Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts

Friday, November 16, 2018

Living in The Studio


A shot of the end of our kitchen.. we use it more like a studio, being as the house is so small... Everything is stacked up to the ceiling.   Brought one of the kerosene lamps out just in case the power goes out... I want to be ready... but right now I am enjoying the light being reflected off the snow.. altho I am not crazy about snow, by any means.


We had our first fire of the season back on Oct. 11. felt really good too.. had a little fire on most every day since.
 It has become cold very early this year... feels like we are going into our next Ice Age right before our eyes. 


Had the 2 cds. of firewood stacked outside and drying since early summer.. this is the wood for next year. mostly maple... we have this years wood already dried and stored inside.. we always dry our wood a year ahead if we possibly can... That is the woodshed John built last summer... sure is nice to have a real woodshed now instead of the Hobbit hut we had the first year here. that year it was stacked outside with snow piled all around it and John had to dig down to it every time we needed some.. looked like he was crawling into a igloo to get it on his hands and knees.. was not fun... good exercise tho, if one wanted to look at it in a positive way.


This stack of 2 cds was put away in the woodshed at the end of October.. that is late for us but it was not an especially good drying year. but John had it covered with two old sheets of tin roofing which let the air thru and kept it pretty well dry... all in now!!


Been playing around in my sketchbook this year during our sabbatical.


Oatmeal Brown Bread with raisins, sunflower seeds and flax... Love having time to make bread for us all.. it has been so many years since I have bought bread from a store, I can't remember. I always make 2 batches at a time and divide each batch in 2.. makes it easier to store and keeps it fresh as I put the other 3 in the freezer and then I don't have to make bread for a few days.


in the side field the milkweed is gently spreading its seeds... little parachutes flying everywhere.


Planted the garlic on Oct.22... later than last year.. was waiting for the ground to dry up a bit as it was a rainy Oct.  ...managed to plant over 100 cloves, double what I put in last year .. had to sacrifice them from the crop I grew this year.. sure hope they grow. 


to finish up I covered them with a thick layer of straw.  


I store them in a net bag I crocheted last winter.. this type is called Music and they are the best tasting garlic I ever had.. got the original bulbs from a garlic farmer not far outside Fredericton.


The birds are liking the sunflower seeds in the feeder outside my studio window.  We used another old piece of tin roofing to make a roof for the feeder, to give the birds a little shelter while they treat us with their beauty.. usually a big fat gray squirrel is sitting in there.. 


The snow is coming down out there right now and amounting to quite a bit. 


Still making a few earrings or posting some designs that have come to light after searching around in the backs of the jewelry storage cabinet... 


These sold in minutes on our FaceBook page soon after I posted them.


"Square Spiral" earrings, solid copper, antiqued with sterling shepherd  earwire... approx 7/8" across and 1 1/4" long. $25. pr.




"A little Medieval"... hammered shaped Sterling with African Turquoise... approx. 2" long .. handmade at Desideratum studio. $25. pr. 


If interested in any of our earrings please send us a message on our right sidebar. 

Well looks like winter has come early.. Hope everyone has a cozy place to curl up and stay warm.. till next time, Cheers, Gwen at Desideratum Art and Jewelry



Tuesday, July 03, 2012

My Art on Book Covers



So pleased to show more books by talented author  KEVIN JOHN GROTE 

......with my  WATERCOLOR  paintings on the covers !!! 

...click if you would like to see the original Dragonfly post 




...  the original post on  The Little Red Fox




...the original post on the Spider




...the original post on the Deer Skull




...the original post on the Calling Crow


...the original post for the Human Skull


Yay.. I am simply thrilled to share more of my work with Booklovers everywhere.   Just the thought that people are holding something that I have drawn feels so.... I-Don't-Know-How-to-Explain.
I wish Kevin the very best and  I hope everyone reads his books.

 He even wrote in a namesake character for me in "1745" 
  She is a feisty teenager and possiblely her name is  "Gwenny Buck", not final on that yet. 
That is so Fun...    Thank you, Kevin!

Click on his name at the beginning of this post to see the rest of his book series with my watercolors on them.... 16 Covers in all in the series


Monday, October 10, 2011

TYBURN




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 .





Friday, August 19, 2011

Sunday, January 09, 2011

This Could Be True



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.



Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Book and the Mug



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...


.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Studio... Part 3



This little old sign has been with me since 1993... Just painted on an old cedar shingle .. it hung outside on my last house in Springfield, New Brunswick, for 7 years before moving along with us when we came here. It hangs by my bead desk now.




Thing 1 hangs over the computer desk... I found him in a bag of toys we bought at a flea market for the dogs to play with... He is a tiny finger puppet and was just too cute to have his head ripped off by those rambunctious rascals... it is much safer here for him ... but he had to promise not to get into mischief !!




As boring as this picture is.. I have to tell you, that in it is one of my most favourite things in the studio.. the electric pencil sharpener.. Ahhh.. yes... It's still a baby... only 1 year old... so it gets special care and sits on my main desk...

I had a rotary model for 16 years and I still have it but nothing will compare to this... I absolutely love sharp pencils!!



This is the copper counter top we made for the sink... I don't worry about keeping it shiny with heavy polishing and cleansers... I mean I do keep it clean but not with harsh chemicals that alter the surface... I just let it develop its own patina... I think it tells a story of a sort and seems to become more beautiful with use... and copper is antibacterial, by the way...




Our son, Max, made this Map of Canada, 24" x 35", as a project several years ago when he was 10... he felt very good about his achievement and I thought he did a great job on it, so we hung it in a place of honour in the studio.

... Max collects all things science and nature so some of his butterflies and moths have come to light here... the Luna Moth is rather large... surprisingly it's bigger than Newfoundland!





Some of the books that I keep up in the studio... science.. art... jewelry... design... nature... geography... literature... history... fables... pop-ups...




Quite a few belong to Max but we all share....



.... art... design...calligraphy... rhymes... weaving... quilting... pattern making... even some cook books...



I liked the way the sun was shining in on these trays of colored beads... rather cheery...




A coal heart... a stone heart and a thick rusty metal heart... all found on the beaches of the Bay of Fundy... The Luna moth was found in a service station parking lot...



This post holds things that make me feel at home in my studio ... they inspire... and lead me here and there in my mind... I can come here to think and they are waiting for me... I am very grateful for this...

.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Quote by C. Vann Woodward


  

"The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom... the right to think the unthinkable... discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable...


To curtail free expression, strikes twice at intellectual freedom... for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views... necessarily deprives others of the right to listen to those views."


C. Vann Woodward, American, 1908-1999... Pulitzer Prize winning Historian, of the American South



from a little art and quotes book I created a few years ago...

.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Quote by Victor Hugo




"Invasions of Armies can be resisted

but not

Invasions of Ideas"





I have loved this quote... for so long, I can't remember....... I have had it posted in every studio space I have ever carved out for myself.....

It has such a visual presence......... They both... just keep marching on........







This page and detail are from a little book I did .... it is approx. 4" x 6½" ....made from
CP 140 lb WC paper with a circular window filled with a woven insert of its complementary color also in WC paper strips...

I used this page to represent this quote because... Blood is usually splattered when armies invade... and blood starts to flow when ideas invade......




Victor Hugo... 1802-1885... the most forceful, prolific and versatile of the French nineteenth century writers... his work includes romantic dramas... lyrical and satirical verse... political and other journalism... and several novels, the best known being "Les Miserables"...
Hugo was exiled from France, lived in the Channel Islands... returned to France in 1870... A great public figure until his death... his body lay in state under the Arc de Triomphe before being buried in the Pantheon...