Merry Christmas 2013!

It's Christmas! Whether you celebrate it or not I hope you're spending time with the people who matter most to you and keeping warm and safe. 

Because few, if any, people will be checking blogs during the hols I'm only publishing a single entry this week. 

It's nothing fancy or special (check back for my Year End Summary on the 31st!) - just some delightful shoes which will have been given as a gift today. They were a super fun project, one of so very many over the course of the last year. I finished them back in October so I'm giddy to finally get to share them. 

I hope they are well received.

Merry Christmas to all! 

I was given free reign with these, told only to make them 'Christmassy'

They were a lot of fun to design and paint. Especially the baubles. 

Finding LED shoelaces was just a bonus, really. 

May your Christmas be full of light, love and laughter. 

It's official!

Hallowe'en is over, Remembrance day has passed, the clocks have gone back and the days are shorter.
I still think it's a bit early and I don't want to be obnoxious but given that I wrote and published it myself no one else is gonna promote my book so...

Need a fabulous gift for someone on your list? Looking for something a bit different than usual? Something fun and interesting and thought provoking?

How about a lovely illustrated handbook about cultivating wisdom?!

Ta DA!!!

You can get a copy for yourself too, if you fancy it.
I'm all about self gifting at Christmas! 

Peg and Horatio

Today I decided to take a break from editing, painting and stress by indulging in a little Sculpey fun. For Christmas this year my adoring girlfriend got me a lovely ornament. It's a little sled made of wood and wire, hung with a piece of wool. This gift was wonderfully thoughtful as last year she came to Canada for Christmas and one of our afternoons was spent on a hill. She stood at the top with one of my more sensible friends whilst myself and two less-than-sensible friends hurled ourselves down said hill on all manner of sledding devices.

London is considerably less snowy and hilly than Calgary and so this little token showed thought and love for something I love very much.

Any reciprocal gift needed to be considered with the same care.

Initially my plot was to find something in a shop. During the week I had the opportunity to pop into a store and take a look. It was one of those year round Christmas shoppes (With the all important double 'P' accompanied by an 'E' on the end) that tries to maximise on the commercial appeal of Christmas each and every month. Usually these places hold an abundance of every ornament imaginable and the high level of shoddy crap they sell is balanced by some relatively decent products. I scanned the shelves, knowing exactly what I was looking for. Less than thirty seconds and I knew I'd not find it here, nor anywhere else. Already my planned gift was coming together in my head and I knew there was only one way to go about it.

The ornament I gave would have to be one I'd made.

Today I got out my box of Sculpey, which I've not touched since a commission in the Spring to make a dragon. I've put my sculpture on a back burner as, more often than not, producing little colourful creatures makes me feel like a factory worker on an assembly line rather than an artist. I don't mind making a one off but that rarely happens. It takes away from it being a creative process when I'm making ten of something.

But this ornament is a one of a kind creation straight from my heart and imagination. It was so well received that I was inspired to make another one. Both were promptly named (Peg Robin and Horatio Hare) and now hang proudly at the top of the tree.

London Journal - Snow

An interesting observation about flash in the dark across a wide open space.

First photo: With Flash

Second Photo: Without Flash

The snow which had been predicted for days finally fell today. The flakes are fat, sticky clumps of ice drifting down in a mad dance. It's the sort of snow Calgary rarely gets because the climate is so dry. It's the very best sort of snow though because it's the sort that can be used to make snowmen and forts. It can be sculpted and played with and when it dumps on Calgary it usually means a snow day.

Despite falling almost constantly today in London, the snow has barely stuck. All day I watched it twirling down. Sometimes it would be a mad flurry of flakes, so thick they obscured the Thames from view. Other times it was lighter, sometimes so light that one could only see it by pausing and staring at a single spot for a moment or two.

As I walked to the tube the flakes came down in a billowing cloud. They stuck to my glasses and cheeks, leaving cold droplets of water as they melted. For the first time this year the familiar warm glow of Christmas began to fill me, starting in my chilly toes. I emerged from the tube and as I turned up the road leading to my home I had to walk stiff legged. Here the snow had definitely stuck and the slush under foot made the pavement treacherous. The whirling fat flakes kept falling and I tilted my head back, catching them on my tongue.

There is so much beauty in a London snowfall.

Holidays

Oh Christmas...

So, I've been working a lot and with all the holiday gathering to attend to I haven't really had time to Blog. I've been working on a lot of art though! Had to wait until after Christmas to post again since most of the artwork i've done has been gifts. I've got a few things I will be posting pictures of but I don't have pictures right now because, like a doofus, I deleted all the photo files from my computer. It was a dumb accident and most of them can be recaptured.

In the mean time, I have some more lovely shoe designs I did.