Spring Showers Bring...

Hello friends, happy early Spring days!

We've had a very mild winter and the cherry blossoms have been in bloom for weeks now, but it seems that the Spring rebirth, renewal and reorganizing bug has really took hold in the last week. Friends, family and neighbours are working on home and garden projects and I'm excited to join the movement.

We got a lot of work done around the home last year... well, my husband did. Bri built a great deck extending from the dining area through the back yard; he also installed a new tub and vanity in the upstairs bathroom and tiled the bathroom surround and floor (with in floor heating). He did an amazing job. I was too preggo to help Bri much, so I took on decorating the baby's room. While I did manage to paint Rowan's room (wearing a mask of course), the bathroom reno happened later in the fall so we decided not to paint as we couldn't really air the fumes out of the house due to weather. In fact, Bri and the electrician were working on the floor while I was well into labour - I tried to have most of those contractions in the downstairs bathroom to keep from freaking the electrician out! Anyway, my point is we have bits and pieces to finish on those projects (a hand railing on the deck; paint and decoration in the bathroom) which I'm really looking forward to. I completely forgot to take before and after pics of these projects, but I will still post pics of them when they are finally complete.

Another very exciting prospect is the transformation I am hoping to bring about in the front and back yards. I may be biting off more than I can chew, considering I will have Rowan by my side, but I really want to bring some aesthetic order to these spaces this Spring and Summer. I've been thinking a lot about Japanese gardens. The clean, simple and flowing concepts are inspiring... as are the cherry blossoms everywhere right now. I would like to incorporate the use of pebbles, rocks, shade loving greenery, pathways and slight ornamentation. I will definitely take before and after pics and share them here... should these projects actually happen.

I've located a few sites you might want to check out if you're interested in creating a Japanese garden:

http://www.hgtv.ca/gardening/articledetails.aspx?ContentId=796&cat=2&by=

http://www.aboutjapanesegardens.org/index.htm

... and if you're interested in visiting a highly regarded Japanese garden in the Vancouver area:

http://www.nitobe.org/

The picture above was taken by my brother Leslie Norman, on his most recent trip to Japan. Isn't it just beautiful?

Take care and enjoy the inspiration of Spring!

Talk again soon:)

Peace Ninja

Hello friends. I thought I'd check in with a couple of updates today.

I recently decided to incorporate some themes into my paintings in order to come up with a series that I can hopefully convince someone to display. I have inevitably arrived at themes in the past - I've always been interested in biology and space/star systems - but wanted to do something more deliberate. I was goofing around a few weeks ago and thought 'ninjas.' Very shortly after I decided to go for it, along with the idea of employing textured backgrounds and silhouettes. I have sketched out a number of paintings, have finished the first and am working on the second. I thought I'd share a few pics from the stages of the first - 'Peace Ninja.' Please excuse the low quality of the pics - they're taken in low light with my iPhone.

Very primary sketch of Peace Ninja.

Applied textured background with five pointed stars.

Added five petaled 'peace' flower with ninja star inside. I later outlined the flower in grey.

Completed 'Peace Ninja' painting.

I'm definitely having fun with this series so far, and the next paintings are just tumbling out right now... so I'll keep you tuned in as things progress.

On another sweet note, my boy turned four months a few days ago! I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by. He got his immunization shots two days ago and was weighed and measured at the same time. He weighed 19 lbs, 12 oz, and was 27 inches long. He's a big boy - measuring above the 95 percentile. I love every pinchable inch of him! I'll post pictures of our first swimming excursion soon.

Take care. Talk to you again soon:)

Wheat Queens

Hi there, happy Wednesday and happy St. Patrick's Day. I was just winding down this exciting evening with some laptop house cleaning while sipping on a green pint (well, a glass of red wine actually, but with lots of Irish spirit). While deleting unnecessary junk, I flipped through a few photo files and I found a pic that I wanted to share with you. My dear friend and creative partner Lise Hamilton and I have been designing and creating sets for Between Shifts Theatre for a number of years now. I am especially happy with the way this one worked out. This award winning set, for the play Unity 1918, was based on a very simple design, painted on a giant canvas (18 x 34 feet) and suspended from a variety of theatre ceilings. The smaller strips of material in front (with wheat painted on them) were held loosely in place by hidden wooden frames and made to move to the breeze of fans hidden in the theatre wings. We whipped this up over a handful of evenings and a weekend. So much fun:)

I have recently taken a break from set production in order to care for my (now almost 4 month old!!) son. While it is super hard for me to actually achieve, a break is necessary to avoid burnout (definitely not the desired effect) and a great way to allow other creative juices to flow. I've been enjoying this break by working on a new series of paintings that I hope to share with you soon. Until then, think 'ninjas.'

Take care. Talk to you again soon.

(Photo by my fantastic and talented photographer husband, Brian Thompson)

Have You Seen Alice?

It’s been a bit busy around my corner of the world and as a result, just over a week since my last post. My intention is to check in here at least once a week, so it looks like I might need to loosely schedule some time to do that. In my world, a loose schedule is akin to a general direction, both of which work for me as they keep me working towards a goal, but with realistic flexibility and without any major sense of disappointment when things go askew… as they sometimes do.

Speaking of askew, have you seen Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland? I’d been anticipating this movie since seeing trailors for it last fall. I’ve been a big fan of Johnny Depp since his days on 21 Jump Street, and I (like many) consider Tim Burton to be a mad genius. Helena Bonham Carter has also been on my radar for years, especially since her heart wrenching lead role in Margaret’s Museum - a beautiful and tragic movie based on a story written by Sheldon Currie, an old English professor of mine at St Francis Xavier University. With so many brilliant people involved Alice could only be great right? Right. Thank goodness.

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a delight for many reasons. The story has been slightly altered from the original by Lewis Carroll, enough to keep the audience interested and anticipating while in the comfort of a familiar fantasy; Burton has (as expected) created a breathtaking and darkly whimsical visual framework within which the story takes place; Carter, Depp and Crispin Glover bring a perfect mixture of quirkiness and flippancy to their dark and fanciful characters (i.e. Depp regularly switches between a number of different accents within a breath of each other); Wasikowska’s portrayal of a grown up Alice, both self assured and vulnerable, is compelling and very likable.

What really captured my attention though, was the amazing costuming throughout this movie. I loved every outfit Alice found herself wearing, as well as those worn by the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter. Alice’s costume designer, Colleen Atwood, did an amazing job of creating intriguing pieces, both oddball and beautiful. I found myself wanting to touch and own all of Alice’s dresses and the Hatter’s hats… even though I can’t think of a place to wear them.

Check out Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland while it’s still in theatres. You won’t be disappointed.

Check out IMDB for more info on and pictures from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/ or Colleen Atwood and her fantastic designs: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041181/ or Tim Burton’s official website for more of his brilliant work: http://www.timburton.com/

Talk to you again soon. J

I Wanna Live in a Tree... or a Hole in the Ground.

Do you remember the Barbapapa books, by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor? Of all the books I read when I was small, the illustrations from these books imprinted themselves deeply into and took up residence in the recesses of my imagination. I loved the circular, flowing rooms of their homes, dug into the ground, cuddled by earth.

I also quite enjoyed the television show Fraggle Rock, for much the same reason. I spent my very young years growing up in Labrador, where my siblings and I would have to find ways to amuse ourselves outdoors on (endless) cold winter days. One of my favourite ways to play was by digging tunnels through the huge mountain of snow the plow left in our backyard after clearing our driveway. We called our snow tunnel mountain Fraggle Rock. We also built plenty of igloos and snow forts – very stereotypically Canadian behaviour.

I have always enjoyed odd and interesting homes and hope the future is filled with unique and clever structures that are more organic and connected to the earth. These are a couple of designs I find really interesting both aesthetically and functionally:

Nautilus House, designed by architect Javier Senosiain of Arquitectura Organica, is both intriguing to look at as well as earthquake proof. You can find Nautilus House and more amazing designs by this firm at: http://www.arquitecturaorganica.com/

FAB TREE HAB: Living Graft Prefab Structure; designed by Mitchell Joachim, Lara Greden and Javier Arbona of Terreform 1: Nonprofit Organization for Philanthropic Architecture, Urban + Ecological Design.

The FAB TREE HAB is meant to be created from trees grown and grafted into shape. The home is designed to source power, water and food supplies from the structure itself as it interacts with nature. This innovative design firm has come up with some of the quirkiest and most forward thinking concepts for private residences, urban environments and transportation. Check out the FAB TREE HAB and other brilliant designs at : http://www.terreform.org/projects.html

Don't forget to check out the Barbapapa Official Web Site at: http://www.barbapapa.fr/ and Fraggle Rock at: http://www.henson.com/family.php

Take care. Talk to you again soonJ