Needles the Hedgehog

After a long while I finally changed the header to my blog.

Meet Needles, a hedgehog with a love for hats.

He was created in the spring and is currently decorating the top of a paper mache box. The box itself was decoupaged inside with blue striped scrapbooking paper. The box is approximately 4 inches in diameter.

Most of the details were possible by using fine tipped brushes that my husband bought me for my birthday. Without them, I don’t even think I would have been able to do his face the way I wanted to.

Needles was supposed to go up onto Etsy,but he never made it. My grandmother,who loves hedgehogs, thought he was so cute, she bought him instead.

Inspiring and Uplifting: A Leap of Faith

Sometimes as crafters or artists, we can get a little frustrated or  feel as though we are in a creative rut. But sometimes all it may take is a little unusual activity to break us out of the doldrums. The results may be more worthwhile than you think.  For example,I received this article from my Twitterfeed. I’m following a German dance company in Dusseldorf called the Ballett am Rhein. This post came off of their Facebook page.

“Just a short summary for my English speaking readers.

The local Ballet/Opera House was looking for people who were willing to knit for them. I sure could not resist.So I started with one project, was asked to make a 2nd piece and then finally a 3rd. First it was quite hard to leave the path of “normal” knitting and go wild with shapes, but after a while I really enjoyed it and it became much easier.” (from Megalogarnie’s Blog)

The artist’s costumes are in the third act, around 2:36.

I’m sure the artist had a very good idea of how many people would be seeing her work. But let’s assume for a minute, that she didn’t. Here is a brief background to give you an idea.

In Europe, but most recently in Germany, the dance scene is very active, creative and well patronized. It can be competitive,but smaller companies can  outshine some of the larger ones in more populated cities. Once you have the critics’  attention, you and your company are noticed and followed. Martin Schlapfer is the new director Ballet am Rhein. He has earned a stellar reputation as a choreographer in neoclassical dance over the last decade with his company in Mainz, Germany. When he took over the Ballet am Rhein, people in the dance community were very eager to see how he’d handle this company (which is twice the size of his last troupe) and an audience that hasn’t been exposed that much to this style of dance. As a result, the premiere was extremely well attended, and included media and critics.

Following positive reviews, it was broadcast over Youtube,Twitter,Facebook, internet dance forums and video feeds: instant international audience. This dance number that she provided the knitted costumes for was Mr. Schlapfer’s first  newly choreographed piece for this company. And he’s known to do quite  few new pieces throughout a season.

Plus, the Dusseldorf company also travels to nearby Duisberg and performs there for a few weeks.

A single “jump at the chance”  moment has put her in front of thousands of eyes, all over the world and a chance to be utilized again by a very large ballet company. By large, I mean she would have 48 bodies to outfit. Not bad exposure for answering a small ad in the local paper! Being a part of a large premiere (and answering to a very tight timeline,too) has opened a doorway to a different level of her craft.

What can be learned from a fibre artist halfway around the world? Be brave and take  a leap of faith…you never know where it may lead, or where you may land. And you may just have fun along the way,and reawaken the muse.  That alone makes the journey worthwhile.

 

The Big Bang Theory: For the Love of Geeks

My sister in  law sent me a clip from this show and I have been hooked ever since. For anyone who has ever collected Star Wars figures, read and collected comic books, watched and quoted any sci-fi or fantasy movie, dreamt about Princess Leia in that slave costume (if you’re a guy),wanted to be saved by Superman (if you’re a gal),can do the “Live long and Prosper” thing, or wanted to pull a Darth Vader choke grip on that certain person in high school (and who didn’t), THIS is your show.

I am and still a geek, so it’s really no surprise that I absolutely love this show.

If you have never seen it, here is a quick recap: Leonard Hofsteader and Sheldon Cooper are physicists at Cal-Tech University. While both are extremely intelligent, Sheldon was a child prodigy,going to college at 11. Two other colleagues and friends are Raj from India, a particle astrophysicist and Howard who is an engineer,who gets razzed by the others because he doesn’t have his PHd.

Leonard’s whole life is thrown for a theoretical loop when Penny, an attractive blonde, moves across the hall. The whole two seasons up til now have been about the clash of the social and intellectual worlds. Penny cannot fathom Klingon Boggle, and Rennaissance Faires,while the guys (particularly Sheldon and Leonard) are perplexed at simple things like the Brady Bunch and how to get IKEA furniture up the stairs.

While the guys are geeks, the show still portrays them as having an outside life. They do have romantic entanglements,even Sheldon (but he had to be told he was in a relationship). This season sees the development of Penny and Leonard’s long awaited culmination of a serious relationship…but frankly being only in Season 3, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they didn’t jump the gun.

There are superhero theories (especially in regards to Superman since Leonard is a fan), Star Trek references galore, robot fights, a hilarious episode where they all want to dress up as The Flash, and a Christmas episode where Penny gives Sheldon a napkin autographed by Leonard Nimoy that sends him into an hilarious emotional state.

Here is the clip my sister in law sent me. And you really have to wonder how many time they had to rehearse this to get it right!

And since we’re close to Halloween,check out this one called “The Middle Earth Paradigm.”

Overwhelmed?

Ebay is making more changes on their site, weddings are still needing to be done. Christmas inventory still has to be ordered and sourced and the Etsy store still has to be stocked and opened. I’ve been learning more things about Google and HTML than I ever though possible for a right brained person to do.

Ever feel like some things are just looming over you and you don’t know where to start? I feel like I’m about the size of a lightweight going up against a pile of stuff the size of a linebacker. If my To Do list was armed, I think I’d feel like this:

"Oh,Crap."

Well, maybe a bit graphic. And yes,sometimes I feel saying the above caption in  the picture and run away screaming.

Just need to breathe…have a cuppa, and dive straight into that aforementioned  list.

Beauty in Sound and Sight

I enjoy listening to good music when I work. I seem to do better when there are no lyrics for some reason.

While making dinner, I happened to turn on the TV while waiting for a pot to boil, and Bravo! had Cirque du Soleil performing La Nouba. The Aerial Silks Ballet was on at the time, and they had two ladies accompanying the performers.

No doubt,any Cirque performance is a wonder to behold and I would love to see one when they come back to Vancouver. But this music was also very beautiful and haunting,picking up to a more jazzy style in the middle of the act.

A beautiful act to see and hear. Which makes it very distracting! I can’t help but peek once in awhile as the video plays on youtube. The two ladies singing are Isabeau Proulx-Lemire and Sisaundra Lewis. Sadly, I don’t know who the performers are.

Quote for Inspiration

“All great enterprises arise out of small opportunities.”

Anon.

Figure Drawing For Dummies

I actually got this book out of the library and I loved it. It’s not the most “serious” book on drawing by any means and some people might not even care for the “Dummy” series.

The book caught my attention because it takes a potentially complicated and frustrating subject as figure drawing and busts (oops pardon the pun)  it down to basics, and a series of exercise that don’t require you to attend classes if it isn’t possible.

I’m in a rather strange spot; not advanced, but not entirely a beginner. I wanted something that could help me progress and build on what I already know. But knowing myself, I also wanted to be able to work through something that wouldn’t leave me frustrated with an overload of info, or not enough.

If you’re in that same kind of conundrum, have a look at the book.It may just get you un-stuck.

When You Can’t Say Anything…

Well after over a month’s absence, this blog is getting some life or as much as I can breathe into it.

As a member of NaBloPoMo,(which istands for National Blog Posting Month),I can start to write in this blog for as often as I can,every day for a month.

So let me first start by saying,here is to new life.

And when you can’t think of anything to say,do what my nephew does:

Just express yourself!

Happy Canada Day!

A couple of fun video tributes to celebrate Canada Day,Eh?

Have a great one!

Growing Pointed Ears and Proud of It

I’ve lately had some fun run ins with two art sharing sites. I now have accounts on Deviant Art and Elfwood. Having gotten over the initial crazy phase, I have found that each site seems to serve a different purpose for me.

I’ve always drawn elves  since high school. I’ve been doing pixies ,faes,centaurs and mythical creatures before the onslaught of anime and manga into Western culture over the last decade. I had been drawing girls with wings before the Tinkerbell movie came out,thank you very much! In fact,much of what we see now in the Fantasy genre we owe to the original pioneers on Dungeons and Dragons,Elfquest from the 1980’s, and Tolkein of course. And many more.

I never gave it a second thought when I gave it up before college. I had always thought “Oh it would be nice to improve.” But I never went beyond that.

Until we had lunch with my husband’s friend and our best man from our wedding. The wonderfully talented Gordon Paterson is totally self-taught, and is a painter and mural artist. He often gets asked to speak in front of  community groups or schools.The most asked question is of course, “How do I get to be like you? (better at what I’m doing)”. He tells it like it is;practice and draw every day.

And I have tried to do that. I notice I’m getting fussier with how I want my characters to look.I want a certain feel for them, a certain mein or attitude. And I’m drawing pointed ears with the same fervor and passion as I did when I was back in high school.

The beauty of Elfwood is finding folks that are my age that are interested in the same thing as I am.  It’s a chance to meet with talented artists who can critique you and inspire you. And it’s a way of building a community around a common interest. There is much to see  in the Woods (as it’s called) in both art and literature. There have been some interested parties so I’ll be working on posting some chapters on there when I get around to it. Elfwood is primarily fantasy and sci-fi genre forward. The quality of the work shows ; this is because art has to be approved by a moderator,therefore,people put their best work forward. To be honest, sometimes I feel really humbled putting my stuff up. But I’ve gotten such a warm response from some people, it’s wonderfully encouraging!

Deviant Art is a little younger crowd for me. I haven’t found too many people over 30,yet. But to see young people wanting to draw and in some cases work on projects that make a difference,is inspiring and hopeful. There is a lot of manga and anime and fan art, yes. But you have to start somewhere, and some of these kids (yes,I can call them kids;in many cases I’m old enough to be their mom!) have a very good eye for detail. The community is a little different on there,with so many mixed ages,mediums and genres,you have to find a group that caters to what you’d like to be a part of (traditional art,photography etc.)

So,if you ever thought you grew out of something, give yourself permission to indulge. As adults we always hear about the news, the recession, the Jon and Kate Plus Eight divorce, and goodness knows what else. We owe it to ourselves to have a little escapism and lightness in our lives ( and I don’t mean reality T.V. )

What a joy for our kids, or nieces or nephews to see that the beautiful light of imagination that powers them all through school doesn’t die out completely when you grow up.