The Pulse: Edition #5

It's that time again! Time for another fabulous and informative edition of Seth Apter's The Pulse! The first posts will go up on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to kick off the project. After that, new posts will go up every Sunday. Seth says that given the number of responses he received, (125 artists!) he expects that postings will go on until spring 2012! Isn't that incredible? Eyecandy and brainfood for the next NINE months! Woohoo!! This weekend, he will also be giving away of a copy of The Pulse: The Zine, which is now out of print and no longer available. I have a copy (I was in it) and it's chock full of good stuff!

I've lost track of how many times I've participated at this point, but I submitted my answers to this latest addition, so at some point you'll see my answers pop up.

 For those of you who don't know, Seth is also in the process of writing a book which comes out in early 2012. He's a busy, busy man! How he finds time to work, make art, write and keep his finger on the pulse of so many artists is beyond me! Amazing!

I'll be posting an icon link on my sidebar for The Pulse later this morning, so if you forget to bookmark it, just pop back here and click to be linked. How's that for a great way to celebrate the Canada Day and Forth of July long weekend?!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

Last the week, my friend Jenn and I had been discussing the raptor show the aquarium has on from now till September and I mentioned that I wanted to take my husband because he loves eagles. Jenn arranged via her generous boyfriend Matt for my guys and I to have free admission to the Vancouver Aquarium. (Matt works there, lucky guy!) We decided to go yesterday. We couldn't have picked a better day-the weather was gorgeous!

Here's a slide show of some of the photos I took while we were there: (Mouse over the image to read caption.)

I always enjoy the Jellyfish-it's so relaxing to watch them floating gently, like some weird creature from outer space. I think if I ever win the lottery, I am going to have a tank of jellyfish. Watching them is like a Zen meditation.

The dolphin trio was amazing. I love the shot I got of Spinnaker in the air, high above the rooftop of the dock. (The sport multi shot setting on my new Rebel is fabulous for capturing the speed and power of these beautiful animals.) At one point, when each of them was asked to vocalize three of the different sounds they make, it brought tears to my eyes. I can't help but love them-they are so intelligent and charming. The dolphins at our aquarium are rescues-each one was tangled and injured in fishermens' nets off the coast of Japan.

The raptor show was abbreviated because the turkey vulture they brought out first, Judge Dred, didn't want to return to his handler. They can't bring out other birds of prey until the previous one is gone, so we just got to see one bird, unfortunately. Sometimes the birds run the show! We did enjoy seeing JD though, he was pretty interesting.

The other fabulous thing we did was attend an Alfresco dinner party. It's a "flash mob" sort of thing where you get an invite and then RSVP to sign up. 24 hours before the event, you get an email revealing a location somewhere in Vancouver. Each person brings either an appetizer, entree or dessert to share with everyone else, along with their own plates, cutlery and beverages. The organizers provide the "table" and "seats". (The table is this funky accordion type thing made of tyveck. It's very environmentally friendly, as it can be reused and transported by bicycle. The seats are little round carpet mats.)

It was our first time going-I signed up late last summer after seeing a story about it on the news. I'd forgotten all about it until I got an email last week about the first one of the summer. It's a lovely way to meet people you'd never met otherwise and to share some fabulous food in a beautiful setting. The people we sat with were super nice and amazing cooks. (And artistically inclined! I happened to sit with people who love art!) They brought these bacon tarts that were a pecan type tart with crisp bacon in it. I know it sounds a bit odd, but I can tell you they were the hit of the party and utterly delicious!

I made Japanese chicken drumettes which were marinated in soya sauce, ginger and garlic and baked in the oven. People kept wandering over to where I was sitting to ask "Where are those chicken legs?!?" and I came home with an empty dish, so I guess they were good!

My husband said he didn't care what were were doing the next time an invite pops up-he'll go no matter what. I am just so pleased he had a good time. I figured he would-he likes meeting new people and going to picnics/potlucks, so I was pretty sure he'd want to do it again. It was so much fun!

After a whole day outside in Stanley Park, we slept like rocks. It was a Sunday well spent-the best one of the summer, so far!

Another Layer

Here's yet another layer on one of the pages in my sketchbook. I have pretty much been working on it non-stop. My desk is a mess of paper bits that I keep shuffling and reshuffling as I add more and more to the pages. The real trick is working in all the cool elements I pulled from my stash.

I think when the pages are completed, before I sew them into the cover I am going to colour copy them and put the copies together in sketchbook form so I have one to keep for myself. It will make letting go of the original easier.

 These are the books from my personal library that I've been thumbing through off and on for inspiration.

 I picked this one up in the winter on Granville Island, thumbed through it and had to have it. I love the style of Sabrina's pages-very simple, but so interesting and effective. I like the deliberate messiness of it. Sometimes less is more.

 I got this one at Artfest the last time I went. It's got tons of ideas and articles in it about creating visual journals. There are sample pages from a variety of artists included. It's a great book to have on hand.

I ordered Teesha's 4 book set of her journal pages. Sometimes more is more! I love the colours she uses on her pages and I look at these over and over and over. Pure eyecandy!

I think I'm going to have to set the Sketchbook aside for a few days. I have another project with a deadline looming, that I've barely even started. {shh!} I need to figure out what I'm doing with it and get moving! Sometimes it's hard to set aside something I am inspired to work on, to work on something else that needs doing, but c'est la vie! Hopefully I can move through that project fairly quickly and get back to my sketchbook soon!

Still Breathin'!

I've been busy plugging away on my submission for the 2012 Sketchbook Project. I've managed to get a good start on 28 pages. This is just the first layer of one page you're getting a sneek peek of here. Since I took this photo, I've done a ton more work on all the pages. They've evolved quickly and for the most part, easily. It's been fun pulling bits of art from the past and combining it with new art and self portraits I've taken since the beginning of the year. I'm really loving how it's all coming together.

My friend Tina sent me a cd just before the postal strike and it's been the soundtrack of my work so far, in addition to a few songs recently downloaded from iTunes. Music is the heartbeat of my studio-no music, no creativity!

Other than that, I've been quiet this week because I'm not feeling very good. I think the sinus infection I had for half of April and all of May is trying to make a comeback. I've been couch surfing with Indy curled up at my feet, sipping tea and trying to will myself well. I have plans for the weekend that don't include a sinus migraine or lying in bed all day. I swear, if I stayed in bed every time I felt horrible, I'd never get anything done. I am the queen of powering through by sheer force of will, though I have to say, it's gettin' old, real fast!

Back soon with more sketchbook progress and perhaps some fresh photos taken with my shiney new Rebel! (Speaking of which, there's only one week left till Light Hunters begins. I cannot wait! I know it's going to be fa-bu-lous!)

In Memory Of Betty Fox

Farewell
Copyright Lelainia Lloyd/Tattered Edge 2011

 

Sadly, this morning, Betty Fox, mother of Canadian hero, Terry Fox passed away.

After the 2010 Games were over, I got a dvd in the mail from Vanoc that was specially made for the Blue Jackets as a thank you. It contained in part, behind the scenes footage of the Games. One clip showed Betty and Rolly presenting the Terry Fox Award to two deserving Olympic athletes, one of whom was Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette who suffered the crushing loss of her mother at the beginning of the Games.

Just before the presentation, Betty met Joannie. The clip shows Betty enveloping Joannie in a motherly hug and offering words of comfort. I think that in essence was who Betty was-warm, genuine and caring which is why so many people in Canada and the world over love and respect her so deeply. Her passing today feels like losing an irreplaceable part of our Canadian family and it weighs very heavy in our hearts.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Fox family at this sad time.

Godspeed Mrs. Fox, you will always be deeply missed.

Progress Report

 This is the state of my desk at this moment in time. I've been working on my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012. So far I've cut 11 pages and started figuring out what to do with them.

Here's a peek at the very beginnings of a few of those pages. I go through the bits on my desk and play with them on the pages and when I see something I like, I use a paper clip to pin the pieces on that page. I'll go back later and figure out in what order I am going to sew them down to the page. (It's all about the aesthetics, ya know!) I do this process while listening to music. It's very relaxing.

I'm kinda diggin' the wabi-sabi* of this process-I'm using fragments of art I've made in the past, the techniques I've learned in Mary Ann Moss' ROD class and images I shot in Vivienne McMaster's Wading In self-portrait class. I'm definitely getting my money's worth from the knowledge I've gained from those two classes. I think when you learn something new, you need to keep working at it, to ingrain it to your art practice or those skills will fall away over time. Good thing for me that I've become addicted to sewing paper and shooting self-portraits!

I just took a short break to write this and now I'm diving back in. I'll post a progress report again soon!

*Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete; of things modest and humble and unconventional.

Magic Mailbox: The Sketchbook Project

IT'S HERE!! YAY!!

Can you guess what I will be working on today?

Sifting

I am deep in the process of pulling yummy bits from my stash for my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project. (This is only a fraction of what I've pulled.) I love this stage in a project because it's ripe with possibility.

I thought I would get a head start because we're having a rolling postal strike here in Canada, so I have no idea how long it's going to take my Sketchbook to arrive. When it does, I'll be able to hit the ground running!

If you're participating, give me a shout and a link-I want to see what you're doing too! My page is here. I'll will be sharing my progress as I go along for all of you who asked. I'm all for eyecandy!

Meanwhile, while I sift through piles of ephemera, here's what's playing in my studio:

Dig Down Deep ~Marc Cohen

Hard Times Come Again No More ~YoYo Ma & James Taylor

Back To Me ~Kathleen Edwards

Falling For the First Time ~Barenaked Ladies

Dream A Little Dream ~Eddie Vedder

These Friends Of Mine ~Rosie Thomas

The Sound of Silence ~Kina Grannis

Cup of Sorrow ~Amos Lee

The Afterlife ~ Paul Simon

You & Me ~Dave Matthews Band

Tonight You Belong To Me ~Eddie Vedder

Eclectic to be sure, but it's good stuff! Music is the life blood of this studio- no music, no art!

25 Years Later

For years I have wanted to rent a bike and cycle around the Stanley Park seawall. Everyone does it here because 1. it's flat and 2. it's gorgeous. After 25 years of living here, I finally crossed that off my life list.

We rented bikes from English Bay Bike Rentals, which is on the west side of the park. Nick, who works there was really friendly and helpful. I opted to rent the 3 wheel trike, so I wouldn't have to worry about balance (which is off because of my MS) and because it had the handy dandy basket in the back to haul our picnic lunch. Nick gave me a quick rundown of the gears and how to engage the parking brake and we were off. 

We took Indy with us. Indy has no experience trotting alongside a bike. It took a few minutes or riding for him to understand that veering in front of the bike was ill advised. Also, Indy does not understand that he is not a sled dog. I had hold of his leash and he was pulling me. I had to gear down to create more drag and with the one had I had free, ride the left break to slow him down enough that I wouldn't be killed. Yeah. Adventure at it's best. Let's just say that Stanley Park's seawall is 8.8 km (5.5 miles) and I did very little peddling. I am completely floored how strong he is!

We did stop several times to let him rest and give him water. He also had a dip in the ocean for a good 1/2 hour because being that close to water and not getting to swim is torture for a Lab. We stopped for our picnic as well and had a good chat with an older couple from the UK who were here on holiday and also own a black Lab. (They were missing their Lab who was at home, so they enjoyed patting Indy.) For the record, Indy wasn't even close to tired when we got home. We could have easily done a second lap around.

Here's the Diver, which I've showed you before, but as you may or may not know, Vancouver's hockey team is in the Stanley Cup playoffs and our city has gone a little bonkers. Hockey is a religion in Canada and so this is a really big deal. Some goofball dressed her in a Canuck's Jersey and gave her a stick with the white towels fans swing in the air at the games. So silly! We also have to giant Lion sculptures at either end of the Lion's Gate Bridge  (which runs through the park) and someone's decked them out in jerseys too.

 

This bus was parked outside of the bike shop. It's completely decked out for the playoffs.

The colours were the original colours of the Canuck's uniforms. (Fulgy if you ask me!) The current incarnation is blue, green and white, which is more in keeping with west coast colours. (Blue being the ocean, green being the trees and white being the sneaux on the mountain peaks.)

Even the digital signs where you see the bus name and number have been altered to reflect the occasion. If our team wins, it's going to be utter pandemonium. I'll just be glad when it's all over-I'm not really a hockey fan.

Anyway, this weekend has been the first sunny weekend we've had so far and it was so nice to get out and do something I've wanted to do for so long. We had such a great time, we're planning to do it again.

We've also decided that we're going to cross another thing off my life list over the summer: we're going to go on a whale watching tour! The tour leaves downtown Vancouver and goes to the the Gulf Islands (Canada waters) and down into the Straight of Juan du Fuca (US waters) and lasts 3-7 hours depending on where the whales are. I've always wanted to go out on the ocean and see the whales in their natural habitat. We live in an area where there's such a rich and diverse ecosystem and I want to experience as much as I possibly can. Besides, I have a brand new camera to break in and what better way to do it than whale watching?