Art with a view

Just back from a fabulous vacation on the rugged and inspiring I’ile Verte, Quebec.

We have missed our annual visit for the past couple of years, but were back this June to enjoy walking, and exploring and cycling–enjoying every minute of the great outdoors.

I always find inspiration in the beauty of the island with its rich flora and breathtaking views. Before embarking on our trip this year, I organized with my friend ‘the islander’ to play with art for the three full days of our visit. Paper making, print making and dry felting were on the menu.

As always, we enjoyed daily walks to forage on the beach and in the woods–this year, we were collecting ideas and bits and pieces to incorporate immediately into our art pieces.

The first day, we started with something neither of us had attempted before–papermaking. In my supply box I had toted a blender, shredded scrap paper, frames, deckles and pressing boards. The process of blending scrap paper with water and then straining it through mesh before pressing and drying it was fairly simple. We had lots of fun mucking about, but our results were a bit disappointing. We added dried flowers and experimented a bit with thickness of the slurry, but most of our pieces turned out the consistency of slightly embellished egg cartons. It was a good learning process though and next time we will: use single colour scrap paper, keep the layers thin, and perhaps venture into using more plant materials. In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll find a use for our first-run sheets–maybe sew or paint on top of them?

Onward to day two for a stab at block printing. This is currently one of my favorite media, but as I’ve explained before, it takes some doing to get your head around negative space, mirror imaging and left/right reversal. More specialized supplies are needed as well. Lino blocks for carving, lino cutters with assorted blades, block printing ink, brayers (fancy name for rollers), and various papers, pencils, and implements for pressing. Unfortunately, Gail’s supply shipment hadn’t arrived on time, but luckily I had a separate printing supply box with lots of everything for sharing!

As you know, I have been practicing quite a bit with cutting, inking and printing and with this bit of experience under my belt I was happy with my three pieces. All three scenes are from photos taken on previous visits the island: I printed on cards and am delighted to say that they are now available at Boutique du Bout d’en Bas, on the Island.

This was not Gail’s favorite activity. To be fair to the activity, it was her very first try and I’ll repeat that it is a bit tricky to figure out the technique. She wasn’t happy with her result, but I think she was being too hard on her 1/1 print. I loved the result. She chose an iconic scene from the island, and she mastered the right/left challenge!

After ignoring everything (and everyone) else for two days of total absorption in our creations and daily foraging walks, we finally came to day three: dry felting.

I recently took my first felting class at the Tett Centre here in Kingston, and as the instructor promised, dry felting is easy to set up, and clean up, and can give admirable results even to a beginner. All we needed in the felt supply box were an assortment of coloured roving, or unspun wool; felting needles with sharp barbs to catch and tangle roving into matted felt; pieces of wool fabric for the base; and a dollar store sponge.

Gail hit her stride in this session! Using the gorgeous view of the river out her dining room window for inspiration, and with the pressure of our last day looming, she set to work non-stop and created a stunning waterscape.

So there you have it. Two life long friends spending three glorious days creating: inspired by everyday beauty. Highly recommended for both the heart and the soul.