Nutmeg's TV

Nutmeg watches her own specialty channel out the window. It's called "The Chippy Show" and it's on from dawn to dusk, as long as I'm feeding the little guy peanuts (off camera).
Chippy can be seen in the bottom left of photo.

Mood Indigo

The forget-me-nots have gone wild in my garden, making it into a sea of pale blue...

...which inspired me to repaint the Adirondack chairs and tables in a similar colour...

...which inspired me to paint a fat, blue cat on a soup ladle...

...and another few fat, blue cats on a luncheon set...

...and another one on a funky, little teapot.

Art Fayre 2008

The Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan, Ontario is holding its second annual Art Fayre beginning this weekend. This year I decided to show a selection of my hand-painted ceramics.

Two side views of a flowery teapot.

A set of 6 cups and saucers, each sporting a flower that's also on the teapot.

Two side views of a veggie-inspired cannister.

A super-duper sized 14" dipping tray, ready for veggies and dip.

Going Dotty

The centre spread for the latest issue of ATC Quarterly had the best response yet! The theme was Polka Dots and we were inundated with dotty ATCs...way too many to print in the magazine. So check out www.atcquarterly.com and click on the centre fold. You'll see spots in front of your eyes.

Julien Chung's Fantastic Artwork

I am really thrilled to have reconnected with my old buddy Julien Chung. Julien and I went to Concordia University together in Montreal where we studied graphic design. Julien has gone on to be a talented art director and has launched a business specializing in animal themed art for graphic, product and various design applications. You've gotta see his stuff. It's fantastic! Click here julienchung.com to see what Julien's been up to lately!

Julien also has a cool blog called "View from the Zoo: A look at the animal world through contemporary design, illustration and craft." I'm tickled pink that he's featured some of my kitty cat drawings and ATCs on it. Check it out: View From the Zoo

Morel Motherlode

Richard and I were busy as beavers yesterday. While I mowed the front lawn, Richard was using the chainsaw in the back. We bought/planted tomatoes and peppers and even stopped at a bunch of yard sales in Hawkesbury. We also treked to the back woods to search for morel mushrooms. The season is short, only a few weeks, and they are pretty darn elusive. Richard spied 4 tall ones in the woods but after a half hour of searching, that was all we found. On the way home, we spotted a few more, and then "here's another," and "another one!" until we had close to 3 pounds of them.
Last night's supper was rib steaks on the bbq, asparagus and morels fried in butter. The rest of them have been put in the dehydrator and will be made into cream of morel soup later on. What a great day!

Dog Daze

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day in Prescott, Ontario, visiting my friend Jen. Her newly opened store, the Milkhouse Gallery is amazing. It has all manner of scraps and bits for collage, new stuff, old stuff, books, vintage aprons, maps, food labels and seed packets. The list is endless. It is absolute heaven for anyone who likes old things and loves interesting bits and bobs. If you're in eastern Ontario, it's just a hop, skip and a jump from the 401. Check it out! If not, click here to see her blog. The website for the Milkhouse should be up soon.
The lovely beagle above is Jen's 14-year-old pup Rosie. I drew her, a while ago, basking in the sun. She, along with their other cute doggie Gumdrop, were pretty happy to see me yesterday. Nice to be remembered!

Glengarry Pioneer Museum Gift Shop

I was asked to sell my ceramic stuff at the gift shop of our local museum, here in Dunvegan. Here's what the display looks like -- my stuff is on the bottom shelf.


I made some tiles sporting a Scottish Thistle motif. Since it is the Glengarry Pioneer Museum and for the most part, this area was settled by the Scottish, I thought it might have some appeal. (Somehow pioneer olives didn't have the right ring to it!)

Sneak Peek: ATC Quarterly #11

The summer issue of ATC Quarterly has been printed and all that's left to do is to stuff 'em into envelopes and get 'em in the mail. That should be done on the weekend. It's a really good issue, full of artful ATCs and interesting stories. Great stuff!

Primrose Lane

I planted these gorgeous primroses about 10 years ago. I look forward to it blooming every spring as it gets bigger and more beautiful each year. Pretty dramatic colours.

Nesting Bowls

I had a few rimmed soup bowls and loved their shape. They kind of looked like nests so it seemed a natural to paint bird's nests in them...

Happy Victoria Day

I made these Happy Birthday Victoria artist trading cards at a "make and take" session on Saturday. A bunch of us sat around a dining room table and hardly made a peep as we worked on our cards. Kind of like being at a quilting bee. Later we dined on buttered scones, tea, jam and clotted cream. Very Victorian.
Happy Victoria Day. Richard and I are off to put in the garden.

Happy 89th Amelia

Last night we celebrated Amelia's birthday and I made her a cake.

Amelia was the first person I met when my parent's bought the property here in 1975. Our family and hers became good friends. Yesterday, she celebrated her 89th birthday and we attended a party in her honour. The party was somewhat a bittersweet celebration as she is leaving for the west coast next month, to live with her daughter. We wish her well. She will be missed.

This Week's Production

Life's just a bowl of cherries, eh? (Bowl measures about 6" across.)

I love this peapod serving bowl. It's really large, measuring 12" across and has a nice, shallow shape to it.

The leek butter dish is now residing at my Uncle Al's house. He bought it sight unseen, when we were talking about my painted ceramics and he mentioned he was looking for a butter dish. (Have I got a butter dish for you...!)

A bunch of tiny, formerly plain, white things. I particularly like the round box with a lid that I turned into a sunflower. I also like the cow hook on which I added cross-hatched hearts. Fun stuff.

Bear-ly There...

I've been working on spot illustrations for a book about going to the bathroom in the wilderness. Part of the book centres around toilets and bears and going in the wild. The author and his editor thought it might be fun to use a bear illustration between sections. Fun idea; not sure which of these they might use...
P.S. To see a few great nature photos, including a grizzly bear we saw in Alberta a few weeks ago, go to Richard's blog.

Art Journal: Travel

Our round robin art journal has about 15 players. Each month the mail brings another challenge; we have one month to complete it and mail it to the next person in the round robin. This month the journal's theme was "Travel."
The images came from a brochure for a California wine called "Twin Fin." I chopped up every image I could find and married it to a few lyrics of "Route 66." Kind of fun.

Planting Time

Traditionally the time to plant the garden, Victoria Day weekend is quickly approaching. Although the vegetable garden still needs turning over, the front flower beds can be tended to much more easily. I think I'll put in my gladiola bulbs. I bought some humdingers last year and look forward to seeing them bloom again.
But I think I'll wait on the really tender stuff. Somehow I still expect a frost...it happened once in June a few years back and nipped our tomato plants. You never know what to expect in spring, living in Canada, eh?

Spring Weekend

We celebrated spring this weekend. Richard put a new tire on the wheelbarrow; we brought in the last of the wood from the back of the property, ready to be split; had our first Dairy Queen cone; visited Richard's mum in Wakefield, Quebec, for Mother's Day; had our first (and likely ONLY!) hot dog at a chip stand; and picked fiddleheads for supper from the stream that runs behind the house. Other spring goodies: At least five, fantastic blackfly bites on my neck and ears. Yippee!

Dinosaur Plate

Cori e-mailed and asked if I could do a plate for her son Rowan with his favourite dinosaur on it...a T-Rex. I shipped it off to her this week and heard from Cori last night. She said that upon giving the plate to Rowan, he was so pleased with it that he started dancing around with it. I'm thrilled!

Building up Inventory

Here are a bunch of ceramics I've painted and fired this week. I'm trying to find new motifs that are graphically appealing like my signature funky olives on the spoon rest above. Please let me know what you think of the new designs below...

Small 6" mushroom bowl for pickles (or pickled mushrooms?).

Medium-sized, 9" radish platter painted on a vintage diner serving platter.

Large, 9" serving bowl with hot peppers.

Small, 4.75" pepper bowl for pickles or condiments.

Spring is Busting Out

My daffodils have taken over the ditch in front of my house. What started out as my mom's dozen daffs, many (many) years ago, has multiplied into hundreds of blooms.

Two male Rose-breasted grosbeaks waiting for the upside-down-hanging squirrel in my bird feeder to finish his breakfast so they can have their turn.

I told my black and white cat Oreo that all she'd need was a pink bandana around her neck and then she could be twins with this Grosbeak. Yeah, right...

Clark's Nutcracker

From the Jay family, the Clark's Nutcracker is a gregarious bird we encountered in Lake Louise.

Apparently, the name "nutcracker" refers to their ability to use their bills to extract seeds from cones, particularly whitebark pine seeds.

I love any bird that I don't need to use my binoculars to identify.

Rocky Mountain High

Canmore, Alberta...Just love the reflection of the Rockies in the clear water. Amazing place. I want to go back!

Grassi Lake outside of Canmore.

Great shot of Richard as photographer.

Richard and I also drove up a little further to Lake Louise. Lotsa snow up here for May, eh?