Daunted with Fear

There’s something about artists. A heart on their sleeves kind of vulnerability, with a sprinkle of insecurity always looming. Over and over I read blogs with women artists doubting their ability. Oh how I understand that. I’m on a time crunch to complete a charity umbrella and I pick now to try a new art process. I’ve been pre planning for two weeks now, valuable wasted taking jaunts through artists blogs , scanning for inspiration even though I have my own idea. Worried I’ll screw up. Knowing there is but one chance because I was warned not to make the paint too thick or it will crack. At least that’s what they told me. So I throw paint on a preview canvas, make countless illustrations on ten year old computer paper and try desperately to find the courage to trace something onto one panel of the umbrella. My plan was to do one called “ Raining Cats and Dogs”! Once I perfect the images to my satisfaction,  painting should be a breeze… Only a few more days to go….wish me luck!

Chatterbox Designs

To get the full experience of this post, be sure to click the images to enlarge!

Sunday we hit up a wonderful in home craft fair. Beautifully decorated the ambiance was amazingly posh. Inflected with the true spirit of Christmas there was a basket at the door for Cancer donations.

The first table of jewelry was too busy to approach. So we followed the trail of treasures, beautiful tree ornaments that could double as pendants, smelly soaps, creams, yummy amalgamation of spices for dips, chocolate, candy, fluffy scarves, complimentary coffee and treats, everything you could imagine at a top notch craft fair. What impressed me most were Wendy and Elaine's jewelry pieces from Chatterbox designs. They had quite a beautiful array of necklaces, bracelets, earring, seeming quite the allure to the many shoppers milling the home.

I spoke with Elaine about the handmade pieces as Pepper was quite taken with her pendant, wondering if she could have one similar commissioned. I spied a purple necklace that I loved, it matched perfectly with the blouse I was wearing!
More Chatterbox designs. Love the name of this company too! That purple necklace is soon to be my Christmas present, thanks to my kids! Here's a sneak preview....this photo doesn't do it justice. It's much prettier and more purple in person! The beads that look orange (must be the way the light hit it) are actually purple.

As we ambled around my eyes queued in on these funky style mugs.
I'm assuming the same artist set up this sweet little black and white vignette, I particularly loved the small black tree. The creator of these dishes didn't seem available. I hope they don't mind that I put these pieces on my blog.
Of course there many lovely things to appeal to every taste and decor.
Everything was spectacularly staged, color coordinated, and neatly displayed. It really was a fantastic atmosphere to start your Christmas shopping.
Unfortunately it's the last year for this event. I can't even begin to imagine the work it took to facilitate a project of this magnitude. One that takes up the majority of your house, including the kitchen. Kudos to the people running it. I thoroughly enjoyed the energy and love put into this creative endeavor!

Updated, More of Alan Ryhason

I thought you might be interested in seeing a little more Alan Ryhason's artwork. This is an interesting textile he created of his name! I love the black and white pattern.
The curtain hung in the kitchen area is made out of " The Blair Witch Project" video tapes. Quite a whimsical conversation piece! Everything is so meticulously crafted that even after intricate inspection it's hard for the naked eye to see how it's done!

A reproduction canvas transfer from an artist called Duplock.
The piece is entitled "Nero Fistral Blanco"

Alan inherited the gray bird Radju conducive to the getting a friends apartment, who was moving home for further schooling. Unfortunately the mother wasn't welcoming to the bird. Alan has had Radju the clever cockatiel who can talk and sing almost ten years now and loves him dearly.

Alice the yellow bird was adopted from the Greyhaven bird sanctuary as a hopeful lover, friend and partner for Radju. Her elderly owner had passed away, Alice took to Radju instantly and now almost a year later he is smitten with her!

Looks to be a photo shopped version of his living room! Love the pink hues!

More of Alan's work, hundreds of marbles drilled into a 3'x4' piece of maple plywood.

Another view from his living room into the kitchen area! The walls are covered in mac tac the circles are individually mapped out with a hand made circle compasses on more mac tac then cut out with a small exacto knife, then hand painted with a matt black paint. Very time consuming with an incredible outcome! Just goes to show what ingenuity can do for a rented loft!

Note that the curtains in this photo are also created by Alan. He created and cut out all the patterns then sewed them to the bottom of the plain cotton fabric
This has to be my favorite piece of all....another textile piece of his name! I love the combination of patterns.The black and white, peppered with varied patterns and splashes of color makes for a very pristine looking loft! Next week I'll share some of Alan's spectacular travel photos.

Alan Rhyason and Stacy Sakai

Click on the images to enlarge the photos and share in a better perspective!

Yesterday Laura, the kids and I attended "The Drift" an inspiring Art Festival studio Tour on Main street in Vancouver, where we chatted with some extremely talented artists. This one in particular struck our fancy. His flare for amalgamating accumulated pieces from world travels, recycled items, bits of nature, restored free finds, with modern, was so impressive. It was such a treat to visit lofts where artist create. Alan was so forthright about his creative process, cost of living space and where he finds his base pieces. His black and white decorated loft was accented with great splashes of color. The framed pink material behind his couch screamed tasteful decorator in the house!
The funky black and white wall paper with the vintage looking coo- coo clock painted white was exquisite!
I'm such a freak for patterns so I was thrilled to have a peek in his bedroom. The headboard is a free find, that just happened to fit perfectly at the end of his bed, he covered it with a shower curtain marketed by a very famous television perfectionist we all know and find threatening. Isn't it fabulous? Especially matched with the duvet cover, and framed black and white print! A minimal cost too! My photo' s just don't do the space justice.
This artist lives the creative life. Always thinking. He seems passionate about his work with the wheels spinning out continuous great ideas. This feathered light fixture is one of them. Alan Rhyason's works in Furniture, Mixed Media, Photography, Sculpture, and Textiles you can see more of his art pieces here! Recycled video tapes hang as a wonderful fringe curtain for his kitchen creating a fun conversation piece to be sure! While he fashioned a posh set of fabric curtains to mount in the living room! Such dexterity to this guys talent!
Another cool find, was this shimmering light fixture. As you can see Alan has impeccable taste. It was such a joy speaking with this self taught humble artist. We ALL came away extremely inspired by him!


Stacy Sakai shared some of her dynamic paintings presented in her friends immaculate loft! You can visit Stacy at her website here where you will find many of her other art pieces along with poignant writing.

Showcased are canvases from Stacy's Stellar Drift Series, where she focuses on nebulae for her paintings. Stacy's warm blend of colors in the series would be a welcome treasure to anyone looking for that lovely sense of serenity in a luxurious piece of art.
A photo of Laura standing outside the old butcher shop venue on 26th and Main. Hard to believe this beauty has a migraine. Unfortunately pain is not always visible to the eye. Does anyone have a miracle cure for migraines? If so please share. She's tried everything to no avail! It's hard to watch your friend suffer.

A funky piece of art spruces up the the side of a building in the old part of Vancouver's Main street. A place where artists and musicians gravitate to be one with creativity!

We had the pleasure of picking up a few art supply deals at the Ruby Dog garage sale. It was a beautiful fall day, only started to sprinkle on the drive home. A very poetic way to end the day!

The Visit

Yesterday we went to Violette's magic Cottage for dinner, where we met blogger friends Sioux and Raf from Mineral Wells Texas! Last year we met them in Vancouver for dinner on a stop over before their Alaskan Cruise.This year they decided to stay in Vancouver a few days before they leave for Alaska.

Nicci, and I in the back, Violette, Pepper and Sioux in the front! A quick photo op before the sun died down! We ate outside and it was so pleasant. All the planters in full bloom. Probably the last opportunity for dinner outdoors!

Marco in the back, Raf, Malcolm and Graham in front.
Malcolm filled in during Bryans absence,( he had to work, it's the busiest week of the year for his company) he was missed. Malcolm has the same hairy chest and brown hair, but damn he could have put some clothes on!. It's possible Malcolm is a hermaphrodite, yeah he forgot his boxers. I think Marco may be giving him a noogie.....you know, it's a guy thing, they take their knuckles and twist it around on the guys head!! Either that or he's tackling him. I doubt that though. Marco just isn't the violent type!! teehee!!

Close up of the girls that just wanna have fun! An Artists delight!

Pepper couldn't resist taking a photo of the boys taking a photo or us!

Sioux really giggled when I put my chin on her head!! I adore this photo!

Graham shared his South African Amarula Birthday Liquor, which I added to my coffee as we munched on Nicci's scrumptious peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. Man were they yummy so was the Liquor!

Mother and daughter, I am so blessed to have her love and support.
We made the thai salad together the night before. I know it was always
my mothers dream to have a relationship like this with me!
Pepper loves and enjoys all my friends too!

Thank-you Violette and Graham for hosting this wonderful evening. It really was magical!
Great food, and friends, a few giggles, fun conversations, tunes from Raf, nice weather, joyful ambiance, the perfect evening in my estimation! Thanks Raf and Sioux for the sweet gifts!

Thursday Thirteen Show and tell

Thursday Thirteen #10 Show and tell!

Two days ago I received this lovely daisy brooch, with a little pack of sweet smelling lavender wrapped in this fun paper. My unexpected winnings from Paula Clares website! The sweet vintage brooch is so similar to the one I had as a young girl. I'm going to search my photos to see if it's exactly the same! She enclosed a little card that says " Do what you love, love what you do" I can be regularly heard to say " Do what you love, the money will come secondary!" Thank you so much Paula I absolutely love brooches!

Photo taken by Pepper at Pemberton fest of a guy wearing the Wrong kind of man skirt!

Woot, Woot, this guy is wearing the RIGHT kind of skirt, also known as the kilt....and you know what they wear under those don't cha???!!! OH YEAH!! I know, "control yourself Sherrie"....maybe it's my new haircut.....stay tuned for that....haven't had a picture taken of it yet...

Peppers photo of this adorable family, parents protecting their baby's ears at Pemberton! They managed to find their picture on the facebook website and emailed Pepper! Their battery died on their camera so I think they were pretty happy to have this photo!

At a bridal shower last week we had to make a bouquet out of silk flowers. The bride picked her favorite as the winner. Mine got first place......
Which one do you think it was?

Yes mine was the purple and pink one, I shockingly received a twenty five dollar gift certificate to Linens and things! I'll wait for a sale and really make that count! Pepper's creation right next to mine with pink and yellow, got a third place starbucks card!
Thank you for abundance!

Check out this cool chartreuse vintage car we saw at an art festival last week.

Pemberton Festival photo taken by Pepper. A woman exposed her girls for a short time before realizing it wasn't Woodstock! After the odd stare of disdain she slipped those puppies back under her elasticized dress! Nice try though! Definitely an interesting character!

Now don't these two look like a couple of tree huggers!! Yes they do, this was taken in Pemberton! My very own little tree huggers, the musician and the business woman!

They left the Pemberton festival Monday at 4:40 A.M. heading home, Tuesday there was a terrible rock slide on the mountain! A small van type bus was hit by the first few rocks but managed to boot it out of the way before tons of rock fell! I'd say lucky it didn't happen a day earlier when forty thousand people descended down the mountain from Pemberton Fest! Very scary! It's going to take four to five days to clear up the rock. An alternate route takes eight hours from Vancouver.

Ladner market these necklaces were sold at a fair price! I was so tempted to get a fushia one! She had an amazing selection displayed. Something for everyone too! A crowd hovered around her table during the whole market. I managed to get a card. She was unsure if her website was up and running because her daughter manages it!
I found her website, right here!

Also at the Ladner Market another local artist Cathy from "Everything Under the Sun" makes adorable cards, decorates light plates, furniture and canvases! Check out her monkeys in undies below! So cute!
Hope you enjoyed my random show and tell!

White Rock Mural Will be Wiped out With Primer!

The City of White Rock has decided the murals are to be painted over in lieu of new ones. I am pretty upset about this! Is it understood what goes into an artists creation? Putting your art on display can be daunting enough. Part of your soul goes into that work. Being disregarded with a can of white primer is a complete slap in the face to those artists. May have well said to them, “We have used you, your turn is up, bye bye now!

"The further people are from the center of power, the more they are in touch with the world as it really is." - George Orwell

White Rock is known for its Landmark Whale painting done by wildlife artist Wyland.
Although my art tastes are more whimsical in nature, I appreciate the majesty of that whale painting in correlation to this oceanic city! It’s been there since the eighties, imagine how sad it would have been, painted over after the first year.

Taken Saturday, Nicci selling displaying her art, is one of the three mural artists!

There are emotional ties to those artistic walls, wedding and tourist photos taken. I have friends coming from Texas in September; excited to show them the mermaid wall. It will no longer exist. It’s beyond my comprehension why they can’t paint all the stark outside washroom walls, making it more aesthetically pleasing and tourist friendly. At least wait until the wall is chipped and unattractive before refurbishing them. More wasted money!

This is one side of the reversible pendant Pepper bought from Nicci
at the five corners block party on Saturday!

Had those artists been privy to the destruction of the murals would they have poured their heart and soul into that wall? Time would have been better spent painting,”Eagles in the city” an obviously less frivolous project. These eagles will be preserved to raise charitable funds. White Rock has an eclectic array of amazing artists, why not show them some respect!

The other side of the necklace Pepper bought from Nicci on Saturday. Isn't it adorable? I love it, so does Pepper! You should see them in person, vibrants and glitzy. You can find more on her etsy site!