Since I became interested in Artist Trading Cards (ATCs: 3 1/2 inch x 2 1/2 inch works of art you can save and trade like hockey cards), I’ve taken some basic ATC art supplies with me whenever I go on holidays. The most fun is creating the cards as a group activity (if there are five people participating you create five cards, with each person adding something to each card, so that everyone ends up taking home one card created by everyone). I’ve done this with people who don’t normally make art, and they were surprised how much they enjoyed themselves — like they were kids again, allowed to play with paper, scissors and glue.

The card above is one I made with four women friends during a weekend getaway to a cabin in Manning Park (can you tell eating and knitting were two themes of the trip?).

And here’s one my mother, daughter and I made on a trip to Nelson, BC, the town where my mother grew up (includes images from a brochure on the town, bits of map, and a rubber stamp skunk bought from a Nelson artist, which reminded us of two skunks encountered on our trip).

I ended up doing a card to commemorate my Oregon trip on my own, which wasn’t as much fun (it encorporates bits of local newspaper and road map).

Visually, these aren’t my best ATCs, but in terms of the memories they evoke, they’re my favourite.

Since preparations have begun for the celebration of the Lunar New Year, I’d like to wish a happy new year to everyone! Gung Hay Fat Choy, if you speak Cantonese, or Gong Xi Fa Cai, if you speak Mandarin (wishing you happiness and prosperity).

Chinese New Year is a time for settling old debts and quarrels, cleaning away the dust and clutter of the past year, and making way for new or renewed prosperity, happiness and health. It’s a time for new clothes, family gatherings and food (especially food symbolic of good fortune and long life). It is also a festival that celebrates the coming of spring.

In honour of the occasion and all my friends who celebrate Chinese New Year, I made the artwork below with images of spring and good fortune (including flowers cut from “lucky money” envelopes, stems from “lucky paper,” cookie fortune leaves, and coins).

Also, I can’t resist giving a plug to my most recent novel, The Truth About Rats (and Dogs) (see the “My Books” page in the side bar for more info), which includes a Chinese New Year Celebration (I had a lot of fun researching this part of the book). To find out ten things I learned while doing this research, check out my post at cwillbc. And by the way, I just found out The Truth About Rats (and Dogs) has been nominated for the Atlantic Canada readers’ choice Hackmatack Award (for 2008)!

Thinking about my goals for the year. . . .

I created this art work for the January-February 2005 issue of Somerset Studio magazine, but the resolutions (create, travel, love, etc) are pretty much a continuous part of my life. I have a huge list of things I want to write this year, I want to make more time for art, I want to do some travelling within Canada with my husband and daughter this summer, I want to nurture friendships and family relationships, I want to include more music in my life (relearn how to play the guitar, for example), I want to pay attention to the world around me, overcome a few obstacles, take a few risks . . . (and do a few other things I’m not quite ready to commit to writing yet) . . .

How about you? Any resolutions you want to share?

I’m trying to figure out why I’m so fascinated by crows. Maybe it’s because they seem so aware of what’s going on around them. The smaller song birds appear self-absorbed, focused only on food and survival, while the crows take time to look around, think, play games — and even play tricks. They’re not so predictable, which makes them more interesting to watch. They are, after all, cousin to that mythical trickster, Raven

The fact that some people don’t like crows, perhaps also adds to their appeal. I remember a time when I was a kid and visiting a cousin whose dad, my uncle, was kind of scary. He was threatening to shoot some crows he considered pests, and I stood up in defence of the crows despite being intimidated by him.

Recently, a friend confided to me that she finds crows unnerving. They eat road kill and stand on the road when you’re driving toward them, almost daring you to keep coming. You don’t want to swerve and cause an accident, but they don’t fly away until the absolute last minute, giving you a dirty look as they go.

Crows are the bikers of the bird world. They wear the feather equivalent of black leather. They’re in your face — even rude. They hang out in gangs. They attack other birds (ravens, hawks, owls)  who fly into their territory. I’ve also seen individual crows attack people (usually when protecting their nests).

When my dad was about 14, he stole a baby crow out of its nest (he wanted to keep it as a pet and see if he could teach it to talk). One of the adult crows must have seen what happened. Every time my dad came out of the house after that, an angry crow would kaw and fly at his head. For years, the crow continued to pester my dad. The crow even knew when my dad got off work and would be waiting for him. Pretty smart.

Perhaps crows are fascinating because they are so much like us and, at the same time, they are totally alien. Any thoughts on this?