Building a tree

I belong to an art group that meets every Friday morning at one of the members’ homes. We paint, sketch, talk, drink coffee, eat treats–it’s my favourite morning of the week. Last week we chose to put down our pencils and paint brushes, and pick up drills instead. We had each been collection driftwood on the beaches around the island, and this was the day we were using it to make driftwood trees.

Although we had our individual ideas on how we wanted our trees to look, and we worked independently in that regard, we also worked together–figuring out the best way to drill (and we learned that having the drill set to ‘reverse’ does NOT work!), how to balance the wood, how to balance the look. Caroline’s yard was a hubbub of activity and noise. And at the end of the morning, we all had lovely trees to take home with us. Here are some photos of the process:

First we laid out our wood along the length of the post we were using to plan out the tree:

Then we drilled. A hole in the base to insert the post, then holes at the balance point for each piece of driftwood:

Threading the driftwood on the post in gradually decreasing lengths to give the shape of a tree:

Here’s the group of us behind our forest of trees in various stages of completion: 

And here is my beautiful finished tree, decorated with bits from (and about) the sea. I love it, and plan to keep it up year round: 

(Thanks to Isobel White for most of the photographs.)

A Week of Painting

(Photograph by Grace Webber)

Last week I participated in the  Bermuda Plein Air Festival. What an exciting, intense, and tiring week. Fifty-eight artists (local and from abroad) gathered to paint at various locations across the island. I felt honoured to be in the company of so many talented and professional artists. Plein Air painting, which is the style of painting outdoors, can be a challenge because of all the elements you have to deal with that aren’t issues while sitting comfortably indoors with a brush in hand. For example, there’s the weather. One day we had extreme winds that almost blew over my easel, and then it started to rain; not a good thing to happen when painting with watercolours. Then there’s the location to paint–to get the right composition on another day, I stood on a slope for several hours. That was hard on the feet and back. And of course, the light changes. A scene with beautiful shadows can suddenly change when a cloud moves in, or a boat on the water turns in the breeze, giving a completely different view than the one you are painting. When I was painting in town, a scooter I was putting in my scene disappeared when its owner hopped on and rode away!

The Plein Air Festival also included convivial meals with the group, workshops and lectures, and wonderful camaraderie. The culmination of the week was an exhibit of everyone’s work at the Bermuda Society of Arts gallery, with prizes for best watercolour, oil, pastel/acrylic, and best in show. I didn’t win anything (I didn’t expect to!) but I was excited to discover that two of my paintings sold.

Painting every day for a whole week taught me things about technique and style. I plan on painting a lot more frequently than I’ve done in the past, because, like writing, the doing of it has become something I need.

Here are the results of my efforts for the week:

Painted on Sunday at a property called Elysium:

Monday in St. Georges:

Tuesday at Botanical Gardens:

Wednesday at Castle Point:

Thursday in Hamilton was a quick art competition–paint it, frame it and hand it in in 4 hours:

Friday at Dockyard:

 

 

A New Chapter

Last month my publishing house, Turquoise Morning Press, closed its doors. I’m sad to lose such a wonderful advocate for my books. Owner and publisher Kim Jacobs was a dream to work with, as were the editors and staff. My disappointment about this closure is about more than having lost the vehicle by which my books go to press; it was a little like the breakup of a family of authors who supported one another under the guidance of a parent-like publishing house.

Unfortunately, one of the effects of the closure is that all books published by TMP were taken off the marketplace. This means that, unless the authors find another way to publish them, readers can no longer buy them. I pondered long and hard about what this meant for my career as an author. I don’t yet have a completed manuscript for my third novel, so the timing isn’t right to seek a new publisher, but I still want The Unraveling of Abby Settel and Breathing Space to be available to readers.

I decided to explore the world of self-publishing. After traversing a big learning curve, my books are once again on the marketplace. With the new releases, I decided to give both books a new look. Designing new covers was one of the more fun aspects of the process (and also part of the huge learning curve).

What do you think of the new covers?

Currently the books are accessible only as eBooks, but they will be available as print books sometime in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.