100 Days!!

I can't believe the #100dayproject has finally come to an end and that I managed to blog every...single ...darned day for the past 100 days.  Phew!  It was so easy to do some days and so challenging on others. Believe me when I tell you, I wanted to just say "screw it!" several times.  However, I persevered and now it is done.

Don't worry, I intend to keep blogging. Just not every day.

Tonight, I'm off to the Art Gallery of Ontario to see their exhibit of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings.  Here is a photo of a photo of her I took when I visited the Georgia O'Keeffe museum in Sante Fe last year (apologies to the original photographer, whose name I did not record).  I didn't know much about her or her art before that visit and quite enjoyed seeing the photographs, paintings and personal items on display there.

I am looking forward to seeing what is included in the AGO exhibit.  No doubt I'll have something to blog about once I have! ;)

100/100!!! - #100dayproject

Trip Report - Day 6 - Headed Home

We have come to the end of my trip reports of the whirlwind trip to the West Coast my mom and I took in early June. I had a great time but I wish we had had more time along the route.  We seemed to be on the go all the time and there were a lot of places along the way I would have liked to have more time to explore, including the city of San Francisco and especially that Oregon Coast with those amazing looking beaches!  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back and do it again at a more leisurely pace!

At the Seattle airport, Mom and I took turns posing with this mural.  Just for fun! :)

Day 99/100 - #100dayproject

Trip Report - Day 5 - Another Seattle Game

Our second game at Safeco Field, on Saturday June 10th, was just as much fun as the night before. Once again, the crowd was loud and excited and predominantly Blue Jays' fans! Apparently Canadians come from several of the western provinces when the Jays are playing in Seattle.  Spotted this guy wearing flag pants (pretty sure those are pyjama bottoms, am I right?!)

This chandelier made out of mini baseball bats is hanging just inside one of the entrances to the stadium.

Our seats for this game were directly behind home plate, in the last couple of rows near the top. Great views of Russell Martin doing what he does as catcher.

Here's a view of the field as dusk was falling.

To get an idea of our experience at the game, I thought I'd share this blog post written by Erin Davis, who co-hosted a morning radio show in Toronto for many years.  It turns out she was at the same game as we were!

We didn't see Erin but we did spot Hazel Mae, a Canadian sportscaster for Sportsnet, who was filming an on air spot just before the game.

These ladies near us had a great time celebrating the bride-to-be's upcoming nuptials.

Afterwords, we saw this sign on a bus as we were walking to us.  Since the Jays had just won the game, we thought it was the perfect sign but the bus driver just told us to "move along"! ;)

Day 98/100 - #100dayproject

Sunday Art

I made this today using collage and one of Nathalie Kalbach's cling stamps. The name of the stamp is "Main Station" - you can buy it separately or as part of her "Stroll Through the Hood" stamp sets.  While I know it is a sketch of a building in Jersey City, NJ, it reminds me very much of buildings in Paris which is why I coloured it in gold tones (using watercolour on top of a dried gesso background, I just love the effect!).

I was making this to use as a card but I like how it turned out so much, I just might have to keep it! ;)

Day 97/100 - #100dayproject

Experimenting with Distress Oxide

I bought myself five colours of the new Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks about a month ago but didn't get around to trying them out until today.  I watched a video posted by Diana Trout last night (you can find it here) and ended up dreaming about the inks overnight. I think I even woke myself up as I was telling one of my cats she could try them too! :)

Over breakfast this morning, I watched this video by Jennifer McGuire and then got busy playing with the inks myself.

The three samples in the picture above are the ones I like best of what I made today.  I really love how the inks blend, they are very creamy and smooth and the colour is very rich on the page.  Not everything I made today turned out to be a masterpiece.  Perhaps because of the limited colour palette I have so far (Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain).  I found myself wishing I had other colours to introduce to the pieces I made today to make them "pop" a little more with the two browns I had.  But that's okay, I'll add to my collection in time.  For now, I'm looking forward to playing more with these inks!

Day 96/100 - #100dayproject

Trip Report - Day 5 - Morning Tour of Seattle

On Saturday morning of June 10th, we had a mini tour of Seattle.  We saw the Space Needle from across the water.

Had a peek at the dock area where container ships loaded and unloaded their cargo.

Saw the ferries coming and going to the various nearby islands.

We drove past a giant ferris wheel but didn't get to ride it. :(

We got off the bus and had about an hour to explore the Pike Place Market.

Since I don't really care for fresh fish and couldn't take most of the items home in my suitcase, I walked about and took photos instead.

The live peonies were so beautiful!

Now this is the kind of fish I do enjoy!

Even the washroom area was photo-worthy!

After seeing this symbol on the corner of a building near the market, we got back on the bus and headed to see the Space Needle in person.

Mom and I took a selfie with the local icon behind us.

After a delicious lunch in a nearby sports bar and a quick walk around the area, we headed back to the hotel, where we had about an hour of free time before it was time to head back to the ball park for our last game of the trip.  

Day 95/100 - #100dayproject

Sorting Stamps

Last weekend, my sister gifted me with several bags of postage stamps she had won in an online auction (thanks, Janine!!!).  

Once all the bags were emptied into one container, it added up to be a shoe box full!

I have spent a couple of hours sorting through them while watching TV this week.  By far, the greatest number of them are from Germany and I would say Canada and Portugal are tied for second and third place.  There are also a handful of stamps from the U.S, England and France and one or two from various other countries around the world.

There are several Canadian stamps I have never even seen before, most of them dating from the late 1980's (I know this because I looked up Canadian postage rates and found this great source. I can still remember the outcry in late 1981 when the cost of a stamp almost doubled from 17 cents to 30 cents!!)  My favourite so far is this postage stamp of Toronto. Unfortunately the postmark is masking most of the stamp but you can still tell it is a view of the downtown skyline and a little bit of the lakefront.  The 43 cent denomination dates it between 1993 and 1995.

Not sure what I'll do with all these stamps once I get them sorted.  Each one is a small work of art and now I have dozens of certain ones and only one or two of others.  Some will definitely make it into my art journals.  Stay tuned!

Day 94/100 - #100dayproject

Trip Report - Day 4 - First Seattle Game

Back on Friday, June 9th, after driving all day from Coos Bay, OR, for a total of about 400 miles, we had time for a quick stop at our hotel before heading downtown to see our first Blue Jays game in Seattle, Washington.  As we got closer to the stadium, we could see many Blue Jays fans heading towards the game, all dressed up in their distinctive blue team gear.  We got off the bus in front of the Century Link stadium where the Seattle Seahawks play football and walked toward Safeco Field (the baseball stadium) next door, admiring the art work on display on the various buildings in the area.

We could tell it was going to be a full house, even as we entered the stadium.  There were so many people, 9 out of 10 of them visible Blue Jays fans, and the mood was excited.  The antics of the Seattle mascot, Mariner Moose, were all part of the fun.

Our seats were near third base, several rows up and one or two sections over from the Blue Jays' dugout.  I had the chance to take more photos of the players, like this one of pitcher Joe Biagini (left), catcher Russell Martin (middle) and pitching coach Pete Walker sharing a laugh as they walk from the bullpen to the dugout just before the game started.

Here's Josh Donaldson leading a meeting on the field when the score wasn't going their way.

Jose Bautista at bat.

Troy Tulowitzki in the dugout during the game, watching the play on the field.

Unfortunately, the final score didn't go our way, the Jays lost 4-2.  Nevertheless, I just had to take a picture of the stadium's hand-operated scoreboard.

Not quite the result we wanted but as we walked back to our bus, the lights of the Seattle skyline combined with these lights embedded in the sidewalk made for a rather ghostly image of people walking away from the stadium. Very cool!

Day 93/100 - #100dayproject

Blogging Challenges

I've been having problems tonight uploading the photos for my next blog post about our Blue Jays road trip.

In the middle of trying to figure out that issue, this happened.

Matisse settled herself down on my laptop, over top of the warm exhaust being released on the left hand side, and promptly dozed off. Complete with light snoring. 

I didn't have the heart to wake her, so the trip report will just have to wait until tomorrow!

Day 92/100 - #100dayproject

Coming In For A Landing

There's a Wendy's restaurant out near the Toronto airport where people gather to watch the planes land.  I had dinner there last night with two friends and as we were admiring the somewhat threatening clouds, we noticed all the people and cars in the parking lot.

Sure enough, a minute or two later, this large jet flew overhead. (Sadly, no, that's not our limo in the photo below!)

When we looked to the north, we could see the next one coming in.

We watched as it got closer.

It flew directly over our heads, over the road and landed on the runway directly across the street.

Always exciting to watch the planes come in.  I've eaten in this restaurant before, usually at lunch time on a weekday.  I had no idea so many people came out to watch on a Sunday evening, many were there with young children but there were several adults there as well - there had to be at least 30 people last night.  Good times!

Day 91/100 - #100dayproject

Art Date

I had a couple of friends over today for an art date. It has been ages since I did any art journaling; it was fun to get back to it.  Here's what my page looks like at the moment.  I haven't decided if it's finished or not yet.  We each did an 11 x 15 inch page with the intention that it would be cut up into pieces afterwards to be added into a small journal, which is why my page looks like it has two distinct halves at the moment.

Here's are some closeups of different portions of the above page. The floral part is from a napkin that was glued to the page with matte medium. 

I love how different the art looks when you start isolating various portions.

We spent a few hours working on our pages, playing the "art journal game" by taking turns deciding what the next step would be (add book text, paint 3 areas blue, draw circles, cover 1/3 with gesso, stamp an image 5 times in red ink, paste on postage stamps, etc.)

Wish I had remembered to take a photo of my friends' pages so you could see how different each of their pages turned out.  Next time!

Day 90/100 - #100dayproject