the story of a raven and a swallow

I seldom work on commissions, as I prefer to create my own thing. Years ago, I had asked an artist to create a commissioned work in stained glass and gave her a sketch of what I wanted. I was so disappointed with what she created, as it didn't look at all like what I had asked for. Looking back, I understood that she was a true artist who was putting her own interpretation on my idea. However, when I started making my own art I realized that I didn't want to disappoint someone in the same way.

In 2023, I was asked if I was interested in creating an image. Here is an excerpt from the request: 

If I sent you spy equipment could you set up a room to look like second WW times/wallpaper and place some of the objects on a table in it? During the second WW there was sexpionage whereby spies used sexual means to access people and their secrets, or to add leverage. Female spies were called swallows and male spies who engaged in this were called ravens. I thought that was interesting. 

I decided to give it a try, with the understanding that I would create my interpretation of the theme, and there was absolutely no obligation for her to accept the image.  

I investigated a bit on google: 

Sexpionage is the involvement of sexual activity, or the possibility of sexual activity, intimacy, romance, or seduction to conduct espionage. Sex or the possibility of sex can function as a distraction, incentive, cover story, or unintended part of any intelligence operation.

In the Soviet Union, female agents assigned to use such tactics were referred to as swallows, while male ones were known as ravens. A commonly known type of sexpionage is a honey trap operation, which is designed to compromise an opponent sexually to elicit information from that person.

Using the background from a photograph of my dad (pictured left) from World War II, I "set the stage":

WWII, from the photo files of Eric Douglas

 

Then it was time to find photos from my library, the raven, the swallow, etc for the final image:

The Seduction, 2023

 

Fun fact: when I was working on the image, I had it in my mind that it was supposed to be a SPARROW and a raven.  It wasn't until everything was completed and I re-read the brief that I realized I had the wrong bird! So, back to my files I went to find swallow images.

developing an idea

Go Baby Go, 2026

I made Go Baby Go a couple of months ago, but the idea started with a dream I had in 2022. Here is an excerpt from a blog post in 2024 that I wrote about the original image...Ride the Gator.

Ride the Gator started with a dream I had in 2022.  I had been diagnosed with lung cancer, a real shocker as I had never smoked. They found the cancer quite by accident, and I was waiting for surgery. The dream was so vivid, I wrote in down in my workbook the next morning:

After my surgery and recuperation, the idea of creating a "riding the alligator" image never left me. However, my artistic drive seemed to leave me for quite some time and I felt unable to work with photographs. The idea transferred to my 2023 workbook, then my 2024 workbook, and finally came to fruition in February 2024.

Ride the Gator, 2024

Same theme, different look. I was very happy with the original image...for me, it captured a dream like quality that I was striving for. But looking back at it, I wasn't convinced that it conveyed the sense of exhilaration I wanted to portray.

I should add that this year I have been concentrating on making images that tell a story of overcoming adversity. 

So...back to the drawing board...or, in my case, computer...and I set the scene in a circus tent (life is a circus, isn't it?) and added many more balloons. I tried different animals and birds but decided to keep the crow I used in 2024. And the gator? Instead of a photo of a plastic toy, the gator is real in Go Baby Go. I took a photo of this guy on a trip to Florida in early 2025. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for me) this gator was in a cage at a gator zoo. It actually made me feel quite upset to see these majestic reptiles locked up and I had to leave. Perhaps an idea for another image.

(disclaimer....I replaced the eye of the real gator with the eye from the toy alligator!) 

Go Baby Go, 2026

Adventure is Calling

Adventure is Calling, 2026

When I started back into creating collages with my photographs late last year, I was creating images individually and piecing them together with no particular theme in mind. 

When I'm working on an image, I'll print out a small copy and pin it to a bulletin board in my office. Sometimes I'll print it when I'm stuck and don't know where I'm going with the image. Sometimes, everything seems to flow and I'll print it out when it's "done". Almost always, I'll go back and tweak things, change the colour of something, or change one of the elements in the image. And sometimes, the image just stays on the board, waiting patiently. 

When I'm sitting in my office chair, I'll swing around now and then to look at the board and view all the images together. That's when I discover some overall themes, and, for me, that's the most magical part of creating. 

Adventure is Calling in progress

 

 

It's been a while

The last time I posted was May 2025. It has been a challenging time with many huge life changes. But I'm trying to get back on track and am hoping to start posting her regularly. I thought it fitting to show a photo of my bulletin board since that's what I did before I dropped the ball...proof that despite not posting, I have actually been creating new images. I hope to show them here over the next couple of months.

I'll start with an image I made in February. February is usually one of my least favourite months...winter always seems to be dragging on and I start to long for fair weather and spring. 

This image combines elements from 5 different photographs, spanning from 2010 to 2025. 

Make Hay While the Sun Shines, 2026

Here are the "ingredients" that make up this photo collage...they are embarrassing to show! 

1. Black Skimmers on a Florida Beach, taken January 2025 (just before most Canadians stopped traveling to the US!)

2. a field in Upper Branch, Nova Scotia in 2014

3. balloons on a bench, 2013

4. magnolia tree taken on a dog walk, 2025

5. a sheep taken on a farm in 2010 

When I posted this image on facebook, someone (Hi Helen!) left a comment: "I always love imagining the story that must lie behind one of your images". Such a perfect comment...that's exactly what I want everyone to do when they look at one of my creations. And, even better, I love it when people share what they think with me.

 

Just Keep Going

images created to date, May 2025

My office is quite small, measuring a meager 7 x 8 feet, large enough for a desk and a small printer table along one wall, and a low bookcase running along the opposite wall. This little office is my haven, my sanctuary. As a full time caregiver to someone who sleeps a lot, my office is a refuge where I go to create.

After my husband's stroke in 2017, I started focusing on the theme of emotional healing. Through my images and words, I have tried to raise awareness of linking creativity to wellness. Creating is my therapy. I journal, I work with my photography, and I create my composited images in my little office.

My own health had a major set back in 2022 when I was diagnosed with lung cancer despite the fact that I never smoked one cigarette in my life. Approaching my three year anniversary from surgery, I realize how much I was impacted. Combined with my husband's declining health, my creative energies were quite depleted. I felt empty of any inspiration to create with my photography and turned to other mediums.

I (mostly) stopped blogging, I (mostly) stopped sharing online. I turned to art journaling, hand making books, and hand stitching diary cloths. I created "ransom notes", using letters cut from flyers and pasting them to make cards to inspire myself. The learning and the creativity carried me through. I did make a couple of composited images (my favourite thing to do) in 2024. Somehow, some way, I started to feel a stronger creative urge in February of this year and shared a few of them on Instagram. 

I have a large bulletin board mounted above my desk. For the past few years it has been filled with things I found inspiring, or simply just beautiful to look at. This board has gradually changed and is now filled with my own images, all created in the past couple of months. Are they good? I don't know. But it's definitely uplifting to see my own work filling up the board.

Are you stuck? Just keep going.  

Journal Page Feb 2025