Claresholm Art Club

Synchronicity at its best, in October 2008, the month after we moved here, the Claresholm Art Club was formed and I joined. I'm amazed that no matter where you go there are artists and it's as if we sniff one another out. This club's philosophy is Artists Helping Artists. Dates are set and a place to work is sought out. Individuals come together with more than enough working supplies for themselves then share materials and knowledge. In May our public library makes us welcome and we have a group show on display for the month.

Herbert Hann, Corrine McKinnon, Pam Copeland and yours truly. Missing is Judy Dahl, whose work was displayed in her absence.

November 20th was our inaugural participation at the Kinette Christmas Craft Sale which has been going strong in this town for 22 years. Our desire was to have a presence; to bring awareness of our existance. It was a complete bonus and we were delighted over our sales of paintings, prints and cards.

A Crafty Bunch

In spite of our first wretched storm transforming an amazing autumn to winter overnight and turning highways into high risk zones, on November 16th, we travelled to Calgary while Laura drove in from Canmore. All so that we could craft together. There was some delay in getting started with the need to get more materials but we managed to accomplish rather a lot in two days.



Bill fired up his retro "Rocket" Singer sewing machine and tried it out on leather while the girls and I cut, ironed and sewed.

Laura is adding to her collection of ornaments for the Libyan Bazaar and Denise has added, to her repitroire, hair bands and wrist bands with tiny zippered pockets, for cash and credit card, so that a girl doesn't have to carry a purse when she steps out. I just like helping out with any of it!

Book Binding with Dea Fischer

Book binding in a traditional sense but with the intention of making art books. We were most concerned with form, not embellishment or decorating. Dea worked very hard to make this workshop (renamed by her daughter, Millie, a 'playshop') exciting, informative and productive.


Day one, Saturday, November 13th, we made a Piano Hinge Book (off white). It employed six skewers which had to be woven into the 'signatures' (clusters of folded pages). It was almost the undoing of me. But I am a persistent, stubborn sort and wouldn't give up. I missed lunch to finish that one. Next up was the Concertina Flag Book (red). I really enjoyed working with so many pretty papers in building this one! I worked furiously, forgetting to the bathroom in order to not have 'homework'!

On day two we made a Japanese Stab Bind Book (green print). This involved hand stitching the pages together along the spine and was the simplest of all to make. The final project was a Hideaway Cased Journal (orange). It was the most complex. Dea taught us the 'kettle stitch' and we hand sewed the 'signatures' together, with proper book binding, linen thread. And then, there was all that tricky and you-gotta-be-fast at gluing!


My personal favourite; the Concertina Flag Book open ...

I had a wonderful weekend of learning and I just know my new skills will be put to good use somewhere in my future.

Crafting With Laura

Following the hectic weekend, in Calgary, after Laura's arrival back in Canada, we brought her home to Claresholm for a few days. She and I had prearranged to make Christmas ornaments together. It was a wonderful, productive time! Here we are at play ...


These are what we finished in two days. Many more were cut out but are not yet assembled. The plan is to take them back to Libya.

The decorations are to be donated and sold at the English School's Christmas Bazaar in Benghazi. But, if other crafting sessions yield enough they will also be available at The Canmore Artisan's Market, November 27th and 28th!

Laura and The Leighton

It's been a busy week or so and I'm finally back here with a great shot of Laura and Avery ... reunited at the Calgary airport when we met her flight from Libya (via Frankfurt) on November 5th ...

Avery's Mom was busy setting up for the Make It! craft sale that afternoon.

The following day I was on hospitality volunteering at The Leighton Centre's "Christmas in the Country" box sale. About 1200 people attended but I regret to report that I didn't sell any paintings. I now know that my prices are too high for this type of venue.

Collector and friend, Karen, came ...


When the busy weekend was over we came home from Calgary and brought Laura with us, for a few days. We had an industrious time ... stay tuned for my next post!