Creative Ramblings and Other Doodles

Good evening! It's Friday, I've worked my first week at my first freelance contract gig this year, and already I'm wishing to be done and back home. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to make some cash, but I thoroughly enjoy working from home. I've been doing it for 6 months now, and I don't have any desire to return to the working world of slaving like a robot for someone who just wants to line their pockets with cash, know what I mean? I mean, if I want to slave over something, it's going to be for myself this time. At least I'll put in a bigger effort because I know that I will be rewarded.

Today we got to leave early. Good for me, bad for them (the company's busy!). I was on my way home and looked over at a courtyard behind the Anglican Church of Christ on Union Street north of Sainte-Catherine Street and it looked so lovely I decided to stop and draw something. The seat I settled on had this great view!

Anglican Church of Christ

I took this photo with my cell phone, and then I loved it so much I decided to draw it!

My interpretation of the church. For someone (me) who doesn't do a lot of realism, I'd say this was pretty aewsome!

From my comment you can see how much I like this drawing. I don't often do realism, but I find that since I've stopped slaving for someone else, I've had a lot more creativity flowing back to me which is super awesome. It's like it used to be. I must say though, that Montreal is a really inspiring city to be living in, especially an artist. Now, it's perhaps not the best painting (Ok, I'm being hard on myself), but keep in mind I'm still learning the art of watercolouring.  It's not the easiest to work with. I also haven't learned the art of drawing foliage in the foreground, so I ended up doing a lot of scribbles. I needed to show that the trees were above me and in front of the church. When I started painting this, I got halfway and kind of wished I hadn't painted it at all, but once it was started I couldn't just leave it.
After I drew this I strolled around to see what this tourist was photographing. Apparently it was this!

It's strange. I walked only a meter and the colour of the sky and building totally changed!

Squiggly church!

It's really fun to take pictures of buildings reflecting off buildings. As I was strolling around I suddenly ran into a sign that was about ribcage high. It had a pointy metal edge, and it totally rammed in my abdomen! It left a mark, but thankfully not a bruise. I felt so silly walking into that! But what I was thinking was "why are there signs screwed into the ground all over the place?" I mean, I'd have to look down to see them!

Hopefully I can find more things to draw! I'm starting to become less rusty and more at ease. I guess I'll have to start carrying a small amount of supplies with me in case the need strikes me.

Some Tidbits I Found!

Hello fellow readers! :) I hope everyone is well! I've been reading up on my new book The Handmade Marketplace and it's really given me some good advice that I didn't know about! It talks about pricing your wares, marketing yourself, blogging and/or website, etc... I bought it from Chapters/Indigo online when I had a $5 off coupon not really knowing the content of the book, and I'm glad it did, cause it's really helping me!

The other day I was out trying to buy a lamp from a guy who was selling it on Craigslist, and he forgot to give me his apartment number, so I ended up walking back to the metro and just going home. On my way home, I saw there was a church bazaar, and since I wanted to buy a lamp, I figured I'd stop in and see if there was anything good. Well the place was full of vendors selling clothes, plants, and after a little walk around the middle bit, what did I see???? LAMPS!!!! Yes!! They had one floor lamp (what I originally wanted), but they had an even better table lamp that had a halogen bulb and 2 different intensity buttons. I tried it out, and it was perfect! Bright light, just what I need to do my crafts and only $8. Not a bad deal. So I continue walking and I see a table of fabrics! I'm already thinking about my monsters at this point. I did find this great retro pattern.

Lucky me it only cost $0.50. I think I might have only gotten about a yard and a bit, but that's all I really need for my monsters. :) So i continue walking and there's this round bit in the middle (I forget the name - you normally find them out in parks and they're covered and have a 'fence' around the edge and stairs going up to the elevated bit.. oh what's the word??) Anyway, so I go up and take a look. I don't see anything but then my eye spots these:

BUTTONS!!! I love these buttons!!! They're obviously vintage, and what I love about them (especially the burgundy one) is that it reminds me a bit of Jupiter and the swirling gasses on the planet's surface. But really, the colours are just gorgeous!! I can just imagine using these for monster eyes, and how nice it'll look. The sheet cost me $1.00 and I got 4 colours to choose from, and 4 different sizes for each colour. That's a lot of buttons for $1. A steal! If I had managed to find that guy's apartment and buy that lamp, I would never have seen this church bazaar, and I wouldn't have found these great finds. I'm looking forward to seeing what my monsters will look with these on them.

Stay posted and when I make them, I'll take pictures and post them! :) You can also see and buy my wares at my Etsy shop: http://www.curiouslittlebird.etsy.com  and you can view my website here: http://www.curiouslittlebird.ca

Thanks for stopping by! :)