DESIDERATUM

George Orwell

2012-02-10T22:13:00.002-04:00

George Orwell told it like he saw it.

... Like we all still see it...

I'm sure you have read his book... What do you think???

...8" x 9", in my sketchbook... pen, ink, cross hatch, watercolor...

Crow inspired by Arthur Rackham...

Desideratum Art and Jewelry Studio, St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

10 Drawings of Ears..

2012-02-04T17:56:00.006-04:00

moi

When I take a break from making earrings, on these long winter days,

I go on over to my drawing desk.

I like to pick a subject and spend some time with it...

but what will it be...

perhaps a more indepth study on one of the facial features..

.....since there was no one else to consult...

I chose Ears...

.. all the ears in this study belonged to family members and I hope they don't mind...

and their names have not been changed ...

so don't be too severe if you know them in real life

and their Ears here are not exactly as the ones on the sides of their heads....

I tried...

Well, the more I read about Ear shapes and examined them...

the more unusual they seemed to be...

way more than initially meets the eye...

sort of like when you repeat a word for the 100th time

and you can't understand why it is pronounced that way anymore

and the spelling just doesn't look like a word anymore either...

well that is how my obsession with Ears felt...

How did we ever come to have two attachments on the sides of our heads like this...

that we rarely pay much attention to or hardly notice.

.. but really they stick right out...and they are right there in everyone elses face.

...parts with names of Helix and Antihelix... Tragus and Antitragus...

Lobule, Concha and not to forget, the Ear notch...
and these are just the outward visual parts...

and even though I make my living making earrings to hang off these little attachments,

these were new words to me.

and to think all I have ever really been concerned with, about them before,

was just a spot to hang a pair of Earrings...

Ears are so much more!!

... the more closely I looked at each Ear

and discovered each ones individuality, shape, tilts, turns and little nuances...

I became entranced with them.. structural, rounded, curving, flowing lines, depth, shadows...

They are beautiful flesh and blood sculptures and we each have two...

They are amazing !!

.......and without which..... how could we hear the music?

...hold our glasses up?

...drawings from my sketchbooks............. baby, children, teenager, adults ears... pencil, conte

at DESIDERATUM Art and Jewelry Studio, St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

*******

The illustration below was what first caught my eye and was the instigator of my Ear Study....
from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"

... an excerpt from the story with the grand title of...

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box"
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Illustrator Sidney Paget

... now you will have to get the book and read the rest of it...

One Thing After Another

2012-01-24T16:28:00.003-04:00

...approx. 8 1/2" x 11"... a page in my sketchbook... drawing and lettering... pen, brush, ink, watercolor

Borzoi

2012-01-10T17:54:00.006-04:00

A dog bred in Russia...

perhaps developed from the Saluki and long haired Collie-types ...

once known as the Russian Wolfhound... now Borzoi...

Tall... height at their withers is at least 29 inches..

has a silky wavy coat in a multitude of color variations....

Borzoi have elegantly long and powerful jaws...

jaws bred for clutching wolves and game hunting...

long muscular legs...

capable of running at tremendous speed...
the word Borzoi means "swift".

due to their intelligence... and stubbornness...

one of the hardest of all breeds to train...

much patience needed...
loyal...

rarely bark... can be aloof...

...a sight hound... keen eyesight...

They say their temperament requires understanding...

it is not wise to annoy them.

Dogs are still taking my attention..

approx. 5½" x 8½" pen and ink, cross hatch, watercolor washes.

Trivia.... The Borzoi is the symbol of "Alfred A Knopf" publishing house.

Bright Lights

2011-12-20T16:22:00.007-04:00

At this time of year...

...the shortest days ...

the sun rises almost directly out in front of us...

far across, on the horizon of the coastline of Nova Scotia..

we have to wait for it... when we get up early...

I love waiting for it

Especially this day...

with the fishing boat heading out...

into that almost purple haze of seasmoke

on our always offering Bay of Fundy...

Later in the day

we offer back...

our light...

with fir and spruce thinnings...

warming crisp air...

glowing stones in a circle...

calm evening, calm sea,

silent...

but for snapping, hissing, crackling...

Fireworks were hiding inside those trees...

Then once again...

the setting sun offered back its light...

like a game of catch

later...

inside by the glow...

dogs know...

....Lights of the season powered by Nature...

My Very Best Wishes to Each and Everyone

***photos taken in December at St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

Quote by William James

2011-12-14T22:49:00.005-04:00

This quote feels intensely romantic,

don't you think?

William James 1842 - 1910... Philosopher, Psychologist... Thinker
...brother of Novelist Henry James

* i LoVe TypOGRapHy *

.... especially Calligraphy

"When the fruit is ripe, a touch will make it fall"

...in 5½ " x 8½ " sketchbook, india ink, crow quill, FW acrylic artists ink, script brush

Sterling Silver Dragonfly on Copper Square

2011-11-20T18:23:00.012-04:00

I have been making bugs... using my pen and my torch...

I like to study bugs....

they are small, with lots of delicate working parts, amazingly strong for their size...

some nasty, some nice...

and there are so many different kinds... and they do so many different things...

Bugs are just all around very interesting subjects to get to know more about..

We designed and created the sterling silver Dragonfly on copper square early in the year

and it is time to build up stock again.. not a good season to be running out of popular designs...

although I have to admit there are a few other styles that I am very low on,

if not completely out of at the moment..

and I should have had more made... but alas... time... energy....... a good book.

Lots of tiny Dragonfly parts all prepared... cut, shaped and hammered ...

little dragonfly wings, little dragonfly bodies and little tiny silver grains for the dragonfly eyes...

That is one in the middle, there's more in a little wooden dish to the left...

We usually split up the jobs..

Johns' hands are stronger than mine, so he gets to handcut all the copper squares

and do the heavy hammering..

I layout all the tiny parts and set them up ready to Fuse..

Then I apply heat with the acetylene torch...

I try my best to pay close attention to the temperature of the metal by watching the color,

when the silver starts to flow, I immediately take my torch flame away from each piece..

this part of our process is very tricky...

sometimes when I have gotten distracted all I have left is a puddle of hot nothing,

... and no one can go walking or tromping around the room at this time either

or all of my time consuming work of getting every little piece in place will be a waste

and the little parts will tumble out of place every which way

and I'll have to go through the whole process of setting up the whole board all over again...

...and sometimes my tools or my big hands have accidentally knocked my fusing board

and upset the whole thing..

.. Not a good day when that happens...

... just a few of the trials and tribulations of being an artist/craftsperson ...

not bad all in all, tho, for the freedom it affords in the rest of our life....

Here they are all covered in carbon.. it has to be removed

but the texture and color is gives for taking a photograph suits my fancy ...

I really love this contrast.

and

I absolutely Love the Pattern they make all lined up like that...

I imagine quilt patterns, floor tiles, rugs, fabric ...

I start rearranging them

to see what they might look like with all there tails touching

or their little pairs of eyes all staring at each other

Then I am imagining them all divided by long bands of another metal

or fabric if they are a quilt and what kind of borders could be invented..

or maybe designs inlaid in wood.. or a surround for a fireplace

or borders around the edge of an illuminated book.........

oh once it starts it is hard to go back to work...

the Dragonflies are distracting me from the Dragonflies...

but I'm sure you know what it's like

and how one thing leads to another and another....

Back to reality...

Now they are ready for the pickle pot

- a nice name for being dunked in a scalding acid bath - which will remove all the built up carbon.

John drills holes in the tops with the flex shaft...

We sand and polish them in the vibratory tumbler.

Then I make the earwires and attach them

and we are all stocked up again...

... approx. 1½" from top of ear wire to bottom of copper square
...bug drawings in first photograph from my sketchbook

...all these bugs remind me of a song by Pearl Jam "BUGS" from their Vitalogy album

Creepy crawly... fun... but just so you know,
our house and us folks in it, don't have any bugs, we just like the quirkiness on this song...

All handmade at our DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry studio

in St. Martins, on the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada

DOGS

2011-10-20T21:46:00.016-03:00

Sketches and watercolor washes...

trying to put ideas down quickly ...

not worrying about perfection...
just in having a good time, just like dogs.

A protector...

an entertainer and companion...

... loyal...

... interested in every-little-single-thing-that-you-say and do

... never argues or complains...

...best friend...

"A Dog has the Soul of a Philosopher"........ Plato

...crazy to see you again

even if it was only 5 minutes ago that you left the room...

....and always ready to go

before you even know you are.

Our New Copper and Sterling Silver Dog earrings inspired by our gang

...simple little design of dogs with curly tails

Tabitha

... alias the Queen... Miss Energy... see how high I can jump...

what's you wanna do now Butch, huh, huh?? come on, lets go, come on, come on!

Gabi

... alias Shy-girl, Sweetheart, sleepy-head, lover not a fighter..

her motto to a thief: here's where the good stuff is, I gotta go back to bed.

Pirate

... alias Stinky, need I say more.. super-sensitive, super-smart, likes to steal...

oh and his feelings get hurt very easily..

Tobi

...alias Bouncer, Mr. Runaway Hobo, happy go lucky..

...come whenever I feel like it, but that's OK isn't it?

and if you like a few laughs.. check out Andy Rooney ...

He prefers dogs to people.... and he is funny.

... Dog Portrait Photos by my son, Max Ackerson... September 2011

*in memory ... about a week after this post, Andy Rooney passed away..

I was very sad to hear this.. I always enjoyed his "Rants". He will be missed by many.

TYBURN

2011-10-10T10:10:00.008-03:00

Not long ago I received a request....

to use one of my watercolors sketches - the Human Skull -

as the cover for a new book...
in paper and ebook form (available on Nook and Kindle)

It was totally unexpected and I was... and still am, thrilled ...

The author is Kevin John Grote

The Book is TYBURN

It belongs to his series "Letters of Fire and Sword"

...an ambitious undertaking of 16 books

which he has been working and doing research on for years...

His historical novels take place in the 1740's and 50's

in the UK (Scotland and London) and in North America.

If you go to the TYBURN link above you can read some of his book on Amazon...

Hope you enjoy... I did!

Kevin previously released "Skye" and is presently working on "TALLY-HO!.
...this is a link to his twitter

I love Books... and historical novels are some of my favourites.......
I wish him the very best .

Our St. Martins Art House is For Sale

2011-09-03T16:04:00.048-03:00

click image to enlarge

It was exhilarating to create our home from the ground up...
even to building the driveway that winds up the 50' red sandstone bluff.
It was the creative adventure of a lifetime for us.

But... as artists create, they must eventually let go......

so they can create again...
and so others can hopefully find joy in what they have done.

The urge continues to bring Beauty to the world...
Once you create, you can never stop

...Ideas spill over themselves..

as I have quoted in the past, words that Victor Hugo once wrote,

"Invasions of Armies can be resisted

But not Invasions of Ideas"

These are our tours

*** TOUR #1***

*** TOUR 2***

*** TOUR 3***

... below is our real estate agents tour...

... You are very welcome to Come In and take
A Tour with our Fine Home Specialist Katherine Bacon,

whom we trust to show you
all the things you would be pleased to see..

her presentation has humbled us and we feel honoured.

Hope you enjoy the culmination of our Labors and

what much Love from our Head, Heart and Hands have brought to Life...

...click here To contact Katherine

or Here

... and to Jennifer Roos, her fabulous Photographer for the care

and appreciation of Art and Detail she portrayed... Thank you so much.

***

...and I am ever so thrilled to add that a few years ago our Home was featured in
the SALON Magazine and on CBC Radio.

***

A link to when we first discovered this Land overlooking the Bay of Fundy

and

a watercolor and some of our Experience of being Here.

and

our magnificent Bay of Fundy seashore

We hope someone new will find our "Heaven on Earth" and love it
and be as happy here overlooking the magnificent Bay of Fundy as we have been..

***we will still be working at and tending to
our little Gallery/Studio just down over the hill.

****St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada****

Natural Beauty from St. Martins on the Bay of Fundy

2011-08-26T11:50:00.007-03:00

... as seen from our windows up on the bluff,

.. ever changing... ever awe inspiring...

there in the wide open sky and that amazing body of water...

Believe me when I say...... It takes my breath away...

***

* Note*

...For more gorgeous seascapes along the Fundy Coast and around St. Martins,
please click here on my friend Carol Steel's blog...
she has a way with words and her camera...
you won't be disappointed...

The Library

2011-08-19T17:10:00.002-03:00

Early one morning

this past week

the sun shone in just right.

Welcome to Our Gallery

2011-08-08T18:14:00.004-03:00

... the doors are finally painted inside and out!!!

A few shots from around our DESIDERATUM Studio/Gallery, in St. Martins and a catch-up on the goings on.. .. I can't believe we are into August already.. time really moves too fast.. we sure have been busy too... so busy it is scary when I think about it... and every time we turn around we are rearranging the place so please don't be surprised if everything is in a different place, including walls, the next time you drop by... someone please make us stop!!!!

John designed and set up the lighting, using steel bars and clamp-on lights for flexibility, turned out really cool and I like them...

I began making cards from our many drawings, paintings and photographs... I like them too!!

We are now working on our little kitchen in the back of the studio... I painted the shelves and John is making a counter from a piece of heavy gauge recycled stainless steel...

Our son, Max, has graduated from high school, much to his and our delight..

We have a beautiful new grandchild in the family (#4)... It was a boy... Mama, my daughter, gave birth at home!!

We are getting our house ready to sell... painting, varnishing, scrubbing, de-cluttering, etc. etc. etc. .......if you have any spare minutes in the day please send us some, cause we are running out... ... someone said once that you should move every five years whether you need to or not, just so you don't accumulate so much stuff... I think they were Right!!!..

Needless to say, the creating of Art ... Painting and Drawing...that needs quiet and solitude... has been taking a back seat.. seems rather ironic don't you think?... soon, yes soon, we hope to be back splashing paint around again... maybe even taking some time to make a sensible meal or to sit down.. oh .. really looking forward to that!!

And last but definitely not least...it has been wonderful to meet all the many lovely visitors who have dropped in to the Gallery... Thank you All for your support!   We really appreciate it.

... Take care and hope everyone enjoys their summer!!!!   xoxo, Gwen

Ode To Crow

2011-06-16T16:27:00.011-03:00

... My Most Favourite of BIRDS...

...may you live very, very, very long.

...this is a 4" x 6" picture of a card I made and sent to a special friend...

pen, ink and watercolor...

...unfortunately I did not get a good photograph of it before I hurriedly sent it..

But I may do it again and include it in my new DESIDERATUM Art Card Collection

that will be available in our Gallery in St. Martins

and at the present at Beckwith & Co. in the Olde Saint John City Market, New Brunswick.

Just for fun, here are some of my past Art Crows... all clickable...

Crow 1

The Beloved Scavenger

The Calling Crow

The Watchful Crow

The Crow and the Water Jar

The Girl From The Fog

2011-05-30T16:25:00.004-03:00

Our new sign for the side of our Gallery...
completed about a month ago... lots of planning before that though...

Bringing home the lumber for her... and laying it out on the floor of the gallery..

Measures 8' x 10 '...

Yes she's a big girl...

Getting started...

Since there was nothing hung on that wall yet this season John worked on the painting inside...

He did a lot of moving back and forth so he could get back far enough to be able to see

... it is a whole other thing painting something this big and a close-up to boot..

He enjoyed it ...

While we were at it I painted the GALLERY sign..

I kind of liked it sideways like that

but we did eventually hang it horizontally over the front doors

It took 4 strong lads to carry this big Girl's face out of the building.

she barely fit through...

she had to come out sideways.... bottom corner to upper opposite corner...

Max, my son, in the brown coat,

his two friends, brothers Joe (left) and Dustin Noftell(right),

and John.

Looks kind of heavy doesn't it?... it was.

... awkward too, especially when the breeze tried to catch it...

Here she is... The Girl From the Fog... on the side of the Gallery.

I like her and we're pretty happy with how she turned out .

***

...another little, side-line paint job..

These are the little wooden arches we built to go over the top of each window in the front doors...

...to give a lovely arched window effect...
...we used a few pieces of old reclaimed 1/2 round moldings....
some paint is flicking but we'll fix that.. the wood is still good.

ohhh..... I just love this Robin's Egg Blue/Green Stain...

and I want to paint those doors so bad...

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!

I'm hoping I can get the outside of the them painted by the end of tomorrow...

We are having a brief sunny interval!!!!!

We have been covering the doors with plastic in between showers, mist, and drizzle

which have been non-stop for weeks now...

We would be floating away if there wasn't such good drainage...

lots of sand and gravel near the ocean, don't you know...

Wish me luck, I think I'll go and paint them right now!

***Note... as soon as the doors are painted,
DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry and Gallery will be open as often as it can be..

no set hours yet, but one of us is most often there.

Our phone numbers are posted on the front road sign.

Some interior shots to come...

A Ball of Yarn and Knitting Needles

2011-05-17T14:47:00.005-03:00

Recently I received an email from a customer who had been to the Bay of Fundy
and taken some of our work back with her to the States...
... she wanted to know if I made any earrings with a "Ball of Yarn and Knitting Needles"...
at first I hesitated... I hadn't done any like that....
a challenge ..
well, I could try.... why not... may be fun...
Worth a try anyway...

...after some experimenting... and lots of bent and twisted wire....
I began to think of how I could do them...

These are some I came up with..

above... a antiqued copper ball with some little needles inserted through the ball..

... and a separate ball of yarn with two hammered, textured and antiqued longer knitting needles....

...a little dangly and made a nice little clink when you moved... sounded pretty.

She also wanted a pair that included a "Book and a Ball of Yarn" for a friend
who does podcasts of reading for Craft Lovers..

I liked that ...
...you get to do any Art or Craft Work that strikes your fancy and she will read to you...

Just my thing...

I loved how they turned out and she did too... I sure would love to see them on there ears.

... Sterling Silver and Copper earrings

... top photograph background is Kaffe Fassett's "Glorious Knitting" Cover.

I once knit that sweater from my handspun sheeps wool and Angora goats mohair that I hand-dyed..it was rows of stars in changing colors...

most amazing sweater I ever did.... wish I still owned it.

Two Tragedies

2011-04-29T11:13:00.007-03:00

As I work in the studio, I enjoy listening to online audio books...

It always feels special when someone reads to me....

whether they are known to me or unknown.

This line from Oscar Wilde's play, "Lady Windemere's Fan" stood out ...

It made me pause and think...

a conundrum...

Really it would make anyone pause and think...

I rewound it a couple of times to listen to it again...

paused and thought some more...

... dropped everything and had to write it down.

Straight and to the point and pretty well covers everything... if you are honest with yourself..

This play is burst full of witty quotes... Oscar Wilde was a genius with words.

Has this conundrum ever happened to you?

Bet it has...

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde... 1854-1900...
Amazing Irish Writer and Poet Extraordinaire

....in my stetchbook... 8" x 11" ...pen and ink calligraphy.... playing with letters...

but not quite with the majesty of Oscar, just my way...

There's a couple of wish rocks at the top of the photo... but remember what Oscar wrote..

Earth Laughs In Flowers

2011-04-18T17:17:00.003-03:00

FLOWERS ... are coming to life...

...the dark ones have carbon from fusing, the bright ones are waiting to be fused...

FLOWERS

All... in... little... rows...

But in this northern clime...

Only on my workbench... for now...

It has been a cool spring.

...still waiting ...

for my earth dwellers to burst forth their faces...

I think of rhymes...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and scallop shells, (Fundy, you know)

And pretty maids all in a row.

*well not quite, but the Daffodils are trying... soon, yes very soon

... about 8" tall now and a hint of yellow can be seen through the green*

... a little water may help.

The Flower and Watering Can earrings...

One of the fruits of our labors from this past work session.

... Handmade, Copper/Sterling Silver, textured, forged, antiqued... approx. 1 ¾" from the top of the earwire to the bottom of the earring.

...click to see more of our Whimsical Collection

* background for photographs from a marvelous old yellow-paged planting guide *

"Earth laughs in flowers" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me....

2011-03-09T22:27:00.001-04:00

... from you... Fundy ................... oh, I mean you, John!

...sketches inspired by the stop-motion photography by Eadweard Muybridge, 1830 - 1904 .....

... my, my the things one learns when doing a little research... as I was looking up information on Muybridge's horse photography experiments, I found this.........

"In 1874, still living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Muybridge discovered that his wife had a lover, a Major Harry Larkyns. On 17 October, he sought out Larkyns; said, "Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here is the answer to the letter you sent my wife"; he then killed the Major with a gunshot. "

...this incident obviously interrupted his photography work.......

.....yes, I know... I'm sketching and playing in my sketchbook and looking up things on Muybridge when I'm suppose to be working....... OK...... back to the workbench.

Texture

2011-03-02T18:08:00.009-04:00

The character of surfaces ...
elements transformed by time or manipulation...

flocked and gathered, gauzy fabric discovered in the ends-bin at a favourite fabric shop...

an aged, rough, thick, salvaged floor plank, now cut with a scalloped edge,
serving its second life as
the strength giver in an east facing window seat in a corner of an upstairs room...

the coolness and durability of leather surrounded by fur and fleece...

...the interrelation of these elements stimulate the senses...

their surfaces draw one to touch... to linger... to feel... with eyes, fingers and imagination..

abstract is real... visually tactile... satisfying on a gut level...

discovering, assembling and working with these mostly found materials was exciting...

and when I have a chance to sit here, it makes me feel good.... and I remember the "Process",
my favourite part of creating.

...my Best to you All....

Self-Portrait Linocut by Beck

2011-02-20T15:56:00.006-04:00

I love Black and White... I love Faces... and I love the strength of these lines..

This is one of my favourite artworks.... It was done by my daughter, Rebecca.

This piece hangs where I can see it when I enter the house...

She stares across the room towards the front door... watching all who enter.

... rather like a Guardian...

She hangs just above the steel wood rack ... the fuel for our homes hearth...
...perhaps she guards over our warmth too...

...oh and along with John who keeps the wood rack filled and the fires stoked.

Linocut self-portrait approx. size 6" x 9"...

Antique frame 15" x 17".. used as I found it, chips and all... I like things that show their life ...

...Hornet's nest and tiny bird nest on twig hang above.
... the heavy duty 5' tall wood rack, John made.

Rebecca lives happily in Saint John, New Brunswick with Stephen, Hannah, Callum and Ben... my darlings, All.

Nuthatch by Max

2011-02-13T12:27:00.002-04:00

...click to enlarge...

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch has returned... to the feeder and to my wall... I love these little guys... and I love this drawing.

Pencil drawing by Max Ackerson, my son...... showing the characteristic large head, short tail, sturdy beak, strong claws and the solid eye stripe of the sitta canadensis... total frame size 14" x 17"...

...link to a past post on the White Breasted Nuthatch...

.

In My Heart of Heart

2011-01-31T17:13:00.006-04:00

Shakespeare wrote...

"Give me that man

That is not passion's slave,

and I will wear him

In my heart's core

Ay, in my heart of heart,

As I do thee"

Hamlet, Act 3, scene 2

emotion...... passion..... love.... is there a man without it?

...my valentine to you...

The color of Love... The shape of Love.... The feeling of Love...

A Day for Love...

A welcome pause, for a little passion....especially in our cold northern climate

...seems like the perfect time.

Hold your heart in your hand and offer it to your beloved... your dear one... your sweetheart...

Red, Hearts, Hugs, Love, Passion, Cupid, Valentine, Lips, Kisses, February 14 ...

Love your Valentine

Our Salute to the day... and all year round... Copper Hearts... created from solid 14 gauge copper.... dangling from Sterling Silver shepherd hook earwires and jump rings ... airy and light.

Size of heart is ¾"... Total length of earring from top of earwire to bottom of heart is 1½".

DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry, St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada
$18.00 pr. ....if interested, Contact me here

.

Well........ You've Gone and Stuck Your Foot in It Now

2011-01-21T16:38:00.011-04:00

Feet sketches........... for when they get the best of you.

...crow quill pen and ink and watercolor wash, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's work... in my sketchbook

****

about the missing comment button.....

After much deliberation I have finally made the decision to remove comments from my blog... a very, very, tough decision... please don't be mad at me.

...you see, I am trying to be more disciplined ... The thing about comments is that I feel compelled to respond personally to each one, then I feel I should like to see what this beautiful person has done today, then I venture over there... and there... oh... and there too... carried away on the magical mystical tour... then I look at the time and the hour hand has gone round too many times....

The computer is very distracting... possibly the biggest distraction ever invented.... lovely, yes but deadly, as far as whisking away the hours... the real vs. the almost imaginary.... real but so far away that it seems unreal....

Being an artisan, I must use my head, heart and hands to make things for a living... so it has come the time that I need to refocus and to pay more attention to our real life... to bring more ideas to the surface... and to make them happen... I do hope I do not offend everyone or hurt any ones feelings as that is not what I wish at all. I will continue to post occasionally and visit in the background when time allows but I would like to try this for now.

Thank you for treating me like your friend... I wish the best for everyone... Be happy, Gwen

This Could Be True

2011-01-09T11:22:00.006-04:00

Quote by Henry David Thoreau...

" It is only when we forget all our learning,

that we begin to know."

...paperwork, watercolor and hand bound book by me.

To 2011

2010-12-30T14:59:00.005-04:00

A whole new year ... 365 blank days... just waiting for us All to fill them up....

and we always do, no matter what... fill them up to brimming without even trying..

...like magic ..Time is...

a world going round and round...

sunrise, sunset...

repeat... repeat... repeat..............

... tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...

We raise our glasses to the New Year and to You,

with wishes of Happiness, Hope, Strength and Inspiration

...and many Good Things to come your way.

Give it your all...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

..."the toad, the rat and the mouse" ... pen, ink, watercolor.. approx. 7" x 8", in sketchbook

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Journey with the Stone Wall

2010-12-11T16:51:00.010-04:00

an update...

Looking down the finished staircase at the very back of the small north sideyard of the studio....

..but before this happened...... much manual labor...

*warning*... it is rather long.... with lots of pictures because I love stone... and the process of creating... ...they click to enlarge..

They previously resided in the backyard of a large, to-be demolished very old structure in the center of the village about a km. away. Well... we simply hate to see durable, natural materials go to waste and the owner agreed to us carting them off... so the journey for these stones began a new life.

The weight of the stones dictated that John could move only a small number of them in each trailor load, so as not to break it, as we had done one other time in our excitement to bring something home that was being thrown away...

Trip after trip, he made... up and down the street, till he had lugged enough back to do the job.

...then figuring out the staircase ...digging and manipulating...

an exercise in which rock goes where first...

...shovels full of gravel behind them for extra drainage...

..initial shaping and placing ............. and with the rock borders

I like it... no... really... I love it!!! ... it's fun.

the stone steps are about 2' wide,

but it's the staircase to nowhere just yet... need to build a deck, so we can reach the back door.

...that is the village arena out back, in the upper part of the photo.

...finished and looking out towards the road...

and back again... we plan on shaping the soil above the wall next spring...

this side is about done...

Then.... across the back and around the bend...

The south stone slab stairs were maneuvered into place but we weren't able to finish them before the ground started freezing... as we had to plan and build the deck.. (I said "we" but really John was doing all the heavy manual side of things while I worked in the jewelry studio)... but we put our heads together on most of the planning, figuring, wondering and supposing...

curving up to the left side corner of the deck...

... a just right size deck... good place for a bench, a table, a chair... to sit in the sunshine next summer...

...pretend you don't see that out-of-place piece of plywood and the stick..

another row of stone will form a border along the front edge of the deck... it'll be next year now...

and curving down again...

Time to put these tools away.

Line Drawings

2010-12-05T13:27:00.009-04:00

Practicing seeing the simplicity of random objects common in my life...

...outline.. shape.. volume... boundaries... contours... hard... soft...

The day outside is overcast... it is that time of year... the light alters... changes... brighter, dimmer but still, all shades of gray, subdued, resting, shadow... all that nature feels is right for now...

Inside, where I am, I look at lines, edges, borders of shapes... that stay the same ...

I have missed drawing like one misses a good friend... I hope she visits more often.

...page size 9" x 12"... I used a Pigma Micron... nice pen, nice ink... waterproof... fade proof...

Contact Me

Red Sky in the Morning

2010-11-26T21:06:00.005-04:00

...taken from our second floor window

........ Sailors take warning!!!

... a recent gorgeous sky before a recent dreadful storm.

.....rather like Nature asking forgiveness for what she is about to do.

... Long billows of cloud hang over the southern coastline of New Brunswick and approximately 25 - 30 miles across the Bay of Fundy, over the northern edge of Nova Scotia.

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The Dry Stone Wall

2010-11-11T00:54:00.003-04:00

...building began about a month ago... it continues when weather allows...

... much labor and time needed...

...and the magic to make them fit together...

It is going to be so worth it...

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A Gift

2010-11-04T17:38:00.004-03:00

arrived today...

Like Pearls in the Sunshine...

only linked, plied, twisted, textural, soft...

...from as far on the opposite side of the world as one could be... from me,

..far away... but connected... caring, sharing, giving...

and Surprised was I when the post master said I had a package today,

Oh, I wasn't expecting anything.........

Wonder...

Oh, I am so touched that she did this... so touched by her kindness... her thoughtfulness... her writing my name on the package and sending it off, with hope and happiness in her thoughts...

spun from the sheep of her own flock of English Leicester... I just want to wrap myself up in these many skeins and smile... and smile... and smile

Dear Soul Arija, Thank-you so much... you have touched my heart with your generosity!!!! I cannot begin to tell you how this makes me feel.............

This gift is so lovely... I feel the beauty of it... I am so humbled...

ps... dear Arija, please thank your sheep too...

...for all those who don't know... Arija's daughter is the amazing textile transformer, author, imagination inspirer, workshop giver, India Flint.

By the Shore in St. Martins

2010-10-27T17:26:00.006-03:00

There is Noise in this Solitude

Cool, clear, bright... very brisk...

Off to the left, past the harbours bouldered breakwater,

"The Caves", carved from ancient sandstone bluffs...

Far around the curving horseshoe beach to the right,

Quaco Head, protrudes into the Bay of Fundy...

The tide advances... almost 6 hours, one way...

Seagulls huddle in groups along the water line...

Watching... waiting ... shifting position...

Brilliant white foam on waves, loud and steel gray,

Whose powerful motion turn the beach from rocks to sand....

Seaweed pushed to the wrack lines...

The beach is empty otherwise...

Tourists have gone home...

It is left for us to admire now...

Round and Round and Round We Go

2010-10-21T15:43:00.012-03:00

Handmade ... Pure Copper... Simplicity...

Round... like a child's face... like the moon... like a halo

...Wheels forever turning...

...Detail of texture and shape.. Created by forging...

...Wrapped on a circular mandrel... Hammered into shape...

...Antiqued and polished... Airy and light...

...Sterling Silver shepherd hooks...

3 sizes...

small... 1" (23mm) across... $18.00

medium... 1½ " (38mm) across... $25.00

large... 2¼" (58mm) across... $30.00

$3.00 shipping

...photographed in early morning light on the writing arm of an old Dalhousie University chair... well covered in graffiti...

What do circles conjure up in your mind???

Contact Me ...we ship almost everywhere... see them and others here... "Earth Collection" on my Picasa Web Album.
DESIDERATUM Art Jewelery, St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

Drilling Marble

2010-10-16T18:52:00.015-03:00

The sink top that this little yellow chrysanthemum is sitting on waited a long time for its second life.... it sat in our barn for a few years since we had purchased it from the same fellow from Nova Scotia that we had bargained the interior moldings from (an 1867 house)... we thought our little studio could do with a lovely piece of old marble... it feels so smooth and the veining so beautiful... we were determined to figure out how we would make it work...

..click pictures to ENLARGE...

The most frustrating thing about it all was that everyone we asked didn't know anything about drilling marble and couldn't help us at all.. .. it is a shame that the knowledge of the past is disappearing .. we checked in books and online and decided we might as well try it ourselves and give it a shot since we had the old marble top anyway and if we could get it to work for us it was worth a try...

Our biggest fear was that it would crack... but now after finding how easy it was to drill we would not be nervous again.. as long as not much pressure is applied and we just go slowly and let the drill do the work.. We used a hole cutter for ceramic with diamond grit on the end... these pictures start when we were beginning to drill the third hole... the drill bit has to be constantly cooled so my job was directing the flow of the water, just a trickle, the easiest part... although the drilling was not difficult at all, just needed a slow gentle hand..

... the marble was heavy and so thick... 1 1/2" (you can see the marble plugs we cut out sitting on top of the sink in a couple of the pictures) ...that the drill would not go all the way through... we turned it sideways, shone a light through the cut side and the spot showed through its translucency.. we traced the circle, flipped the slab, laid it down and began drilling from the back... we did this for each hole... the last one popped out... the white slurry that was created by the drilling was very dense and fine and felt so smooth on the fingertips. makes me wonder what it could be used for.. I'm sure someone has already thought of something to make from it...

...we also had to drill 4 small holes on the back to hold the clamp attachments to secure the undermount porcelain sink in place... I never got pictures of that... they were held in place with a heavy-duty epoxy, which we had to try a couple kinds to get one that worked... no one knew what to recommend for that either.. but we know now...

For quite a while, we had saved some old hardwood staircase spindles in the garage for a reason, we knew not what.. til now... and decided they could possibly work for the front leg supports for the sink... but they were too short, since we wanted the marble top to be about 36" high... we took a couple more spindles and cut them at spots where the turnings were appropriate... John drilled into each end and glued and fitted them together with dowels...... 2 legs just the right length... and kind of special too, I think... as we looked carefully at each of the spindles, there were subtle nuances observable so it is a fact that each one of them had been hand-turned in their beginning.

... we used some true 1" thick, 100 year old, salvaged, maple, nice and dry, stair-tread for the apron.. because we had it and it was good stuff... intricate patterns can be cut from it and it is still strong... John used a drill and a jigsaw to create the pattern in the wood ... then attached the legs and put in corner braces just behind them...

...at the studio...

...then attached this to the wall, where he had previously put a 2" x 6" at the given height... and began putting all the pieces together...

"""Exciting... Exciting""" .. well ...actually ...every ...little ...step ...along ...the ...way ...was ...totally ...Exciting!

... little chrome circles were attached over the old square holes on either side ...
.... at a monument shop in nearby Sussex we were able to find a small leftover piece of limestone (since they didn't have any marble) from when they used to make kitchen counter tops, that seemed to be complimentary to our old marble, to use as a back-splash.. not exactly the same but that's ok... the whole assemblage is made of parts from hither and yon anyway and that's fine with us.. We like living a Bohemian Life...

Moral of story.......... Drilling marble is not as hard as Marble......

or...... If you decide you want to do something... just keep on doing it till you're done.

Note: This is an earlier post of the first old marble sink we adapted to use in our home.

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Moments of A Month Gone By

2010-10-01T18:24:00.005-03:00

... each moment holds a memory.

All images from the new/old Desideratum Art studio, St. Martins corner, September 2010

1. old glass knob on weathered bathroom door

2. cut design from a 100 yr old stair tread used as a skirt on the old marble sink

3. textured 700 lb. stone, maneuvered into place for the studio front step

4. first time tea was served .. primitive cabinet, we brought home from a farm auction

5. Pirate seems a little worried

6. mauve fall Mums... sky reflections

7. beach-stone hearts, sunlight streams, paint splatters

8. oil painting of John's, sold from the studio

9. John's oil paintings displayed above the old carpenters chest of drawers

Do What You Love

2010-09-08T12:16:00.012-03:00

"Do what you love.

Know your own bone.

Gnaw at it.

Bury it.

Unearth it.

And gnaw it still."

Henry David Thoreau ...1817 - 1862.... American Libertarian Writer

I like that... it has a digging deeper feel to it... taking your ideas as far as they will go.... explore...

At the workbench... measuring... snipping silver wire ... cutting copper sheet... eyeballing the twist... heating up the torch... fusing... filing... antiquing... polishing... finishing...

...then... ta-da...... the FIDDLEHEAD earrings...

...inspired by the Fiddlehead Fern also known as the Ostrich Fern ... a local delicacy (that tastes delicious adorned with butter and a squeeze of lemon) found by the edges of brooks, where the water overflows each year.... people who know where they grow usually keep it a secret as they only appear in particular spots, for a very limited time, before they unfurl into beautiful fronds............ Fiddleheads only grow in the spring...

...But they grow in our studio all year long...

....approximately 1" x 3/8" plus sterling earwire ... sterling wire on copper base... $18.00 pr.

...if interested in ordering the "Fiddleheads", please Contact Me here

They are also on my Picasa Web Album in the Earth Collection

DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry, St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

Creating An Entrance

2010-08-25T21:01:00.003-03:00

Yes... Finally the old Doors and the Entrance are in place...

... I love the Process involved in the act of Creating, of just about anything... it almost thrills me more than the finished work itself... these photos show some of the steps involved in bringing the front of our studio to life...
... click photos to see larger view, if you like...

After the big sheet of OSB plywood was removed from the doorway ... the casing and the very old doors (1870, I believe) were hung... the black space surrounding them is covered by heavy tarpaper...
... an overhang has already been mounted across the top covered with white aluminum flashing...

John is beginning the side Pilasters.. building them out so they have depth...

Layers of wood are measured and cut... nail heads being sunk here...

...sturdy attractive bases for the pilasters... the door is still being held closed by a stick.. can't do everything at once... soon...

Then he works his way up to do multiple layers at the top of each side...

... building them out using extra pieces underneath... making each section progressively larger... and not letting any of our scrap wood go to waste...

...attaching the flashing to the top corner

I like it so far...

A little sketch of what we might do to the top of each window on the doors...

.. nailing on the wide dentils under the header... the remaining header space is filled with flat cedar... each board cut on the bevel so any water from storms will drain away ... and not lay and rot the wood.

...three narrow but deep wooden strips were placed in the main header butting up to a raised box that holds the light fixture... the box helps project the light out further over the doorway...

We beveled the sides of old recycled floorboards to create the look of raised panels under the side and front windows..

to compliment the panels John put on the front doors...

... we added small triangles to finish off the front pilasters...

...top and bottom...

I like when certain design elements are repeated... it helps tie it all together...

...and hopefully adds a bit of whimsy and fun...

...starting to paint the top row of triangles that runs along the top of the wall... so it looks like little flags... I am using Olympic Solid Color White Stain... stain doesn't peel... low maintenance!

... the details of the built-up surround makes lovely shadows when the light is at a certain angles and levels during different parts of the day......

... finished painting the flags...
...and just started the window trim... I want them to look as one unit ... and be reminiscent of the older architecture of the village...

...detail...

...the windows are done and they have really come to life and do look the way we hoped... but I fought with myself before I could bring myself to splash paint on the surround...

I never painted the eave shingles .. as well, I am not painting the sides of the weathered patinated shingles.. I like them that way ... the front shingles are being left to weather to a silver gray... won't take long in this salt air...

oh....... I was very reluctant to start this part... the first few swipes with the paintbrush just made me cringe... but it is hard to paint with your eyes shut...
... no turning back now...

.. ok.. I did it... it's ok... It's Fresh.. I like it... I think it presents the doors quite well... and makes you feel a little special walking through them... like you went somewhere, even if it was only in and out... sort of like a child climbing into a cupboard...

...attached the cast iron bell with ribbons that were hiding in the back of a drawer... from Laura Secord Chocolate boxes that John had given me a few years ago... come to think of it .. it is time for more chocolate presents ... I'll have to hint around...

...... we put the light back in its place and made sure it worked...

... all done... even added a support to hold a sign on the right upper corner of the building just below the eave...

Oh, when I said all done.. I only meant the outside trim is done... not all done inside yet.. but we are making pretty good progress...

...here is what it looked like when we started..

..Other old doors we had fun with when we built our house..... Door #1... Door #2... Door #3 ... Door #4

To Wander in a Garden Through the Fog

2010-08-05T12:00:00.002-03:00

...taken between 10:30 and 11:00 on a foggy, refreshing morning

in the gardens that were an adventure and a joy for John and I to imagine and create...

Where we are about now... The Studio

2010-07-22T20:31:00.020-03:00

This is the post I was dreading and hoping for... hoping the job would finally be done and dreading not knowing where to start to tell its story... well, here's how it goes up to now...

Last fall we began the project of bringing an old building back to useful life to use as our future Artist's Studio... ask us later if we were crazy... well one thing for sure... it was a lot of work.. seems to always be the choice we make... if there was an easy way to go about something, we would probably, just naturally (or stupidly) pick the hard way...

We have this constant desire to save "Old Things" and this was certainly the case here.. I'm not complaining, really I'm not... just stating the sad and honest facts... ha ha.. The task has occupied every moment since.. we do become obsessive at times..

Our Studio sits about 75 feet from the street near the corner of an increasingly busy intersection on Highway 111 in St. Martins, New Brunswick... .. although it seemed small... there seemed to be enough work to do to equal a full size house.. and at a certain point it was too late to turn back, so onward we plodded and figured and hammered and sawed... mostly because we wanted to save it..

..It had a life before it came to this location as the Pejebscot lumber office (as this was an historical lumbering and shipbuilding Village) ... before that I believe it was the top half of an old house moved from somewhere else.

... it was made of old beams that had been pegged together that were in unusual places done at one stage or other of its many lives .. this is a recycled "RECYCLE"... It had been moved to this spot in the 60's and used as an old garage .. previously to that a huge church had sat in this location....

.. This is the pictorial documentary of the steps and progress of the beginning of its next life...

*Note* ... I have learned it doesn't pay to procrastinate... these pictures took forever to sort through after that much time went by... I have hundreds and hundreds... this is the cleaned up version, believe me, there are some pictures you would not want to see .................

WARNING: this is a LONG Post... so take your time...

Please click on each Photo collage to enlarge...

...In the beginning.... that is, after we took truckload, after truck load of junk to the dump... yes, these are the cleaned up shots.. it was not a pretty picture... Scary, really.. sane folks would probably have run in the other direction...

...the sill beam around the entire structure had to be replaced... as did the bottom sections of many beams... we didn't know this would have to be done at first, because they were covered by the junk... John jacked it up a bit at a time and replaced section after section... very dirty, hard work.. (and took the longest time of anything he did) ...this he did not enjoy... not one little bit..

John scraped and stripped the entire roof down to the roof boards, replaced... repaired... then covered the entire surface with an Ice and Water shield membrane and on top of that, asphalt roofing shingles... every one was extra tarred ... then built all new fascia boards with drip edge around the entire roof.

...the wind never stopped blowing the whole time he was up there either.... and it was a cool October wind....... Murphy's law, don't you know!!

Installed an insulated stainless chimney and a teeny tiny Jotul woodstove...
so far... a roof and heat...

Excavating... for drain tile around the building, for water lines, land grading and septic ...

... Power hooked up.... the Well drilled.

...most surprising was ... the well guys came the very next day after I called and had the well drilled and casing in before lunch... amazing.. ..I would totally recommend these guys!!
...100' deep, through almost solid sandstone and 11½ gal.per.min. water ... the water is very good... 95' of sandstone filter...

We planned on removing the big doors, so John made wooden forms, inserted rebar and bolts and poured a concrete footing along the bottom edge.. then built the new front wall framing for the doors and windows...
...we saved the big ol' doors and may use them as a movable wall inside later on... they are in 2' wide sections and about 11' tall...

The Addition out back... very solidly built sits on concrete posts.. poured concrete in the fall... began building in the spring...

John built it... I shingled it... with eastern White cedar.. 5" to the weather......

I LOVE shingling.. Do you like my little Triangles.. I put a few rows of them on every side of new shingling I did.. we cut them ourselves from 5" wide shingles... easy and I think they make a fun effect...

Insulating.... John calls this the "Thankless job" .... except for on a bitterly freezing day in the winter and we are warm inside... ...6" fiberglass Pink

All the wiring and outlet boxes are in the walls... the ceiling thru-vents are up ... the strapping is up... Vapor barrier is stapled on.. John is really picky about this part of the job.. he seals every joint, and outlet with acoustical sealant so there are no drafts whatsoever...

...the window on the north side... it was framed up inside before he took the saw to the side of the building.. kind of cool, lifting out a whole section of wall like that...

... this work took place over an extended period of time as can be seen in some pictures, there are no shingles on the back addition and some there are... we worked on many stages of building all at the same time.. it just had to happen that way.. it does not make it easier though...

... the small window opening to the left was closed up and filled in with salvaged shingles from this removed section...

Opening up the front ... Yeah!!! ...finally the front windows... been waiting for this the whole time... since we are crazy avid recyclers John carefully removed the old shingles from places we had to put windows in and I used them again to fill in around the windows on the sides of the building so they blended in better.. They have been on there a long time and when we turned them over they were good as new...
The windows are second-hand French doors and we placed them on that corner to see the view, the activity of the village, the ocean and the driveway/entrance...

It really felt like we were getting somewhere when the drywall went on.. it makes such a difference with all that pink stuff covered up... it starts to bounce and reflect light in a moody kind of way....

John did a very low texture plastering to the walls with the last coat (3 coats altogether and no sanding at all) so we don't have to be so fussy when hanging paintings ... trying to make the place low maintenance for the long run..

I almost forgot... He invented a contraption on top of his staging for putting the drywall on the ceiling all by himself... then did the entire ceiling in two days.. fastest thing he did in the whole place..
...the ceilings are 11' tall ... one of our favourite things about it...

...the main section is 21' x 31' ... addition is 14 ½ ' x 14 ½ '

... most of the light comes from the East and North... perfect for creating art in.. much less glare ... and early morning light gives you such a boost in the morning...

Then the decision for the front entrance.. it was either the beautiful old brown heavy wood door or.. the dilapidated old many layered paint-peeling double doors... yes you guessed it.... door # 2... didn't I say we never take the easy road..

Well... there is a reason.. we love double doors.... these doors have History... they are the original doors to the village grocery on Main street... found in the deep dark corners of their cellar ...they are very old, from before the turn of the previous century ... and they were free as they were going to throw them away... we adorned them with some triangles to repeat the pattern in the shingles... added thicker beveled panels in the lower sections made from old floor boards from a salvage job and a crown with moldings... an arch at the top of the glass will come next.

...we did this to another old set we found years ago and put on our home

...3 little mischief maker-grandchildren, twins Callum and Ben, and Hannah (my daughter Rebecca and Stephen's children) come to visit... our son, Max, is still hanging out... and John cleans up real good, don't you think .. and a lovely old, old, old door with 15 little window panes ... I think it is adorable...

The front is all shingled.. there are 3 rows of triangles on the right side of the door opening... no they have no symbolic meaning I just like the shape as a repeat architectural element..

John has put up some of the antique window and door moldings, unusually thick old red pine (can't buy wood like that anymore, in stores anyway) that we luckily came across at the Sussex Flea Market a couple years ago... the fellow who had them takes down old houses.. these moldings are all numbered on the back by the previous owners ... they were going to take the house down and build new using the same plans and put the moldings back up but something happened and they never did it...... they're from an 1867 house from Guysborough Co., Nova Scotia.

Well this is where we are at, for now... next thing will be putting on the front doors and making a wide door surround with built-up layers of left over wood up the sides and top of them... can't wait!!! ...then painting.. more trim.. laying the floors... etc. etc. etc. and landscaping, now that we have water!!

Amazingly after all this, we still talk to each other... and we still like old things...

Have a happy one...

You Know It's Hot When.....

2010-07-08T12:36:00.015-03:00

... even the Crows are panting.

This is the Bay of Fundy, afterall... it rarely gets panting-hot here...

Wish I could have found the camera a few seconds earlier,
when all of them were panting at the same time.. it was so cute...

*** Note ***

"As with almost every aspect of life in the Maritimes the ocean plays a large role in our climatic conditions. The oceans and waters of the Bay of Fundy heat up and cool down at a slower rate than the air around them. The Bay of Fundy has an average summer water temperature of between 8-12C and winter temperatures of 0-4C. This results in cooler summer temperatures and warmer winter temperatures. "

* taken from "Climate and Tides"

Cross-Hatching Practicing

2010-05-12T15:09:00.010-03:00

When you have a New pen ...

...don't you want to see what it can do...

don't you want to start playing, to see where the lines take you...

I do.

...don't you want to see what it has to say...

....anything and everything... to be true.

...don't you want to see who or what is hiding inside...

or what is on its mind?

I do.

.... drawn from a photograph of my son...when he was younger and had hair... for now he has shaved it all off...

...funny how one gets used to seeing hair on a head and how strange a shaved head looks initially when you are not expecting it... shocking really, when you love hair as much as I do.. it has been a while now and I'm trying to get used to it...

...OptiFlow Needles pen ... Ear approx. 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" .... Portrait approx. 5 1/2" x 5 1/2"

... I found the ink not to be waterproof.. although it flowed beautifully when using it... so as long as your image is protected afterward, I guess it would be ok..

...and I was disappointed that I made a wrinkle in my paper... (just above his upper lip) ...darn...

It Is True

2010-01-10T15:58:00.027-04:00

"THERE IS NO WEALTH,

BUT LIFE"

...from Ethics of the Dust (1866)

John Ruskin... 1819-1900...

British Writer, Social Thinker, Economist,

Theorist, Lecturer, Artist, Poet...

..."he thought with his heart"...

Objects in photos...

...a small panel of hand-woven Swedish-lace curtain, I wove quite a while ago, salvaged from my burnt down house ... and

... a much-loved, cobalt blue, pottery bowl ... Both... Made by Hand

and.....

..the wonderful, exquisite, perfect Egg ........ Made by Chicken...

*****

... I am taking a blog-break, concentrating on working in the studio...

and happily Answering and Sending out requests for our work...

Thanks Everybody!!!

Take Care... Be Happy... xoxo, gwen

******
PS... plus... We are continuing to work on our NEW STUDIO (formerly a derelict old lumberman's office/garage)... bringing it back to useful life... it is near the entrance to the Main St of the village....LOTS of work left to do!

It Is Only So...

2010-01-01T09:00:00.003-04:00

...the rock does as the rock

... the tree does as the tree

... the sea does as the sea

... you do as you ...I do as me

...sandstone outcroppings at the secret ? West Quaco Beach, St. Martins, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick... taken in November.

Silhouette of Home

2009-12-16T10:28:00.011-04:00

...with Sunset and Moon

...Give Peace A Chance...

..from up on the bluff, St. Martins on the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada

The Concrete Floor

2009-12-09T17:19:00.018-04:00

This week I have been on my hands and knees varnishing the kitchen floor... several coats worth...

...after having blocked the room off so the dogs needn't give me a hand..

... the counters and table were piled high with stuff that is usually on the floor... ahhh, much better ... but where did all this Stuff come from???

... first I gathered up as much dog hair as I possibly could.. sweeping, vacuuming and picking up bits of the sneaky stuff here and there..... how do any animals lose this much hair and not be bald, I haven't figured out!!!

A little background...

If you have never lived with a concrete floor I would highly recommend it.. They are the most durable floors I have ever used...and the absolute most low maintenance...

... this is simply our 4" concrete slab... gridded in 36 " squares that John created using his circular saw set to cut into the floor about 1/16 of an inch... carefully keeping his lines straight with a "MacGyvered" weighted plank as a guide...

...then we stained it with an acid-etched terra-cotta stain, rubbing it into the concrete.. we each took alternate squares so the rubbed pattern would look somewhat even over the whole floor....

...the shade is rather like old leather... little idiosyncrasies happen in the finishing of the concrete and the application of the stain, which is the way we like things.. not perfect and with its own character... after that it only needs varnishing whenever you so desire... I think it has been 5 years...

... another feature of a concrete floor is its ability to act as a thermal mass...

Yes, we live in Canada, where it gets cold in the winter... but... generally... we receive plenty of Sunshine during those months... hope it continues... what with all the upheaval in the climatic environment, one would be hard to make a proper guess, but for now it works........

When we built our home, the first thing we considered was Orientation ... We designed it facing South, luckily that is also where the Bay of Fundy view is, so that worked out well... we are totally exposed to the elements on this bluff... 360 degrees across open to the sky ... and to the solar heat gain from the Sun... of course not as many windows on the North side...

All winter it beams in the East, South and West windows and sinks into that concrete... that's passive solar... with the addition of the absorption of the radiant heat from our wood-stoves, we are pretty cozy... and when you stand in the especially warm spots, the heat sinks right into your bones... when your feet are warm, all of you is warm...

...also not to forget in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky, the concrete floor keeps the house cool... double feature...

... should be good for another few years or so...

In the beginning...

...Underneath that durable floor is this wire mesh grid-work of steel rods that John is fastening together with wire ties...

...underneath the gridwork is 6mm. plastic vapor barrier... this shot is from when he was doing the garage... in the main structure of the house directly under the grid work are many winding yards of hydronic tubes placed about 1 foot apart covering the whole surface, then a layer of 2 inch tongue and groove rigid foam insulation ... then finally underneath it all is gravel tamped down very firmly to provide a good base structurally for the concrete floor and for drainage...

...We have the hydronic tubes installed in the concrete so they are there for the future, but we being the old fashioned frugal folks we are, only use our woodstoves for heat... we like the way you live with a wood stove...

***

... and that old solid wood door with the fresh coat of paint just behind John, we scrounged from the roadside... a fellow who was modernizing his very old house threw it away... it still has original wavy glass... he bought one of those new foam doors.. I think we found the best deal...

***

Note.... I used "Flecto, Varathane, Diamond Wood Finish, Semi-Gloss, for Floors"... I have 4 layers of it on my wooden stair treads and it wears well there... here's hoping it is just as long lasting on the concrete ... after all once the first coat is sealed, I do not see what difference it would make what surface it was applied to...

*first photo... floor is still wet.

***

I would also love to try an even lower maintenance floor, somewhere, sometime and that is Concrete that is dyed previously to being poured and then finished with linseed oil...

... applications of oil are applied in a traditional manner, the same as is done to unfinished hardwood flooring, which I have done and can attest too... such as this...
...once a day for a week,
once a week for a month,
once a month for a year
and thereafter when required... maybe once a year or once every 5 years depending on how casual you like to live... the floor becomes impermeable... it may seem like a lot of work in the beginning but it is so long-wearing and easy to care for and beautiful, it is worth it... another good point about an oiled finish is that any scratches can be fixed at any time without doing the whole floor... just rub some oil on the scratch ... done.

No Interchange

2009-12-04T22:22:00.006-04:00

When this crow lived

It glided... free...

High up over my head

When this bird had breath

I could not reach it...

I could not stroke its shantung wings

Now... in this state

I can hold it in the palm of my hand...

Now where is the reason in that?

...I found this beautiful raven skull in the woods on our sandstone bluff when we were building our home... 1999... it is sitting on a trilobite fossil-filled piece of slate from the Canadian Shield near Guelph, Ont. retrieved by my fossil-hunting brother when a student there...
...to see that the Beak is part of the actual skull was enlightening to me...

The Christmas Show

2009-11-23T22:44:00.007-04:00

Our first Christmas Show of the Season was held third weekend of November at

Harbor Station in Saint John, New Brunswick...

This tent with the colored flags and John's steel tables is our booth...

We have been going to this particular show for 17 years... as I write this, I can't believe it... but I do remember our first show being very pregnant for Max who was born on Christmas Day... where has the time gone...

... the panel that is 1/2 hidden in the back of our booth, is called "Seeing All" ... it involves the Moon, the Sun, the Eye of Horus and Time ..

After 3 days of long hours and the weeks before preparing for it, our feet were so tired by Sunday night, I thought they were going to fall off...... but it was worth it ...

Thank you dear friends, customers and organizers.... Wonderful to see you!!!

Study of a Dragonfly

2009-11-09T12:43:00.013-04:00

Our Dragonfly Earrings..

Sterling Silver and Copper... forged, delicately textured and antiqued

...we have been creating this design since before we moved to St. Martins

The delicacy of Dragonfly wings...

...makes one imagine that this is what Fairy wings would look like...

... gossamer...

... Dragonfly pen and ink... from an earlier post... can be seen here

... At Rest... wings outstretch

...On Watch... a patrolling general

...In Nature... exquisite sensuality

...click photo for shimmering up-close wings...

Dragonfly, Dragonfly, light on me,

Your beauty close, so I may see...

... your iridescence

... your fragility

...a very mellowed, small pen and ink from my sketchbook...

... a summer visitor...

...she's had her tea... now it's time to leave...

...all drawings, paintings, jewelry, words, photographs...

created in our DESIDERATUM studio in St. Martins, New Brunswick

...approximate size of Dragonfly earring...
wingtip to wingtip 1¼" ... eyes to tip of tail 1¼" ...
$25.00 pr. + $3.00 shipping

... to our Whimsical Collection

A Tour Down the Street

2009-11-02T17:20:00.018-04:00

From the first time we strolled through the village of St. Martins,
I fell in love with it..

for it is more than just a seashore...

1844.. historically known as The Willows

... Older Architectural Beauties abound...

to fill the eyes with the creativity of talented creators from the past...

...we can still share in their visions come to be...

1850... the Rourke House

...still standing proud

1899... General Store since that time

...showing the life that came before

home of former train conductor... no train runs here now

... charming

1877...originally the Doctor's home and his Drugstore

and living still

... historically, it had been the social center of the village...it was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1900 and rebuilt exactly as before...

...it reads like a story book

...an old Captain's house

...imagine the stories

1890... The Overlook

...many built by shipwrights and Sea Captains

1857... after a villa on the French Riviera seen while on honeymoon

there are so many more Beauties....

Surf Cottage.. built as a wedding gift for a daughter

that will have to be for another time...

1880...Avon Hotel

...an old lovely that has seen better days...

***

...excerpt below taken from the Historical Society of St. Martins, New Brunswick...

" St. Martins was settled in 1783 by a detachment of the King’s Orange Rangers... Loyalist soldiers from Orange and Duchess Counties, New York. The detachment had been posted to garrison duty in Nova Scotia at the end of hostilities in the American Revolution of 1776.

St. Martins was the third largest producer of wooden sailing vessels in New Brunswick.

Between 1803 and 1900, 517 vessels such as Schooners, Brigantines, Sloops, Yachts, and Cutters, were built and launched in over a dozen shipyards along the beaches, coves and rivers in and around St. Martins. Lumbering was also an important industry locally and a great deal of it was required to construct vessels of the size turned out by local shipyards.

Contemporary St. Martins is less populous than during its shipbuilding heyday of the 19th century. However, the village has retained much of its 19th century character. The vessels built here sailed all over the world and brought back ideas and architectural designs which the Captains, wealthy shipbuilders and mariners applied to the construction of their own homes. Those who could afford it (and there were many at the time), brought artisans from abroad who painted wall and ceiling murals in their homes and some exist still."

***

Sadly sixty buildings were lost during "The Great Fire of 1900", which started in Burchhills's Mill, a few miles from the village and burned through the woods until reaching the village..

She

2009-10-20T12:18:00.009-03:00

I pause along the shore in October...
by a Sea that has taken its toll.

She lies calm now... pacified by the Heavens.

***

.... I recall a line by William Butler Yeats...

"......the murderous, innocence of the sea."

All in the Wisp of a Feather

2009-10-13T16:45:00.009-03:00

Do you ever want to do something... but hold off from doing it... because you feel you may be interrupted and have to stop, for some unknown reason....then have to put it all away and not have the time to finish it...

... well never mind that...

... Just Do It...

... that is what I finally told myself...

... and I finally listened!

...sometimes we are the ones standing in our own light...

... pen and ink of a crow's feather with watercolor ...

My Muses

2009-09-28T18:24:00.026-03:00

Rhythm... in process...

Earthy inspiration...

Undulating...

Patterns in repetition...
Just as in prose and poetry...
It has been said that human beings have a seemingly basic need for such a recurrence...
or for the effect produced by it...

The Muses.... 2 " long... Handmade using Sterling Silver and Copper... with Sterling Earwires... Forged, Wrapped, Fused, Textured...

...Available

our Desideratum Art Jewelry "Earth Collection"...

email me if interested in ordering "The Muses"...

At Work in the Jewelry Studio

2009-04-05T00:43:00.022-03:00

I'll be spending longer hours at the bench these days ... so I'll be away for a while....

Take Care .... and Cheerio!
.

Good Work, Max!

2009-04-03T00:11:00.035-03:00

My youngest son, Max .... 15 ... Grade 10...

Practicing guitar... he especially likes the beginning of a particular ACDC song...

Beachcombing at Quaco Beach... not another soul in sight.....as often is the case

Spending time with the dogs, after bringing Gabi, the blonde one, to live with us... this was introduction day..

Tearing off across seaweed covered sandstone chasing the dogs near Anvil Rock at low tide... just a bike ride down the road...

Why do kids always make faces when we want to take their pictures....

Beginning the cedar shingling on the front of his camp... it originally was a tumbledown chicken house on the property when we bought it... but we didn't have the heart to tear it down.. we moved it up to the far side of the garden and it's transformation began taking place there...

Making progress... eventually this job was finished and Max and his friends camped out there and generally did things boys like to do when they have a getaway...

Seventeen minutes past a spider...

Making jewelry in the studio... for a couple summers when Max was 11 and 12 he tended his own booth and sold his own jewelry at the St. Martins harbor.... any that he sold of ours he could keep a percentage...

...we wanted him to learn responsibility, the effort required to earn a living and how to deal with the public... to learn entrepreneurship...

The hockey gear robot man... I don't know how anyone can skate with all that stuff on..

Playing hockey at the rink ... one of his most favourite things... he's #11

His latest surprise ... made me so pleased...

Max was presented with this Award of Excellence by the Principal of his school... Not bad for his first year back in the school system after being unschooled for 4-5 years (well actually, he mainly taught himself, we just encouraged him)... ... I was thrilled for him...

You did it, Max!!! .... Keep it up!

...to Max's Blog...

The Book and the Mug

2009-03-29T08:50:00.015-03:00

Read any good books lately? or possibly written... made... or altered any good books lately?

.....Such a tantalizing object... a Book...... so many emotions can be coaxed out of us ... from a book... and so many emotions can be placed into a book... by us...

John and I have wanted to make a little book for a while now... especially after chatting with faithful customers and receiving requests at Craft Fairs for a pair of earrings with a Book and a Mug combination......

... well, finally after much thought... Sterling wire twisted and looped... textured copper... drawing many tiny pictures... cutting metal... shaping ... hammering... applying heat... then doing this from scratch, time and time again ... it took some figuring to simplify the design and finally get to the finish line... but at long last, we have a pair we really like...

The "Book and Mug" is now one of the new designs in our Whimsical Collection......

Lately we have been working in the studio many long hours... so I'm going to sit here a bit with a steaming mug of hot coffee and a good book... oh, make that a few good books...

... more of our whimsical DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry is pictured here...

.

Spring

2009-03-20T09:31:00.024-03:00

Dawn broke...

Rose and blue...

We awoke...

They did too...

The Ravens....
they waited... as did we...

They called....

and cried... with outright glee....

The air was peach... They knew the day.......

"A Celebration's called for"... I heard them say...

"We'll dance with the starfish... Then a song we'll Sing ....

We've waited all winter.... for the first day of SPRING !!!!!!!! "

.

Aristotle once said...

2009-03-15T00:01:00.006-03:00

"There is nothing in the Intellect...
that was not first...
in the Senses"

It Felt Wonderful

2009-03-10T00:33:00.012-03:00

In my other life I kept a few sheep and goats and with them came an abundance of fleece...Oh I loved that fleece... I use to spin All the time... or at least I tried to... I dyed the fleece too, using all manner of things natural... sumac, onions skins, tree bark, golden rod, tea.... whatever I could find enough of...
but I must admit I wasn't always a purest ... I had been known to use a lovely prepared dye that came from Australia, I can't think of the name of it right now but the colors were very subtle and muted....... I even used Kool-Aid a few times..... smelled good...

Sometimes I would spin the fleece into skeins first before dying... and then sometimes I would just dye the fleece first and blend the colors when I carded the wool to get a particular shade...

On this occasion, as I had quite a lot of fleece, dyed in various colors, on hand, it was a perfect time to use some of it to make a felted vest...

front lapel

....I thought a mohair fringed collar might be kind of fun... I felted only an inch or two of the long angora goat hair into the entire neck-edge of the vest so the locks hung freely... I liked that the locks kept their form... and moved when you walked and when the wind blew.... and that it was so soft... I wanted to bury my face in it...

back of neck

The strange thing was........ that whenever I wore it.... I felt like King Henry the Eighth... Don't know why.....

I never feasted on giant drumsticks and I never had 6 wives.......

...although when I looked around the house at the chores that needed done.... an extra wife/husband or two wouldn't have hurt!

When Is A Rose Not Beautiful?

2009-03-05T00:20:00.006-04:00