creativity, a way of being

An overcast morning here, and cool enough for the furnace to come on. Still, I'm grateful for a long spring, happy to wait for the heat that give's Kentville its nickname of "Hell's Kitchen". Little did we know when we moved here that the Annapolis Valley retains the heat like a stainless steel bowl.

A sunny morning the other day made for some fun shots through the Venetian blinds. 

Here Babu is still enough for a reasonable shot.

Muji in his usual stance, favouring his leg that he limps on now instead of not using it at all. 

We have Babu to thank for that, keeping Muji limber with chasing and wrestling games.

Still, Muji is a naturally quiet cat, almost contemplative

keeping me company with his sun-tipped ears and whiskers

I'd have more pictures of Babu if he could keep this still.

The aqua eye with its other worldly cosmic pupil

and later, a schnoozie

I've been happily engaged in the studio again. Working in this grey-papered journal has helped me to keep my personal challenge of not getting precious about individual pieces, working on the back of the previous day's work, a far cry from creating for sale. And that is my intention: to work for my self.

a detail of the same piece with a vignette from a 4 O'Clock tea package of a Mughal painting that I love

Here is a technical bit for any artists reading:

.The paper used was of two types. One, a thin, smooth, whitish paper was

prepared from fine off-white paper pulp. The other, a rougher buff
paper, was made from fibrous, brownish, nonuniform paper pulp. The
practice of burnishing resulted in a smoorth surface to the finished
work. Cloth was used for larger sized works.

Recent research into the types of pigments has uncovered the following
information. Several types of whites were found, all metallic and
including lead white (found in the majority of paintings), tin white,
and zinc white. Lampblack was the only black identified. Brilliant
yellow, called Indian yellow (a calcium or magnesium salt of euzanthic
acid), as an organic extract from cow urine. Vegetable dyestuff indigo
was the more common blue. Natural ultramarine (the mineral lazarite)
was also used. Vermilion (mercuric sulphide) and red lead were the most
common reds. Many greens were used. The most common was verdigris,
copper chloride produced by the reaction of copper metal with salt
water. Metallic pigments were also used, including gold in painted
powder form, and a tin metal that was silver in color. Binders, the
solution into which pigments are mixed so that they might be spread,
were gums—gum Arabic and gum tragacanth.

The face of my young lady is done in acrylic paint with some pigment pen detail.

Her dress is made of torn gift wrap of pine cones which I've embellished with white paint pen and torn printed tissue, gold and silver ink pens and some distress stains.

I was very happy making this piece.

wishing you a pleasant day of peace and creativity

(remembering that creativity is a way of being as well as doing)