Polymer Clay, Resin and Fibre

 I have no clue why it took so long for the penny to drop with this combination but when I sourced some amazing bezels with huge loops that just didn't work with thin chains it all came together.  Here's one of my polymer clay and resin pendants accented with a fibre choker.

The background for the photo is a page from the vol.2 of Teesha Moore's sadly defunct "Studio" Zine.

ar'ti-zen Magazine and my Polymer Clay Work

I was approached by Cindy Marks for an interview in her outstanding Online Magazine ar'ti-zen ! The  aMused Studio article  was published in the August issue and I am absolutely delighted! Thanks Cindy!

ar'ti-zen is one of those online treasures that calls for selected inspiration time with  a very good cup of tea or two - I hope you'll treat yourself to a visit very soon!   

A Perfect Pender Island Saturday....Art ...Wine...Pie and wildlife

Our first Saturday stop on Saturday is Pender's outstanding outdoor farmer's market.

 There are stalls laden with fresh vegetables and fruits, Pender's fabulous pies (which sell out very quickly so move fast!!) and our latest discovery there-   foccacia bread stuffed with herbs and cheeses. Of  course we browsed the craft stalls and enjoyed chatting with artisans including many of the artists from The Red Tree Gallery .

After filling our bags with a delectable selection of goodies we headed over to Morning Bay Winery. 

We were delighted to see a lovely art exhibition there by Amy Heggie.

We purchased some of morning Bay's delicious  Chiaretto which is perfect for sipping on a deck with a good book and an ocean view!


The last stop was at the wharf where we lined up for fresh crab to go with all the treats we had picked up at the market for a marvelous dinnertime  feast!


Once home we had nothing more to do but read, look forward to dinner, wait for whales and enjoy the wildlife!

On Pender Island

I've been on Pender Island for a the last while. We have rented a cottage that's perched on a hill that slopes to a rocky beach. There are frequent visits from  an orca pod and as we relax with good books on the deck we are often interrupted by the swish of eagle wings as the resident pair of eagles swoop to their perch on a craggy tree overlooking us.

The whale watching here is astonishing. The rocks in front of the cottage have a lookout deck and yesterday the whales chased salmon into the kelp forest in the waters beneath us. We could see the swirl and flash of the hunt beneath the surface. The most unforgettable moment was later in the day when my husband and I were watching our daughter relaxing on the deckchair on the lookout deck when suddenly the dorsal fins of three beautiful whales rose out of the water in front of her! That incredible image will remain with us forever.

Every Beach Has a Gift

When I clambered down from the Pender Puddingstone  bluff to explore the beach in front of our little cottage I spotted a dusky glint of cobalt blue in the gravelly sand. I reached down to scoop up a little nugget of beach glass and then noticed a piece of amber coloured glass, then a green one! I was reminded of the prospectors in the gold rush reporting how the gold nuggets littered the ground just waiting to be collected!

The beach is close to a marina and I have a hunch that sailors from the boats that moor nearby may toss their empties overboard and the bottles get caught in a current leading to our beach which, in the storm season, would present a  a rocky surge channel  that would pulverise the glass.

 My daily ritual  sunrise ritual is to go down to the beach  to collect these lovely little shards of wave weathered glass.

What will I do with them....? Wait and see!!

One thing leads to another

I'm in vacation mode- we're currently on Pender Island!  On our first day here I sat on the huge rock formations along the shore in front of our cottage. I was puzzled by the rocks as they were pitted with intact rounded pebbles. I was pondering whether the rocks had at some point been coated with concrete as we headed off to the Red Tree Gallery

photo by John Bagshaw

 where we were greeted by Susan Tait who is a glass painter extraordinaire.

After a lively conversation largely conducted by our daughter Gen who makes fast friends wherever she goes, Susan invited us to visit her garlic farm . We dropped by a few days later and had a lovely visit. We left with a bagful of gorgeous basil, tangy garlic bulbs, a book about silk painting and the latest copy  of Avid- Pender Islands art magazine. (Thanks again Susan!!)

When I returned to the cottage I leafed through the magazine and was astonished to have my first question of the day answered- there was an article by David A.E. Spalding describing the specific rock formation I had been sitting on! The rocks are Puddingstone - conglomerate rocks created when small pebbles are washed into finer sediments which in the course of 84 million years or so are compressed into natural concrete! Pender Puddingstone!

A little Googling led me to see what some artists do with this geological phenomenon- here's a pendant by Diana Whitmore of Whispering Earth.

Next step... Polymer Pender Puddingstone?

Bowker Creek Brush Up!

I'm spending a couple of weeks on Pender Island (more on my trip asap) but I want to remind everyone in the Victoria area that the annual Bowker Creek Brush Up will be held this Sunday! Head to Oak Bay Village and meander down Hampshire Road to Bowker Creek... there are always lots of artistically rendered signs to help you find your way.

I'm very sorry to miss the event this year. The date collided with our vacation and my daughter's 21st birthday this year. In a shameless plug I'll remind interested visitors that I have work for sale at Sidestreet Studio on Oak Bay Avenue!