Louise Smith

Just finished this one today.  A larger version can be seen here.  It’s based on a photo I took in Whytecliff Park near Horseshoe Bay, BC, a few months ago.  As I remember I had been wearing unsuitable sandals (not knowing we would end up at a pebble beach) and was frustrated as the best compositions all seemed to involve my clambering over big piles of rocks to get photos of em : )

The water is painted silk (turns out it’s really easy to get a watery effect with silk paint!) and the foam and rocks/pebbles are done in machine stitching.  I hand-stitched some little spray details including using some light-reflecting “invisible thread” to try to capture the wetness of the rocks and, er, water.  It is indeed invisible on this photo though and pretty subtle even when looking at the original piece.

It’s a challenge to keep those rocks looking jumbled enough and not allow straight lines to sneak in!   I definitely see more waterscapes in my future as this was fun to do.

Well, there had been a woeful lack of puns in recent posts so I thought I’d address that.

A wonderful trip to Montreal was had…I could describe it as a quest for exotic eastern Canadian thread which just happened to coincide with viewing a certain high-speed car race, but don’t think anyone would believe me : ) (I did pop into a Fabricville though).

Montreal is quite the work of art. The old buildings are full of fascinating variations in brickwork and ridiculously ornate doors, and the more modern buildings seem to have been built with appearance in mind just as much as utility, with uncompromising use of colour to set a mood in certain locations. There seems to be a rule that nothing is allowed to be ordinary, which I love.

A meal we particularly enjoyed was at Gibby’s, fabulous from start to finish. As you know I’m just a freak for details…the big things have to be done right, but if they also take care of unique details they will be remembered forever.

Things I’ll remember forever about Gibby’s:

They have their own Gibby’s brand of sugar packets. This restaurant is not a chain. Their own little printed sugar packets! It’s a large restaurant, but still. As you can probably tell, I just can’t get over this.

They bring chocolates with the bill that are embossed with their own iron gates logo.

When you ask for black coffee they bring it, and they don’t bring milk. This quite rare and special thing shows they really pay attention to the individual instead of just loading up a standard tray of coffee/tea fixings.

The photo above is just a reference snapshot taken in passing of what looks like an art gallery/store, typical in its uniqueness of the hundreds of storefronts in old Montreal.

A larger version of the now completed Waiting on the Wind can be seen here.  The colours are much truer in this photo taken by my husband on his fancy camera with separate flash.

I loved creating this one and have plans to do other dandelion clocks in different stages of disintegration.  But not right now as I have made myself sick of the sight of them : )