Backyard Havens

With spring coming up soon people are starting to think about patios, porches, sunscreen, and breezy cocktails, not to mention hammocks. I spied the perfect little backyard haven with colourful lanterns behind an artists' coop. It even has a sun roof constructed out of bundled branches or something of that nature. A little slice of heaven within urban Queen West.

Bird Collage

This collage is another old creation from Famous magasine, and one I've been consistently proud of. There was no real prompt in making it. I just started cutting out interesting shapes from the magasine and it turned into this fantastical bird. I would like to get into collaging again. Maybe I should go back to the movie theatre and start collecting free magasines!

Garbage Room Finds

I make a habit of visiting the recycling room of my apartment building as often as I can, and it has paid off. In addition to electronics, which I can turn into e-art, I have found umbrellas, some very interesting jewelry, and shoes.  

I Have the Best Ideas at Night

It was 11:30 PM and I should have been sleeping, but instead I had the bright idea to take the trip down to the recycling room of my building and see if there were any good finds. I have been wanting to make some cool coasters for a while, and until last night that meant one of two things. First, polished stone coasters of smooth irregular shapes, not really something I can accomplish with the tools I have on hand. Second, slices of varnished tree trunk. I never thought of how hard it is to get my hands on a tree trunk until then, especially in the heart of downtown Toronto. So my bright idea was to harvest a tree product of another kind from the "forest of the city," in other words, cardboard from the recycling room. A few drawings of Canadiana icons and wildlife later, and some kindergarten-reminiscent cutouts later, and voila: a set of Canadiana coasters.

Barcelona, Spain (May 18 - 21)

Balmy and beautiful Barcelona... what more can I say? Rambling countless narrow winding streets near La Rambla I saw more picturesque squares than I had ever imagined. Across the square is a seafood restaurant called Cal Pep. There is no menu, and there are only a few tables in the back. The rest of the patrons line up nightly to have a seat at the bar. To order, converse with the bartender/server who will recommend dishes based on what you want, as well as more that you may not need. House white accompanied molluscs cooked with pork bits, "special" mushrooms,  ...

Cal Pep

To the left, a couple from Vienna, Austria received a whole white monkfish, which was de-spined and plated in front of them by the server. I would probably swap the mushrooms for that fish if I'd known. To the right, first a large group of spanish-speaking asian people knew exactly what to order and squabbled over the bill, then a couple from Toronto. In line, a very language-challenged lady from the States condescendingly ordered wine which she jabbed at from a ripped-out page of a travel magazine very loudly and slowly to the server in English, who pretended not to know any. She did succeed in getting what she wanted, which turned out to be the delicious house white.