pretty

pretty pink peonies from the terracotta gardens of 29 Black St. - polaroid sx-70 - Susan Black

Hey ! I designed 2 Valentine's Day cards for American Greetings* - here + here - exciting !!!
& heard yesterday on fav CBC radio 1 show Q - ohmy Kate - reminds me of my NSCAD days

* & am working on another design for them as we speak - hooray !!

a stack of books

the detail photos from my NEW photographic giclee print etsy listings

A stack of books ... and a new favourite pen.

Oh Bonjour brand new day !
Oh my, A big hello Tuesday
So long, too many blue & tough days in a row
Bubbles & scent waiting
A long morning walk with my girl Miss D
a freshly tidied desk
and lots of projects on the go

I have eight new, super saturated colour, floral polaroid giclee prints in my shop. Each image is 7 x 7 on an 8 x 10 sheet of dreamy, super heavy (400gm), textured water colour paper. Also a few giclee prints of my recent painting ventures on the same dreamy paper. More on painting soon.

some miscellanea - many of you know I'm a bit of a library freak. Avid is putting it mildly. I'm online at the Nova Scotia provincial public library site all the time. Looking up this, ordering that, researching by topic, key word, title, author ... it's heaven and a few buttons pressed, a library card #number keyed in, a password and presto ! - books will be sent here - to me - Hooray !! Once a week our little village library has book deliveries and most often because of this constant keenness of mine, there's a mile high stack of printed goodness waiting for me. This past week was a particularly fantastic week. Books currently bedside.

The truth about grief - Ruth Davis Konigsberg
Let's take the long way home - Gail Caldwell*
The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
Strangers at the feast - Jennifer Vanderbes
Bird Cloud - Annie Proulx
Trauma - Patrick McGrath**
Around my French Table - Dorie Greenspan (I would love to buy this - it's fantastic !!!!)

*currently reading and almost finished
** next up

ps. I'm in love with this pen (black .03) I recently acquired 4 of them ... just in case

ready

quince - polaroid sx-70

I hear a lot of people talking about "taking the leap" as if they're jumping off some tall platform into a huge deep puddle of uncertainty. Instead reframe it for yourself. Focus on doable, attainable steps. And when you think of taking that leap, instead of visualizing a leap downward, think of a leap upward, toward the sky of your potential.

Kelly Rae Roberts - from Flying Lessons

Wow ! I'm loving Kelly's e-course and I feel like it's happening at the very best time for me ...
but Hey ! isn't that how everything happens in life ? at the very best time. When you're ready. And boy I'm feeling so ready. Look out Creative Empire, cause here we come.

more lilac love

more lilac love - 4 polaroids taken yesterday of their beautiful lavender & white goodness

With my last package of Time Zero SX-70 Polaroid film - 6 sheets of film left in the last package of 10. Film that's been kept stashed in the far bottom corner of my refrigerator but ... the good news is this amazing film is once more available to purchase. Tres expensive but available - here

Part 2 of my interview with the lovely Mr. Toast (and Tea) here today

another forever favourite

another polaroid from les archives

more dreams of spring,
more oriental poppies
more freezing drizzle
and another forever favourite.

blustery & wintry here at 29 Black Street this early morning.

beaming

hey there handsome

We are put on earth for a little space,
that we may learn to bear the beams of love

William Blake

Jake - my red dog in our red kitchen. Another Polaroid from the past found in a shoebox filled with photos in the crawlspace this past Saturday.

Mad empire building continues.

stewin'

gus

Hey ! it's Mr. Mr. back when he actually was a very Lil' Man. One of those dud polaroids that becomes kinda beautiful in it's dudliness

I'm up early this morning, having been lying awake and tucked into the nest of down and flannel since 3:30 - stewing, fretting and praying (or chatting) with God or the Universe or my own higher power ... or whoever. I need some help Please. Just help me to be stronger, to feel stronger, to feel safe and secure ... please.
I don't want to feel afraid of life.

Anyway ... I figured by 4:30 am if I was just going to lie there awake (it is the one place that I almost always do feel safe and protected - everyone should have a nest) and stew and occasionally think to take a few deep breaths (which by the way instantly causes the stewing to soften and recede into the background) I might as well be up with a mug of hot coffee doin' my stewin'. So I'm up and dare I say - rarin' (?) to go. Healing bubbles and scent are pourin', a mixture of eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint & rosemary to clear out any remnants of woe. It's another new day, and it feels like I've shed another clinging layer of sadness. It has to come off, it has to come out. I must feel it for it to be gone again. It's a process but Oh when you're in the thick of it ... it feels terrible. There is no feeling worse than ... the absence of hope.

Many thanks for all of your kind and commiserating comments. I think pretending you're someone else adds tremendously to the stress of feeling sad. I don't think I've ever been more myself than I am on this blog ... and that feels very good and it's helping me to see who it is - I really am (without sounding all deep & weird). Wink.

tres grateful for MLou, les Gang and the nest of down and flannel.

poof !

a trail of red tulips in our petite backyard forest - from the Polaroid archives

How's that for a hit of red ? Ahhh the ever so saturated colour of a polaroid photo.

Just what a girl needs on this first day of April here in the lands of still white and icy and cold. I bet it's no surprise to find out that red is my most favourite colour. A favourite design colour - not necessarily a colour I would wear often or a colour that I would decorate with - a la walls or even throw pillows but if you take a stroll through my etsy shop ... well ... you'll find lots O' red there.

I'm in the midst of (potentially) two new and quite large ($$=sound sleep) projects for customer No. Uno, I have a little typographic homework this week, from my high school art class volunteering - I'm making two small headers for displays using hand cut letters (a current fav of mine). 'Tis the month of tax time (groan), and I'm a bit in overwhelm over all the scattered bits and pieces and different directions my CE* has taken lately and I must reel those bits in, make a few big lists and get that exciting and ever growing side of my life organized. Maybe I can convince one of the invisible mute valets to help out.

It's been a slumpy kind of week here at 29 Black Street. Those weeks happen - best just to keep on keepin' on, breath deeply and try not to ponder too much. Les secret of my success. Wink. Woke up to what I suspected would be another ho hum, slumpy day again today only to find (dans la world of Blog) that We have been mentioned again on another tres fantastic design blog - seymour cornelius. Hooray! and Merci! Turned everything around this morning that did ! Turned Ho Hum ! into Lets' Get a Goin' Girlfriend ! It is such fantastic validation that I'm on the right track with my slowly growing, bit by bit, Creative Empire ... Hooray !

* creative empire

empire building

Stephanie 2 - from the Polaroid archives

I did something brave and expensive yesterday. I've signed up finally for health and disability insurance. Any of you who have been visiting Black Street for a time will know illness is quite a stranger here. On the twice yearly occasions that I have need to take an aspirin I most often have to hunt to find the long expired bottle. I have been blessed with extremely good health. Even colds & flus manage to evade me. Now, don't go saying knock on wood because I do believe in the power of positive thinking and I am, and always have been a very healthy person. Blessed again. That all said I feel absolutely thrilled about this insurance, dare I say even - excited ! about this new expenditure. It has dental, eye glass and alternative therapies coverage just to mention a few. Hey ! Mama might spring for a much needed massage. Sigh. Can I afford it ? This big insurance ? I hope so. Because another slice of the peace of mind pie is totally wrapped up in my having this safety net. One less thing for the 3am rumination rotation - and as you well know - it's a tres busy rotation already.

Needless to say I've been thinking a lot about my Creative Empire and the building of it, my present & future security depends on it, thankfully it's also my passion - my love and this process never ever feels like work. How lucky am I ? Plenty of scheming, planning, and pondering has been happening atop the teak topped desk. Trying to come up with possible new items for my etsy shop. I've been studying the lands of etsy, trying to discern what kinds of things sell like hot cakes, what price ranges work best, how best to promote me and my wares, how to make it to the front page of etsy (a dream of every etsy seller) - I'm madly keeping notes and making little thumbnail drawings in my I Draw Pictures All Day sketchbook (a gift from MLou). I have a handful of possible wholesale leads for my giclee print photo cards that I plan to assertively follow up on - this week. I'll send out a sample card with a catalogue sheet and hope for huge orders. I'm going to try block printing and some original gouache collage paintings, all small and matted and ready to pop in a 5x7 frame - keeping with the art print card with envelope theme.
Is it miniature art or is it a greeting card. Hey ! It's both !

It's time to shake things up dans la 29 Black Street shop.

I hear birds outside our studio window and I'm off to la land of bubbles and scent

8:00 am - just back from a perfect and beautiful walk with Missy D. around this sleepy little village. The sun is just up and things are all a sparkle once again although thankfully the heat of yesterday's sunshine helped the branches of the trees to unbend somewhat - what a relief for them that must be. And walking up our walkway and into the house we spied a pair of Bohemian Waxwings ! Hooray ! a new bird at 29 Black Street. Like a Cedar Waxwing only much bigger, fatter and more grey than green and they both have a brilliant flash of red under their tail feathers. According to my Peterson's guide book they wander irregularly into these parts in winter but in 16 years in this old brick house this is our first sighting. I'm off to spear some apple wedges onto icy branches for them ... fruit and insects their fav foods and currently no insects round here in the land of ice & snow.

hallelujah

sleeping dog on a bench - Polaroid circa late 80's

This photo was taken while waiting for the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. A weekend road trip adventure to Cape Cod with friends while I was living the young designer's viva la loca - cheap & easy - life in downtown Montreal. This fav Polaroid was unearthed during this weekend's purgapalooza.

Well my tres challenging current design project is finally winding down. Yesterday the Patron Saint of Design Brilliance - St. Concepta finally shone her gorgeous and much anticipated rays down onto me. Can I hear a hallelujah please ? With large portions of my brain in the off position (for thinking too much is a sure way to screw things up) yesterday, my last and most difficult to scale thumbnail was created, sent off and almost instantly met with oohs and ahhs and this one is SO beautiful. Uh Huh ... now if only I could figure out how this happens ???

The funny thing is this last design, the 5th in a series of 5 has been (since mid week last week) my bane, my thorn, my I'll never come up with something that I'm happy with let alone something my customer is happy with and yet this morning as I ready myself to create the actual size final drawing of this 5th design, the time when I get to flush out all the little tiny bits and pieces of style and pattern of a concept mostly realized - the fun part - this one of all 5 designs - has become the one I'm the most pleased with and the one that I look most forward to drawing in all it's detailed glory. Go figure. It's the Murphy's Law of Design.

I've decided as a reward to myself for finishing up this project this Thursday & Friday I'm going to continue on the clutter control and declutter my finances. I'll go through ALL my financial paperwork (and there are piles of paper - that self employed person's save every little piece of paper pile) and get that organized and figure out myself a proper budget and do some filing.

Mama's gotta make room for Madam Abundance (M. Invincible's paternal twin), who's due to arrive any day now.

pool

Maureen - Alexandra Park Pool - Queen & Bathurst

More Polaroids from the archives. I'm up an hour earlier than usual this morning. The smell of coffee waking me up this early morning at 4:10am. It seems, while getting the coffee ready last evening, I accidentally hit a button on my coffee maker's timer causing my coffee to brew at 4am instead of 5am. Sigh. Oh well.

Summer's in Toronto would often feel terribly stifling - hot and sticky humid. My friend Maureen and I would pack up our troubles in a big beach bag. Towels, cameras, swimming goggles, and large plastic bottles filled halfway with frozen water and we'd head to the public swimming pool at Alexandra Park, just up from Queen & Bathurst. We'd pretend we were kids and we'd have so much fun.

My Buddha Boy Oliver is keeping me company as I type this. His favourite pose - sitting up straight, eyes closed, in deep sweet feline meditation and I'm just off to the land of lavender & bubbles.

still life No. 7

still life #7

More polaroids from the seemingly endless archives. The sky is just beginning to turn a lighter grey blue outside my studio window, Winnie's snoring softly near-by and it's Tuesday. Monday blew by with a busy day in town with a friend. I had a longstanding appointment that needed meeting, we had lunch out, a few groceries picked up and not home again until nearly supper time where I was greeted with spins and twirls and lots and lots of mad sweet kisses. I miss her when I'm away all day and she misses me too.

The weather in this little village continues to be hot and sultry. It's fan weather. But there are thundershowers in the forecast for today and it looks like we'll finally get a break from the humidity.

Working on building my creative empire No 1 on the agenda for today.

jake & em

red dog, yellow dog

red, red and pale golden blonde
pure love, comfort and endless joy
Jake & Emma Jane Louise (Em)
two of our pack, Miss Winn's and mine
and we miss them ... so much.

I've been on vacation this week. At the cottage ... so to speak. No assigned projects on the drawing table and enough fat invoices out there in the world that I have confidently, dare I say cockily, taken it very easy these past many days. Worry & Fret have disappeared for a few days and it seems like they took Ache & Sadness with them. It's been a lovely, simple, easy week.

MLou arrives this evening for another marathon eat, paint, chat event. We'll try to throw in a few touristy summer village events also - perhaps a dip in the warmest waters north of Virginia (at Crescent Beach a 4 minute walk from my front door). An ice cream cone and a sit in the park at the end of Black Street, maybe a stroll down the main drag of this little village (actually it's the only drag) to visit a few of my favourite shops. We'll eat only snacky things - things like guacamole and corn chips, bagels with chive cream cheese and smoked salmon with fresh juicy tomato slices and a drizzle of olive oil. We'll drink cold tea with lots of ice and lemon slices and we'll sit at the little yellow table in my sun porch for all our meals.

We'll be here, she and I, fixin' up the cottage all weekend.

pinks

pinks

Sigh. More peony Polaroid loveliness. The colours, the pinks, the chartreuse green and the soft dreamy focus. Love it ...

Well thankfully it's over for another year. The madness and loudness of July 1st. The fireworks did go on, my wishes and prayers for rain went unanswered, they were shockingly loud and seemed to go on way too long. After years of living with assorted dogs and cats who become totally freaked by fireworks I've grown to really dislike them myself. Anyway ... it's over. Smile.

I had quite a restless sleep last night but I finally had a dream about my boy. Honestly it was the first dream I've had about him, at least that I can remember. Nothing dramatic or particularly exciting. His handsome red self, my Jake, had a starring role in a choppy weird dream about home restoration and renovation. I so vividly remember spending sometime rubbing his ears and scratching his lovely red neck and reminding him of how much I loved him. Just a little bit more than life itself - is what I always told him. Big Sigh.

Seems I've been given several blog awards in the last little bit. All very sweet and thoughtful and I'm very honoured to be chosen for the following 1.) from Willow at WillowManor a Special Scribe Award, recognition for my writing - how nice. 2.) from Eleanor at Thatchwick, another dog loving blogger in far away in South Africa, has awarded me the Arte Y Pico and finally 3.) Julie King at Julie King Art has recently deemed 29 Black Street a blog which is Just Plain Fun to Read. Thank you all, for the sweet recognition.

I'm going to mention a good friend and fellow creative gal's new blog The Kei Studio. Visit here and follow her story of transforming a Nova Scotia country church into an artist's studio and gallery and even more tales of life in rural Nova Scotia. And I also stumbled upon this blog - A Field Journal - Wow ! I am stunned by the beauty and talent found here. Her work, her photography and typography ... her blog ... all pure visual yummy-ness. Livy's blog is my new blog of the week.

And finally check out Angry Chicken and her recipe for homemade deodorant complete with this link to a fabulous resource for all kinds of natural stuff. Shea butter, coconut butter, essential oils and so much more and with international shipping.

monday

oriental poppies

sorrow is the child of too much joy

Chinese Proverb

Somehow over the weekend I went from simple summer contentedness to an almost desperately sad and worried frame of mind. Eckhart would tell me that my ego and my pain body were having another party in my head, and that's probably true - but unless you have the strength to boot them out they will wreak havoc with content and carefree. It happens like that sometimes, I'm just walking along, happily (or so it seems) humming a tune, and in an instant, the ground seems to give out beneath me. Things suddenly seem bleak, the air becomes filled with what ifs and lately, I am continually haunted by my boys last hours. At it's worst I feel like a crazy person and it makes me feel sick.

Yesterday afternoon, a beautiful hot & sunny day, I lay in my hammock in the back garden for hours on end. Under a big tree and with a gentle breeze, I stared up at the sky and watched the birds and I read a bit and napped - the only cure I could muster for this kind of illness.

And it always passes ... I think it's why I've always loved the beginning of the day, an early morning ... and another chance to start anew. A fresh cup of coffee, me and my eternal optimist, a new plan neatly penned on a clean page in my little red Moleskin journal and a hot bath, with bubbles and lavender, to wash away any remnants of yesterday.

canadian pride

a small town Prince Edward Island fairground

Scott Brison, Liberal MP, married his same sex partner in a ceremony at a small chapel in his home town in Nova Scotia this weekend. His wedding a who's who of liberal Canadian politicians. Former prime ministers Joe Clark & Paul Martin, Canada's former ambassador to the US Frank McKenna, current Liberal leader Stephane Dion, to name a few. Just a reminder of how different things are up here north of the border and a reminder to me of what a great country I live in.