Featured Image Photo Credit: Kristin McCarthy, Hand-Made Card; Pastel Painting “September Sheep”

Handmade Cards

Each card is an original piece of artwork. Using beautiful Japanese papers and a pair of scissors, I cut out shapes and designs that are floating around in my imagination. Using colourful threads, I hand stitch the papers together—adding beads and sequence as I go. The only glue I use is to adhere the little art piece to the cardstock.

Charming and whimsical are words that come to mind when you see these hand-created cards. They are blank inside for you to add your own sentiment—or you can keep the card for yourself and frame it. Each card is approximately 11cm X 14cm with matching envelope. Each card is cream coloured textured linen.

I make all sorts of themes such as birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, 1st Communion and other religious themes, wedding and everyday.

For more information, visit my Hand Made Cards page or contact me.

Paintings

Living in Rockwood, Ontario (near Guelph) allows me to stay in touch with nature on a daily basis. Surrounding myself among trees, fields, rocks, natural waterways, horses, cattle and sheep are calming forces in my life. Seeing sheep grazing in their field, the wind in the trees, winter shadows on a snowy landscape and pathways that lead to light. These are the things that inspire me to paint.

When I open up my box of pastels, the colours just sing- waiting to become one of these images. Each group of colours reminds me of the four seasons: whites, blues and greys for winter; bright greens for spring; deep greens, pinks and yellow for summer and ochres, purples, deep reds and oranges for autumn. As I begin a new painting, it takes on a life of its own—a little snapshot of a particular time, during a particular season at a certain place. What wasn’t there before, now exists as a reminder of where I have been and what I have seen. And that allows me to share it with the world around me.

For more information, visit my Pastel Paintings page or contact me.