art cards

It's true! I've finally made art cards that I am happy enough with to sell. I have about eight designs available on my "Etsy" page (http://HendersonArt.etsy.com/) and I made only a limited number of them. If I do sell them all in the next short while, I'll make more. Also I will more than likely make some of other paintings, too...

Another update from the studio: I am making several puppets in felts at the moment. Most of them appear to be forming into cats. I love cats! The felt is hand-made. If you look at the above-mentioned Etsy page, you can see them (when they're done!) Unless, of course, they sell before I can post or document them. That does happen sometimes!

Happy Easter!!!

new stuff

There is so very much going on in my life, it is tough to update a "personal style" blog. Sorry! However, here is a brief run-down:

-I am opening a gallery/studio/workshop space with a friend who will also maintain her herbalist practice in the space. We're writing another blog right now, updated almost daily. We provide tips on creativity, arts, herbalism, gardening... cooking... DIY stuff... all types of wonderful things. Also there is a page for a featured online artist. I highly recommend checking it out. Fleurbain.

-I am looking at doing my Master's in Art Therapy. However, I need some phych credits first... so will be doing them part-time over the next while. Worst-case scenario, I learn some psych stuff that will help me with teaching workshops.

-I am painting like a maniac. It's good.

-I am involved in a few things around town... arty things. Details later.

-My cat is almost fat! Hurrah!!! (He'd been somewhat underweight when he moved in with me a little over a year ago.)

-We are being teased by the hope of Spring in Montreal. Soon. Soon.

-I am enjoying some dance classes at the local YMCA. Fun and fitness! Yahoo!!!

-I'd tried to get some part-time work in the embroidery industry, but no call in a month. Guess it's not meant to be! :)

-I am a petsitter now. Just call me Crazy... Crazy Cat Lady Petsitting Service, that is! Find my page on Facebook.

OK, I thing that's about it, besides making felted soaps, cat-toys, and other things besides painting and scarves. I am trying to write some articles, too... oh and am applying for exhibitions. Much much much. Good life!

Natasha

Herbal Creativity Spa Weekend

Herbal Creativity Spa Weekend: Valentine

The pinnacle of the dark, dreary days of winter is a purgatory that rests between Christmastime and Spring… February. Installed into February is a day that is supposed to be a celebration of “Love”. Many lament the commercialisation of Valentine‘s Day, and resent the high expectations and sadness that come with so many of our holidays.

Traditional Valentine’s expectations dictate that one should enjoy chocolates, give expensive gifts, and be in love. Well, let’s take some of the good from those traditions and embrace them! Even if you are single, you deserve some chocolate. Actually, you deserve more chocolate. Feeling a bit bloated after a winter’s eating? This is an opportunity to sharpen your skills in making HEALTHY treats. Herbal-infused organic chocolate truffles, anyone? Or perhaps a cup of Healthy Hot Chocolate? True love. Love is in a good cup of tea, a soothing bath that invigorates the spirit, or a beautiful hand-made gift box to hold treasures.

The brains behind the Fleurbain concept, Tammy Schmidt, Clinical Herbal Therapist and Natasha Henderson, visual artist and arts instructor, are offering an Herbal Creativity Spa Weekend workshop in February. There is an option to take one or both days during the Herbal Creativity Spa Weekend, on Friday the 11th from 7 to 10pm and Saturday the 12th from 1 to 4pm.

Friday night, we will enjoy a relaxing glass of wine (or herbal tea) with some dessert treats and fine cheese. Participants will learn how to make an herbal Love Potion. The Love Potion is a special euphoric herb that is distilled in a vodka base. Everyone will get to take home a sample of this to try themselves! Tub Teas are all the rage, and for good reason. What could be better than infusing your entire body in an organic, herbal bath that is designed to soothe the body, mind, and spirit? Participants will learn some of the properties of the herbs used in this special Valentine’s Tea Bath, and take home a sample. Finally, we will make a Boudoir Gift Box, a gift box made from scratch that will be decorated with fine fabrics, papers, lace, and beads. It will be suitable as a gift box for chocolates, jewellery, fine treasures… and can be re-used to hold your favourite special things.

Saturday afternoon starts off with a healthy, delicious beginning. Participants will learn how to make Healthy Hot Chocolate (yes, this version is truly healthy), and enjoy a cup. While sipping our treat, we will make organic chocolate truffles, which will be flavoured with high quality, organic herbs for unique flavours. These are perfect to tuck into the Boudoir Boxes made the previous evening. Then we will think about the physical and mental well-being that a good bath brings, and make a felted soap loofah for our next bath. These soaps combine sheep’s wool with a high-quality Ginseng or Evening Primrose soap to be an exfoliating and moisturising addition to your bath. Finally, we will create a batch of Love Tea to take home and enjoy.

All courses use the finest quality, pure and organic ingredients. Take one afternoon or evening for $75, or treat yourself (or a friend!) to both sessions for $135. Location of workshops will be in a Montreal artist’s studio, converted to a Valentine’s Factory for our workshops. Please email fleurbain(at)gmail.com for information and registration.

Restaurant Review: El Chalateco

Over on the Fleurbain blog, there is a new review on an El Salvadoran restaurant! El Chalateco is a good restaurant that serves up a comfortable atmosphere and delicious, nutritious, fresh food. When you're in Montreal, pay a visit to South America for a pupusa. Miam!!!

New Workshops in January and Spring Break...

Hi folks! Just a quick word, if you are in the Montreal area you might like to check out my website for just-announced workshops. I have workshops for adults, teens and kids. Here be the link. Hoorah!

Also please note that I offer workshops for groups of adults, kids, birthday parties... anyone who needs a productive and fun, or team-building activity please contact me. I will be studying in the field of Art Therapy soon, and am applying all that I learn to my basic fun workshops, too. Cheers and a happy new year to you all!!!

As I mentioned a few days (or was it weeks? ack!) ago, I am involved in another blog. This new blog isn't just "personal stuff" like this blog that your eyes are currently dancing over. The new blog, Fleurbain.com, is a joint venture. Click this to see my latest entry, though, about my drive to change to a non-toxic art form...

On another, more personal note boy I'm hungry right now! Time for a slice of bread.

That being said, lately I've gotten a membership at the YMCA, have been using the veggies I get in my CSA box well and smartly, and have been enjoying brisk walks to the studio almost daily. Things are going well. I am in two exhibitions right now (well, soon opening) and will be in a craft fair just before Christmas. I'm pet-sitting, too! I love pet-sitting. My cat puts up with the new smells remarkably well.

I am going to try and get my Master's degree in Art Therapy. Yes, indeed. It looks like a long-haul situation, though. I wonder if I woudn't be smarter to "just" get my regular Master's in Fine Art... oh, decisions!!!

Another Blog...

I am involved with another blog. This one is a Group effort, and it focusses on Verdant Life In The City. Gardening, art, herbalism, cartoons, a beautiful life, food... and much much more will be a part of this... Fleurbain. I will keep this-here blog for more personal ramblings... will also continue to co-post my art reviews and cartoons here! However, I do reccommend checking Fleurbain.com out, too.

November Single-Day Workshops: Felt in Montreal

Workshops schedule for November:

Make Your Own Felt Wool Scarf, and Felted Soap Loofah
For ages 15 to Adult, the perfect way to make a couple of deluxe Christmas presents!

In this three-hour course, students will create a felt wool scarf, and also a felted soap loofah. The basics of the wet-felting process will be taught.

Choose one day of: Tuesday November 16, 10am - 1pm; Thursday November 18, 6:30pm - 9:30pm; or Saturday November 20, 10am - 1pm. Cost for one of these courses is $40 (materials included) OR $37 each if you take more than one course...



Make Your Own Felt Pouch/Purse, and Felted Soap Loofah
For ages 15 to Adult, A fun three hour session in which we will create a felt wool pouch or purse, suitable for a camera, cellphone, or just to have a nice little purse! We will also make a felted soap loofah for the bath.

Choose one day of: Tuesday November 23, 10am - 1pm; Thursday November 25, 6:30pm - 9:30pm; or Saturday November 27, 10am - 1pm. Cost for one of these courses is $40 (materials included) OR $37 each if you take more than one course (including the Scarf option, above.


These workshops are just three hours, and you will learn skills to make felt obects at home, if you so choose. Please see: (Link to the right of these words!) for more information.

Rick Leong and Michael A. Robinson at Parisian Laundry

Rick Leong and Michael A. Robinson, Parisian Laundry

Show(s) visited Sept 18, 2010

A fellow painter, Rick Leong’s work is something that I can appreciate. Nature is the major inspiration for his large-scale oil on canvas works, but he delves into a fairy-tale, mystic and imagined place. The wonder of seeing is ever-present. Shapes and forms that magically appear amongst the trees, moss, sky, and vegetation are like a brief reverie within the midst of contemplation. I recall seeing his solo exhibit at the Parisian Laundry just over three years ago… they were intriguing paintings, and they performed that delicate dance between memory, observation, expression, and representation. Good painting, I would call it. So when I realised he was exhibiting at the Parisian Laundry again, I decided to stop in.

I went into the ‘Laundry not knowing what to expect, but my hopes were high. The work of Michael A. Robinson greeted me on the main floor. His work is a grand-scale for a commercial gallery space, and it was effective. The content was perhaps simple (for the serious nature of the work) and highly accessible. I liked it. Visually compelling, visceral, the work made links between stark materials (wood, plaster, simple construction-objects) and bomb imagery, warfare, and the techniques of it. Three large sculptures dominated the voluminous space, accompanied by a few drawings.

A big wall-hanging that was comprised of chiselled plaster-covered wood was covered in scratches and worked-upon images of “falling” bombs. This piece must have been about 12 or 15 feet tall, and massively wide. There seemed to be three juncture-points of the lines, three places where the tension of the composition was highest. It formed a pleasing composition, quite classic in form. Perhaps as “dropping bombs” they would be most effective in this formation, too.

The second large sculptural piece in this show was a selection of thin, flat, jagged edged plaster pieces, carefully arranged in a circle on the floor. There was a sense of “putting the pieces together”, a feeling of trying to figure something out… The individual plaster pieces looked like they were lifted from the large wall hanging, mentioned above.

Also included in Robinson’s exhibit was a series of drawings that appeared to be studies on bombing, attacks, and warfare. They were clearly drawn with an ink pen, using a ruler. There was a graphic, clear, and somewhat spare formality to them, and they seemed like technical drawings that bordered on illustration. Certainly minimalist, cut back to the basics of the forms that inspired them works… again warfare. There were about five or six of these drawings.

The most captivating piece in the show was, hands down, a huge construct of wooden objects. This seemingly exploding form must have been about 20 feet in diameter. I walked well around it, checking to see if there were any eyes poked out by all the projecting pieces of wood. It was comprised of crutches, easels, ski poles, a distinct absence of hockey sticks, and many simple pieces of wood… the type found leftover on construction sites. It was almost a cartoon drawing of an explosion; the drawing made of wood pieces in a 3-D format. The overall effect was a disassociation from the grit and grime of war.

Overall, the work in Even When Bombs Are Gone spoke more about construction and drafting, layers of building and re-building, and a closeness to materiality than “War“. "War" was a reference point, with pieces of the visual graphics and planning for war utilised in this work. “War” was isolated as a concept, as a source for dislocated, objective subject matter in and of itself.

After seeing the Main Space exhibit, I went down into The Bunker (yes, it is called that) to see Rick Leong’s show, The Roaming Gloam. This is a space accessible through a staircase underground, and many attendees would need to duck while traversing a certain passage (I did). Once you arrive in The Bunker, however, the ceiling opens up to about 20 feet or so. It’s a great space. Dramatic, no windows, no light but the spotlights on the one large painting on display. It was… a pretty good painting. This painting displayed a magical-seeming forest-scene. The tree-forms were impeccably painted, the bark seemed to glow from within, an ethereal light. Little cute polka-dotted mushrooms added a sense of scale in the bottom. For some reason, though, it all left me feeling a little empty. I think that more context, another couple of pieces perhaps upstairs would have… oh wait… there were two pieces of Leong’s upstairs. In the Upstairs (above the Main Space) Leong showed two pencil drawings, of an accessible scale, approximately 3’ x 2’ . These were exquisite renderings of tree-like shapes, with tendrils and doodads dancing about the treetops and trunks. Very lovely. There was a lot of empty space upstairs…. It was elegant and open, and delightful for some odd reason. I felt that Leong’s exhibit really could have used a couple more pieces. One large painting and two exquisite drawings separated two floors apart just wasn’t enough for me. It should be noted that the gallery suggested in a little text handed out that this large painting would converse with some smaller paintings that Leong was showing (in theory concurrently) up the hill at the McClure Gallery. Not complaining about Leong’s works, rather, I wanted MORE of it.

After seeing the two exhibits at the Parisian Laundry, I was inspired to go up the hill (heeding the instructions of the ’Laundry) to see the additional works of Leong at The McClure Gallery. Alas, it appears that that show is actually set for a later date. Upon re-reading the text provided by The ‘Laundry, perhaps Leong’s exhibit at the McClure gallery in concurrent with one in New York later this fall… well, either way, good job Rick Leong! Three major exhibits in one autumn.

Instead of Leong’s work at the McClure, there was an exhibit of large-scale, beautiful paintings by Russell T. Gordon. It was something of a retrospective/celebration of a fine, fine artist. I loved his paintings. However, I would have cut a couple of the smaller pieces from the show, and one or two of the larger ones as well. Two big pieces were competing with one another on a wall that couldn’t accommodate them. The lesser one I’d have bumped. Just a note, not reviewing that show. But Over Easy – Metaphores en series runs ‘til October 2 and it is good painting…

I am glad to have wandered into the gallery today, it’s been too too long. Next gallery I hit up will be the Musee des Beaux Arts. I hear there are some pretty darned stunning pieces down in the contemporary temporary exhibits rooms right NOW…

Update On Some Stuff!

You know, I just came to a realisation about 15 seconds ago as I was pondering "what to write" here. I don't have a cartoon to post, I am too lazy to find/insert photos or something... I have a dash of a hangover and really just want to noodle around on the keyboard and share something. Something like an "update" on what's going on in my life. No, not everything... THAT's what occurred to me about a minute ago, now. (Back on topic!)

When I had started a blog, a few years back (I managed to erase years of writing, serious attempts at Art-Reviews and even Music ones when I erased my Myspace account... oh well...) I knew that I couldn't write about my work-place. I didn't want to lose a job, get sued, any of that stuff. Now, as a self-employed person, I can do that! So... I must say that my boss is very lenient. She lets me take breaks, start, finish my work whenever I feel like it. If I want to research galleries at 2am and call that work, it's ok! The only issue I have with her is the amount of pay she provides. However, with this excellent working environment and tons of perks... I can't complain.

In addition to my self-employment, I am looking for work. Perhaps work that has fewer perks than my self-employment provides... but higher pay! A little above minimum-wage would be fine. Or a lot more. Whatever. Honestly, I would work up to full-time, but am hoping for part-time. I'll keep you posted on what happens in this realm... I have applied for a couple of jobs, have talked to folks at a couple of places.

I am looking for work in the fields of art/design, embroidery, fashion, illustration, photography, costume design, vegetarian food-prep, light house-keeping, daycare, teaching, art instruction, and general office-help. I should find something... I am sure there is much more that I am qualified/able to do, just don't know that these industries/jobs exist. It's a huge world out there!

I taught a couple of sweet children how to make felt, then drew, painted, and sewed with them for a few days last week. The day-camp idea is fun to do. Yes, it can be draining... however it is rewarding to work with children! I like it.

I currently have an exhibition up; I've sold a couple of paintings through it. I am hoping to have a "closing" or "finissage" party, in September for this show. Worst case scenario, we have a party. Best case, one or two more paintings sell!

I am looking for a studio-mate, in order to cut down costs a bit. I have talked to some people, and so far no luck. I do have another coming on Monday, who is a serious artist, and I am hopeful.

I just realised that this is not well-written, or planned, or edited or... well... sorry. Hangover and I really really need to go through my storage-closets, clean and find some things I am missing. This blog-post is a little like that, digging in and finding what's there. Examining it. The trick is to sort this all out, and put it into place.

Sugar Plum(p) Fairy

Identity Crisis (Well Not Really)

Cluck and Lurt Discuss Basketball

Cluck Describes Some Basketball Moves

Cluck Is A Little Jealous Of Lurt

Lurt Wants To Teach

Hiatus, Maybe Lasting a Whole Day Or Two. Not Really A Hiatus.

Identity

Nutritional Chicken

Curious Curios