Fall colours, migrant birds, foraging insects, new art work, a trip to Winnipeg… WHEW… The fall just took off and left me in the lurch. I have finally caught up and prepared some images to tell a story of the last couple of months.

It was such a privilege to capture some images of my friend Lindsay Embree’s hard work of dyeing fabric and sending it to other creators of wearable art. She and Arnfin pulled off the most amazing evening of Flamenco Dancing with dancers, singers and musicians from Spain, U.S.A. and Canada. Below are some of the outfits created with Lindsay’s fabrics.

After a number of false starts I have finished a piece that will go into a show in a local shopping mall. The theme of the show is ‘green’ and will be made up of objects from our local turning club. I began this piece in June as a hollow turning from a piece of Northern Birch that my friend Bernie Bober gave me. Another turner, Deb McLeod, gave me a chunk of cactus that had an intriguing design pattern. As I rolled, twisted and carresed the cactus it screamed out “I want to be a handle on a tea pot”. Not wanting to argue with a chunk of cactus I immediately set about piercing, carving and colouring the tea pot to reflect the patterns of the cactus. You will notice in the photo below that the handle of the pot and the lid are made from the actual cactus.

The title?? “Cactus Inspired Tea Pot for People who Hate Green Tea”

This set of candle sticks and rolling pin was made by my friend Paul Schroeder. He is a master at gluing up wood of different colours in special patterns that create unique designs when turned on a lathe. The Celtic Knot rolling pin is quite complex when you imagine planning how you would glue these up to give such a pattern.

One cloudy day this fall a storm blew through and splattered beauty all over our neighbourhood. Muted pastels, vibrant reds, luscious greens and foraging insects all set about dressing up and posing for a set of fall portraits.

A trip to Winnipeg rounded out our fall adventures. I spent some time exploring Oak Hammock Marsh and wandering The Forks while Cathy was attending a cycling conference. Migrating birds, foraging squirrels, grasses, twigs, flowers and fields, all figure large in the resulting gallery.