blog

Sweet Ladies Dessert Show

2013-04-10T22:15:45Z

I belong to a group of women whom I cherish dearly. We all happen to be illustrators but spend most of our day doing either graphic design, teaching, or tending little children. The group grew out of a need to create art that wasn't restricted to client deadlines or wishes and also because our profession is rather anonymous. Our first show was at the McMullen Gallery at the UofA hospital (the "Growing Up Show") and this lighter subject grew out of that experience, which was rewarding for all of us. We added three more fabulous ladies and then the Dessert Show was born. Here are the pictures from the opening reception. Felt great to have a showing of art again, even if there were only two tiny pieces submitted from each of us. Show is up all month if anyone missed the opening!

Hand Print Ornaments - a pinterest experiment

2013-01-05T04:09:15Z

Been waiting for some time now to post photos of these santa "hand-print" ornaments that we made after surfing pinterest (here's the link to the recipie and original idea for them). They worked out fabulously and I'm thrilled that we made an extra copy to hang on our own tree.

Here's the poem that we printed from the original post as well, taped inside of jewelry boxes I bought from a local creative packaging store.

And hanging on the tree.

Owl Belly Cast Finished

2012-03-14T04:20:21Z

The painted owl belly cast is finished! I sculpted the flower from scratch (it's not a flower dipped in plaster) and am quite happy about how sturdy it feels, never having done sculpture before. The belly looks so beautiful, so amazing! The even more amazing part is when my doula, Suzanne Moquin (of Gentle Touch Birth Services), came for a visit today to help present it to the new mom, touched the cast and could feel how the baby had been positioned inside her body- where the bum and where the head was. So ridiculously amazing. What a way to capture your pregnancy, hey? Can hardly wait to get these casts professionally photographed!

Easter Colour Page - Free

2012-03-08T20:29:10Z

Here's a free easter colouring page, done today for the upcoming April Issue of my little local newsletter. Feel free to print and share. Larger version available here.

Update on Owl Belly Cast / Sculpture

2012-02-29T03:27:20Z

Sketch is on the cast, ready to be painted. I've found it a tad challenging (in a good way), to move from sketch on paper to a belly cast because of all the curves, so I'm doing more of the true sketch work on the actual cast, which is very different for me.

Another Pregnancy Captured

2012-02-26T20:06:18Z

Here's what's in the studio this week - another beautiful belly sculpture (belly cast). Such a different form, and so beautiful, each one. I'm already starting to get booked to do casts, and to "upgrade" home-kits done locally. It's so exciting. Every day I can hardly wait to head down to the studio, which is so wonderful to experience again. Maybe I'll have to start thinking about redecorating the studio, now that it's not just me down here anymore. ;)

So far, I'm referring to this cast as the "Owl belly" because the mom was drawn to owls during her pregnancy. Next step will be to finalize the sketch on the sculpture/bellycast and then paint it.

Here it was in the "raw" - an untouched cast, not reinforced, no hanger, not trimmed, no flower.

Belly Casting!

2012-02-15T21:51:28Z

For those of you who know me, you'll know that birth and pregnancy have quickly grown to become passions of mine that could easily rival my painting and sketching habit. There's something so fleeting and beautiful about a pregnancy, especially once you've come through the other side and there's this desire... or perhaps need to document it, to feel beautiful despite the changes that are happening to your body. To not forget what made it beautiful, that it seems impossible for a belly to grow that big and to fit a person inside of it... And so, here begins my journey. I've started belly casting in Edmonton, and for a little while, I'm having introductory pricing. Starting at $200 for a smoothed belly cast and individual quotes from there for painted designs (original designs only) for a limited time only. Here's the casting process:

I will drive to the comforts of your home (around 32-38 weeks of pregnancy, depending on if this is your first or subsequent pregnancy) and do the belly cast or come to my studio and have it done here (for now, it's just my little art studio in my basement). We will discuss style options, ideas for the finished cast, what type of hanger you would like, etc. The process will take approx 1.5 hrs (with clean-up, set-up and discussion of cast over tea), depending on how complex the cast is. It's completely safe for pregnant women, being of medical grade plaster and is not unpleasant. I then take the cast home and...

Make it very smooth...

Do a sketch (in my sketchbook, scan it and get you to approve the sketch you like based on our previously discussed ideas), put sketch on the cast...

Then paint it, varnish it to seal it and put a hanger on it (hanger not in photo)

To get a finished cast like this it will require 4-6 weeks until pick-up.

With the hanger... next the the cast I'm working on currently.

Colouring Page

2012-01-25T01:39:53Z

Here's a sample of one of my colouring pages completed by my son (2 year old) today! Feel free to print, colour and share with me and I'll post it on my blog for the world to see.

Here's the plain version if you want to print it out!

A birth story

2011-11-17T21:04:15Z

At my 36 week midwife appointment, in a pregnancy that had gone quite smoothly and seemed rather regular and boring, the midwife discovered that our little baby was in a breech position. My heart fluttered and I cried a little on the way home from the appointment because I knew that even though I was still almost four weeks from my due date, I had a feeling that this baby was going to come even earlier than my first and I was going to have to try to convince this baby to turn if I wanted to have my planned home birth. An ultrasound very early the next morning confirmed that the round bump under my ribs was indeed a head and not a bum, which is the preferred direction to give birth. I tried every method I could research to turn the baby (taking pulsitilla, moxibustion - where a smelly stick is burnt close to your toe, the chiropractors websters technique, standing on my head in a pool, the breech tilt - VERY uncomfortable.... etc). It was exhausting and most methods were very uncomfortable or were expensive. Our last resort was an External Cephalic Version, done by a doctor, where there is an attempt to manually reposition the baby by manipulating the uterus - from the outside - to be done later in the week after meeting our mystery doctor.

But, on an evening early in November, as I was putting my son to bed and giving him a bath, contractions started to come a regularly and frequently enough for me to track down my ipod and use a contraction timer. Even though they were over a minute long and came every five minutes, I was in denial that I was in actual labour. They were easy to manage and I thought they'd probably just go away once I'd put my son to bed and could relax. Just to make sure, however, I heeded my doula's advice: to get in a warm bath. If the contractions sped up, I was in labour and if they slowed down, I probably wasn't. Of course, this was advice she had told me years ago with my first and I hadn't bothered to call her or my midwife to let them know I might be in labour. I was deep in denial, because even though I'd had a feeling that this baby was coming both early and was going to come breech, I still had to make that doctors appointment the next morning at 10:30 am in order to not go under the knife and have a c-section. While breech deliveries are certainly, in many cases, just another version of normal, most doctors are no longer trained in how to deliver them and prefer to do a c-section. All based on a flawed study done years ago that determined vaginal breech's to be unsafe for the mother and baby. I was scared that if I went into labour early I'd show up at the hospital and be forced to have surgery because no one was willing to let me attempt this naturally.

Still timing contractions in the tub, I decided to call my husband, who was at my in-laws working on his vintage Vespa Scooter rebuild. After talking to him a little, I had a contraction that I couldn't talk through and he headed home immediately. He had decided that I was in labour, even if I was still unsure. Contractions were still very manageable. If there's one thing I'm very good at, it's relaxing into labour and accepting the surges as something my body needs to go through. With no fear, there is no pain, only intensity and peace.

When my husband arrived home, I had gotten out of the tub and decided to finish packing the hospital bag. I was no longer in denial, but I wished sorely that I could have had my home birth and could have stayed in that tub. It's a beautiful, amazing thing to be surrounded by water while in labour. It's the perfect environment. My husband started to make all the calls, and would later admit that my midwife completely freaked him out by asking if we needed to call the ambulance. We'd have to wait another twenty minutes until my mom arrived to look after our oldest child, who by this point had woken up asking what all the funny noises were! I managed to kiss him and we told him that the baby would arrive soon then we were out the door in a flash and drove to the hospital that we had researched our mystery doctor would be on-call at. I had my fingers crossed the entire trip and prayed that he would deliver our baby even though we hadn't officially become his patient yet. I transitioned in the car (for those of you not up on labour terms, this is the period of time just before the "pushing" phase of labour) and started to doubt myself and doubt the situation and fear started to get the better of me. Not the hospital again! Not today! ...

We made it to the hospital, did paperwork and got to go directly up to the maternity ward (that's right, no fetal monitors this time!!!). I met our mystery doctor who was indeed going to help me deliver this breech baby and received interested smiles from nurses who were eager to see the birth. I was so relieved to see him. I even signed a "vaginal breech delivery" waiver form, allowed someone to put a needle in my arm in case I might warrant an IV, got weighed three times and allowed the doctor to check how far dialated I was (9.6cm). Still bright and cheery in-between contractions, and not having allowed anyone to tell me how "far along" I was, I found myself repeating, "Why on earth hasn't my water broke yet?". I gave an experimental push on an urge, my water broke, everyone jumped backward in sync to avoid getting messy (luckily, no one did!) and I flipped over, looked the doctor in the eye and said, "Okay, is this a good position for you? Because it's going to happen soon". One push and the atmosphere in the room changed immediately. Instead of the planned "frank" birth (bum first) a little foot emerged and our breech became a footling breech. One more push, and with a little "help" from the doctor, (to get all of his little legs and arms out the "right way") our baby was born into this world, just as perfect as can be. Six pounds, eight ounces and almost 3 weeks early.

We're at home and our little boy is two weeks old today. What was once three is now a family of four.

And so the answer is yes, the studio will be closed up for a few months! Happily, might I add.

October Free Colouring Page

2011-10-07T05:03:11Z

Here's the free monthly colouring page. Download a larger version here.