Susanna's Sketchbook

November 9, 2009: Tending the Earth

Bloomfield, Ontario: The bikeshop was closed but the friendly hippie girl who lived in the interesting house out back (interesting in that it was a round military shed with black illustrations painted all over the front, depicting the events that occurred in it over a week. From the big wine bottle just right of center, Thursday must have been a good day.) said that we should continue walking up the road til we got to a house with a yellow sign out front. We just had to see their garden.

It's an odd feeling, walking up a stranger's driveway, along the side of the house, into the backyard. Are we really allowed back here...? There was that welcome sign...

We found an older man in the backyard, cheeks flushed from pulling out dead plants from the cold earth. We shyly said hello, that the woman from the bike shop told us to come here and... He wasn't at all surprised, as though it was normal for strangers to wander off the road and into his garden. And it was. With a tinge of a Dutch accent - the clue was the windmill sitting in a corner - he told us that many tourists visit his garden during the summer months and that it was too bad we couldn't see his garden then. He looked apologetic, as if he was the one who let the frost run rampant throughout the flowerbeds that morning. But there is beauty in the tending of a garden in the fall - the scent of overturned earth and fading flowers and the planting of bulbs for next year's guests to see.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: We had just seen a morbid show at an unusual museum. After seeing body parts and bodily afflictions, none of us wanted lunch til we had replaced those images in our minds with something, well, prettier. So our friend took us to see the exhibition/performance, Kalachakra: Tibetan Sand Mandala, World Peace Through Inner Peace.

The Venerable Losang Samten, the first Tibetan monk to create a Tibetan sand mandala in the West, was creating a Kalachakra mandala, the most intricate of sand paintings that is over two thousand years old.The purpose of the design is to achieve world peace through inner peace.

 

Samten invited onlookers to ask him questions about the mandala, his faith, his life as a Tibetan monk. Do all Tibetan monks learn how to make mandalas? No. The mandala design looks like an architectural drawing...does it also represent a temple design? In ways, yes. This is East, West, North, South...The elements are there, too. The inner part of the mandala represents the mind and spirit while the outer areas represent the outside world. Do the colours symbolize something? Yes, this means... How is this meditative, what is your creative process? He has made this mandala many times before and visualizes the completed mandala in his mind while creating it.

Samten's Kalachakra  mandala will be at the Gershman Y/University of the Arts building at Broad and Pine, in the Optical Lens Gallery, beginning Monday October 26 with dismantling on Sunday, November 22.

November 6, 2009

Quiet days...it has been a welcomed week after the festivities of October. I want to thank everyone who participated in last Sunday's Dia de Bloglandia and to also thank those who came by for a visit.

I have been a bit of a homebody, catching up with little art projects and writing overdue emails and letters to family and friends. A new flock of winged messengers have flown off to their destinations this afternoon. If you are one of the people who requested a pair of winged messengers in September and October and have not received any by the end of next week, please let me know. If you are curious about the winged messenger project, please check out the Susanna's Winged Messengers category in my sidebar.

Recently, I got together with my good friend Rena, who is expecting her second child any day now. Rena is one of those women with an inherent knack for effortlessly looking elegant and she is also one of the kindest people I know. As always, I enjoyed spending the day with my friend, chatting about her young son and her visiting parents, about baby names and how good a hot mocha would be on chilly day like this.

November 1, 2009

Welcome to Dia de Bloglandia 2009!

Today we are celebrating Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Dia de los Muertos is a festival traditionally held in Mexico (and now other parts of the world) every November 1 and 2. It is a celebration through music and dance, food and drink, decoration and stories of the lives of loved ones who have passed on.

My ofrenda, or altar, is set up in my dining room. The Calavera Catrina, carrying a basket of marigolds, looks rather flustered standing against that wall. She's not really a wallflower...just wait til the music starts!

A skeleton, made of paper mache, wire, felt and embroidery thread, sits beside a portrait of my father in his Canadian Air Force uniform.

Dark chocolate, one of my father's favourite treat, lays on an old military bag where he kept a collection of Royal Canadian Air Force buttons, pins and a belt buckle. When we were little, my twin sister and I would sneak into my parents bedroom, looking for the dark chocolate bar that he always had on his night-table. I remember "whispering" (in the way that five year olds do), "Look, M, Dad is smiling in his sleep!" Coincidentally, the dark chocolate was always broken into two equal pieces.

This year, I created a shrine for Rebecca's Oaxaca Streetchildren's Grassroots Auction. Proceeds from the sales of the shrines will help street children, who often belong to the indigenous tribes in the area, gain access to a good education. The auction will be held in March but you can donate a piece between now and then or take a peek at the shrines being offered on her blog.

 

My shrine is made from a tin shadow box that I painted with acrylics and gloss medium. I painted the top detail to look like the traditional flower of Dia de los Muertos, the marigold. The inside is painted from a papel picado stencil I made out of paper. The skeleton couple in my shrine are made of paper-mache, paint, wire, embroidery thread, fabric and glitter. Both the skeleton and his Catrina have magnets attached to their backs so they can move around the "stage".

  To read more Dia de los Muertos posts, please visit the following...

Dia De Bloglandia 2009 Participants

(if you don't see your blog here, please leave a comment and I will add you to the list):

Rodrigvitz Style in the Mango Studio

Recuerda mi Corazon

Did Deb Do It?

Some Pink Flowers

Sweet Indigo Life

Amusing Muses

Dream Wish Hope

Alice in Paris Loves Art and Tea

Du Buh Du Designs

Prism Trail

The World Examining Works

Elsa Araya

Writing From Life: Let The Beauty You Love Be What You Do

Word Garden

A Meandering Pearl

Artsortments

Julie Prichard: The Land of Lost Luggage

Rochambeau

October 31, 2009

 

Monsieur La Lune, descending upon the earth on Halloween.

Happy Halloween, Everyone! I hope you all are having a very spooky weekend with the ghosts and goblins in your lives. I'm still busy working on Sunday's Dia de Bloglandia artwork and post. Please remember to leave a comment here and on Stephanie's blog between now and Sunday if you are going to be celebrating Dia de los Muertos with us.

In the meantime, check out the other Halloween-inspired posts with Elizabeth.

October 29, 2009

I want to remind you all that Dia de Bloglandia, the Dia de los Muertos-inspired blogging event, will be happening this Sunday, November 1st! Just create a piece of artwork - a Calavera Catrina (a skeleton lady), an ofrenda (an altar or shrine), sugar skulls, etc. - and/or a written piece celebrating the life of a loved one who has passed on. Then leave a comment here and on Stephanie's blog between now and Sunday and on Sunday we will post a link to your Dia de Bloglandia post.

In March, Rebecca will be hosting an online shrine auction to raise money for the grassroots charity group, Oaxacan Streetchildren Grassroots. If you are interested in donating your Dia de los Muertos shrine for a good cause, please look here. This is a sneak peek of mine, above.

October 24, 2009

I love reading stories of magic. It all started with The Grimms and Walt Disney and then came along C.S.Lewis with his magical wardrobe. Later, Anne Rice and her romantic vampires arrived (which coincided with my preference for wearing nothing but black during my 20's). And then there was JK Rowling's Harry Potter keeping me up all night and into the wee hours with his Hogwarts adventures. This past year, the following three books have held me spellbound in the evenings - and into the wee hours of morning:

1. The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris. This is the sequel to her book, Chocolat. This time 'round, that being four years after the first book, Vianne and her daughter, Anouk, find themselves living in the Montmartre district of Paris. Vianne has renounced magic, changed her name and her appearance, in order to fit into a "normal" life. Anouk is becoming increasingly frustrated with her mother's refusal to use magic, to be herself. And then Zozie enters their lives. Needless to say, the glamorous, fun, spunky newcomer isn't who she appears to be. Witches, rivalry and chocolate - ooh la la!
2. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.  The setting is England during WWII. Twelve year old David is having a hard time adjusting to life after his mother dies and his father remarries and moves everyone to a boring estate outside of London. And his new stepmother is pregnant. To make matters worse, he starts to hear voices coming from the dusty old books in his bedroom. Yep, life sucks. Then, in a sudden violent act that reminds the reader that there is a war going on,  David discovers a portal into a land of fairytales that seem familiar but, well, different...and dangerous. His only hope in returning Home is to find the aging king and his Book of Lost Things.
3. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. "On the very morning Willie Upton slinks home to Templeton, New York (after a calamitous affair with her archeology professor), the 50-foot-long body of a monster floats from the depths of the town's lake." (from Publishers Weekly)  Willie also discovers that her biological father was not, as her mother told her, one of three possibilities from a commune in California but someone living right in Templeton. Who is he?! I gave up trying to keep up with Willie's family tree but instead reveled in the book's characters. And the monster? Well, I want such a monster to live in one of the canals near where I live.

Do you have any favourite magical books?

October 21, 2009

 

Years ago, I began a Spirit photo series based on Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Several friends of mine, including Laurie above, volunteered to dress up in dark vintage clothing and to have skulls painted on their faces. I photographed them dancing and posing in various locations around Toronto, Canada. It was so much playing dress up with my friends and we giggled whenever a stranger walked by and suddenly noticed a dancing skeleton. That's a sight usually reserved for one day a year!

A couple days ago, I came across this how-to video on Youtube.com. I think it's pretty cool! The creator does a great job in showing how to create a skeleton face especially for a Calavera Catrina (see previous post). The accompanying song is good, too.

Remember to join Stephanie and me in celebrating Dia de Bloglandia on November 1st!

October 19, 2009

Many Day of the Dead artists have been inspired by the work of the Mexican engraver, Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 - 1913).

During his career, Posada satirized government abuses and social gossip through lithography for several newspapers. His figures were often depicted as skeletons. And one of his most famous skeletons was La Calavera Catrina.

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER CATRINA*

This project was inspired by the witches of Iva Wilcox. You will need:

• black & white photocopies of women's figures and a skull printed on heavy card stock
  
• coloured pencils
• glitter
• crepe and tissue paper
• an assortment of felt, fabric and trims
  
• scissors
• glue
  

Step 1: Photo copy the black & white figure of a woman with a skull over her face onto heavy cardstock. (I scanned and arranged the figure and the skull in Photoshop before printing it out but it would be just as easy to glue the skull on the figure afterwards) Also, I later replaced her arms and hands with a skeleton I found in an anatomy book. Another idea would be to draw in bones or gloves.

2.Colour in the dress and her lips with coloured pencils or inks

3. La Catrina loves to celebrate so bring out the glitter and trims! (As you can see, I gave my Catrina a dramatic haircut, too.)

 

4. In Spanish, Catrina means well dressed, rich and so she is depicted wearing a fashionable, ornate hat. I used orange felt, black crepe paper cut into a papel picado pattern, and orange glitter.

5. Cut long strips of crepe paper, the length for the skirt. I folded the crepe paper into small rectangles and cut out a pattern with scissors (like cutting out paper snowflakes). This gives the crepe paper a Dia de los Muertos papel pattern look. Attach to the figure with glue. Add crepe paper or trim to cover any uneven, glued edges of the skirt. I used one wing of an orange paper butterfly. The finishing touch will be to add a big black feather to her hat. And voila! She's ready for her appearance to Dia de Bloglandia on November 1st! And she's bringing a friend...

For this Catrina, I used little rolled balls of orange tissue paper to represent the flower of Dia de los Muertos, the marigold. I also drew in the bones of her hands.

 

YOU are also invited to join us for Dia de Bloglandia on November 1st! Please come! On November 1st, post a Dia de los Muertos-related altar, artwork, poem or written piece celebrating the Mexican festival and/or the life of a loved one who has passed on. Then leave a comment here and on Stephanie's blog and we'll post your blog link in our posts on November 1st.

*This project was inspired by the witches of Iva Wilcox at http://www.ivascreations.typepad.com. Iva granted me permission to create this tutorial. Research sources about Jose Guadalupe Posada found through the websites http://www.inside-mexico.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calavera_Catrina.

October 16, 2009

I'm back! J and I spent a week up north in Ontario, celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with our families and friends. Our trip began at one of my favourite places on earth - J's parents place, or The Cottage. We were married on the edge of this lake.

 

Autumn in Ontario is beautiful. The vibrant colours of the leaves backlit by sunlight and reflecting on the water reminded me of stained glass.

Of course the best part of Thanksgiving was seeing our loved ones. There were plenty of piggybacks...

 

and spinning for the munchkins with Uncle J.

We played outdoor games in the backyard. This is the munchkins' dad scheming his next throw of the bocce ball.

 

Even the much-loved pup found a new toy.

 

And of course there were lots and lots and lots of posing for portraits. Here's me and my sweetie.

J's parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary over the Thanksgiving weekend. They have a terrific relationship and I consider them role models for what a good marriage can be. Every year, J's dad volunteers as Santa for their hometown Santa Claus Parade and he and Mrs.Claus visit the local holiday dinner for those in need. Yep, they're good folk.

 Then it was on to my side of the family...

where we enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner and made crafts. This idea came from Iva Wilcox in the current issue of Somerset Studio Magazine.

 

Iva's witch in the magazine is more decadent than ours with her real fabric skirt and little additions, including a key and frame. For my family's project, I photocopied illustrations of 19th Century women from this book that I found through the free online library service, WorldCat. Rather than using the original faces in the illustrations, we added our own photocopied faces onto the figures. This is my marathon-running niece, Stephanie, adding wild blonde hair to her figure.

This is my final piece:

Instead of fabric, I used black crepe paper, felt, and odds and ends of ribbons and sequins. I'm thinking of making a similar figure but with a Dia de los Muertos-theme - perhaps a Catrina. Remember Dia de Bloglandia is November 1st! Please join Stephanie and me in the celebrations!

October 8, 2009

One of the perks of being a Canadian and living in the United States is that I get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice - first in October and then again in November. That's right: turkey dinner with stuffing and cranberry sauce and whipped potatoes and glazed carrots and pumpkin pie x 2! Yum!

I have two Thanksgivings to celebrate with family and friends and to think upon all the amazing people I have met throughout my life. And there is so much to be thankful for...a great relationship with J, a twin sister who will always be there for me (and vice versa), parents who always welcome us with a open arms and an extra room, friends who make me laugh til I cry and who are there for me when I actually do cry, my home, my health, access to a good health plan when I need it (something everyone should be able to afford here in the States - somehow it has to be possible), being able to afford healthful food, for being able to read, for being able to create artwork whenever I want to...the list goes on and on.

And I am thankful for you, dear readers. I started this blog three years ago as a way for me to connect to other creative folk. And I did! I have met artists and craftswomen, foodies and photographers (who are often both), poets and writers, and other bloggers who have me thinking and trying new things - many who I now call Friend. Thank you. And some of you have helped and continue to help me realize my own projects. My winged messenger project has become a bigger and better project because of you. Thank you.

This upcoming weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and J and I will be celebrating with our visiting family. I'll be stepping away from the computer for the next week but I'll catch up with you soon. In the meantime...

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, Everyone!

PS: Christina of Soul Aperture wrote a terrific post today about getting a mammogram. It's a good kick in the pants for those of us who have been procrastinating in getting one. She left one of my winged messengers in the doctor's office. Thank you, Christina.