Quotes: Vida Dutton Scudder

"It is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed." 

– Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954), American writer and educator

Week 32: Adobe Illustrator

Flower Bursts in Plaid; © Karen Thiessen 2012

Flower Bursts in Plaid was fun to make. It is a continuation of my quatrefoil explorations from last week. I played with layering, Live Paint, and opacity. With 32 weeks of learning Adobe Illustrator under my belt, I am approaching 100 hours of practice. If Malcolm Gladwell is right, now I just have to multiply this effort by 100 to reach the 10,000 hours to make me an expert Adobe Illustrator user.

Lobster with Sandra Brownlee

Supper table @ Sandra Brownlee's; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen, 2012

One highlight of my 2012 Nova Scotia trip was a studio visit with Sandra Brownlee. She showed me what she was working on in her studio and then she let me explore it on my own and photograph whatever I wanted while she prepared a lobster supper for us. In a future post I'll share images of her studio. Isn't Sandra's supper table beautiful?

Supper table with lobsters @ Sandra Brownlee's; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen, 2012

I love all the colourful textiles that adorn the chairs and table. 

Lobster @ Sandra Brownlee's; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen, 2012

Another highlight of my trip was eating lobster for the first time since I was eight years old. Lobster prices are very affordable this year. Sandra showed my hubby and me how to eat them. Without her instructions, we would have been lost. We wore huge vintage embroidered French linens as bibs, but we still got soaked from the lobster juices. The lobster meal was delicious and fun. How sad that my hubby and I lived in Halifax four years and not once ate lobster.

Studio Series: Hexagons

Hexagons (English paper piecing) by Karen Thiessen 2012

When I heard about the Beehive craft collective's planned installation, Modular Beauty, for Hamilton's Supercrawl 2012, I thought I'd piece a hexagon or two to contribute to this awesome community event. The Bees generously shared their English paper piecing tips and I learned quickly. What they didn't tell me was that piecing hexagons is highly addictive– far more than single source dark chocolate. Most of the fabrics that I used were from my hubby's worn dress shirts and dress pants and everything is hand-stitched. For this occasion I bought freezer paper from which to cut the hexagon templates. What's great is that the freezer paper hexagons can be reused over and over again. The deadline for sending in pieced hexagons was August 31. In the meantime, I've started two more hexagon projects, this time incorporating the Japanese fabrics that I bought this spring!

Nova Scotia 2012: Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen 2012

While visiting the right coast, we headed down to Peggy's Cove for a day trip. The last time we visited was thirteen years ago when we still lived in Halifax. The lighthouse still stands but the post office is now closed. It was a hot day and not even the ocean breezes did much to cool us down. The rocks were teeming with tourists, many of whom were wearing flip flops. The sight of people precariously trying to climb steep and sometimes slippery rocks while wearing improper footwear was both amusing and nerve-wracking.

Peggy's Cove; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen 2012

Aside from the lighthouse's closed post office and a new visitor's centre, it appears that little has changed in Peggy's Cove. The view is still exquisite.

Peggy's Cove laundry line; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen 2012

Folks still hang their laundry out to dry.

Peggy's Cove boat; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen 2012

This boat continues to decay. When will it simply be a pile of sticks?

Peggy's Cove floats; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen 2012

It is possible that in the past thirteen years, the floats have become much more fluorescent.

Quotes: Thelonious Monk

"Don't play everything or every time. Let some things go by. What you don't play can be more important than what you do play." 

–– Thelonious Monk (1917-1982), American jazz pianist and composer 

Week 31: Adobe Illustrator

Quatrefoiled I (small) © Karen Thiessen, 2012

After two weeks off from practicing Adobe Illustrator, I am back in the saddle. Thankfully returning to the program wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. This week I played with quatrefoils. Some patterns, like the one above, are clean and simple. Others, like the one below, are ornate. Of the two patterns, Quatrefoiled I (small) is my favourite.

Quatrefoil © Karen Thiessen, 2012

I worked on the (above) Quatrefoil motif for a good part of the week building it from one base shape that I rotated, scaled, clipped, layered, and then coloured with Live Paint. It's amazing what you can do with the common circle.