I am the third generation to appear in this series and what do I say about this piece and myself? For me the series has been about family traditions and memories and the richness to be gained by passing these on to subsequent generations. In previous posts I have talked about Grandmothers and the legacy they left me, my parents and how they influenced my view of the world. This fifth piece is about the synthesis that occurs when that ingrained...

Although Dad didn’t participate in needle crafts, he inspired my work in many other ways. I chose to include him in ‘The Tie That Binds’ because we shared an interest in genealogy that led to my desire to record family history in a variety of ways.  In this piece, I even included one of his favorite ties! Early Life JRE Miller (Ernie) was born at Glen Tay during WW1, attend Glen Tay Public School (SS#3 Bathurst, also my alma...

Evelyn Mather was an only daughter and grew up on a farm near Balderson ON with her three brothers. She didn’t talk a lot about her childhood but based on information from Uncle Gord, her early childhood may have been greatly affected by her Mother’s farm accident. She seems to have had a love of needlework all her life and was probably inspired by her Mother’s work. Mom was a star pupil in SS#9 Bathurst and went on to do well...

Grandma Bella was a little more of an unknown to me when I undertook this series for the TREX exhibition. Although Grandma and Grandpa Mather were frequent visitors, especially for Sunday evening supper, they did not play as large a roll in my life as Granny Alice. As youngsters, we stayed with these grandparents for short periods during the summers and it was during these stays that I was able to take a few swimming lessons at the Perth...

Each piece I prepared for The Tie That Binds has a series of stories embedded within it. Granny Alice is the first fabric collage/assemblage created for this series and I found myself taking a major trip down memory lane as I worked on it. First of all, Granny Alice and I were very close. I was the eldest of four children and we shared a house with our paternal grandparents for most of my childhood. By the time I was wandering around, she was...

I’m learning to work with a short production week! I’ve got a four year old in my life who ‘loves’ doing crafts with Grandma. As she visits often, the weekend is often focused on our joint efforts. This is ‘work in progress’ of the start of our Christmas crafts. These Christmas ornaments are now dry and waiting for their hangers.

Sunday, October 20th, two of my groups came together to hold a ‘pop-up’ art show!  For three hours we were able to share some of our work with friends and acquaintances.  I’ve limited my photos to ones that mainly feature my work as I haven’t had a chance to ask permission from other members to show their work.  However, you can get a peek at the variety of pieces from the more general shots.  I’m saving some of...

I’m always on the lookout to find new materials or techniques that I might use in mixed-media art.  While at the Calgary Creative Stitches & Crafting Alive Show I came across a booth with a representative offering courses in the use of Paverpol to create garden-safe sculptures.  My sister has created a couple of sculptures and they combine fibre empregnated with a material that hardens it to a waterproof structure.  I have never...

Years ago I took a workshop that introduced me to encaustic. While intrigued  I wasn’t particularly pleased with the pieces that I produced in the workshop and the teacher, who spent a lot of time talking about the creation of her encaustic medium, made it sound as though it was a very time intensive project.  I must have had some lingering interest though because a year ago I bought Encaustic Workshop by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch....

Last fall I started to work on what I am calling my ‘Re’ series.  You may ask, what is my ‘Re’ series.  I’ve always been fascinated with trying to use things that might other wise be discarded and of course that opens the door to using processes that ‘Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose, Reclaim, Reprocess, Restore, Rescue, Relove, Recondition, Remodel, Regenerate’.  Of course if you are not a purist you could...