It's been a mission for the last few weeks to keep busy. Idle hands make for an idle mind. Or something like that.....
My friends Leslie & Suzie arrived from Thunder Bay to keep me company & keep me busy. We always have lots of good laughs & Suzie is great for finding the comedy in any situation. Laughter really is the best medicine!
My artist friend, Leslie Bailey (Vintage Pixie Studio) had planned to offer some workshops to her customers in the GTA who have been following her work from the One of a Kind Show.
In order for me to participate, Leslie agreed to hold her classes at my apartment.
It was great to be able to join in & learn along with other creative people without having to leave my home or go out in the windchill or snow.
The others attending were an amazing group of artist/teachers themselves, including a professional puppeteer/puppet creator & a gourd artist who operates a gourd farm, while travelling the world in search of unique gourds & gourd art.
In another workshop was a porcelain doll artist/shop owner & her sister, a porcelain doll repair artist trained in Germany.
We all learned from each other while meeting new friends & I hope to travel to some of their studios for their classes when I am able.
I am quite limited right now, as far as venturing too far from my apartment for longer than an hour or 2 with my oxygen, & I don't have the energy to do much more than my physio.
Contrary to what many of you may think, I am not out & about shopping, antiquing & on the town as I would love to be!
But, back to the good stuff...
Besides the formal classes, Leslie did some trial classes with me as the practice student. It was great to play with new techniques. Interesting to see what goes into developing a class, too.
Time, steps, materials, tools required & ease of application need to be tested. I was the perfect student, except I had to take some nap breaks.
We needle felted these funny little creatures,
made these steampunk jewellery pieces,
sculpted a character figure,
& created some wings.
These last few weeks have flown by for me. It's good to keep my hands & mind busy & not think so much!
Taking one day at a time.
