I painted this awhile ago however never posted it. This is personally one of my favourite paintings. 

© copyright artwork and image by Jacqueline Williams. A Neesha B. Project, 11x14 acrylic on canvas. Reproducing image and artwork strictly prohibited.  

Getting back into the swing of things and messing around with my charcoals! 

© copyright artwork by Jacqueline Williams.  

Indispensable Souls

He said

look 

at the clouds in the sky

looks like rain

it will rain

She said

not where we are standing

it won't rain 

where we are

it never will

© copyright poem written by Jacqueline Williams. Publishing prohibited unless with the author's permission. ** This poem appeared in the Cobourg Pic - Poetry In Spaces for 2 consecutive years. ** 

Brit Bits

Brit Bits is a limited edition book. That has been handwritten and drawn by Chris Price and Delisia Howard. It's signed by Chris Price and is number 50/400. It was purchased at the Victoria and Albert Museum Bookshop in London. From it's triangle shape to the artwork, the stories, the gold and mylar pages and to the hand-painted covers. It's opinionated and witty about all things British! 

My Painting

I put the baking aside yesterday and decided to finish this painting.    

For the Birds. Acrylic on 9x12 canvas. © copyright image photo and artwork by Jacqueline Williams. Any use of the image, artwork and photo strictly prohibited unless with the artist's permission.  

Silhouetted

Silhouettes intrigue me. possibly brought on from an art class in grade school when you stood in front of the over head projector and the teacher traced the outline of your profile, the head and shoulders only, on to a piece of paper that was taped to the chalkboard. then you had to cut it out and mount it on an already prepared cardboard like paper. i remember how for the major of the school year everyone's silhouette bordered around the top of the classroom walls. 

this is my current painting. no paper cutouts. acrylic paint on a 9x12 canvas. this painting comes with an appropriate sized wooden easel for display. i can also see this being painted in a very colourful style. 

© copyright image, photo and artwork by Jacqueline Williams. any use of the artwork, photo or image is strictly prohibited unless with the artist's permission.          

Gammer Gurton's Garland

Curious? i found this book and couldn't quite say no to it. it's another Winchelsea Book Fair find. small, slightly worn and is all about children's nursery rhymes. the illustrations are by T. Webster, R.A.  - jw  

Ted Hughes

i picked up this book from the Winchelsea Book Fair in England. i haven't read any of Ted Hughes poetry before. Don't know why really. when i saw the book i though why not for the one pound thirty pence it cost me it's a nice addition to my poetry collection. i found it kind of ironic because i brought Colossus and Other Poems by Sylvia Plath with me on my trip for reading material and there i find Hughes tucked away in Winchelsea.- JW 

flowers and poetry

While traveling throughout England I would stop at a few quaint villages. I can't remember the name of the village or town... it may have been Faversham. Spotted a small used bookshop down a side street. Took a browse and found this palm size book. Tell The Wish Of Thy Heart In Flowers: Language and Poetry of Flowers; Milner and Sowerby 1860; top, side and bottom edge gold gilt. It's filled with interesting references of flowers and how they can be used in poetry and the poems inside are a treat. Not bad for £1! -JW  

one would like to say that not much had changed in the past two years since visiting England last, however this year was marked with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and London was the host city for the Olympics and the Paralympics. 

Although i arrived the day before the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, those Olympic mascots were popping up everywhere, flags flew high in support of England and the Union Jack for all. bunting decorated shop windows, homes, pubs, gardens, packaging and products. the Victoria and Albert museum bookshop was the place to be. the Albert Monument across from the Royal Albert Hall left me in total awestruck!!! the Twinings Tea Shop/Museum is a tea totallers delight. had a unforgettable delectable meal at Fortnum and Masons. took in a gin distillery tour with Sipsmith. pubs were the places to eat. ploughmans were the menu item of choice. cracked open a bottle with friends at the Harvey Nichols champagne bar and then headed to Cafe Rouge for a meal. not before spotting the Julian Assange supporters outside Ecuador's Embassy. Ellen Terry's House/Museum was enchanting. viewing her death mask was haunting! Sissinghurst Castle was a garden of delights. the 99's fluctuated in price from £1.40p to £2.20. Winchelsea was full of book fairs and i had the best latté there oh... and of course another Royal scandal. Keep Calm and Harry On is all one can say. England was England!  -jw 

Rule Britannia!

the summer has been a busy one and my long awaited vacation is here. i am off to England. i did say it was my home away from home. it's been two years since my last visit and what can i say other than through all the Jubilations and Olympic spirit i am curious to see how Old Blighty is really doing. see you in a few weeks. - jw 

Art Walking

Day 1: i am all set up and ready to go! at the Whyte Avenue Art Walk. very hot but keeping hydrated... drinking water and iced coffee. friends stop by. meeting lots of wonderful people. met the young man who bought three of my paintings months ago! sold two paintings!

Day 2: very... very hot today!!! decided to set up on the other side of the street. being beside the pub's patio couldn't be that bad. the patio's speaker blaring the likes of Neil Diamond, U2, and Queen. lots of traffic today on the avenue. sometimes the people have been standing in line waiting to move up or down the sidewalk. saw lots of dogs. more friends stopped by to say hi and see how i was doing.  

i moved my chair over to the other side of the sidewalk under the umbrella i brought to get some relief from the sun. with the steady flow of people i decided to sketch out some ideas. these are them. sold three paintings!   

Day 3: Rain! Rain! and more rain! stood in the rain for seven hours. at times the rain came down so hard i thought the sidewalk was going to overflow and everything would be washed away. my friend Robin had her display to the right of me. we kept each other company and warm with lattés. there were quite a few people out. most people stopped and chatted and admired both of our determination. sold one painting and it was worth it! 


Thanks to everyone, who purchased my pieces and have given them a new home, who stopped by to say hi and chat about my art and poetry, those who inquired about custom pieces and to my family, my kidlets and friends thank you for your support! 




© copyright all photos, artwork, sketches are property of Jacqueline Williams. artwork by Jacqueline Williams. publishing/reproducing prohibited unless with the author's permission.

over the past months i have been gearing up for this years Artwalk. painting many canvases and ceramics. this is one of my most current paintings that will be coming with me. it's not titled, yet. it's bright, bold and ready to hang somewhere other than in my studio. 

© copyright artwork by Jacqueline Williams. 11x14 acrylic on canvas. photo by Jacqueline Williams. publishing prohibited unless with the author's permission.    

Whether it's anticipating the fortune cookie at the end of a meal or simply looking under a cap sometimes there is irony with those words of wisdom.  

Jean Rhys

another writer i have been reading is Jean Rhys. This pocket sized book, La Grosse Fifi has four short stories; La Grosse Fifi, Vienne, Tea with an Artist and Mixing Cocktails. Due to the fact that all eight-five pages had caught my attention, i found this...

Tigers Are Better Looking; first edition, 1968, Andre Deutsch Limited. Not only does it have the four short stories from La Grosse Fifi, which were a selection of stories from The Left Bank. It has fourteen other short stories.


During World War One Jean Rhys volunteered in a soldiers canteen. While her third husband was in jail she went to go live with English writer Ford Maddox Ford, whom she met in Paris, and his long time partner, Stella Brown.   Soon after an affair ensued. By 1940 she seemed to have disappeared from the public eye until she published her novel, Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966. For which she won the W.H. Smith Literary Award for in 1967. 

Street Songs

after reading about Edith Sitwell i was determined to find some of her work. and i did just that. i found this 1943, second edition of Street Songs. not handwritten, it is dedicated to her brother, British writer Osbert Sitwell and contains the poem Still Falls The Rain, about the London blitz. the book only has 34 pages but the collection of poems are beautifully crafted. interesting note about Sitwell, she would knit clothes for her friends who served in the army. one of her friends was actor Alec Guinness for whom she knit a pair of sea boot stockings.  - jw    

being a person who writes and paints, i am always searching for new places where i can write, sketch and read. being inspired can happen anywhere and anytime. new surroundings can help refresh. while the repetitive places can hold you ransom... harbouring your ghosts. i try not to be so frequent with my visits to certain places. making them more into a cycle. one big loop. i used to go to one place religiously and now almost everything about that place irritates me. for me, nothing flows there. in the pursuit of new places to resume the creative flow finding them has it's obvious advantages. - jw        

open mic night

last night i took the stage at Cha Island Tea's Open Mic Night. i was smack dab in the middle of the show with a whole bunch of musicians around me. the entertainment was plenty and rockin'. my segment went very well and so did the others. months ago, Cha Island was the place where i had my art up and i managed to sell three pieces! what a great way to end the month!!!   

this non-descript book i found is a poetry book by Welsh poet and writer W.H. Davies. this copy of Nature Poems and Others is a fourth impression printed in 1922. the 62 pages are filled with lovely prose on nature and life. Davies was a part of the Georgian poetry movement and lived most of his life as a tramp or hobo. he was related to the famous British actor Sir Henry Irving. his most notable work is The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp. Davies also lived in the United States and made a brief appearance in Canada, which cost him his leg from the knee down. 

the world is round

in my travels i also found this book by Gertrude Stein. it's the first Camelot printing, 1972 and if you can believe the spine hasn't even been cracked. which made taking photos of the illustrations hard. i wonder if someone bought it with the intention to read it, never got around to it and realised they had the book when doing some cleaning and decided to give it away. a shame really. books always have stories of their own. another reason why i bought this book was because of who illustrated it, Clement Hurd. he illustrated many children's books. Goodnight Moon and the Runaway Bunny are the two he is most famously known for.

just a sample of Clement Hurd's lovely illustrations that round out this tale about a girl named Rose.

Robert Burns

Last week i decided to go to one of my favourite secondhand bookstores, The Bookseller and browse the poetry section. I found these little gems. A three volume set of Robert Burns by Morris, all leather bound and in great condition. Lots of poems and songs to read. At the back of volume three there is a Glossary of Scotticisms. Which seems to me to be like a glossary of terms, of Scottish words from A-Z. Just in case you need brushing up on.

guess who's coming to dinner...

my owl design on a plate. here is the first of my designs that will grace a plate. i am sure my other designs will serve up well. - jw

© copyright photos and artwork by Jacqueline Williams. publishing prohibited unless with the author's permission.

three tulips

here is the lovely little tulip bud vase i have painted. simple but sweet. -jw

little blue bird

most recently i started painting on ceramics. i have painted my artwork on vases, tiles and plates. the little blue bird trinket box is the latest and ever so cute! painting on canvas and painting on ceramics are two different things. i had to reverse some of my thinking on how to approach drawing and painting with ceramics. with a canvas i feel i have more control. ceramics less so... drawing, painting, the number of coats of paint and once it hits the kiln equals accepting what is handed to you when you pick it up. all of this continues to be a learning experience for me and something i am enjoying quite a bit. -jw

© copyright artwork and photo by Jacqueline Williams

my poetry reading went very well and i enjoyed reading at Greenwoods' new location. very cosy and intimate. the weather has warmed up. my art is no longer up at Cha Island Tea Co. it was up for four months, i think that's a pretty good length of time. i will venture along the Ave and see where else i may hang my art. i am also working on some new designs/paintings for this years artwalk. i have been painting ceramics too! many projects are on the go. no wonder it feels like spring is here! - jw

when the weather is like this...

i tend to spend it in the kitchen, baking and cooking many things. so today i will be focused on my poetry. i have a poetry reading this Sunday and i need to select the ones i will be sharing. - jw

my creativity flows down many avenues

hi everyone! you may have noticed i started posting about the many cookbooks i collect. considering that this blog is more for my poetry and art, it got me thinking. so i started a new blog to share my luv of cookbooks, recipes, kitchen gadgets etc. called The Half Cut Cook

still in the tweaking stages and forging ahead this new blog is a very natural choice for me... i luv to create in the kitchen. i will not be abandoning this blog. i do still create outside of the kitchen. if you would like to follow or swing by please do so. it would be very much appreciated and who knows eventually i may post a cooking video or two! all the best in 2012 to you all!

cheers

JW