Swords Up

Didn't expect this on a walk through Mystic Vale!

Clara and the Nutcracker...my first stop motion animation ;)

Click link for Video

https://vimeo.com/114073104

So here it is...my first stop motion animation.  Yesterday I made a collage of Clara and the Nutcracker in hopes of making nice image for a Christmas card. As it turned out, I couldn't commit to the position of Clara and the Nutcracker so I made a series of images.  Later when I flipped through the pictures quickly in Digital Lightroom, the idea of making a stop motion animation became obvious. Using imovie and garage band is quite foreign to me, so there was a steep learning curve.  It would have been easier if I had decided to use a prerecorded segment from the Nutcracker Suite, but I had to go the hard way and make up a little arrangement on the ukulele.  The music is a bit goofy but fun at the same time.  This little clip is short and sweet but actually took me a long time!

Hope you enjoyed the snow on Vancouver Island as much as Bastion and Berta

Cut and Paste New York

New York is this week's theme on the 52 week illustration challenge.  I was in New York when I was 8 and 12.  I remember the huge buildings and being able to walk faster than all of the taxis in town.

Since cut and paste is so fun, here's my NEW YORK illustration, a collage curtesy of 2 copies of the New Yorker magazine discarded by the library.

http://illo52weeks.blogspot.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/418616991575037/

25 years ago...it came down

I dug out these images of Berlin from 2009, 2011, 2013. Nov 9  25 years ago, a 28 year old wall began to be broken, opening East Germany to the world and the world to East Germany. If it hadn't come down, I can picture many of my Ossi friends still in their flowered wallpapered homes watching Sandmännchen cartoons while snacking on Spreewald gherkins or Knusperflocken...wait...that doesn't sound so bad.

Today, pieces of the wall remind the world that walls can be built but they can also be taken down.

"...and now I have to congratulate you!  We are in wonderment.  The Berlin Wall is destroyed.  It is wonderful.  I congratulate all German people on this event!"

Nov 2013

July 2011

July 2011

July 2011

November 2013
on the east side of Brandenburg Gate

November 2013
on the west side of the Brandenburg Gate

July 2011 
The grass now grows where the wall once split West and East (left and right) at Potsdamer Platz

Meet Klara...the yarn graffiti artist

Meet Klara.  She's a graffiti artist who likes to make her world more friendly and cheerful with yarn.  

Over the past months, I have been working on illustrations for Children's stories. I have experimented with quite a few art forms and I started producing needle felted characters to help me draw or paint characters in different poses and actions.  

Somewhere along the way I realized that I was getting better at making 3-d wool characters and preferred some of them to the drawings or paintings I was coming up with. I started to photograph scenes using characters and props that I had made, combining 2 of my strengths, 3-d art and photography. In time I realized, photographing needle felted characters and found objects worked like a charm for illustrating certain stories. 

This week, I found a window of 10 minutes where it wasn't raining sideways (common in the fall on an island in the North Pacific) and captured Klara climbing trees and covering them in yarn!  More adventures of Klara and other characters will come soon.

Cute Corn

When I harvested my last corn, all said and done they were the size of golf balls!  But honestly they were the best tasting corn I have ever eaten.  So much goodness in their tininess ;)

a modern day barn raising...a look inside the renovated youth housing

Last weekend, organizers, volunteers, contractors, neighbours, Threshold Housing staff attended the big reveal of the new housing 4-plex for youth in Victoria, BC.  The project started over 4 months ago when Herowork was approached to help initiate a renovation of the apartment building donated to the Threshold Housing Society.  Over a period of about 3 weeks, numerous volunteer hours, and financial and material donations a complete retrofit was completed.  The unit will be able to house 6 youth and an office/training space for the Threshold Society.  In the future, it is hoped to house 8 youth when new office space becomes available.  Each of the four units was prepared by 4 different designers using all donated furnishings and materials, creating beautiful, safe and functional living spaces for youth in need of housing.  

Waiting for the big reveal

On Reflection...Celebration of the Victoria Camera Club 70th Anniversary

November in Erzgebirge will be featured in the 70th anniversary book and Wandern in Harz will be shown at the On Reflection show.  Both images were taken last fall in Germany.

November in Erzgebirge

Wandern in Harz 

A modern-day barn raising

An anonymous donor gifted a 4-plex to the Threshold Housing Society  to be used to house youth. Located in Victoria, this building is in a prime location because of its proximity to transit and will house up to 8 vulnerable youth.  But it needs a massive renovation to make it safe and sustainable for years to come. It needs a HeroWork Radical Reno!  

http://www.thresholdhousing.ca/

http://www.herowork.com/

https://www.facebook.com/heroworkprogram

multiple contractors collaborating

If you see yourself or part of your team in an image, message me and I would love to send you a hi-res digital copy.

refurbishing donated pieces

getting into small spaces

expertise

design

takes a lot of donations

a gift of massage for volunteers

landscaping

doesn't every project needs a mascot?

entertainment

a lot of work

organization

safety

some people don't need a ladder

well fed

Leona Fowler's photo shows that volunteer shirts indeed need to vary in sizes!