alive the tradition of sending things by snail mail.

Go. Now. Sign up.

[Edit: The contest is now closed and I have drawn the names of the three winners.)

Becoming a Paper Engineer

May 10, 20101 Comment

Last week I began exploring the idea of creating books with pop-ups and movable parts. I was inspired by an artist call for submissions and decided to use this as an excuse to push even further the creative possibilities of my altered books. My first step was to go to Chapters and start looking at pop-up books in the children’s section to get a feel for how these things are constructed. I was really blown away by some of the books I found. [1][2][3]

I ended up purchasing Paper Engineering and Pop-ups for Dummies because it seemed to be an excellent resource for the kind of information I was looking for. None of the sample projects involve incorporating the techniques into existing books but they will help develop my own ideas.

So far I’ve been experimenting using the projects in the book as a jumping off point, and I’m trying to focus on learning the technique rather than trying to produce a finished product. The above two photos are of two pop-up cards I created using cardstock. I came up with my own design rather than following the instructions because I really didn’t want to make a pop-up card with hearts. I kept things simple though and made sure not to worry about what I was making. It’s important to “let go” when experimenting.

This airplane card is my first attempt at creating a pull mechanism, and again I was modifying the idea to suit my own purposes while learning the technique. It’s fascinating learning how to create a mechanism out of paper because it is way more complex on the inside than the simple movement of pulling the tab on the outside would imply.

This 3-D paper pop-up of a lotus flower is a design I came across online as a video demonstration. It looks really beautiful and complicated, but it’s actually very simple and made from a single piece of paper.

Next up, exploring more techniques and translating what I learn into creating an altered book with found objects and moving parts.

Polaroid Week 2010

May 6, 20103 Comments

Looking every which way

Wooden Toys

Shadow people on the way to dinner

Tulips

School bus 11
I’m down to my last pack of expired polaroid. I have three shots left and I really want to make ’em count. Wish me luck in finding three fabulous things to photograph and then it’s bye bye polaroid film.

A Weekend Away on Galiano Island

May 5, 20102 Comments

Boris and I were in need of a short getaway from the city and after exploring our options we settled on a weekend trip to Galiano. I’ve always wanted to visit Galiano Island but it’s taken me almost six years of living in Vancouver before I could get around to going. We took transit to the ferry terminal in Tsawwassen on Friday morning and caught the 10am ferry direct to the island. Boris’ friend Christian Nally met us on the other side, with a welcoming smile and a car he would end up lending us for the weekend.

Our first stop was lunch at the Flying Black Dog, a small food caravan serving freshly made delicious food which we sat in the sunshine to devour. Christian suggested a hike up Mount Galiano as our next activity, since the weather was good and we had time to kill before checking into the B&B. So off we went through mossy cedar forest along overgrown trails that wound up and up to the very top with a magnificent view of the surrounding Gulf Islands. We saw many birds up there, small ones in the trees and large ravens and an eagle riding the wind above. Not far from the bottom of the trail is the original cemetery with gravestones dating back to the mid-eighteen hundreds. The cemetery has a lovely view out over the water and not far off was a small island covered in a colony of seals basking in the late afternoon sun.

The Bed and Breakfast we stayed in, Sands of Morning Beach, was a lovely spot to wake up to. The front of the house looks out onto Morning Beach and the morning light shining on the water was just stunning. The owners of the B & B have multiple feeders set up in the trees to feed a multitude of birds so the view is also filled with non-stop bird watching. I saw at least five or six hummingbirds zooming around at high speed, plus goldfinches, crows, sparrows, juncos, chickadees, and many more I’m not sure what to identify as. On the inside of the house there is a pet Senegal Parrot named Mango, and two energetic small dogs named Howie and Pogo.

Saturday we spent our day driving around the island exploring whatever we came across. Galiano Island Books is one stop in town I highly recommend. They have an excellent selection of books, and one very demanding cat that commands customers for attention with a loud yowl. My favorite part of the day was having a picnic in sunny Spotlight Cove, with me exploring the tide pools looking for tiny crab while Boris sat on a log reading a book.

I also enjoyed our stop at Stone World, a fantastic Bodega Ridge landscape of standing stones and ritually decorated rocks created by stone carver Steve Ocsko. His wife Barbara gave us a tour of the indoor studio explaining the evolution of Steve’s carving work, which led to a fascinating and inspiring conversation about geology, art, and using the internet. Along with the stone sculptures the studio had many lovely found natural objects, such as a wasp’s nest, a hummingbird nest, the largest barnacle shell I’ve ever seen, and much more. It was a fascinating visit and Boris and I really hit it off with Barbara. Stone World seems to have an odd reputation with locals, or at least that’s the impression I have from talking to people. Lots of people know of it but have strange ideas because of the standing stones, and so they haven’t visited themselves. Our friends were surprised when we told them about our visit and what we found there (nothing weird, that is).

Our hosts for the weekend, Christian and Martine, invited us for dinner with friends at their place on Saturday evening. It was a cozy time spent laughing, talking, eating and playing games. Martine runs a catering business on Galiano and as you can imagine, she makes delicious food. Part of the meal was a dish of lentils cooked with bacon, which is something I’d be happy to revisit again since I love both lentils and bacon. Boris was hijacked by Lili, Martine’s six year old daughter, shortly after our arrival and she had him bouncing around on the rebounder trampoline which was fun to watch.

Our final day on Galiano was a rainy one, but we went out exploring anyway. A walk around Morning Beach with Howie the dog revealed interesting formations in the sandstone and a large water-carved cave to take shelter in when the rain came down hard. There were tiny gardens of succulent plants on the top of large boulders which were very colourful and beautiful. Our last stop before departing the island was a drive on Bodega Beach Road which led to a hike down a slug covered trail and then to a view overlooking the Strait of Georgia with rainy Vancouver across the way.

It was a lovely weekend away, and much needed for Boris and I. We managed to cover a lot of ground on our short trip, but I’d be happy to go again and see more.

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life