Author Archives: sbland

About sbland

Sue Bland (aka Poached Egg Woman) is a visual artist who lives on a farm in rural Saskatchewan. A chicken farm, to be exact, hence she eats a lot of poached eggs! Sue works primarily in paper collage and watercolours, and offers art PLAYshops to anyone interested in exploring their creative side and having fun.

Morning Walk/University of Toronto

this photo is for Jessie… her kind of sneaker even!

from the Bata Show Museum (which I have never visited)…someday I will

This past week I have been in Toronto, learning about anti-racism theory and white privilege at the University of Toronto. The photos above make me think of my friend, Sheena Koops, and her blog TreatyWalks where she considers her place as a treaty person on her daily walk. In doing so, she educates and inspires us all. Sheena’s journey has provoked me to think about the shoes or sandals or sneakers or moccasins we all wear and how it is that our feet touch the earth – lightly? with a stomp? with a rhythm? with joy? with respect?

Dancing. Walking. Plodding. Hopping. Limping. Shuffling. Tiptoeing. Leaping.

Each morning this past week, I walked to my class through the verdant University campus…. meditatively, stopping to observe, watching as people practiced tai chi… stopping daily at the Pearson Pond of peace and friendship (I think it has another name). It amazed me that just 5 minutes away, people were walking in a totally different way on Yonge Street…it also delights me that such peace and beauty can be found in the heart of downtown Toronto. One of the great joys of being here is people watching……just watching feet, and footwear and the way people walk is like watching a chaotic and electric, sometimes sad, sometimes joyous human dance. Here are some photos of my daily walk…. the peaceful one!

My first ever “What a Lark!” party

I received a phone call from Laureen after she visited my post entitled “An Exultation of Larks”. Winter was not loosening its grip on us. It seemed like it would go on forever. During this particular winter, Laureen had broken her leg and been homebound. So the longest winter in memory was even longer for Laureen!

Laureen was certain that she could bring on spring by dreaming up a party that celebrated women’s enduring friendships, the promise of the birds returning and a chance for all of us just to be, to play a little and have some fun. My part in the party was to read from my children’s book, Madame de Toucainville’s Magnificent Hat and to lead the women as they created their own colourful rice paper birds. We would have a lark together!

All of this was a surprise for Laureen’s friends.They knew they would be fed, and they each brought a pair of scissors but they knew not why! Many had never been in the “Lantern” before – at the back of the Early Learning Centre in Regina. Laureen has friends from many walks of life – some were meeting here for the first time. Laureen began with a warm welcome, a short rant about the evils of plastic and packaging (and what she was going to do about it). She had prepared a delicious bag lunch for each woman attending – no plastics were used. Homemade quiche, chocolates, cookies and a beautiful fruit cup. I first met Laureen at a True Knit Art Show. Laureen is a warm, loving, and creative person full of joie de vivre and it was so much fun to be with the women in her world for an afternoon. Below are some pictures of how together, we encouraged spring to come and stay in Saskatchewan. “What a lark!” it was.. Thanks, Laureen!

P.S. For those who attended, I never did share where Poached Egg Woman comes from. Click here to find out!

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Good Medicine

*”Poached Egg Woman is Nesting” Photo by Cherie Westmoreland

I am an introvert (albeit a noisy one sometimes), so after my art show, I arranged to retreat, to curl up in my nest , breathe deeply, move into a quiet space and just be. Glenn Zimmer of the Qu’Appelle House of Prayer (one of my favourite places to retreat) likes to call this “useless sitting”.

This retreat however, I am headed to the farm my friend Debra shares with her brother. I first visited Debra’s farm two years ago, during the memorable spring of 2011, when much of Saskatchewan overflowed and gushed with water everywhere. Debra’s farm, situated in the Qu’Appelle Valley, has natural springs coursing down the hill through woods of burr oak and other deciduous trees. I remember how amazing it felt on that first visit to stand on her back step – the back step of an almost 100 year old prairie farm home and hear gushing, gurgling water!! I could not get over it. Prairie farm, abundant water. Flowing water, prairie farm. I don’t usually put those two things together.

This year, I can still hear the gurgle of the spring flowing by her back door, but it is not as loud. Arriving here two years ago, I felt as if I had somehow come home. Something inside of me lets down a bit, I sigh, and my body begins to relax. This is sacred ground.

I am here as a guinea pig of sorts. Debra is considering opening her home to people like me, people looking for a place of quiet and stillness. Previously I have visited as a friend. I am still here as a friend, of course, but we have had to change the rules somewhat. As I hope to enjoy what is mostly a silent retreat, we agree on when we will be silent, and when we might visit. We agree that Debra will prepare meals and clean up after. We agree on what I might pay her.

The first morning, I rise early and head out for a walk down the road. Or so I think!! The beautiful Qu’Appelle River beckons and the field looks dry enough, so instead I follow its contours singing a song of thankfulness at the top of my lungs! I am carrying my cell phone (my timepiece- I do not wear a watch) and I receive a text from Angela Bishop. One word – LOVE! I am feeling it, girl. The river is moving quickly, slowed down by bushes here and there. Splash… a cow moose sees me and in her gangly way disappears further into the bush. I head up the hill. All around the trees are bursting forth with their fresh tender new green. Even so, here on the north side of the Valley there is still a huge snow bank. I can’t help it. I slip off my runners and run across feeling the tingly snow in between my toes! I sit and let my feet dry in the morning sun. I begin to cross the hills when I see a large healthy coyote busy with something in the hollow beneath me. Something tells me to change course, and I do, but not until I have had a good look at her. She sees me, seems unconcerned. Further down the road, I bend down and pick up a clod of wet prairie clay thinking about the story of Creation I heard a few weeks ago. In this version, it is the humble muskrat who dives deeply enough to get the mud to put in turtle’s back to create Turtle Island. In another version, it is Otter. The mud feels wonderful and I spread it all over my hands remembering the springs when our eldest daughters would take off all their clothes and enjoy a mud bath. The mud eventually dries. Down the road a grader is coming. I do not want him to think I am a crazy person, so I stoop down at a puddle to wash my hands off.

I am also at Debra’s to do a little writing. I set up in her beautiful sun porch, a room full of windows, of light, of pale yellow and crisp white. The windows look out onto her front lawn, with trees and labyrinth, across the road to the fields, to the curve of the slate blue Qu’Appelle, the hills beyond. On the west side of the porch, there is a swinging couch. I grew up with a swinging couch on a screen porch located 2000 miles to the East. I have swinging couches deep in my DNA, I think. If you prop the pillows just so on Debra’s swinging couch, you can see the beautiful view – that is until your heavy eyelids shut and are transported off to some dreamland. I call it the “Healing Couch”. I can be sitting at the table when I feel almost magnetically propelled to the “healing couch.” Once there, I sink into a deep sleep sometimes for 5 minutes, sometimes for an hour or two.

I wake to Debra bringing in lunch. Occasionally I feel like I should do dishes or something but this is our arrangement. It feels wonderful to receive. The gifts are many.

Wraps are tied with chive stalks and filled with curried egg salad.The food at Debra’s is organic, freshly made, and presented with the love and care for detail that infuses everything she does. The picture here is of a dessert so beautiful it made me cry. Greek yogurt (the only kind, really), with zest of lime, topped by sliced mango and johnny jump ups. It tasted even better than it looks! Eating in silence means I take my time and taste every morsel. Food for the soul.

While here, I am writing a reflection for a service at the annual meeting of the United Church in Saskatchewan. The subject is the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. I appreciate the opportunity to focus on this one thing, to be freed for a while from the many distractions of daily life with my family. I appreciate that the writing unfolds naturally… I write for a bit, then I do something else. During my walks, thoughts about “right relations” unwind like long skeins of wool. Sitting in the sunporch by my laptop, I write and then gaze out the window watching the birds flit from tree to tree. I write some more. Time for a nap. I head out to the hammock, where I hear the tinkle of the spring, hear the breath of wind in the oaks and have an unfocussed view (glasses off) of the green world around. After supper, we take a silent hike up through the oaks to the flat land above and circle the large slough which is home to many birds and ducks. We watch the sun go down, the moon rise, the white tail of many a doe disappear into the woods.

Our last meal is a surprise – a “blessing meal” Debra calls it. We eat in silence. A blessing meal indeed – bison stew with wild rice and onions, “the three sisters” – squash, beans and corn, fresh bannock and for dessert, three kinds of berries.

Over a fire my last evening we talk. We talk about money. Debra is trying to fix a rate for people who may sometime come here on a retreat. It is difficult to figure out, and yet this income will be a part of Debra’s livelihood, her ability to stay here. How to place a monetary value on what Debra offers here? How to even put it into words? This beautiful place – river, hills, valley, fields, woods, springs, wetlands, sky – and all the creatures who inhabit it. The deep love Debra has for her birth home, the many actions, both big and small, she takes each day to show this love and care. The immense courage of her living here, of her living her dream. A different view to catch the heart out of each window. The small arrangements of beauty found around the house. The healing couch. The delicious meals prepared with love, care and great artistry. All of this, everything here, nourishes the soul. To be cared for in this way is a rare and precious experience. I am deeply grateful. The gift that Debra is offering, it seems to me, is GOOD MEDICINE.

Taking Flight – The Show

My art show, entitled “Taking Flight: An Exploration of Birds and Other Flying Creatures in the Art of Sue Bland” took place Mother’s Day Weekend (May 11 and 12, 2013) in Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan.

I learned that to mount an art show – and especially one called “Taking Flight”, I had to stay pretty darn grounded! It was definitely hard work, and absolutely full of joy for me. I was so thrilled that so many of all ages chose to hang around, drink some tea and make some beautiful art. Many beautiful rice paper birds, butterflies, snakes and pictures were created by folks from age 3 to age 88! Numerous people helped me but I would especially like to thank the volunteers at the Qu’Appelle Valley Centre of the Arts, and my family, especially Shane and Jessie and Marina.

On Sunday morning, the first hour was very quiet, so I sat in the gallery, listened to music and looked around. Some of the art in the room comes from 25 years ago, and I have never seen my art at all in one place before. I could see that as well as a fascination with birds and other flying creatures, there is both movement and colour in my art which has remained consistent over the years. I had never noticed this before. I have not yet finished my explorations of “Taking Flight” in the form of blog posts, but I hope to. (See former posts Taking Flight 1, 2 and 3). The art show perhaps marked a starting point for further exploration of the flight theme.

I have chosen 15 photos for this post – you can see the entire collection in Past PLAYshops, Shows and Sales. Most of the photos are courtesy of Susan Sorenson and Cherie Westmoreland. I thank them both.

The Qu’Appelle Valley Centre of the Arts was once a school

Flowers from Mary, Screen behind made by Justin

“An Exultation of Larks”
Rice Paper on plexi-glass

Tree of Birds – wax crayons, watercolour paint, 1991

: “Bird Woman” – Diana’s Magic Lamp, half a globe, a velvet hat, a heart, two rolls of paper, rice paper birds

Janaye and Natalie

Ciane, Jared and boys

L to R-
Print- Earth Dances with Sky
Where are You Now?
Collage- Earth dances with Sky
Collage- Autumn Flight
Collage- Sunrise Ceremony

Part of the Fairy Section 2 Star fairies, and 1 Gypsy fairy

Part of the Fairy Section
2 Star fairies, and 1 Undaunted fairy

Gorgeous butterfly created by Chrysa who said “I am not creative!” WHAT???

Some of the beautiful art created during “Taking Flight”

Taking Flight 3

This post is the third in a series exploring the them of flying (and in this one – birds) as I prepare for my upcoming art show entitled “Taking Flight”.

When I was a small girl, we didn’t go to church, except under duress. My beloved gramma Alice could put the pressure on. Every so often, our little family would get dressed up and join my grandparents and my great aunt and uncle at First Baptist Church in down town Ottawa. My mum regaled us with tales of rolling pennies along the slightly sloping floor when she was a child – Sundays were a silent day in her family home and her rambunctious spirit could hardly bear it!! She loved to create havoc whenever possible.

Instead of church, we often went birdwatching. We would pile into the corvair (believe it or not, our family had two corvairs), my parents in their Cowichan sweaters with binoculars around their necks, a picnic basket and plaid wool car blankets, and of course, a well-used Peterson Field Guide. We drove backroads,

the inside cover of those Peterson Field Guides

roamed woodlots and pastures, craned our necks backwards to watch migrating flocks, listened for the songs of birds and spring peepers. I remember steaming tomato soup poured from a thermos and egg salad sandwiches. On the non-Sunday birdwatching ventures, Gramma and Grampa would also come along, dressed in Cowichan sweaters as well. My dad had immense respect for my grandfather’s knowledge about birds, as well as his listening and observation skills. We would drive along and suddenly Grampa would say “Wilson’s Snipe”. Dad would slowly stop the car and all binoculars were on the ditch. In the woods, Grampa would listen to the songs, and then find the birds. He and Gramma knew all about plants, and mushrooms, trees and insects. Everything interested them. Since my brother Peter and I were curious about the wonders of the natural world, these were fabulous outings for us.

Many years later, in Saskatchewan, Shane (eventually to become my husband) took me to a nearby slough to watch the birds. Our first date, although we didn’t recognize it as such! When he took me to meet his parents, Hugh was wearing a Cowichan sweater. Two sets of binoculars sat on nearby tables, and a bird guide (though not a Peterson’s)was not far off. Now, some of our children wear those same sweaters. They laugh at our birdwatching antics, but you just watch… some day, they will be out there with binocs in hand and their kids amused at them!

Taking Flight 2

This is the second post in a series which is focussed on my upcoming art show entitled “Taking Flight”.

My first memory of birds comes from the night sounds I heard as a young child at our family cottage near Christie Lake. In those days, we heard the whippoorwills at night. We seldom hear whippoorwills anymore but recently one spring at the cottage, I heard them again and a flood of memories and sensations returned with their soft “whippoorwill, whippoorwill”. We still hear crows in the very early morning at the lake, and many other places, including here at the farm. I love crows. A few years ago when I learned that crows distinguish between the people who live near them (meaning that they can tell the difference between my husband and I), I tried to observe the crows more closely and see if I could discern differences between them. I have had no success yet, and so continue, enjoying the opportunity to observe the crows who raise a brood of young on the farm much more closely.

Deep Diver, Collage and Watercolour.
Photo by Cherie Westmoreland

I think I remember the first time I woke at night to hear the loons singing. As I recall, I wasn’t scared at all. In fact, something deep within me thrilled to that call. It felt ancient, and oddly, it felt familiar. Had I seen a loon before I heard the loon’s song? Probably, but in my memory, sound came first. From an early age, I felt a deep bond with loons, as so many of us do. A huge childhood thrill for me was taking all my friends to the Museum in Ottawa to watch the NFB film The Loon’s Necklace for my 10th birthday.

When I was a teenager, working in Northern Ontario, I got to know loons even better. As a Junior Ranger at McConnell Lake near North Bay where there were 24 nesting pairs of loons, I got in big trouble one day for leaving our morning calisthenics to watch the loons dance on the lake. There was one loon I felt a special bond with – when I called, that loon would swim very close. Loons figured prominently in the art I created at that time. I never forgot the loon I saw swim under the canoe. I wondered if I could somehow express how I felt about seeing that loon under the water. I recently pulled out a stack of art created when I was a teen, and note the similarities between this watercolour (in browns below) and what I created decades later using collage and watercolour (Deep Diver). How I see it now : that piece has been inside me for a long time and was waiting for the right time to come out!

Study of loon diving done when I was 17…note similarity with “Deep Diver”

Deep Diver” is the first in a series entitled “Creatures I swim with”. When at Christie Lake, my favourite thing is to rise early, make a cup of coffee and head down to the beach for my morning swim. I sit quietly sipping coffee, taking in the feel of the day. The small bay I swim in is populated by loons, grebes, mergansers, turtles, otters, muskrat, the occasional water snake, turkey vultures and osprey, dragonflies, minnows…. the list could go on and on. I feel grateful to share the water with these creatures and to learn something about their daily routes and habits. So far, I have completed 3 pieces (Loon, Turtle and WaterSnake) in something like 4 years… a slow process indeed. It seems fitting that the loon is the first of these creatures. Loons are not the greatest fliers…in fact, sometimes they get marooned on lakes in the fall because they need a long runway and the ice has hemmed them in. But their diving and swimming is incredible…a kind of flight in a dreamy underwater world of deep greens and blues, of mystery. Like the loons, I love to dive deep in the waters.

Frog Moon Magic

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For the past 3 years, I have had the privilege of supporting the work of the Saskatchewan Justice and Right Relations Network – a part of which is assisting some incredible volunteers as they put together 2 provincial gatherings annually. As our purpose is to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Saskatchewan, to learn our true history, and to share our stories, the paths we travel are often very difficult and sometimes heartbreaking. The volunteers I support know that we must find time to laugh and celebrate and have fun together as well as to do the difficult work of reconciliation and healing. In fact, the fun part is most definitely healing. For this reason, our gatherings include square dances, Hallowe’en parties, and most recently, a coffeehouse, called the Frog Moon Café.

I loved being a part of the Frog Moon Café and want to share a little bit about how it came to be. First our planning team had the idea for a coffeehouse, and realized that the date was on the full moon. We originally thought, “Hey, we can call it the “Full Moon Coffeehouse””. My daughter Jessie created a beautiful calendar in her Cree class and from this calendar we learned that the fourth moon of the year is the Frog Moon (Ayiki-pisim). In this quiet way, the spirit of frog moved into our plans for the gathering and for the newly named FROG Moon Café. Little did we suspect much magic and fun the frog would bring to our endeavours!

One of my favourite teachings is that everything you need is already right there. You just need the wits and the space and quiet within to notice. I have never in my life put together a coffeehouse, and one of the things I needed was somebody with experience. Enter Laura Stewart, a beautiful singer and songwriter who recently put her “Song for Idle No More” on You Tube, and whose passionate efforts to save what remain of our fragile grassland ecosystems inspire me. When Laura said she would not only perform, but she would offer advice and sound equipment, something lovely fell into place inside of me.

I knew we needed a great MC to create the kind of atmosphere we wanted, and I remembered what an awesome job Howie Thomson of Carry the Kettle did at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Fort Qu’Appelle last year. I went out on a limb and phoned Howie, told him “sorry no pay, we will take a silver collection and I can give you a farm chicken and some eggs” and bless his heart, Howie said, “Sure, I will come.” Howie’s response gave me enough courage to send a message to Errol Kinistino, and Errol almost immediately said, “Sounds like a good thing you guys are doing. Yes, I will go anywhere live music is”. That little thing inside me begin to grow and get warm. A coffeehouse was slowly taking shape. Soon our line-up included the wonderful Sheena Koops. Sheena is a multi-talented teacher, author, singer/songwriter, table tennis player and passionate advocate for all Canadians to learn about our treaties, a subject she explores with flair, grace and humour in her popular blog Treatywalks.

The next beautiful thing that happened was that my daughter, Jessie Stueck, created the striking poster you see above. We are so used to digital posters. Jessie’s poster is hand drawn, and it caught the spirit of the Frog Moon Café perfectly. The dream of the Frog Moon was taking shape and form! I started hearing from people who wanted to know if they could perform in the Frog Moon Café ! (so many that we could have hosted a two night Café.)

Then a message from artist, poet and blog master Kate Hersberger who planned to attend our “Walking Together” gathering. She wondered if she could share her art… at the Café. She did – in fact she got the evening started with a slide how and poetry reading. Kate also created the Frog Moon Art Gallery , a sacred and beautiful space. The paintings and poems offered by Kate in the Frog Moon Gallery were chosen from her inspiring blog. Kate’s offer seemed like the most incredible gift – I had never imagined a Café and an art gallery!

Frog Moon by Kate Hersberger

Last year at this time, I was moved to tears by the powerful voice and stirring lyrics of Jorgina Sunn of Saskatoon. Jorgina e-mailed to say she could come. I did a little froggie dance. Scott Fulton offered his wonderful talent and he and Sheena teamed up. David Kim-Cragg offered to share a story. I did a froggie leap! Laura Stewart’s friend Mark, a wonderful musician decided to join Laura. I still wanted a young performer, and was so thrilled when Katara Ironquill learned that her family was not going to Alburquerque and could come to the Frog Moon instead! Froggie cartwheels! Meanwhile my good buddy LeeAnn Bird was distraught that we didn’t have a rapper. Sorry LeeAnn, so many stars, not enough time! Angela Edmunds of Mae Starr Productions, volunteered to capture it all on film. It seems like we were receiving one gift after another, all offered freely and with such heart.

Behind the scenes, the hospitable staff at Calling Lakes Centre were putting up signs, moving furniture, bringing in extra chairs, converting a lounge into a coffeehouse and baking up a storm for the occasion.

Meanwhile, we in Southern Saskatchewan were gripped in the longest winter any of us can remember.The week before the Frog Moon Café, there was a blizzard! (Heck, as I write this, there is another blizzard!) My walk the morning before had me pulling out my long underwear. Hard to imagine frogs singing with snow everywhere.

The day of the Frog Moon Café held some wonderful surprises.

Surprise # 1- Kate Hersberger unveiled her latest painting!(yep, the froggie above)

Surprise #2- Amongst the forty people who attended Walking Together, we had a rap artist – “Detox” or Darwin Geddes shared a song in our circle and agreed to perform that night. LeeAnn and I did Froggie somersaults together.

Surprise # 3- The weather began to change. The pelicans flew over. Deep within us stirred the knowledge that the Frog Moon was bringing a long awaited spring!!!

Surprise #4 – Erroll Kinistino arrived with his partner Josie Linka(drums), his dad, Hubert Desjarlais, and shared some of his time with Laura Moffatt and Tim Keepness who each shared a few songs. (my daughters are big fans, Tim!)

For myself, the night was pure magic. It was how I want the world to be. It was my sweetest dream. That we could all be together, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, that we could be all ages from babies to kokums, that we could be laughing and singing and celebrating together, so proud of all of the artists who set our hearts on fire and made our spirits sing. The chairs at the back were hard on the backside, but Howie kept us laughing and Laura had all of us singing along to her beautiful “Song for Idle No More”:

The time is now
and you and I are here
No more doubt
no matter what we fear
We will rise up
We know what we’re here for
We will rise up strong and sure
Idle No More

We call everyone
Join the round dance
Feel the heartbeat drum
Reach out and take a hand

At which point, the beautiful kokum beside me grabbed my hand and together we raised our hands high in the air as we sang.

Maggie King put Jessie's Frog Moon cafe together with Kate's painting and voila!

Maggie King put Jessie’s Frog Moon Cafe sign together with Kate’s painting and voila!

Later that night, our guest speaker, Alex Wilson woke to find the full moon streaming in her window. When she looked up, she saw a frog in the moon. Deep in the earth, new life was stirring. Deep within each sleeping body, a dream was infused with hope and possibility.

The next day, we basked in the fun, healing and warm glow the Frog Moon Café gave us all. The Calling Lakes Centre staff cleaned with amazing good cheer (or else faked it really well. Whichever it was, THANK YOU). Outside the spring sun was warming Mother Earth. We headed home, hearts singing. I received a message from Laura Stewart, on her way down south. “Frogs! Frogs! I hear frogs! Oh Sue, we sang and croaked and hopped the frogs out.”

Everything we needed was right here. In fact, way more than what we needed. My original hope was for an MC and a few singers. We had all kinds of singers (even some surprise ones who arrived at the last minute), a storyteller, artists, film makers and the best audience anyone could hope for! We could not have guessed at the array of gifts the spirit of the frog brought to our Café. The powerful presence of the Frog Moon enlivened our our work and our sharing during the day. It made all the difference. It brought an element of magic, of playfulness, of surprise, of laughter, of shape shifting. It brought us closer to the earth, to the water and to the sky home of that amazing frog moon. Kate Hersberger says it best, in the poem she wrote to go with her painting:

We touched the frog moon
the night the pelicans came

We connected the earth to the sky

We held the frog moon
together in song

Hearts connected across the divide

A Spring Day with heART & SOUL

a bowl of paper scraps

open to possibility

Linda begins with a sun (the one outside is kind of faint)

spring inside the window, winter outside!!
(Linda’s sun & flowers on the right)

full sun with flowers growing outside the lines – Linda

we have given ourselves to gift of a whole day… to create spring in our hearts

old friends

Gail warms up with a beautiful card in deep greens and blues

part of our gallery

Close -up: bird’s nest, eggs, flowers by Gail

The Queen of Scissors was definitely hazel who cut out these tiny dragonflies with precision and grace

a swirly spring day – Hazel

how beautifully Joan tears paper…can you see the butterfly?

Joan experiments with watercolours on rice paper for the background, and voila, a flower blooms!

Denise does some research

bird and dragonfly

more flying creatures

A daughter-mother art date!

Andrea has a BIG vision and needs to spread out to the floor!!

a heart-BEET is growing

the heart-beet of love – mother and daughter team up

the almost final products with the light shining through

Proud as punch. It was a good date.

Yesterday I had the fun of playing with paper, and scissors and glue at my heART & SOUL PLAYshop entitled COLLAGE: CELEBRATING SPRING with 6 other women. Although the snow is slowly melting, the day wasn’t really very spring-like and those of us who climbed the valley hills after lunch felt frozen and virtuous afterwards. Inside however, as you can see above, we greeted the spring blooming in our own hearts, and created flowers and sunshines, birds and dragonflies, soil and beets and fairies.

Who came? A mother and daughter, old friends, people I knew and more people I had never met before. Some had experience with collage or with quilting; others had not cut and pasted anything for many many years.

Best of all, we learned that at the next collage PLAYshop, we are going to also eat chocolates and candies, wrapped in beautiful foil of all colours. Then we’ll make more art with the wrappers!

Some of the paper we used is “found” paper, from candy, chocolate and cigarette wrappers, from wrapping paper, the inside of envelopes, ticket stubs and old maps. Lots of the paper above was purchased at the Paper Umbrella on 13th Avenue in Regina or at Colors Art & Framing on 1347 Winnipeg, also in Regina. I also love to visit the Paper Place on Queen Street in Toronto – you can also order online from them. If you are a paper lover, each of these places spell both D-A-N-G-E-R and deLIGHT!!!

“Taking Flight” 1

“Bluebirds” – Book Cover

This past winter I spent a happy week creating rice paper birds. When I recently visited my neighbours, Wendy and Keith, I noticed that the large piece of art I gave them 20 some years ago was full of the same kind of birds. At that time, I had young children so my medium of choice was wax crayons. I believe that an enthusiastic Alice added some of her own scribbles on the bottom. I began to think back and realize that variations of these same birds have cropped up in my art work for a long time. Even my children’s book, Madame de Toucainville’s Magnificent Hat, features variants of these same birds.

When the idea of holding an art show in the beautiful Qu’Appelle Valley Centre of the Arts came to me, I thought it would be great fun to explore birds in my art and my life. Then I realized that as well as birds, I am really interested in all kinds of flying things. Poached Egg Woman flies, after all. “Free Range Chicken” flies in my imagination. I have been creating fairies from collage materials and rice paper. We have a few dragons around the house. All of them can fly. (Just to clarify that – one is paper machier and the other is watercolour!) Our living room is full of intricately built bird’s nests, tiny eggs, and feathers. I am proud to say that I come from a long line of birdwatchers, and while my birds do not pretend to be realistic, they are no doubt inspired by many road trips with Peterson’s Field Guides and binoculars in tow.

This art show called “Taking Flight” is dedicated to my mum and dad (Sylvia and Joe Bland) and to my in-laws (Hugh and Wanda Stueck). While they lived, I enjoyed many bird adventures with all of them. It is fitting, I think, that it will be held on Mother’s Day Weekend. Even better, the tea will be served in mum and gramma’s china cups. Hey, it’s going to be a party! (and an art show).

In the blogs leading up to my art show, I hope to explore different aspects of birds and flight in my art and in my life. I hope you will join me.

The Amazing Spring Adventure And Nap

Sue and Janaye had a wonderful adventure sleeping, baking,watching the Wizard of Oz, and picking pussy willows. We had a relaxing day today and yesterday.

My God-Daughter Janaye baking with me

Janaye and I are taking a rest from all of the adventures

Our Biscuits that we made together

I sunk in the snow, but we still got pussy willows