You just can’t help but be inspired by the gorgeous Vancouver skyline, mountains and ocean on a sunny summer day like today. 

Lucky girl that I am, I spent the better part of this morning photographing some of the City’s public art pieces.  I have to say… working full-time while running a business is really hard and completely exhausting at times, but being a graphic designer who gets to go on day-long photo shoots definitely makes it more palatable! I get to play with my Canon Rebel XT, sip an iced latte while driving around this beautiful city, shooting artwork in public spaces. Truly a delightful morning!

This photo was taken at a new park in the City. The artwork is called "The House of Roots" and is thematically based on the history and "roots" of the people who originally settled this area over 125 years ago. It’s made from laser cut corten steel plating and rods, welded together and will weather/rust to a wonderful patina over time… You can actually stand inside it. It’s one of my favorite pieces throughout the City… it’s like an adult sized tree house above the grass. Yum!

Anyways… photography is fast becoming as much of a passion for me as painting. Everything in nature affects my color palette when I choose my tubes of paint. A brilliant orange against a vibrant sunny yellow; a fresh blade of grass against the rich brown soil; rusted steel against a bright blue sky… all fodder for the creative imagination. Hmmm… think I feel like painting tonight =)

Have been commissioned to work on a large piece for administrator at City Hall. He’s thinking about a grouping of 3 HUGE canvasses (at least 3×3 each)… Can’t wait to get started! we have one more meeting and then off I go to the studio.

Well, daydreaming must end now… back to the salt-mine as they say LOL!
Mmmmm… I think I smell a caramel macchiato - yes, yes I do! and lookie lookie, it’s walking my way! Gotta go… Ciao =)

Hey all…

Well our new weblog is set-up… Please don’t be shy in posting comments and feedback, we’d love to hear from you =)

Have a great day, night, afternoon or whatever time-zone you’re in!
Christina

Well… things are getting back to normal after CHA… at least as normal as it ever is LOL!

CHA was great fun and a great amount of work, as expected. Met some fantastic new people, made a bunch of new contacts and enjoy much DEEP DISH Chicago Pizza :^) Yummy!

So, here’s the latest skuttle-butt on our show experience:

1. Summer ‘05 Collection - metropolitan (metro for short) debuted at the show. It was well received and noted as a part of a trend to watch according to the CHA Summer 2005 Scrapjazz Wrap-up. Very cool and exciting to be recognized on this important scrapbooking website.

2. Brought our Spring ‘05 Collection - Big Kahuna out into the light ‘o day =). It’s such a fun palette… so tropical. Poi Boy and King K are my faves from this bunch. So vibrant! The painting of this collection was so much fun.
3. Introduced fiberWERX by Timeless Touches. Janis’ selection and our collaboration on the fibers that coordinate with all the paperWERX lines was great fun. Amazing fibers… such high quality. The DT is chomping at the bit to get these babies LOL!
4. scribble and scratch were given an intro too… Now I gotta say that these rub-ons ROCK! No flaking or scratching off… and we tried in the booth on many an occasion! One person scratch the b’geez outta our printed paper before he scratched off the rub-on, now that’s staying power.  It’s too cool to see my handwriting as a rub-on… can’t wait to see the artwork people will create with it!
5. Hooked up with a bunch of new vendors, which made me happy and hopefully will get us out there even more…

Post-CHA
Well… after the Sunday mayhem of post-show "tear-down" we went back to the hotel and on Monday moved into the City. And can I just say one thing… man was it HOT!
HOT HOT HOT… us Westcoast people were having a heck of a time with it. I don’t know how you folks in the south east USA deal with this humidity and heat!! My hat’s off to you.

We stuck around the city for 3 days, exploring all the usual tourist spots, architectural tours (which I higly recommend if you have the time), galleries and parks… shopped and searched out A/C whenever we could and ate some amazing DeepDish and pasta at a great restaurant called Pizano’s (Madison and Wabash - I believe).  We even watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on an IMAX screen at the Navy Pier - how’s that for touristy LOL =)

Arrived home in beautiful Vancouver BC last Thursday evening (07.21.05).
All in all a great trip… made some new friends, met with some old, saw a truly beautiful city and had my first real Chicago Deep Dish. What more could a hard working mfg. in the scrap/paper arts world ask for??  (More orders I guess LOL!)