Summertime

"Too busy to blog", terrible words! Between art classes to teach, new designs and art to prepare and an art show to hang, I had to let some things slide. The dog walks were shorter, good books were unopened and the garden went unweeded (which allowed the wild daisies and loosestrife to wander in).My annual "Midsummer Magic" art show at Sovereign House was visited by a host of fairies with every style of wings,

and even swordsThis quiet spot by the lake has a magic all its own, a perfect place for fairies and reveries.

The show is over now and so is the rush. I have an unaccustomed breathing space, time to think and to paint some random fancies before starting on new work. The fairy bridesmaids at the top of this post are about to make their debut in the new issue of our "Illustrated Fairy Gazette", which is coming soon.

A Royal Fairy Wedding

"A simple country wedding for a Royal fairy bride" is the theme of the newest edition of our Illustrated Fairy Gazette. It is still a work in progress but is looking so pretty that I can't resist showing a glimpse.This will be the 6th in our series of miniature fairy magazines. Each one is just 4.5 x 5.25 inches, hand-stitched with rainbow thread, and packaged in a pretty fairy-parchment envelope. Follow this space for the publication date of the latest Illustrated Fairy Gazette!

Paper Cutting, Art and Magic

My own experience with paper cutting began in childhood, instructed by my mother in the simple charms of making linked paper dolls, joined by their outstretched hands and the edges of their wide skirts. The planning and decorating of these - each with a different face, hair and dress - passed many happy hours. From time to time I still revisit the craft, deliberately or by serendipity.


Some years ago I spent hours in waiting areas at the hospital while my youngster had appendicitis. Too fidgety to read, I delved into my handbag and found pair of sharp little nail scissors and some paper (a church bulletin as I recall). I accordion-pleated the paper into eight widths and improvised with the scissors, cutting the shape of a bird, leaving the wingtips uncut at the fold-edge. A half an hour later a cascade of little white worry-birds lay on my lap amid the confetti of irregular scraps. I picked up the larger remnants of paper and refolded them to make even smaller bird chains. By the time my son was waking up from surgery I had a small menagerie of paper creatures to show him: birds, dogs, angels, mermaids, dragons and cats-on-roofs.

Here is the dog, springing at the birds,

then unfolded to romp with friends,

and all standing up to play with their shadows.

I still have the Mermaid chain too, here posed on their heads and facing their shadows, as though diving to meet their reflections.

The other inventions have since disappeared but were the inspiration for a variety of hand-cut Christmas cards that year. I discovered that beautifully executed paper-cutting only looks simple - that hours of skillful work have gone into the pieces that take your breath away.

If you have not already seen the beautiful paper-cutting work by Elsa Mora, give yourself a treat and visit her blogs about art and miniature books. There is always something new, something fresh in its vision and execution, with links to other contemporary artists who are also exploring paper craft in extraordinary ways. But Elsita is my personal favorite.

From nature, a different kind of fine design: last week's storm (the last hurrah of winter, we hope) left behind this glittering tangle of ice - not unlike an extraordinarily fine paper cutting.

Velvet Slippers in the Snow

"We will dance in velvet slippers in the snow"

from The Illustrated Fairy Gazette, Winter Edition

Velvet Slippers, from our Illustrated Fairy Gazettes, is one of the many advertisements that reveal life in Picardy Orchard, a quiet place within the Peaceful Fairy Realms. The fairy fashion designer "Stitch-In-Thyme" always has a page to show off her latest creations, in this case a matching velvet gown and cape, and slippers for dancing in the snow. A fairy can never have too many shoes -

ruby red shoes, to match her gown,

twilight blue with stars,

and lilac-hued like shadows on the snow.

And because I like to design fairy shoes, they multiply with every new edition of the Fairy Gazettes!

At midnight here, when the snow was flying and a spinning cobweb of lace was haloed in every streetlight, Mr. Tumnus with his umbrella would not haved look out of place and a ring of dancing velvet-shod fairies would have seemed entirely plausible .


Everything is waiting for spring here in Ontario - fattening buds tightly closed on the trees, the first spears of snowdrops poised and ready under the snow. For now it is still boot weather - ski boots, skates, smart boots and plain ones, and even boots for dogs that must walk along city and suburban sidewalks, to protect their paws from salt burn. A trek in the woods is much gentler on their feet and a nice diversion for us too.

(In Bronte Woods, a welcome break after two hours skiing the trails)

"Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet snd slow,
At a tranquil pace,

Under veils of white lace."
Elinor Wylie 1885-1928

The Studio Cat

Fond of little cats though I am,
and appreciating our tabby's company, now that he must comply with our municipality's new cat bylaw (no more outdoor roaming or else risk a fine) his quest for new amusements poses a challenge.

Pansies, Petals and Primulas

For my watercolour classes this week I bought little pots of primulas, one each of white, yellow and pink blossoms. After some general and specific recommendations for colours and composition the real drawing and painting began (two of my quick demo paintings in progress above) and I made a discovery about the primulas. They had six or seven petals, every single of them, confounding a rule that I have been presenting to my classes as a reliable and unvarying truth:

Whenever we are painting flowers I point out the difference between monocots and dicots, a handy thing I learned in first year biology. The number of petals in spring bulb flowers is usually a multiple of three and the leaves have stripey, parallel veining. These two features are typical of monocotolydenous (one seed leaf) plants. Dicotyledonous (two seed leaf) plants have leaves with reticulated veining and their flowers usually have petals in multiples of four or five (and it is all well described at this page.) "Usually", and up until this lesson, unvaryingly, but these flowers hadn't heard of the phenomenon or read the text books and instead flaunted their pretty seven-petalled heads at me. "Paint what you see" is a good rule too and the one to follow when theories don't seem to fit.

Last year's pansies were much more obedient!

The important thing is to keep painting, whether following familiar trails or breaking a new path.

"Under the snow are next year's flowers, and always ahead are the happy hours."

Flowers in the Snow

After a prolonged cold snap that had us all bundled up to the eyes it is finally possible to push back my hood and properly see where I am going again. The air is not so bitterly cold and the daylight is lasting a bit longer every afternoon. It is still hat weather though, and a plain beret is a blank canvas. I usually have an embroidery project on the go and for this winter I completed the Rambling Rose hat pictured above, with roses of pink and cream felt and beaded centres, linked with a scrolling vine of whipped running stitch. A plainer butterfly-themed hat is in progress, and my weather-worn standby from last winter is also ringed with butterflies.

I may stop here with the butterflies and keep this one relatively simple.

From a few winters ago, a Renaissance-inspired flower trellis with pearl details.

One my earliest embellished berets, with cherub bears in cross-stitch,


continuing the cherub bear motif of my Woodland Christmas and Woodland Nutcracker books.

Another blank canvas - perhaps bluebells for spring and the return (only 8-10 weeks away) of balmier weather.
"Over the winter glaciers
I see the summer glow,
And through the wild-piled snowdrift
The warm rosebuds below."
Ralph Waldo Emmerson