Cartoon #7

Here's the final installment in how my week unfolded as seen through cartoons...all done for Jen Worden's Challenge #8. Lotsa fun. Thanks Jen!

Cartoon #6

Cartoon #5

Cartoon #4

Cartoon #3

Cartoon #2

Cartoon #1

Jen Worden's Challenge #8 is to do a cartoon showcasing something that happens in your day. Or how you feel about your day. I'm going to try and post one every day till the challenge ends on Friday.

Three Large Crows ATCs

In New York state, on Interstate 81, (south of the Thousand Islands), there are sculptures of 3 enormous crows sitting in the middle of a hayfield. I always gasp when I see them (they are really HUGE) and for years now, have wanted to stop and take a picture of them. A few years back, on a trip to south Jersey, I stopped the car (in an emergency stopping zone, with flashers blinking), and Richard got out and shot some photos. These drawings are based on his photographs.

Portrait of Dinah

My friend Bonnie's cat Dinah (named for Dinah Washington) is terribly shy so when you visit, she often sits on the stairs peeking out at you. This seemed a perfect way to depict her; a mostly-white calico sitting on stairs which are painted lime green and peach.

Evidence of Spring

Even though the calendar says winter, Mother Nature knows what's what. The poplars are actually starting to bud. Spring hasn't quite sprung but it's sproinging.

A Bath in the Sun

It's been a long winter and trying to find somewhere warm has, to this point in time, meant sitting in front of the woodstove. Yesterday, Oreo decided to take a bath in the warmth of the (almost) spring sun.

Two Great Meals

Richard and I went to Montreal last night to meet friends for supper at the Baton Rouge. Great food and tons of it! Today we tried to wear some of it off by taking a walk in the woods.

We came across this scene of the remains of a grouse, most likely eaten by a bird of prey (there were no footprints). A great meal but I bet that hawk didn't have half as much fun as we did eating ours!

Happy Valentines Day #4

We celebrated a day late, with a bottle of bubbly and some chocolate. Yum!
This year's valentine was based on last summer's wonderful trip to Oregon and the three days we spent in Joseph. We travelled by tramway up to the top of Mt. Howard, an elevation of 8,150 feet. It is the steepest vertical gondola ride in North America and why the area is considered "the Alps of Oregon."

It's Still Snowing

This winter it has snowed almost every other day and today is no exception. A cold front moves in tomorrow and we are expecting sunny and very cold weather. (But thankfully, NO snow!)

Victorian Valentine ATCs

I made these valentines awhile back at a party at a friend's house. We all made valentine ATCs, traded them and then had tea and chocolate cake. A really fun afternoon. Happy Valentine's Day!

Trapped Heart ATCs

I got inspired to do these late one night and pulled out the electric saw and started sawing mousetraps to see if my idea would work (and get the traps down to 3.5" to be ATC size). (I completed the lot of them in the workshop the next day.) The hearts are of Sculpy clay, which I snapped into place, removed, baked and then snapped back into place.

Birch Heart ATCs

I noticed a small piece of birch bark lying on the snow and I figured I'd better do something with it. And since Valentine's Day is around the corner, why not make artist trading cards?

Let It Snow

So far this year we've had 8 1/2 feet of snow. And March is usually our big snow month!
Yesterday Richard and I spent the better part of the day in the woods dragging in more cord wood for next year. It was a lovely, sunny day and we thought it a good time to try and take some snow off the roof. No ladder required.

Windowsill Snowman ATC

It's snowing again. And it snowed yesterday. And I think it's supposed to snow tomorrow. Time to make a snowman! But what about apartment dwellers? A windowsill snowman is just the ticket. All the tiny details to make him up have to be unglued from the ATC and you're ready to make a teeny-tiny snowman. (The snowman's hat, carrot and 'charcoal' eyes are made from Sculpy clay.)

Winter Rose Cake

I was asked to make a birthday cake for our friend Barb's 60th birthday tea, which will be held this afternoon. Since it's mid-winter and with Valentine's Day on its way, I was inspired to do a chocolate winter rose cake: no colour, only variations on shades of brown. I particularly like the way the wavy chocolate-nougat sticks I found look like the bare branches of a rose patch.

Happy Valentines Day #3

This was actually the first valentine I ever gave Richard. Our outfits are cut from New York Times crossword puzzle clues (because on the weekend, we try and solve it together). The silly saying was one we both thought was totally ridiculous. It was in my autograph book from Grade 3.

Happy Valentine's Day #2

This valentine was from a silk screen made of Richard and me at a party in New Jersey. The original photo was sent to a fine arts student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, who had asked for images of couples. She was gathering them for a giant montage she'd create for a show at Queen's Union Gallery, first making each picture into a silk screen of various colours. I never saw the final creation, but she was good enough to send me a few samples. I took one of them and added a few hearts and colour ink splashes and "voila"...a valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day #1

Every year I make Richard a special valentine using a photo taken the previous year. In last year's valentine, I used the technique Jen Worden mentions on her blog's current challenge, using gesso to white out a photo. In this case, I lightly removed our rain jackets, so I could add sailor suits. I also added sailor hats. The saying "We are so lucky!" came from the gal who was leading our whale watching tour. That day, we saw 6 different species of whales. Lucky indeed.

Working Cat #2

I saw this cat last spring in Toronto's High Park area at a shop called Dressers. What a cutie!

Valentine ATCs

These ATCs had this printed on the back of them: This handprinted Scalamandré wallpaper is a reproduction of a 19th century French document in which cupids replay the lovers' game of picking petals from a flower. Why do I love this wallpaper so much? My brother, while waiting in line at a movie theatre, spied a pile of wallpaper books in the trash of a high-end design shop. He saved them from the garbage man, knowing that I could use them for ATCs. Is that true love, or what?

Art Challenge #5

Jen Worden posts an art challenge on her blog every Friday. This week's challenge was to take any image from a glossy magazine, outline the image with black lines and using gesso, remove everything else between the lines. I used an image from an old cat calendar I had been hanging onto for years. The results are very striking, I think. Am anxious to see what others do...

Torn ATCs

No scissors required for this set of artist trading cards. I tore everything except for the confetti bits that needed a hole puncher.

Here Kitty, Kitty

Richard took this picture of me in Hawkesbury. You had to pay $20 to get into the cage with the tiger. Pretty cool, eh? Happy the tiger had just had her lunch.