In response to a 7-day nature photography challenge on Facebook, I've been layering up and altering some photographs (couldn't stick with straightforwardly produced ones for long!) and thought I'd share them with you on the blog.

Left: Royal Tree 2, shot in England last month.
Right: Nature Through a Fence, based on ivy I shot this fall, layered with a close-up of my Insubstantiated drawing/sculpture/installation as well as a detail from a painting of mine.

There is a lot of beauty when you can see the details – just click on the images to see them larger. Do you find these interesting? If so please let me know in the comments :-)

Chrysanthemums drinking in the afternoon sun in our kitchen window. 

At this time of year the sun is so fleeting, and cut flowers are any time of year. It's enough to make me want to write a haiku, if only I didn't have to move on to my next task. It's been nice taking this little beauty break though.

Recently, when my friend artist Patricia Singer generously suggested I teach a workshop at her studio, I didn't have to think about it for long. Looking at these photos I think you'll understand why I and this small group have been having a wonderful time working in her space and our great luck that the days – and our view of them – have been glorious!

We've been exploring contemporary mixed media, working with photos and other digitized imagery in a variety of ways and combined with all kinds of traditional media.

Collage, working into prints (by drawing, painting, cutting, sanding, peeling, piercing and even embroidering) and trying out numerous image transfer techniques has kept everyone very busy and the days seem to fly by! At the end of each day we take a look at what some other artists have been doing along the same lines to see what's possible and get fresh ideas.

Not everyone has a studio large enough for a group to work in, but if you do, it can be fun and convenient (you don't have to schlep all of your materials somewhere else!). Please get in touch if you'd like to discuss the possibility. Depending on the time of year, my availability can be quite limited.

Creativity is essentially about making unexpected connections. Working in mixed media is very stimulating precisely because it expands the opportunity for forming new connections, especially in contemporary approaches where the options for ingredients has cracked wide open.

Stitchery, whether as sewing, embroidery, needlepoint, cross-stitch or other needle arts, has taken on particular importance in recent years. Late great Canadian artist Joyce Wieland (one of my heroes) was a pioneer in bringing traditional women's arts, such as sewing and quilting for example, into "real" art, i.e. the kind that gets shown in galleries and museums.

Below is a work-in-progress I've scanned in, where I'm drawing-by-embroidering onto a close-up photo of mine of an old, rusty lawnmower.

​What interesting media combinations have you seen somewhere or tried yourself?

Here's a photo I'm working on, from the white picket fence shoot I did in 2013, the same one that produced the 'Binding Agreement' video.

I decided to make the photo black and white to enhance the feeling of form and texture. I've been making adjustments to get the tonal feeling I'm after. As part of that, it's not a true greyscale image, I kept it as colour so I could warm up the greys a little. That also serves to increase the tonal range which suits the effect I'm after.

My main issue right now is the fact that the white pickets don't resemble white here. That requires more work than I can handle tonight.

Shot with the assistance of Kal Honey.