Opus Art Supplies do a really cool thing for the month of February, they run a feature called Opus Daily Practice in which they encourage people to engage daily in a creative pursuit. 28 days of working on your daily practice to refine and engage consistently with your art. Last year I found out about […]
via Opus Daily Practice 2017 – Day 1 — Debra Hunter – Canadian photography, art and handmade
I thought sharing a post on eco-printing was a suitable post on Earth Day. A lot of the textile work I do focuses on natural and plant based processes rather than chemicals.
The scarf pictured above has been eco printed. This is a process where the silk has been dyed with the natural occurring pigments of leaves through a lengthy process of bundling the item tightly to achieve the best contact with the leaves. Results can vary depending on the time of year the leaf is picked, the length of time of the bundling, the type of fabric , and the mordants used.
The leaves on this scarf are peony and maple, picked from the garden. Results are always very random with a combination of leaf prints and abstract shapes and lines.
If you are interested in seeing more images of this scarf, and how it looks while being worn, there is a gallery on my other site www.handmade-canada.com , or click here for the link .
Eco-printing and slow cloth by Debra Hunter
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ads belong to WordPress.
All images taken at Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.
Photography by Debra Hunter.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ads belong to WordPress.
The 2×4 woodcut experiment from THIS blog post worked. It took a little experimenting to work around challenges like the grain and a knot in the wood. Ink retarder helped hugely, I suspect it is a necessity in our house with low humidity. Now to trim up each print.
Art by Debra Hunter
Red Deer, Alberta and Pender Island, BC, Canada
www.debra-hunter.com
.
.
.
.
.
Ads on this site belong to WordPress.
Just a little post sharing a few wild flowers from a recent trip through Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.
(Testing out a new lap top (aggravating, has been updating for a week). Hopefully the images and blog post aren’t all wonky!)
Photography by Debra Hunter
Red Deer, Alberta & Pender Island, BC, Canada
www.debra-hunter.com
www.hunterphotographics.wordpress.com
www.handmade-canada.com
.
.
.
Ads on this site belong to WordPress.
“Standing Tall”
Roe Islet series
(2015)
24″x24″
acrylic on panel
Painting has been going well over the last few months. Switching to panel and a square format seems to have allowed the work to flow naturally off the brush. This painting is acrylic on panel and measures 24″ by 24″.
Roe Islet (Pender Island, BC, Canada) continues to be a source of inspiration for my paintings, and I am sure by the time I have exhausted all the painting possibilities I will know every rock and tree on the islet. The arbutus amaze me in the way they twist and turn, and the red of the trunks is hypnotizing.
Artwork by Debra Hunter
(Red Deer, Alberta & Pender Island, British Columbia, Canada)
For the website and inquiries please visit:
www.debra-hunter.com
For more work from Canadian creators, you can also visit www.handmade-canada.com .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ads on this site belong to WordPress.
I may have mentioned my new project in passing on this blog before. The project is called Handmade in Canada. The concept is to profile Canadian artists, artisans, musicians, writers and growers (and food producers).
Being an artist and maker myself (and knowing many other creative people), the most difficult part of our craft is promoting what we create, showing people what we do, and letting people know where and how to purchase our creations. Most of us want to be tucked away in our studios working away rather than marketing ourselves. After a lot of thought I made the decision to create a site to do just that, and the site/blog is www.handmade-canada.com . In the last few weeks interest has been growing. We are seeing some great things made by Canadian makers and hearing some great music. We are also meeting some really cool people. This is turning out to be a fabulous project with great potential.
As I have a ton of readers on this blog, I will also on occasion be linking through profiles from the Handmade in Canada site. It won’t turn the blog into an on going infomercial, I wouldn’t want to rob readers of updates on my seedlings or the ongoing war with the insurance industry (near the end now…report for scope of repairs was 14 PAGES long….I’ll share more in another post). I want to give each of these creative people as much exposure as possible ( and show all the readers some pretty cool stuff too!).
If you follow www.islandhomeblog.wordpress.com I will also be sharing west coast creators on that blog, especially since home studios are so much of the island culture.
Today I am going to share a link for Liam MacKenzie and Young Rust. Check out their bio by clicking HERE, and definitely listen to their music……it is really, really good.
Hopefully by sharing links, blog readers will find some new music that they love, a book they want to read, some art to admire, handmade items to cherish, or even locally produced food.
The site www.handmade-canada.com is also a WordPress blog, so feel free to follow along and discover some talent that has been home grown here in Canada.
The order is knit. The design in the center is the resort’s logo. Just a little bit of finishing to do and then the order will be off to Woods on Pender located on Pender Island (British Columbia, Canada).
To see more knit items check out www.debra-hunter.com . Knit items are available to both individuals and small scale wholesale for businesses interested in unique handmade pieces.
Also if you are a Canadian maker, grower or creative check out www.handmade-canada.com as it may be a project you are interested in joining.
.
.
.
.
.
Ads on this site belong to WordPress.
I haven’t shared any portrait photography on this blog as of late, so I thought it would be nice to post a gallery of some outdoor portraits from the beaches of British Columbia. You can’t beat rocks and driftwood as a background. Such a beautiful location for shooting.
Photography by Debra Hunter
Hunter Photographics
Red Deer, Alberta & Pender Island, British Columbia
Website at:
www.debra-hunter.com
I though it might be fun to work through the progression of a painting I finished recently. With the majority of my paintings I use photographs I have taken as a starting point. Generally they are shot with painting specifically in mind. For this particular painting it was a photograph taken on Roe Islet on Pender Island (BC, Canada).
Working from a photograph makes sense. A busy family with busy children does not mix well with working on location. Generally I shoot a ton of images, edit down the ones I want to paint from, and then I email them to my iPad. Working from the iPad has taken a bit of figuring out, I’ve been doing it for about 6 months. Overall I think it is a better way to work than from a flat photograph on paper. I find I don’t get as hung up on the details and feel I have more license to tweak things. I can also carry around the iPad to think about the next step. I will often shoot the “work in progress” on the iPad so that I can look at it too while plotting the next step. Interestingly my favorite photography images are rarely my favorite images for inspiration for a painting.
With this painting I decided to do an “inspiration” painting first. It is a small 4″x6″ acrylic on panel. I get bored with the idea of doing sketches, however the idea of a mini painting made sense. A small investment of time and materials gave me a sense of what I liked about the painting and what I would change. It also meant that by using the same materials (acrylic and panel) I knew exactly what I was working with color and technique.
The final painting evolved a little further as I worked from both the iPad and the 4×6 painting. The sky and water gained more interesting color combinations, the hills pushed back to create more distance, the leaves lightened up, the tree trunks got swoopier, and there were some nice pops of red. I really like the swoopy trunks and the reds; they will be making a return appearance in another painting for sure.
Even as I write this blog post I am discovering more. It is interesting looking at this progression as it is presented together here in the same format. I am seeing the value in doing the small painting first and how it helps make sense of the information, especially when there is a lot going on as is the case on the right hand side of the view. It is very interesting looking at these three images together.
Photography and art by Debra Hunter.
www.thehuntergroup.ca
Also blogging at:
www.debrahunter.wordpress.com
www.islandhomeblog.wordpress.com
www.woodleaneighbours.wordpress.com
h..... the blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.