Let me introduce you to LIFE: A subject I know nothing about

Click Here to colour your own

Not sure what to make of this…

What happens to a marriage after it ends? My parents fought to stay together for almost 20 years, before finally giving in to the inevitable – that two people coming from such opposite poles should never cohabit (except for the purposes of popping out two fab offspring). But what happens to that love – and by Golly there was no shortage of that - once the papers have been signed? 

I had my Mom on the line the other day, and I was laying on the advice pretty thick. All kinds of solutions and suggestions were streaming across the country – Calgary to Ottawa direct. When I hung up the phone, I was startled to see what I’d been doodling – or rather, who. Right there on the paper, staring up at me with scribbly eyes and flippant hair, was my father. I had unconsciously invited the man into our conversation… him or some archetypal god figure (kindly leave Freud out of this – thank you very much). It’s comforting, I suppose, to know that a marriage doesn’t just dissolve out into the universe… at least not without sneaking back from time to time to do a bit of haunting.

Every writer’s dream…

Card's inside caption reads: ...And Live The Dream!

It’s every writer’s dream… a free-wheeling roadtrip across Canada with nothing but your wits and words to get you from A to B to N (Alberta to B.C. to Newfoundland). As I type this, Patricia O’Neill – one of Calgary’s best storytellers – is busy whittling down her life to fit in the back of a car. She’ll be blogging her way across the country (web address coming soon!) as she winds her way through the stories, people, and places along the road. It is rare in this life to be offered a chance at true freedom, and there are too few people brave enough to grab hold of the opportunity. We’re proud of you Patricia! Go forth woman… and live the dream!

Update: You can follow Patricia’s incredible journey on her blog – Moving in the Write Direction

A final note on this year’s Christmas card

...at the most inopportune time of the year, my pencil crayons and I had a major falling out...

Here’s the final version of this year’s Christmas card (minus the caption and border). The printer tech was a little weirded out and made me explain three times how I wanted the copies trimmed. “It’s a what now?” He kept asking. I took his confusion as a compliment. After all, the surest sign you’re doing anything new is the complete bewilderment of bystanders – like the time I carved “MERRY CHRISTMAS” into my grandparents’ Halloween pumpkin.

Note: …because when you symbolically embrace technological card making, one’s pinky must remain as ladylike as possible~wink.

Liven up your fall letters with this quick and easy stationary project

Graphic design secret: Remember to use odd numbers of each leaf

There’s still time to send off a couple of handwritten letters before the Christmas rush.  Not that you don’t have enough on your plate already, especially with that green and red Godzilla of holidays looming dark on the horizon (*), but the effect of a few heartfelt words and some pencil crayons can be just as magical for the sender as for the recipient. Of course, it’s also handy that leaves are a whole lot easier to draw (not to mention show up a lot better) than snowflakes.

Click here for time saving tips for writing and sending your own handwritten letters.

(*)Note: Do I sound a little jaded? You try staying festive (or even fully conscious!) after stocking hundreds of toxic, rubbery plastic ornaments at a Michaels Arts & Craft Store – one fateful October! And don’t even get me started on the Cinnamon scented pinecones that will haunt me till, till… oh the humanity!

Stay tuned…SavingCymbria will be back in September!

How to capture a personality in a portrait

The two portraits below are of the same subject. The first uses setting, composition, and lighting to convey the subject’s personality. She is a quirky artistic type with hippie, as opposed to hipster, sensibilities and a great, snarky sense of humor. Photography is an excellent medium for portraiture because the subject can be directly involved in communicating how she/he sees herself/himself to the world. However, as in personality testing, this can also be a limitation. Honesty can easily become clouded by preconception.

The second portrait is a drawing of the same subject dancing. It was executed quickly, solely from memory. Both she and I were startled by the resulting resemblance. “Creepy,” she called it. And yes, the attitude and posture was eerily spot on. It’s a big risk to allow yourself to be seen through someone else’s eyes, and the results may surprise you, creepy or not. I invite you to try this exercise with someone you know. In our age of careful personal branding, there is an urgent need for the honesty of a pen, some colouring pencils, and a personal connection only art can prove.

Sometimes a picture can say a thousand words...

...and sometimes a drawing can say so many more

DIY Summer Fashion Series: imagine/sketch/create (part two) – Studies for a blue jersey dress

Cymbria Fashion Sketches - Studies for a blue jersey dress to wear on a romantic dinner in Banff, Alberta

Like to take a peek at part one?

A Fathers Day card for the ages

Portrait of a genius (spelling notwithstanding)

Less ear glitter, but no less a genius

When you make your own cards, topping last year’s is always the challenge. My father, a Canadian artist/inventor/philosopher, is the first Jack of all trades (since ol’ Leo) to have mastered them all. For this Fathers Day, I took inspiration from another master, then added a touch of glitter glue and an inside joke. It would take a long essay, for which neither you nor I have the patience for, to explain the layers of meaning in this seemingly (not to give myself too much credit or anything~wink) simplistic artwork. But I will say one thing: notice the eerie similarity in the eyes of the two men, made infinitely more eerie by the fact I only referenced the original at the colouring stage. Soon, the world will recognize my father, but until then, a little glitter glue goes a long way.

Wondering about Mothers Day?

The birthday card you can only get away with when you live across the country…

Click on image above to open the card...

I’m still a little shocked I sent this card to my grandmother, but she is one of the zestiest women I know, with a true felsian sense of humor, and (if I dare say) the unfailing ability to look absolutely fabulous in a swimsuit. She has been my style inspiration from day one, and I can only hope my card inspired some giggles from that lovely gal and her darling husband. Yes, the very same man who ‘endures’ younger-trophy-man status for eleven months out of every twelve. 

More creative card ideas from SavingCymbria:

When the stork arrives…

When it’s Mothers Day…

When you need a general idea…

When you need a ‘smart’ birthday card…

A ‘Radishing’ Mothers Day Card?

When your mother's a poet...

I found this tiny radish pin (drawn by Calgary illustrator Kim Smith) at a comic expo and was instantly reminded of a certain spectacular someone. It’s all in the eyebrows~wink.

So go ahead! Be bizarre. Be cute. Be mushy. Next time you need a card, try making one. There aren’t any rules, just picture the person in your mind and try to imagine what would make them smile : )

Looking for more ideas?

General

Quirky Science 

A glimpse into the creative process…

The "Dirty Work"

How does an idea evolve? The example on the right shows scraps from the natural evolution of the “molecular diagram” card from my latest post: Looking for great birthday card ideas? The top left shows the original family tree sketch before it morphed into the rough molecular diagram below (bottom left). Brainstorming for general ideas, and specific nomenclature, takes up the rest of the page, and what about those strange random rectangles in the top corner?

Some deeply sourced philosophical breakthrough was trying to claw its way out of my subconscious and express itself on the page in a wild desperate push to communicate its glorious insight to a lost and lonely world… obviously. This unrealized idea, translucent in our world, was as yet too abstract to speak in all but the simplest forms of our visual language. Sigh, I wonder. Yes, I wonder what it means. Although, something tells me that “Stop doodling and get to work!“ would be a pretty good guess!

How to make fantastically unique birthday cards

Start with this inspiration...

Start by finding an image off the net that makes you think about that special someone. Print the image onto the lower left corner of a piece of cardstock, don’t forget to add a caption on the right. I used “the magic is what you dream outside the picture”, but you can try “beyond the borders”, “outside the box” or your own variation. Fold and cut the card, then begin to extend the picture with pencil crayons. Let your creativity run wild as you get further away from the photo. Have fun!

…print it on cardstock and add a smidgen of text plus pencil crayon magic to create your own “outside the box” Birthday card

(flower photo source)

Try these time saving tips for sending handwritten letters!

It’s a rare and special treat to get a handwritten letter in the mail. With our hectic lives, it’s so much faster to whip off an email, but you’d be surprised at how easy it can be to send personalized snail-mail with these simple tips:

1- Set up a “letter-box” (any mid-sized plastic/cardboard box) containing envelopes, stationary, address book, coloured pens/pencils, and Postage Stamps

2- Visit your craft store (Michaels is great) for novelty papers, stamps, punches, stickers, etc. from the scrap-booking section

3- Pre-addressing your envelopes will help motivate you to fill them ; )

4- Decorating the fronts of your envelopes with stickers or simple drawings is a quick way to make your letter extra special

5- Get your kids/friends involved by having a “letter-off” where you share stationary and ideas while you address your envelopes and start on any letters you’d like to get sent off between get togethers. A love themed “letter-off” would be a blast! Click here for some pointers to get you started, and here for some historical samples.

Handwritten letters are a wonderful way to share stories, events, and caring. Wondering what to write about? Family gossip is always a hit, or share your most recent embarrasing/funny/heartwarming experience. How about narrating a shared event from your unique perspective. Pass on jokes, words of support and encouragement, maybe even a favorite bible verse.

It can be so much easier to communicate how much that person means to you when you can do it from the privacy of your kitchen table. Your letter doesn’t have to be long, or poetic, or even illuminating. It just has to end up in the mailbox; that’s the only criteria. And don’t let spelling be an excuse! I keep a blank Wordperfect document open on the computer so I can cheat at spellcheck ; )

I wrote an article on letter writing for the Ottawa Citizen last year, and I learned (from my interviews with Canadian authors and poets) just how valuble handwritten letters are to give and to recieve. And the best way to guarantee you’ll be getting one in the mail…is to start sending them!

DIY Summer Fashion Series: imagine/sketch/create (part one)

An idea takes form

out of a swirl of fabric

and a page of gemstones

Imagine a dress of

the lightest fabric

weighted by secret

flashes of bright stone

imagine/sketch/create

Click here for part 2!

Happy Fathers Day Card Dilemma

From as far back as I can remember, which is just about the time crayons and I moved to a less mutually destructive phase in our relationship, my family has made our own holiday cards. That’s approximatly two decades of birthday/Christmas/mothers day/fathers day/Easter (yes even Easter)/and valentines day cards, all featuring carefully thought out (and witty, if I do say so myself) illustrations and captions. As you can imagine, there are times when one must reach very deep into some very strange places for a new idea. This Fathers Day was one of those times. The result is above, and it’s turned out to be one of my favorites. The caption? When their eyes met…something something…shared magic of fatherhood. Think you can come up with a better one?

Advice from a genius

My Father is a renaissance man. He’s a stunningly amazing artist/inventor/physicist. The painting above is an example of his work (note: my apologies for the black distraction). But besides giving us a new visual language, the theory of the universe, and a revolutionary downhill ski, he is also the source of the most brilliant piece of advice I have ever heard…

“Put on a fresh pair of socks halfway through the day.” -David Fels

That’s it. Do it every day, and your life will never be the same.