August 31st 2009

It's a beautiful Monday morning on the last week of the summer, and I got the loveliest surprise in the mail! Celine sent me a CD full of really wonderful photos from our party a couple of weeks ago. Thank you, Celine! Your packaging was so sweet! I love getting mail!

Below is the card that Chris and I designed to send to friends and family to thank them for coming. I hope I'm not spoiling any surprises by posting this...

I'm taking part of the afternoon off to go exploring a couple of nearby neighbourhoods that I haven't really been to, and to visit the fruit markets on Roncesvalles. It's far to pretty out there to stay inside all day.

Finally, it's my good friend Jacob Whibley's birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAKOV! Many happy returns.

August 30th 2009

Happy Sunday morning. It's been such a nice weekend so far.

I made a delicious breakfast yesterday morning for Chris, Nikki and I. I found a really great recipe online for Maple Syrup Scones and used some of the blueberries I'd frozen to make a nice blueberry compote for them. (It was also a great excuse to use some of the Devon Cream I've been hoarding in the fridge lately!). We also had a really nice omelette with some of the cherry tomatoes I've been growing this summer. Yum yum.

It's supposed to rain today, so I'm spending most of it indoors working on a painting.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the last week of the summer. That sounds a little sad, but I do love fall.

August 29th 2009

Here are a couple of videos that I've been watching over and over lately.

The first is a video for "No One Does It Like You" by Department of Eagles. This video was directed by Marcel Dzama and Patrick Daughters, and was released at the MoMA last March as part of PopRally. It's very pretty, and very Dzama.

Also, I just got tickets to see DEAD MAN'S BONES in October, so I've been watching a lot of this video, "In The Room Where You Sleep".

August 28th 2009

Good Morning.

It's my Mom's birthday today, so happy birthday Mom.

Recently, on my way home from a brunch, I saw a church bizarre. I usually stop at them when I see them because I'm always looking for certain things for new projects. So I stopped. And that's when I saw this sweet little cream pitcher. It's glazed to look just like a robin's egg, with tiny brown speckles and everything. I just love it.

Ceramics are one of my weaknesses. I have a ridiculous mug collection at home. Some of my favorite artists work in porcelain and ceramics. And I'm lucky that a couple of them are local artists, and good friends.

I met Carly Waito ages ago, around the time that she and fellow porcelain artist Alissa Coe were forming Coe & Waito. One of the first installations I ever saw from them was created for Come Up To My Room in February 2007, and was later installed in the front of Magic Pony. It was one of the most beautiful and surreal pieces of artwork I'd ever seen. They often leave their surfaces the matte white of the porcelain, leaving their simple shapes to speak for themselves. They have recently begun to switch their business focus from production to consultancy, but will be working on side projects as well. I can't wait to see what they have in store.

Another of my favorite local artists is Naomi Yasui. She has taken over the previous space owned by Coe & Waito to work on projects like her Alchemical Vessel series. Here is a video of her working up a piece. I had so much fun watching this video! I'd never watched her work with a wheel before. You can read more about Naomi and her processes here.

Lastly, a year or two ago a friend sent me a link to Lola Goldstein's work. I instantly fell in love. Her designs are the most adorable things I've ever seen. I especially love her housewares, including her Tertera, a bear teapot with hand-knitted scarf, Especieros, tiny salters with even tinier spoons, and my personal favorite - her leaf-shaped porcelain dolls.

I'd love to experiment with porcelain one day, but for now I'll stick to the church bizarre circuit.

August 27th 2009

I love visiting the Farmer's Market on Thursdays. Right now it's tomato season, so I picked up a big basket of heirloom tomatoes. I can't wait to use them.

If you know a good salsa recipe, please let me know.

I went to the Market to take a break from a large painting I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. It's very detailed. Which I usually love, but this one seems to be giving me a bit of trouble. When I finish, I'll post a photo of it here and on Flickr.

Last weekend we had a surprise party thrown for us, (Chris Buchan and I), for our engagement. It was the most fun, and we got to see a lot of people that we don't get to see very often. One of those people was Tania Sanhueza, an artist that I met while working at Magic Pony. She brought us one of her burrowing owl soft sculptures, which I've been coveting since the day I laid eyes on them. So thanks to Tania, and thanks to all of our wonderful friends that came to wish us well in the Park.

When Chris got home last night he had a treat for us. Nick got back from visiting his family and brought some home-raised eggs! They're beautiful! I love the different shades of white-to-brown. They look so lovely.

If you know me well, you'll know that I love listening to audiobooks while I work. Right now I'm just about to start listening to "A Complicated Kindness" by Miriam Toews. I've read it before, and I remember really liking it, but that's all that I remember about it. I'll let you know how it goes.

August 26th 2009

I've decided today to start a blog.

I figure it's a good way to keep everyone updated on what projects I've been working on and what new things are inspiring me daily.

I hope you'll come back and visit again.