The Blue Brick

The Red Girl

September 26, 2012

This piece is probably the most popular piece of visual art I have ever made:

The piece is called ‘The Red Girl’ and her name is Dinah. This is how the piece came about.

In 2007 my mom had to undergo surgery and it was a very difficult year for our family. When the surgery was over and mom was healthy again I felt like I needed to get away, but not on a resort, on a soul-vacation. On a whim I decided to go to Peru by myself for a few weeks and hike the Andes. I had never traveled alone before so my parents were a little freaked out, but they understood that I needed to do this.

I ended up hiking a trail called ‘Lares’. The terrain was breathtakingly beautiful, but I turned out to have pretty lousy tolerance for high altitudes and spent much of the hike feeling sick and sorry for myself. There was also a lot of poverty in the area and I felt really powerless and guilty for being a tourist. Though I had been to India many times, this was my first exposure to poverty as an adult, and it really hit me. Especially the kids.

Then I entered this little rural village in the middle of nowhere and there was this little girl, Dinah. She was shy with the camera, but wanted me to play and chase her around. I took off after her and while I was running I snapped the pic that would end up being the basis for the red girl.

She taught me something important that day – that we’re never powerless; the little things we do to make each other smile are some of the most important things. She taught me to have a little fun too, and I ended up enjoying the rest of the trip much more because of my encounter with her. Afterwards I held an art show when I got home and the proceeds went to support local children’s charities in the Andean region. It also set the tone for the years of traveling that followed. I’m very grateful to Dinah for the part she has played in my life :)
September 25, 2012
Back in the saddle

September 24, 2012

Every summer I take time away from the potters wheel, and last Saturday was my first day back.

Oh, the beautiful little freshly-wedged balls of potential…

I confess, this is the stage where I find my pottery most beautiful.

You guessed it – some of those are destined to be yarn bowls!
Where I Wish I Was – Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia

September 20, 2012

Has anyone else noticed how much the nature of work has changed for them in the past few years? This summer my boss, and most of my clients, worked while on vacation. A few weeks ago I was sick; I worked from home. I take my midday meal at a working lunch and frequently work evenings and early mornings to catch up. It used to be a deadline thing, now it’s a new normal thing.

I blame a host of reasons – smart phones allow people to work anywhere, any time. People can reasonably expect that I will check email, even if it arrives at night. I always have my computer with me, and I happen to love what I do, which can make the line seem a bit blurry when you’re pulling serious overtime.

It reminds me of the value of unplugging these days. Turning off the phone, not answering email, and doing things that are soul food. Eating well, sleeping well, spending time with our favourite people, pets and pastimes and remembering to breathe.

My favourite place in the world to do all of these things is Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. Today, when I am up to my ears in deadlines I remember the rocky isolation, the sound of the ocean, and the afternoons that I spent alternating between napping on the warm rocks in the sun and knitting while listening to the waves crash.

Here are some photos of the place where my soul sings, and where I wish I could be right now. Enjoy!
Dabbling in Paint…

September 16, 2012

Remember this guy?

I loved it so much I thought I should paint it, so I did.
Acrylic on canvas, with acrylic ink for small details. I’m nowhere near as good as I’d like to be with paint… it’s been a while! I’m in the zone though, so I’ll be trying to find more time for painting in the future.
Women’s Self Defence

September 15, 2012

As a martial artist I’ve had a lot of exposure to different ways of looking at self defence. One of the things I’ve found interesting lately is the rise of this movement called ‘slut-walk’. At one end of that spectrum are people who believe that, if you’re not wearing a full body covering, then you deserve whatever happens to you. At the other end are folks who think they should have the right to walk down the street in a bikini without any unwanted attention. It made me put some serious thought into self defence, and to what degree we are each responsible for our own safety and well-being.

I think the important thing to remember is that, once a criminal act has been committed against someone, it’s the fault of the criminal. There is no such thing as an outfit you could wear that would give someone the right to commit an assault against you. The sad reality is that assault takes place on a regular basis, to people at all ends of that spectrum.

However, there are simple things we can each do to take charge of our own safety and well-being, and lessen the odds that a criminal would select us as a target.

This fall I’m putting my self defence and teaching experience to use in my community by offering a free, no-nonsense, women only self defence course. I’ll be teaching once a month, at the Metropolitan United Church in downtown Toronto. Classes are 2.5 hours long, on Saturday mornings and they are 100% free to attend.

The course is basic, and practical, and requires no prior knowledge of self defence. There is no minimum fitness level. It has been developed from 15 years of martial arts experience, with the input of my own Sensei, and a York Region Police Officer.

If you’re in the GTA, and this is something you might be interested in, you can email me at Toronto.Self.Defence@gmail.com, or check us out on Facebook!

This morning I held my first session – it was such an excellent experience. Photos of the morning are below :)

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Another great spinning quote

September 14, 2012

Just a photo of my gorgeous new drop spindle, and the work I’ve started, and a quote from Elizabeth Zimmerman :) Feel free to click for a larger copy and save it!
Mono Cliffs and Dirty Kids

September 13, 2012

Mono Cliffs is a provincial park located in the town of Mono, about 1.5 hours drive from Toronto. The park is part of the Niagara Escarpment and contains a portion of the Bruce Trail. Tito and I decided to drive up for a day hike – couldn’t have picked a better spot.

I only visited Mono Cliffs once before – as a grade 5 student. My school had a program that sent kids to camp for one week in Mono Cliffs. It’s amazing how much of the park, the trail marking system and the cliffs, seemed familiar to me when we went hiking there.

However… my only really vivid memory of visiting in grade 5 is a silly one. I had never had any camping experience – it just wasn’t something my family did. I had no idea what to expect. On the first day of camp the counsellor informed my class that there was no hot water for the showers – which elicited a perfectly synced chorus of groans from all the girls in my class… except me.

My grade 5 self had, to that point, thought it would be splendid to be muddy and in the woods for an entire week. The groans of the girls made me feel self conscious, and immature, as though they had already evolved to the point where things like showers were important and here I was looking to play in the dirt like a small child.

Luckily I had a strong enough sense of self, even then, to get muddied up to my hearts content and to evade showers for as long as the staff would let me ;) I’m grateful for it now… and I still love a good, muddy hike! I told the story to Tito on our trip; it’s funny what you remember sometimes.

The park itself is stunning, and contains rock formations with a staircase descending down about 30 metres – offering a great view of the plant life as well as the rock crevice. We have plans to come back for more hiking and photography this autumn, can’t wait! We finished off our day with deserts at the Mono Cliffs Inn – check this goodness out, Tito had coconut cheesecake and I had Lavender Creme Brulée. Just thinking it makes me hungry.

And last… couldn’t resist a shot of these guys while driving back to Toronto :)
Fiber Goodness, right downtown!

September 11, 2012

Toronto has got a gorgeous new yarn store, and it’s right in the middle of downtown; Ewe Knit is located in Mirvish Village, just one block south, and one block west of Bathurst and Bloor.

The front features a comfy coffee shop stocked with goodies.

The inside… oh the inside! It explodes with colour and fibery goodness from a refreshing range of brands that are not commonly found in Toronto. I immediately fell in love with some heavenly stuff called “Zen Garden Yarns”.

All the staples are here too; Cascade, Koigu and Noro grace the shelves. My yarn hankering was drawn to the wall of IndigoDragonfly, where I bought yarn specifically because the colourway was call ‘People Are Extremely Stupid Today. I Cannot Talk To Any More Of Them’.

Alongside the IndigoDragonfly goodness are Malabrigo and (be still my beating heart) Sweet Georgia. No longer do I need to fly to the other side of the country to get my hands on this wonderful stuff.

That doesn’t even cover the range – check out their site for a full list of their products! The location is amazing, the selection is amazing, and I haven’t even gotten to the staff yet. Claudia, the owner, is sweet, friendly and runs the business with a strong focus on local talent and fair trade yarns. Here is an excerpt from their website so you can see what you’re supporting when you shop here:

Eweknit has its roots in the fair trade community. Claudia, the creative force behind Eweknit, learned to knit at an early age when a nun at the school she attended asked her to stay after school and to accompany her to knit. The lessons about the joy of knitting and the importance of communal activities stuck with her. Seven years ago, Claudia helped found, and continues to work, with a single mother’s Co-operative in El Salvador that that produces about 100,000 fairly traded t-shirts every year for sale in Canada.

This emphasis on fair trade carries over to Eweknit as we try to carry, promote and sell as many fairly traded products as possible. We carry yarns from Italy that are produced by small family businesses, from co-operatives in South America, and we are especially proud of our Canadian dyers such as Indigo Dragonfly, Koigu, and Zen Yarn Garden, who demonstrate the beauty and creativity of our local community.

I have more news about this yarn store – my first design collaboration will be with Claudia. She’s given me a skein of DK weight Zen Yarn Garden to design a kit from – I’m swatching right now and I’m so excited! Stay tuned to see where our creative collaboration leads us :)
The Niagara Escarpment

September 11, 2012

Labour day weekend Tito and I went on a short road trip through the Niagara escarpment. We checked out a great yarn store (Spun Fibre Arts), drove around wine country and saw a drive-in movie (my first!). We also got some great bug shots, startled some frogs, wandered through sunflowers taller than us and ate ourselves silly on fresh Ontario peaches so ripe you needed to eat them over a sink. We ended the day sitting under the skyway at night, watching the flames from the Hamilton industrial sector. It was a perfect day :)