My Friend Jack

I'd like to introduce you to my little buddy, 'Outback Jack'.  He got his name because he lives outback, behind the cottage. :o)  I have been feeding Jack peanuts all summer, and unlike Tim, the timid chipmunk (naming these little guys is a little obvious LOL), Jack has become very comfortable about sitting on my lap and visiting.  He allows me to stroke him while he takes peanuts from my hand, and sometimes he lingers and just enjoys the attention.

Yesterday while sitting out on the deck Jack, came for a visit.  Unfortunately, I had no peanuts left, but I did have my iPhone so while Jack enjoyed a back rub, I decided to catch the moment on film. 

 I hope you enjoy this short video clip of Jack getting his back rub!

Today's post is being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.

Bead Journal Project: Update of Progress to Date

I'm home this evening, getting ready to help our son move into his apartment tomorrow.  He's starting graduate school in the law program at University of Toronto next week.  I can't believe he's already finished his undergraduate degree!  Where does the time go?

He's busy with his last minute packing, so, as promised I'm back to show you the July and August pieces, properly photographed on the black background and then again with the rest of the pieces done so far, so that you can see how the year long project is progressing.

July

August

January - August

  I can't believe how the time has flown.  Only four months left to go!

Bead Journal Project: August

I'm happy to say that I'm all caught up.  I finished my August bead journal project piece last night and I'm ready to jump into September!

Here's the August colour palette that Vicki created:

And here is my BJP piece:

And here's the growing spiral:

Judy Makinson

My friend Judy Makinson has recently joined the blogging world. She's a prolific fibre artist and quilter who is closely related to the Everready Rabbit. We're always amazed at how much she accomplishes and her art is outstanding!  You can see her blog here or by clicking on her name.

The photo here is Judy's profile pic, and part of an amazing self portrait piece she did a few years ago.  It's incredible!

Cottage Creatures

I've been taking a lot of wildlife shots over the summer and I thought I'd share a few more.  It's really incredible to see all of these wonderful animals, either right near our cottage, or on our boat rides on the lake.  We are so fortunate. 'sigh'

Mink

The hungry baby Robins.  This nest was at the back door of our friend's cottage, on their electric meter.

Momma Robin

A snapping turtle sunning on a hot day.

A baby loon stretching his wings.

Young loons with a parent (not sure if this is Momma or Poppa).  The little ones are a few weeks old now.

The young loon is getting bigger.  In this photo it's about a month or so old.

Feeding time: the young loon is eating a fish!

Young loon continues to grow and is beginning to take on the light colouring of the adult's
winter coat which it will keep until it darken to black next spring.

Gull, dreaming of Egypt

A rabbit getting a drink in the lake.

We saw this beaver eating the bark of this birch for about a week straight.
Every evening around 7:30 he'd be out there eating.

Dragonfly along for a boat ride.

A dock spider that's hitched a ride in the back of the boat.

These photos are being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.

Making Journal Covers

Over the last little while I've been making a variety of journal covers.  Some fit over standard composition books and others are a bit smaller and fit over some hard cover journals I found recently.

 

 

 

Each member of my fibre art group, GOE, is going to make three journals to be donated to a women's shelter in our area as an outreach program so that we can give something back to our community.  It is our hope that these journals will brighten the women's day while giving them a special journal to record thoughts and feelings as they bravely begin a new chapter in their lives.

Here are some of the journals I have made.  Three will be donated and the others will be available at Windows to the North Gallery.

Fibre Content

I'm excited to announce that three of my pieces have been accepted into the "Fibre Content" show. It's a juried show of 100% fibre art. For more details, check out the web page: http://www.fibrations.org.

I hope some of you will be able to see the show!

Bead Journal Project: July

I'm still trying to get caught up with my Bead Journal Project pieces by it seems a bit of a loosing battle.  I did finish July a few days ago, but I haven't started August and September is fast approaching!  Oh well!!!

I've included the colour palette from Vicki Welsh that is my inspiration for colour.  

Here's the finished piece, and below is a close up of the centre 'bead'.  Since I spent a lot of July photographing the many variety of birds the visit us at our cottage feeders, I thought this was an appropriate centre piece.

Vintage Fun

This week I've been playing around with some vintage looks in my photos.  The first is a shot of an old Underwood typewriter I took at the Sundridge pioneer log cabin.

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

I've added some layers of textures, including some with text, using some of the ideas I've learned in Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers.

This second shot was taken a couple of years ago in a bakery in Guelph.

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

These photos are being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.

Looking Down The Chipmunk Hole

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

Today's photo is a silly bit of Photoshop play.  I took a photo of this little guy's hole, where he's been taking all of the peanuts that he comes and gets from my hand when he climbs up on my lap.  Using Photoshop, I played around with the blend mode, changing it to 'exclusion', to get all of these fun colours.  I especially like the wonderful blue lines which are little tree roots.  I then took a photo of the chipmunk and cut out the selection I wanted so that I could have it coming up out of the hole.  I then added a layer of Kim Klassen's texture, kk_peacetexture, at softlight 100%, which brightened the whole thing up a bit.   

This photo is being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Photo Art Friday, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.