I was off work sick today - very bad cold in my chest. At one point I had to go out to the pharmacy to get more supplies to keep my cold under control and I walked through the Byward Market in Ottawa. The farmers' market was a mass of beautiful autumn colours!
Everywhere I looked, there were stacks of produce coloured orange, russet, brown - perfect for the first day of Autumn.
This table full of gourds was amazing!
It wasn't very warm out (only about 17 degrees Celsius) but there were lots of people milling about. I bet most of them were just like me - enjoying the wonderful sights and colours of the market.
Isn't this display of peppers wonderful? Almost makes up for the fact that summer is over.
It seems like ages since I spent time in my studio. The summer always presents a lot of distractions - like gardening and mowing grass and just lounging on the porch. But two weekends ago, I managed to get back in the studio again, and it was so much fun.
I had taken a photograph earlier this summer when out walking through a park, and there were such wonderful colours in the landscape I really wanted to try painting it. I started with a super rough sketch, just plotting the position of things and having fun with the underpainting.
A week later, I worked on it again, softening some things and sharpening others. Again, it was a lot of fun. It still needs a lot of work but I think I will keep going. Life would be so boring without colour, wouldn't it?
On the last Saturday of August, the intrepid members of FEH (Fran-Evlyn-Holly) set off into the Park to create another "found materials" installation. This was the 3rd installation we have set up. The first one was an assemblage of various things we found on site - I blogged about it earlier this summer. The second involved making a woven sculpture using branches, grasses and vines. For the third one, we decided to do something quite different.
Our intention was to make garlands using vines and other plants. We found a great spot for this, then Holly and Fran and I began collecting things we could use. We kept finding more and more interesting plants and got excited whenever we saw something that we thought would look great in our creations.
We collected rushes and goldenrod and asters and a beautiful flower which I think is called Joe Pye Weed.
Fran began assembling her garland using this rock as a table.
We approached the making of our garlands in different ways. Holly made a wreath. It was fun to see the variations in the way we created our works.
I used a really long thick piece of vine and wound many plants and rushes around it. Holly helped me hang it between some branches on a couple of trees near the path.
Fran attached her garland to one end of mine and looped it to another tree branch. We continued to add more plants and wove more flowers into them.
The finished garlands were fabulous. I had to have my picture taken, standing behind my creation. I think we were channelling our inner Druids this day!
Holly decided she wanted to float her wreath on the water. There was a pond near the path and that's where she launched it. It looked so beautiful among the water plants. What a terrific day - we were very pleased with our creations.
Because I live in the country and the city, I get to experience the pleasures of both. Some things are the same in both places, but with little differences. For example, I have outdoor balconies at both my city apartment and at my country house. This is my country balcony (a deck, really). It is spacious, surrounded by trees, and has a view of my garden. It is very private and there are no people around, just a lot of birds (especially hummingbirds, who come right up to say hi to me) and the occasional small wild animal.
This is the balcony at my city apartment. Unlike the deck at my country place, it is very small, up high, and looks out over a city street with cars and buildings and people walking by. I enjoy sitting in the sun on both balconies and appreciate their similarities and differences. I like to think that there are lovely simple pleasures like this no matter where we live!
Last Saturday, I went to the wonderful country home of my friends, Bonnie and Greg, for dinner. We sat outside at this table. Isn't it beautiful? We decided that it looked like a scene from Tuscany. What a fabulous way to enjoy dinner on a gorgeous summer evening.
Just this past June, the people I work with set up an office pool for the FIFA World Cup. I was asked if I would like to participate and I said "Sure", not thinking very much about it. I don't watch sports and know nothing about Soccer (or Football, or Hockey, or Basketball, or anything like that). So I put in my money and made my picks and didn't pay attention after that. Well - lo and behold - I WON! I got the highest score! Wow! People in my office were as surprised as I was. Just last week, they took me out to a victory lunch and gave me my winnings. They also presented me with this fabulous little whistle, shaped like a soccer ball.
So here I am, holding my victory whistle!
A couple of blasts and everyone pays attention. This is going to be fun!
I decided to try it out on one of my colleagues - Alex. I told Alex that he should work harder or I am going to blow the whistle on him! As you can see, he took it very seriously!
Last Saturday, my friends Holly, Fran and I went for a walk in the woods in Voyageur Park. We planned to make an installation out of found materials somewhere along the walk.
Our route took us along the edge of the river. It was very lovely in places.
We found a nice spot where there was an opening to the river and a tree that was leaning over. Holly wedged some branches upright at the base of this leaning tree using rocks and placing one of the branches in a crack in the tree. I found a piece of red plastic and placed it between the branches.
We added various found materials to the branches. I found some tin foil from an empty cigarette package that someone had tossed in the woods, and wrapped it around the branches. We also made paper loops from the package and hung them here and there.
Holly and Fran foraged for more materials by the water. There was a lot of litter - pieces of broken glass, bottle caps, a fish hook... Everything got added to our installation. Happily, the sun came out while we were working (it had been such a dull grey day until then!).
We kept adding our bits and bobs, placing more rocks, hanging, weaving things together.
As we worked, a beautiful pale white dragonfly landed on one the branches in our installation. It was like a living addition to the work. It also felt like nature sending us a sign of approval!
The final installation had a lot of colour!
Anyone walking along the path would be able to see it. We are hoping that other people will add to it.
Finally, we signed our work. F(ran) E(vlyn) H(olly). So we decided our little group was called FEH, which could stand for all sorts of things (some rather funny!)
It was a really interesting, mind-stretching and fun way to create something. We hope to be able to do this again.
