Pencil Drawing Inside Out

 

Washing dishes by hand is meditation beyond my kitchen window when peering upon the grand showcase of nature and wildlife. The window inspiration was captured with a pencil drawing inviting the viewer into my world along the east coast of Nova Scotia. 

Drawing Agony & Boredom

 

Pencil and black ballpoint pen in a sketchbook.

October 2020, I decided it was time to do a liver cleanse to renew, restore and get ready for a winter season of art-making in the studio. And then the unbelievable happened to my skin!

Oil Painting Steps for Still Life

The genre of still-life paintings created by the Dutch of the 16th & 17th centuries utilized allegorical symbolism which is continued with today's artists who still represent popular objects that spark meaningful memories that define our era. 

Rock-n-Zen Garden Transformation & New Plants

Transformation is a goal for 2020 Rock-n-Zen Gardens with additional new plants and a DIY rock garden that will be a visual feature from the side window. Gardening is a personal expression of my artistic skills merging with wonderment for nature's perfection.

DIY Hand-painted Pots

Decorate the window sill with DIY hand-painted tin pots.  Transform the empty coffee tin for the perfect plant pot to display on a window sill or brighten up an open shelf to store cookies.  This one-of-kind pot is the funky sidekick to any plant or treasure stash.

Art for Charity

Charity & volunteering time and talents are my family tradition. This blog post is a memorial dedication to my MOM, Norma the volunteer.

Proverb Pillow Talk

NEW Proverb Pillow Talk series... 'It Takes Two...' pillow design with lots to say! A month-long hand stitching extravaganza started with an idea from my sketchbook.

Crochet Hippy Purses

Groovy Baby! Fashion is FUN. What started out as lessons crocheting squares, later were fashioned into my chic hippy purses that softy caress the hips with a splash of colorful distraction!

Music Man Pillow

A passion for making pillows as gifts for friends started back in the 1970s. Sewing and hand stitching pillows is a way to personalize the gift. My latest pillow creation is for my musician songwriting mate, James.

Silk Nuno Felt Scarves

Nuno felt is a textile combining roving wool and gauze-like silk with the method of rolling and wetting until the wool fibers felt into the silk fabric creating a flexible textile that has a luxurious surface. 

Fish Myth Light Box

Fishing for myth, gathering ideas and collectible found objects, my creative energy lights up a story with layers of paper and drawing with Exacto blades to cut out a tale of 'The Big One That Got Away'. 

DIY Closet Transformation

No need to spend BIG BUCKS for DIY transformation for home decor. One pint of mineral paint for $20.00 and a couple new ceramic knobs for $10.00 with two days to spare, and at the end of all that effort was a cleaned-out coat closet and a fresh new look to our beach house entrance.

Creative Fine Art Framing

There are many ways to frame art creatively with the ultimate need to preserve the original artwork using acid-free framing materials.

Goat Pastel Portrait

Turning the corner of winter, March was time to shake off the winter blues and dust-off 22 pet portraits to showcase SMILES at the reading room of the newly renovated Musquodoboit Harbour Library. Also on May 27th in the community workroom, I demonstrated the unique qualities of pastel, starring a goat named Flower Bud.

Revamp Older Artworks

Time to celebrate my years of past, add a dash of change, contemplate thy art children & put them into their new archival frames. It is an artist's prerogative to revamp older artworks and update a FRESH layer using matured skills and new mediums. 

DIY Simple Changes NEW LOOK

I was given this beautifully handcrafted cabinet many years ago and it has been so handy for storing a variety of objects. Time to hide the clutter and give this cabinet a simple transformation with fabric-covered panels and new knobs!

DIY Drapery

DIY drapes can hide clutter and decorate a room. No need to have a sewing machine, use basic hand stitching and a hot iron for crisp edges.

Wool Felted Chandelier

Falling Leaves Chandelier is my latest DIY home design feature using both wet & dry felting methods with raw fleece and roving wool. 

Pastel Pet Portrait Commission

Wonder who is the BEST pet in the world? It is the one you share a life with. Why not make your pet's unique being transformed into fine art to treasure fur-ever.

Knit Hats & Fingerless Gloves

Combining knitwear with wet felted applique and hand stitching embroidery makes for my designs to be one of a kind using basic stitches with creative flair.

Pop UP Art

Pop UP & Paper Engineering is a new skill I have challenged to learn this year. Paper is not just for notes and drawings, it can MOVE to animate art.

Paper Cut & Shadow Light Box

Capturing light in a paper shadow-box has a surreal effect with layers of cut paper enhancing texture, depth, and drama with the latest sculptured art piece titled, 'The Perfect Day'. 

Modern Spice Pillow Handknit & Pom Poms

 'Modern Spice' pillow is designed with a varied combination of stitches and like cooking with international spices, I like to add a little of this and that to make for a unique blend of colors and textures for this exotic pillow.

Peace Pillow Handknit & Wet Felting

Peace Pillow manifested in early spring which harkens fresh ideas from past inspirations. The latest Folk Art Pillow is reminiscent of childhood times living in Europe & Canada during the 1960s.

Knit Pillow for Fox Love

 'Fox Love' is a hand-knit bolster style pillow, knit with 100% wool for the cover and stuffed with acrylic fluff to make the latest folk art pillow designed & created by Minaz Jantz.

Watercolor Pastel & Stitches

'Waterlily Nude Dance' combines the elements of water, nudes, pastel and thread for my latest multi-media painting. Stashed in two large plastic boxes are rolls of several years of nude drawings from life drawing groups that have been beckoning me to use in my latest series of compositions. 

Pastel Collage with Layers

Blossoms and blooms declare spring has arrived and sets the pace for something new and fresh to inspire my creative mind. I took on the challenge to use left-over pieces of painting materials, build a foam core display box and use found objects to collage a multi-dimensional pastel painting, titled 'The Romance of Flowers'.

Bee Nice Grow Flowers Folk Pillow

The latest Folk Art Pillow; 'Bee Nice Grow Flowers' is a hand-stitched message to save the bees from extinction. Handwork such as needle felting, embroidery, crochet, and knitting complete an entirely unique pillow that comes with its own removable felted bees. 

Paddling Among Fish Folk Art Pillow

The P.E.I. wool shop Fleece and Harmony is the real woolly deal with happy sheep hanging around the shop's acreage and where the wool makers create from scratch their nature-inspired hand dyed yarns.  

Folk Art Pillows Collection #3

The new addition to the Folk Art Pillows Collection is all designed as one-of-a-kind handmade pillows. The front side of the pillows are created with a wet felting technique and is my first wet felting project.