Kæla, my Icelandic Sheepdog

In May, I brought home Kæla, a pure bred Icelandic Sheepdog. She is the sweetest, happiest, and loving animal I have ever known. On April 2nd, I happened to be curious on finding a local breeder on the ISAA website. The closest one I could find was a six hour drive away, but I emailed the breeder anyway. That night, she responded stating that her dog had just whelped puppies that day. Stunned by the coincidence, I took that as a sign that I belonged to one of those puppies. 

Eight weeks later I brought home the youngest, biggest and most beautiful female puppy of the litter. We struggled with what to name her, but kept the original name given by the breeder for formality (Keila). We call her Kæla (Ky-la) because it rhymes with Sæla, the Icelandic word for happiness and bliss, which she brings to anyone who comes in contact with her.

Her photo was published in the ISAA 2016 "Oceans of Love" calendar, and there she is displayed in February. My husband took the photo, and it captures her spark and beauty. So much in fact, I painted the photo on a 2 X 2 canvas. For this small painting, I used M. Graham gouache paints, and was not disappointed. 

Tulips of Table Cape Tasmania

Tasmania has always intrigued me, like a lot of non-tropical islands. It has an unusual beauty all its own that seems peaceful and serene to me. The main land of Australia on the other hand has all kinds of deadly spiders and snakes, which give me no desire to ever travel there. Tasmania is one of those places I have spent many hours on Google Earth scouring over different areas to get a feel for what it would be like to savor the environment. I found a spot captured my heart, and painted it. It is called Table Cape in Wynard, and has spectacular tulip fields near a lighthouse overlooking the ocean. Hope to get here someday.

Erika Nikole Fingerless mitts

A pattern I developed over the past few weeks for striped fingerless mitts work well with one of my favorite yarns, Pepperberry Knits Cashmere DK. This fantastic quality yarn is made in the U.S. I had the opportunity to meet Heidi, the owner of Pepperberry Knits, at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival a few years ago. I thanked her for finally bringing high quality cashmere with an abundant selection of sizes and colors to the yarn marketplace.

I purchased two skeins of DK weight that had rich and contrasting colors to make these cozy gloves. After searching endlessly on Ravelry for the perfect style, I decided to develop my own pattern. This pattern is meant to be a simple and fast knit, and also incorporates bold wide stripes. I dedicated the pattern to my oldest daughter, because the first pair I made are a Christmas gift to her and she loves anything with stripes.

The pattern can be purchased here.

Lavender field

This painting almost went in the trash the other day. It still needs some fixes, but overall I am pleased that it turned out ok. As a birthday present to myself today, I spent a few hours painting. I have to reserve my painting time for weekends because the mental exhaustion from a full day of work inhibits me from losing myself in the moment. This painting is copied the painting from another image that I found when I searched for "French Lavender Fields".

Cannes

Sketched with Pentalic watercolor pencils, Gouache paint and .03 Micron pen. Taken from The Cultural Atlas of France

Sketches

A Saturday night well spent-

Tasmanian Shoreline

French Fields of Lavender-

I am currently painting the French Fields of Lavender in Gouache. Finished product to be posted soon.

A birthday card

Using Gouache paint, I was thrilled how this birthday card turned out for a friend. Gouache is the only paint I will use-it's a happy medium from the powerful acrylics and unpredictable watercolors. After the paint dried, I used a fine sketching pen to bring out more definition. I hope to make more birthday cards that turn out as nice as this one.

Vik Church, Iceland

I love Iceland. Never been, but definitely on the bucket list. Countless hours I have given admiring online photo and Google Earth of this incredible young land. This painting is of Vik in South Iceland. It lies on black sand beaches with a volcano not too far away. This would be a depiction of a June day because that is the only time the Lupines bloom.I used less purple than the photo guiding me.

And here is the inspiring photo-

Lotus Series

The Hot Beverage is Bliss series

Hanging above the coffee maker in my kitchen.

Paint Nite

Paint Nite is a lot of fun. I signed up for one on a whim more as a social gathering with some friends (many who didn't actually show up!), and never anticipating the door it would open. It wasn't the finished product that I was proud of, but it was the feeling I got from brushing color onto a surface, slowly spreading it, watching how it created an image from my mind. I found a form of meditation I never knew existed, and fell in love. What's even more incredible is, I work for the largest art supply distributor in Oregon, so my access and choices of paints, brushes and canvas is within easy reach. Don't mind the rosy cheeks, I did have a healthy glass of Merlot.

The blue scrap quilt finished

She is finally done. 

http://www.kerriannjohnson.com/2013/01/blue-scraps-handquilting.html

Groovy Sunset

My oldest child is a gorgeous, sophisticated and also a creative person. Her paintings and drawings are abstract and so brilliant. I made her a children's quilt years ago, but it was time to upgrade to something that was more expressive of her personality. I chose the pattern "Groovy" using warm colors of her choosing. It turned out stunning, just like her.

Revival of my creative journeys

Recently a pen pal friend from a land far far away asked me what my blog domain was in her last letter to me. It got me thinking how I have abandoned my online journal displaying my projects. It has been well over 30 months since I had posted anything, and so much has happened in those 30 months. Life is so completely different from April 2013 in the way of where I live, my family structure, my day job and my long term goals. All of that craziness has not deterred the creative spirit inside however. Creativity has been my saving grace, my therapy through some turmoil I experienced in these past couple of years, and it has led me to new avenues of my creative expression. 

So today I log into this blog, ready to freshen it up. It used to be named "The Joy of Quilting" because I wanted a space dedicated to this traditional form of American art that I have indulged in for the past 10 years. Now, I am experimenting with drawing and painting, deciding to keep the title simple and real by using my birth name. 

In honor of the inspiration my pen pal gave me, please visit her blog at http://sewchicken.blogspot.com/ . Her art is incredible, and I admire her ability to span many forms of creative expression.