Creativity Challenge - Week 8

Blog 8

During the past week, I sketched, felted, knitted, and even painted.

It all started with some sketching during the Ottawa Little Theatre performance of “Dead Accounts”. We have seats in the front row, and I usually manage to sketch a little bit, as long as the stage is not too dark.

The last of the above sketches was created in a restaurant a day later while we waited for our food.

As we spent the weekend at the cottage, I had a lot of time to continue felting Alex with his own fur. I adjusted the size so that he will be one third of his actual size. So far, I have part of the body, his four legs, and a head that still is much too small. All parts still need more definition.

The next two days, I was so exhausted from packing our belongings into boxes that I only sat down and worked on my temperature shawl.

Yesterday, despite having a really tough day, I went to my studio and started defining Alex’ features in his portrait. Being in my studio is like being in a bubble; all the stress and worries seem to stay outside of my studio for awhile. I concentrate completely on my painting and dive into a world of my own.

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Creativity Challenge - Week 7

Blog 7

The past week was a rollercoaster of emotions. It started out with a wonderful lunch and craft afternoon with a good friend. We created a felted heart for Valentine’s Day. I am not sure whether she kept hers or gave it to a loved one, but I had to make two more hearts so that I could give one to each of my kids and my husband.

I also made it finally back into my studio and worked on the portrait of Candy, our late Golden Retriever. After two hours of painting, I am a lot happier with how she looks than I was before. She is still a little too light, but I will take care of this at a later stage. Next, I want to work on Alex.

For my Tuesday Cartoon drawing class, I drew a Hydra. It was wonderful to see how this serpent with many heads from the Greek mythology inspired and animated the children.

With my Sunday class, I had a look at the way a person was simplified drawing a Manga-style and a Minecraft boy.

For the rest of the week, I kept knitting my temperature shawl, and, while dealing with some very sad news, found comfort in felting Alex’ fur into my biggest felting challenge so far: a small version of him. I have decided that I will create him in a sphinx pose. Now that I have the inner body, it is time to sort his fur by colour to get to the detail.

On Thursday, on my way downtown, I created a quick sketch of one of the other passengers. Sketching during bus rides helps me to avoid the motion sickness I usually get.

Thank you for reading my blog. I encourage you to sign up to my monthly newsletter that is published on the last Wednesday of every month. Please go to my website www.KerstinPeters.ca where you can sign up on the bottom of every page.

Creativity Challenge - Week 6

Blog 6

I have decided to continue with my Creativity Challenge for at least the next two months. There are things happening in my private life that I will talk about once the vision is clearer, but these plans are challenging me as they might include major changes in my life. Therefore, it is even more important that I make time on a daily basis to be creative and to relax.

On Friday, after realizing that the bunny that I had started for my next workshop would be too challenging and time-consuming, I started out with a simpler version that is very cute and can be accomplished even without any previous experience in felting.

I also continued felting the other bunny. I spent about 30 minutes a day adding layers of different coloured wool and making the body longer. It looks much more like the bunny I had envisioned. Hopefully, I can show you a picture of the finished bunny next week.

On Sunday, I prepared some sketches of the SpongeBob SquarePants characters in preparation for my drawing classes. 

On Tuesday during a planning meeting for an upcoming workshop, my eyes got stuck on the felted water lily. I realized all of a sudden that one of the petals was sticking out because it was not soft white like the others but bright white. It bothered me so much that I could hardly wait to put another layer of wool on top of the petals.

In the evening, during the Cartooning and Comics drawing class, the children were very excited to create their drawings and added even more characters. Here are some examples of their great imagination:

Just to show you that everyone can create something once you found a medium you like,here is a picture of the temperature shawl on which I am working. I saw the idea last year on the Internet. As I had so many remnants of wool from various projects, I decided to try this out this year. Every day, I check the temperature and knit two rows of the colour that I had previously designated for a specific temperatures. For every 5 degrees there is a different colour. Therefore, it is nature who dictates the design. I am curious to see how it will turn out.

Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy my blog, I encourage you to sign up to my monthly newsletter that is published on the last Wednesday of every month. Please go to my website www.KerstinPeters.ca where you can sign up on the bottom of every page.

Creativity Challenge - Week 5

Blog 5

With the first month already behind me, I can say that I am quite happy with the January results, even though I wish I had spent more time painting. I plan to see the inside of my studio more often in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I have a break from my German course, which hopefully will give me some more time to paint.

Last Friday was the first day of the year that I did not create anything. After the well-attended vernissage at the Da Artisti Gallery, I was too tired to start anything when I got home. If you live in the Ottawa area and have not been to Da Artisti Gallery and Studio, I can highly recommend a visit to this welcoming place at 565 Old Montreal Rd, Cumberland, K4C 1A1. The gallery’s opening hours are: Wednesday - Friday: 3:00pm – 9:00pm and Saturday - Sunday: 9:00am – 5:00pm.

On Saturday and Sunday I worked another two hours on the little petals of my water lily which is now finished. At a later time, I might add a lily pad, but for now I am happy with the flower.

On Monday, I drew a llama to prepare for my Tuesday “Cartooning and Comics” drawing class, and I started felting a little bunny for one of my upcoming workshops.

Tuesday and Wednesday were busy days for me as I wrote, uploaded and published my monthly newsletter. On Tuesday, I created a felted Easter egg to show a preview of my March 23, 2018 Creativity & Me workshop into the newsletter. The workshop runs from 1:30pm to 3:30pm at 1270 Kinsella Drive in Cumberland, ON, K4C 1A9. For more information please contact me be email at kpeters@domingoinformatics.ca. During the workshop we will create felted bunnies and Easter eggs, which will be just in time for Easter.

On Thursday, I was sure I would be able to finish the little bunny for the workshop formerly mentioned, but it turned out that the little creature was a lot harder to form than I had expected and still needs a lot of work.

Have you been busy creating something new? I would like to hear how your January went.

Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy my blog, I encourage you to sign up to my monthly newsletter that is published on the last Wednesday of every month. Please go to my website www.KerstinPeters.ca where you can sign up on the bottom of every page.