May

 Still dreary, with chance of more rain. Canada is gettting a cold wet spring this year. I think everyone is just about had enough. My B-in- law says we are to get this until the middle of the month and then we are to get one of the best summers we've had  in years. Let's hope so. I haven't even been out to clean up my flower beds, it's just too wet. My husband is tired of picking up limbs, because all this rain has come with alot of strong winds, which brings down more twigs, and branches. I live out in the country with alot of beautiful old trees, but they do continue to drop their dead wood.

I'm almost to the end of my teaching at the Gallery Stratford and The Foundation For Enriching Education, at least until the fall. I'm actually looking forward to being able to concentrate on my artwork instead of juggling the two. It means no money coming in or very little anyway. Guess that's the price you pay. Anyway it's a good thing I will be able to work on more artwork as I have two shows coming up in June and two in September. Two of those shows are with Gallery 96 the artist co-op that I belong to and the other two are are small shows with three other members from Gallery 96 that we are doing independently. You will be hearing more about them as time goes on and I have work to show.

One of the shows I"m excited about is the September Gallery 96 show , "A Line of Thought", which is a collaborative show. We willbe working on pieces with other artists, members and non-members, on ideas of our own choosing. I"m actually involved with two groups, the one group has my self and 2 members- a potter and a printmaker. That could be really interesting. The other one is also exciting, because I have asked Cathy Connolly of One  Pink Goose to work with me. For anyone that doesn't know, Cathy lives in the UK and we are doing this long distance. We are each contributing one individual piece each and one joint piece; and how are we going to accomplish that, you might ask. Our plans are all on the hush-hush but you will get to see and hear more about it as we get closer to the date.

Meanwhile, I thought I would feature some of Cathy's work that I particularily like. The above photo is of some of her note cards. Below is "When  The Sun Rises"

I admire the detail in the drawing of the bird nest. Cathy does such a variety of work. Below is a drypoint etching of  a "Bird Carrying Heart", something I"ve never tried, but would like to.

So can you guess what theme we might be working on? You can see more on Cathy's Blog here http://onepinkgoose.blogspot.com/

The other ladies I am working with from Gallery 96 are Lucinda Jones , a local printmaker. This is "Birth in the Sea", from her show at Gallery Stratford, last winter.

The above is a clay collar by Bonnie Steinman from the "Wearable Art" show , at Gallery 96 last fall. Below is a dress that Lucinda made for "Wearable Art", all made from printmaking paper scraps. Best in show , I thought.

So you can see I will be working with talented ladies.

Another group of talented ladies, are the friends I am doing the smaller shows with. The June Show is with Wendy Orr , painter, Ev Scott, photographer and needle felter as well as Anna Koot, a painter and encaustic artist. In the fall Wendy, Anna and myself are joined by Michelle Salter in an encaustic show. More on these ladies in the next post.