Heartful and Handful Day 4. October 23, 2013

I am grateful for the sound of the apples crunching as Reg peels and slices them in the early morning for a pie.

I am also grateful that Reg enjoys cooking and baking in the morning and cutting up trees for firewood in the afternoon.

I am grateful for change in the apparent path of the sun, so noticeable at this time of the year when the leaves are gone from the trees.  It means a different perspective for watching sun rays filtering into the rooms of our home.


Visual # 1  Franklin Carmichael GROUP OF SEVEN   "Light and Shadow"
Visual 2  Lawren Harris,  GROUP  OF SEVEN  -"Beaver Swamp"

The play of light and shadows in these paintings inspire me to experiment with shadow in my own work.

BIRCH BARK HOOKING FAILURE:

Today I experimented with hooking with birch bark.  I gather birch bark in the spring at solstice time.  

Birch bark is laminated,  I split the laminations, heated them to make it more pliable, cut them with my cutter and tried to hook a 1 inch square.  It did not work because the bark would split.  THis may mean that I had overheated the birch thus making it brittle.  I shall try at a later time with less heat.  I will also rub the cut piece with mink oil that will soften the bark.  I will also use thicker material.