The Sweetest Face in This Place

Lucy and I had some fun with a little photo shoot this evening.













I'd Rather Be Fishing!

Finally done!

This helmet will be in a silent auction at the third annual

True Patriot Love 2011 Toronto Dinner

on November 10th.

Click here to read more

(and to see helmets contributed in previous years)



The clover is one of my finds...attached to "share the luck"

A Lovely September Sunday

I've been having some fun with this today - finally - and though there's quite a bit left to do, I can see the finish line...woo hoo! 

It's really not too easy to make a round helmet look like a rumpled up fishing hat, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

Time to give my eyes a break, and then I'll get back to it.

Next entry: photos of the elusive right side! :)

After About An Hour...

I finally (FINALLY) dove into it, and though I've got a ways to go, I'm happy with it so far.  Hopefully you can see that I'm attempting to make my helmet look like a fishing hat (though I do have difficulty seeing anything other than the army helmet). 

Day One of "I'd Rather Be Fishing"

Right now, this is the messy base painting (not that it will be "high realism" when I'm done as I prefer a painterly look).  I'll do a bit more of this loose painting to try for a more accurate account of shadows and folds, and then when I'm ready for stitching, lures and other details, I'll put my glasses on, grab a smaller brush and hope for the best.

August...and I'm Frozen Stiff!

I'm at a loss - my first idea for the helmet didn't fly, and I'm struggling to get going with the back-up plan.  So much so that I'm paralyzed.  Frozen.  And the deadline draws near [sigh].

Must go back to my post about "having fun" and see if I can get myself to apply it here...

New Project - True Patriot Love Helmet

Time to get to work on my True Patriot Love helmet project.
What am I going to create?  Hopefully something that will turn out well and make some money for this wonderful foundation - and that's all I'm going to say for now...

Here's what I'll be using:


Wish me luck!



A Few More...

Found these on Tuesday: 

...and these today (the one on the left has five leafs): 

Not a bad haul given that I didn't spend much time looking!

Happy Canada Day Weekend everyone :) 

Saved From the Jaws of Doom?

I thought I'd take a photo of Lucy with today's clover. 

You know, something cute

like having her sit with it perched on top of her head.

This is the best I could get:

Basically, I saved it from being Lucy's dinner
so that I could squish it into a big fat book.

At least it survived long enough for its photo op.

A Wonderful Week

It started out by finding a ridiculous amount of four (and five) leaf clovers, then I found out that my chair sold on Wednesday for the "Buy it Now" option (the Garden Art Auction is still on until Sherway Gardens closes tomorrow at 6PM - lots of great chairs still available!!!), then on Thursday I found out that my painting has been accepted for the "Response for Japan" Exibit taking place in Ayr, Ontario at AyrSpace (July 8 - August 7, 2011). 

If that wasn't enough, I had a great dinner out with friends Thursday night, and a fabulous time at an outdoor concert with more friends last night...and then on this morning's walk with Lucy I found 43 four-leaf clovers and 8 five-leaf clovers!

It's been a week full of smiles (and counting my blessings) indeed, and topping it off tomorrow will be the grande finale...brunch with my wonderful parents for Father's Day!

I'm going to need a bigger book to press these!

Three of the five-leaf clovers I found today

I'm Looking Over Lots of Four (Five and Six) Leaf Clovers

It started two years ago in early May 2009 on a walk with Lucy.  She stopped in a nearby park to do her thing in a patch of clover, and as I stood there looking at the cluster of green I thought to myself "Hmmm...don't think I've ever found one with four leaves."  And then I jokingly thought to myself that singing the song might help, so in my mind I did...and within seconds I found my first one.

Over the past couple of years I've found them fairly regularly in a couple of local areas when I'm out on walks with Lucy.  If I look for them I've got a good 50/50 chance of finding at least one, but in many cases it feels like they find me when I'm not "trying".  Sometimes there's one, sometimes two or a few, but in the past week or so it's been a bit crazy.

A week ago Saturday I found eleven of them:

This past Sunday I found 14 four-leaf clovers and a five-leaf clover.  I found my first five-leaf last fall so this was my second (see close up below):

The very next day I found the very same thing: 14 four-leaf and another five-leaf.  It actually should have been 15 four-leaf clovers, but just as I focused in on a perfect one a few feet away from me some people asked to pet Lucy and I lost sight of it. (I pressed them before taking a photo)

My most memorable find, though, was a six-leaf clover this past April on the 24th.  Isn't it a beauty?!?:

I don't know why I've been finding these (I've lost count...they're at least numbering into the 60's now), but whatever the reason, if I do find any more I'll post photos of them here.  For now, I'm just pressing them into a book, but I think I may see if I can find a way to include/attach one to every painting I do as a signature of sorts; a way to share the luck with anyone who ends up owning something that I've created. :)

Nature's Gentle Power - A Flower for Japan

Done! Now I'm just crossing my fingers that it will be considered for the exhibition (see prior post).

24" x 36" Acrylic on Panel Board

Uh Oh...This Is Due Tomorrow!

I thought I had one more day, but this one's got to be finished for tomorrow...hoping I can make the deadline! 

This is being submitted to AyrSpace (an art gallery in Ayr, ON) for an upcoming "Response for Japan" exhibition where partial proceeds from sales will go towards relief efforts in Japan (I am really loving these projects I've come across lately where foundations/charities benefit from the proceeds of the sale of something I've created).  I do hope that it will be accepted for the exhibit.

Here's the progress up to now (the two first photos are repeats from my April 8th entry):

Hopefully the way in which it fits the theme is clear.  In case it isn't, well, on sight (at least at a glance) it's supposed to resemble Japan's flag.

I decided to paint one of my flowers in a way that would be representative of Japan not only in it's resemblance to their flag, but also beauty, life, hope and (re)growth.

(NOTE: The proportion of the panel itself is accurate for the flag, however the size of the red center is not...I started out with it that way but to do it in proper proportion - about 3" larger in diameter - the red part was just too big for the overall look that I wanted.)

At 24" x 36" this is about the largest painting I've done to date...feels weird to see it so small here so I just took a photo of it with my favourite 9½ pound model to give a better idea of its size:

Lucy and the painting that has yet to be named.

Hey Lucy - did your lip get stuck on your fang again or are you trying to tell me you're not impressed!?!
(Either way, I'd better get back to work...)

New Batteries...Better Photos

Since I wasn't using a flash in the previous photos, the colours weren't too accurate and the blue of the chair looked, well, a little blah...so I'm posting some that I took outside today in the sunshine that I almost forgot existed around here...

Whoopsy Daisy!

June 15th NOTE: It SOLD today!

This chair will be part of a silent "Garden Art Auction" at Sherway Gardens (Etobicoke) June 4th to 19th. 

Bids must be placed in person, and start at $150 with a "buy it now" option of $500.

(All proceeds go to Nelson Park Creative Centre in Etobicoke, ON)

"Whoopsy Daisy!"

"Buzz"

"Bumble" prior to getting his new wings
(also prior to the batteries dying on my camera)



The chairs fold down flat - great for storage and transport!



Almost Done

My next post will be when the chair is complete.

I've had fun with it today - scared myself with the underpainting (previous post), but I think I managed to get what I wanted out of doing it.

And Now for the Scary Part

Just some underpainting in the hopes that some of the colour will show through the white (so that it won't be so "flat")
Fingers crossed it will turn out...