Marlborough Forest and Long Island Locks

Entering the second lock, 2
Originally uploaded by Janice Saunders

My husband nudged me at six Saturday morning, "Wake up! Lets take our cameras and take the dogs for a walk." Ok.

After a little detour to Tim's we headed out Roger Steven's drive to the Marlborough Forest . At the first trail parking lot the flies swarmed the car. We didn't get out. So, we tried the trail lot on the other side of the road hoping for a less unpleasant reception. It was a little better and the dogs were really eager to get out and explore. They ran and we trudged along with a cloud of flies buzzing around our heads. I told my husband that this is the way all horror movies start ...heading out along a trail with no idea where it goes whilst being harassed by dark cloud of bugs. It didn't help either that I had only finished half my cup of coffee!

I decided to spend the time playing with the telephoto lens in hopes of capturing some wildlife, mostly birds. I took a number of photos of the male and female warbler but the female or immature bird shots were the best. Hard to catch these little guys sitting still and not obscured by leaves etc. Even though the ponds were the source of all the bugs, they provided some wonderful opportunities to photo the reflections of the foliage on the water.

Later after dropping the dogs back home we headed over to the Long Island Locks. There is always something to photograph there when the locks are in action at this time of year. There were also more birds... chickadees, woodpeckers, osprey, heron, cedar waxwings, and the usual robins and crows. Again, timing and a steady hand are crucial to capture a good photo of small birds that are usually high up in the trees or sky. It is definitely a challenge particularly without the benefit of a tripod.

I used my new camera bag from Lowepro, the Inverse 100 AW, on this outing. It is supposed to be worn in the back but I wore it in front as this is the way I will need to wear it on our backpacking trip, my pack will be on my back already. Having it in front actually gave me super easy access to change lenses and a handy spot to support my camera when I wasn't using it. It is quite heavy with the 70-300mm telephoto lens attached and resting it on the bag reduced some neck strain.

We returned home safe and sound around noon, a happy ending to a somewhat Hitchcock inspired beginning to our morning.

Chris' graduation 2010

Receiving his diploma
Originally uploaded by Janice Saunders

My oldest son graduated from Algonquin College's Paramedic Program yesterday. It's hard to articulate the enormous pride I felt watching 'my little boy'... he's six feet tall... graduate in his chosen profession and enter the world of work. My funny, charming son will now be out there helping to save lives. Well done Chris!

We got a good seat in the second row at floor level but we were still a long way from the stage so I used my AF-S NIKKOR 70-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G lens. It’s a bit of a beast… heavy and difficult to hold still at anything over 200mm but it was the only way to get some nice close-ups of my son walking in and receiving his diploma. I used the arm rest of my seat to help stabilize me whenever possible. It was still on the camera when I captured him coming back into the arena.. he walked quite close by me… but the lights and  happiness apparent in the face of this ‘new graduate’ make this an effective picture even with the obvious grainy texture.  Later I switched to an AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G for the shots outside with family. They are just quick candid photos…we were ready to go out for dinner to celebrate!

MIxed media textile art

Little Fish
Originally uploaded by Janice Saunders

Wow! What a mouthful! It is very hard to define textile art as it includes many different styles and materials. These little folk art pieces developed from a little experimentaion with my felting machine. They are mostly 4x4" to 6x6" in size. I added wool felt images and then beads and buttons and finally thread details to build them up in a 3 dimensional way. They need a shadow box style frame.
The other mixed media textile pieces are larger and were an experimentation with dye discharge...using bleach to remove some of the colour from the fabrics. You have some limited control as to how much colour is removed by using an agent to stop the bleaching action. Later I added extra details with Shiva paintsticks and beads. The shapes seemed to suggest a city with gathering storm clouds and then the sun breaking through later.

West Carleton Arts Society min-conference

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This past weekend I participated in a day long conference devoted to the topic of art. I would like to congratulate the organisers of the WCAS for a super job! The conference was both full of lots of useful information and very entertaining. Did I mention? It also included lunch.

The 2010 Mini-Conference Agenda entitled the Cocktail of Art  included:

• John Toft,  a local basket-maker, who related his experiences in world of e-commerce via his Etsy shop under the title of JohnToftBasketry.
• A very informative presentation by local Golden representative Andrea Warren about Golden Artist Acrylic Colours. A highlight was two recently launched, exciting new product lines: the new, slow-drying, OPEN acrylics, and the new Digital grounds, which allow you to print on surfaces such as tin foil, cloth and paint skins with your home ink jet printer.
• Chéryl Poulin & Frank Farrell spoke on the topic -  sources of passive income from your website. Cheryl is a very popular local decorative artist.
• Cristian Aluas, an accomplished Ottawa artist, spoke about the Business of Art, sharing his experiences as a professional artist and getting everyone to enjoy a few good chuckles along the way.
• Louise Lalande, the first Canadian Accredited ‘The Artist’s Way’ facilitator inspired us all to continue to seek authenticity in our lives and work.  

It was a good opportunity for artists and artisans from all over the Ottawa area to get together and share common interests and concerns. The internet can be a big scary world to jump into but it has really become a necessity to show your art to the world.  I’ve considered the possibility of setting up an Etsy shop so John’s tips about Paypal, tagging, forums and estimating shipping costs for Canada and the US were very helpful. I’m not an acrylic painter but the new Digital grounds by Golden sound intriguing! Cheryl and Frank provided greats tips for designing an effective website and then earning passive income from opportunities like -google ads, info-links, affiliate programs, click-bank and more. And Christian and Louise reminded us about both the nitty gritty side of being an artist and the spiritual side as well.

Earlier this spring, I participated in an AOE Spring Workshop at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans, Ottawa. The topic was The Online Artist and it included a discussion of various online options such as blogs, Facebook, Flickr and websites. We set up Flickr accounts and learned the importance of linking all these online components together so people can find us on the web! The workshops were taught by Jesse Hildebrand, an Ottawa photographer and web developer.  I’m still in the process of tweaking my online presence and getting everything to link together. Hopefully at some point I will get it all to hum along nicely like a well oiled machine.. that is…until technology moves in a new direction!

Flowertime

Goldmound Spirea
Originally uploaded by Janice Saunders

It's almost summer and things are blooming. These aren't exotic specimens, just garden variety... my garden variety... beauties. Ottawa is a tough environment for many plants and these guys just  come back faithfully every year.
The Spirea has beautiful golden foliage and dainty purple flowers. You would think that Mother Nature knew something about colour theory...yellow and purple are complementary colours.
The Mock Orange is an old fashioned shrub that is quite unremarkable most of the year except in June when it is a mass of single layer white blossoms.

Hostas are a garden favourite for many because they are super low maintenance and they provide great visual contrast between their large leaves and other plants with smaller leaves. I think Lady’s Mantle is a great addition to any garden. Again, it is an old-fashioned plant, but it provides visual contrast and blooms later in the summer. I had a little fun with the original Lady’s Mantle photo and used the Kaleidoscope Distortion Filter available in Microsoft Digital Image Suite10. It works best with large simple shapes. Now, I use Photoshop Elements and have been unaware that Microsoft has discontinued the Digital Image Suite product.  Elements doesn’t have a Kaleidoscope filter but some people have suggested this site for a plug-in… http://www.mehdiplugins.com/. Maybe I will try it too.

For those tech geeks out there, my husband is one of them,  there is a new application for the iPad aimed at artists and photographers, as a way to sell/promote their work through the iTunes store..a wallpaper app. It can be pricey and there are probably other options too but the link is worth checking out. The company is called Shanli Mobile Software.

I am looking forward to the fantastic blooms on my Trumpet vine, the buds are already forming. This voracious vine is threatening to take over the back of my house but it rewards us with non-stop blooms all summer long. And, it attracts Hummingbirds.