and,

an attempt to grab creativity amidst the chaos.

My paintings always like visitors at www3.telus.net/galen/art



Friday, December 31, 2010

A Little R & R Demands a Head Nest

Or what normal humans refer to as a cushion.

To cushion the soul a little twinkle light action.


To cushion the tummy
a little murder baking.


To cushion the spirit
(and buoy the laughter)
A little naked giraffe running.


To cushion the story, a host of old and new traditions


including evidence of historical craftiness.


My grandmother painted this Santa
 with gold leaf more than 100 years ago.


And when all those things are cushioned,
all that's left is the heart & the head.

 

So head,


With a glimmer of sunshine to ring in the new,


and the promise of a hot pink zipper as a nod to the heart

I give you...
a pillow.






Happy New Year fair bloggy readers :)












Thursday, December 30, 2010

Have Kit, Will Travel


Another
(yes another)
 art caddy.



I promise the next thing will be a needle point periodic table.

This is more for me than for Pu.
More for me so I don't have to pick up one thousand markers
and crayons
and tape
and glue
and glitter sticks (?!)
and
and
add your own.

Now they all have a home at the end of out little kitchen island
Now she can pick up her gear and go.
Theoretically she can clean up and go.



Next I should get her some spray paint, and a tag name
and she can take her art caddy to the street.
Mobile,
she'll be lurking in the alley's 
hiding from the fuzz
as she builds her career as a 3 year old graffiti artist.


Perhaps we should focus on loosing bed time diapers first.

They aren't very street.
(although possibly practical and versatile for a life of artist on the run)


Poor kid will get kicked out of the space program
for colouring on the windows during her mission to mars.


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A felty pin

A quick little felted brooch.


It seemed like a good idea at the time
but the scale is all off.

These must be Pterodactyl eggs.

I'm likely to tip over sporting this on my lapel.
Or an actual bird will feather on my chest.

It's only a matter of time before I wear a potted plant on my head
and call it a hat.

I feel the slope slipping.


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Phat Gratification

I love a little large and in charge for quick and easy knitting.

It's a speedy little shrug that I did without a pattern.
(a pattern would have improved it greatly, undoubtedly)


Big needles and chunky wool.
Check out the cheese-dog face on the mannequin?!


I covered the buttons with the newest Etsuko F fabric


And this shot is the closest approximation of the actual colour
of the giant washcloth I'm going to wrap myself in.


It could be warn a variety of ways:
Figure 8 scarf (which is everywhere these days),
shrug,
or as above-
struggling beauty queen sash.


Knit & Purl


Even I can handle that!


Really, this is just another excuse to wear my bed out in public.




Check out the shortest one heading out of dodge before her
twisted mother tries to drape something on her
and call it a shrug!

I'm linking to Make it and Wear It today

Saturday, December 18, 2010

the Rats! Pants

I have a sweet sweet little cousin.
He is handsome, and amiable and (did I mention?) sweet natured
therefore...
I am going to punish him with his Xmas gift.

(I'm deeply twisted that way.
Oh, OK,
it wasn't on purpose!)

His fine mama liked some pants I made for Pu & Nu this summer
and foolishly said she wanted some for her cutie


BWAHAHAHAH!
(tremendously evil cackle)

Not only is this gentle soul not getting Lego or something cool,
but I suspect he's getting torture pants.


See, I used a home made pattern that worked perfectly for Nu's giant cloth diapered keister.
I also used light flowy material for summer.
Really, it worked.

But for little M I used cord.
And he's a string bean, and he's far away so I can't try them on.

Well I tried them on Pu (though she's 2 years older)
but um...well how to say this discretely...
  It looked liked she had giant junk!
(and not in the trunk)


Droopy draws are one thing
 but these pants
threaten to sabotage his ability to truck.

What a naughty aunty I am!
 Pants to hold him back & besmirch his infallible reputation.
Pants that make him fall down a lot
and create a flurry of uncomfortable tension
as grown ups at the play gym
question his low slung nether-regions.

Sorry little dude.
I'll probably be the one to mistakenly drop the F-bomb in front of you too.

You've been warned.

With the Hip Hop and you Don't Stop!

I love a good Rap.
I also love a good Wrap.


So this year I'm going greener,

Or in this case red, white, and orange and.... and green.

We've been doing the half-green wrap
and recycling paper and bags for a while.

But, this year with my new devotion to all things fabric
I thought we could take it up a notch and build some new traditions.

I have visions of using these for the rest of eternity.
I have hopes that my kids will have a favorite,
or that mythology will build like...
 the red polka dot bag always carries the best present...


I can't believe how easy it is to wrap this way!


And secretly, to gaze upon all this pretty material
is definitely a gift to me :)

Note to self:
Must actually find/make/buy gifts to put IN bags!!!

Word up.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The stitchery continues



Well, I'm newly addicted to this little stitchery wizardry.


Fast, fun, easy.


And, while I'd rather be punk rock,
I can't dismiss the sweet in these little hoops.

My stitch writing is still reminiscent of a serial killer.


Or a 3 yr old.


Or a 3 yr old serial killer.


Perhaps one who just kills bugs,



and can handle the contradiction
of life being so sweet and so full of smushing simultaneously



On an unrelated detour,

If you are genetically related to my sweetie
don't look any further



A little pile of homemade stocking stuffers hit the mail today.
The heart pin above was inspired by one I saw at Smoking Lily a few years ago.
Only theirs was nicer.
They rock.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Cozy inches


Perhaps you recall the flood pants series?

Well it's winter here people, and flood or no flood
the pants need an extension


Little fleece leg warmers that can be worn with the flower petals
(for lack of a better description)
either up or down


Excuse the butchery photo editing, but this action shot was a bit too...

gynecological

for the Internet.

Off she goes in constant flight.


Success!


A little stitcheroo

I suspect this craft trajectory is moving me back
over time
when time opens up
(it opens up, right?!)

to more mixed media art
(which is a love).

So I thought I'd give a whirl at the framed fabric thing


I dig the free motion quilting thing
it celebrates the messy.

Wait, perhaps that's not accurate...
in my hands there's a lot of messy and I pretend it is with intention
so, it 'allows' for the messy.


This one is quick and dirty.
 I better take another whirl
or ten

later I'll try stitching on canvas and see what takes.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Donations are a thing.

They are a wonderful thing.
A complicated thing.
Mostly an excellent thing.

This year among other things,
we donated to an organization who was asking for Xmas gifts for children.
Without knowing anything specific all we know is that
they were fleeing violence, living in transitional housing and with their mom.

Some donate money.
Some donate time.

Over the past few days while I have been ruminating & putting together this gift package
I have been thinking about the possibility of donating intentions.

My hope is that they will be received as good intentions,
but one can never tell.

This person I'm sending hope and care to via gifts is 8.
But, I'm also sending them to her mom who will be the gifting vessel.

I started out thinking about this little person & her mom.
& since she was in transitional housing, that a good gift might be an activity
or something she could take with her when she moved on.

I went to the toy store thinking about newness
and the excitement of opening packaging if you don't have much.
But, it was all pink and plastic and disposable and transient.
And I don't know this little person.
Maybe she's hardcore?
Maybe this 8 year old likes Black Sabbath?
Or maybe belly dancing or rodeo riding,
really, I think 8 is one of those times where anything is possible.

So handmade won out.
Here's hoping the heartfelt hope got stitched in there somewhere.



A little of this?



One of these?


And this


Stuffed with these
and lots more art supplies.
(as well as some other bits)

I decided that no matter who she is,
or who we all are,
that the invitation to self express
has a high hope of being welcomed as a good intention.