Sheryl Kirby

Lots More Knots – New Work: Pride and Trans Flag Necklaces

I went a bit crazy making the knotted beads, but I wanted to have lots of fun, easy pieces available for Pride next month. I’ve got some bigger, more ostentatious pieces coming next week, but these ones are simple but effective and remind me a lot of the piece of Pride-themed flash fiction I wrote a couple of years ago.

Available in both the 6-colour rainbow Pride flag and the 5-stripe Trans pride flag. Available from my Etsy shop.

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New Work – Connect the Dots

Okay, so these were way more work than it looks, because hot glue is super-frustrating. But I think I came up with a collection of fun, lightweight, easy-to-wear necklaces that can be worn long, looped multiple times or paired up in fun colour combinations.

I’m working on some other seasonal pieces at the moment, but I’ll be adding more of these (in more colour combinations – I still have lots of white dots) as I have time.

These are $18 CAD each over on my Etsy shop.

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New Work – It’s Hip to Be Square

This is a fun digital pattern, available in two colour-ways, on a variety of housewares, clothing, framed prints and even pet products.

Available from RedBubble, Society6, and Fine Art America.

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New Work – More Abstracts

New Work – “I Have No Idea What I’m Doing” Series

More fun with digital art apps. The inspiration is the many artists I follow on Instagram who do this with real paint and canvas and make it look so easy. I’m learning, but I’m also frugal, so I hate painting irl and having it come out crap and wasting materials. This is much more satisfying… and cheaper.

Clearly I like the ruler thingie that allows me to make straight lines.

See what happens when I just paint freehand?

New Work – “Grandma’s Garden” Series

I’ve been playing with a bunch of art apps on my tablet, as well as in Paint Shop. This series started with the orange and yellow lilies that I did as a card for my Grandmother’s birthday. Then I just kept going.

Every piece is done with the same digital “sketch” brush/tool, so it’s similar to working with real paint and a palette knife.

These are meant to be loose and abstract. I’m very happy with them, and I’ve got a whole list of others flowers to add. I may upload them to the POD sites as prints or maybe notebooks or greeting cards, since that was the original intention with the first piece.

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Long Time No See!

Is this thing on? Anybody still here?

It’s been a while, huh? How about that pandemic? That sure was something…

Anyway, like many people, over the past three years, I’ve seen my share of ups and down. Lots of downs. But so far, 2023 has been pretty decent, and things are looking up.

So this site has gotten a bit of an overhaul to better reflect what I’m doing now. I’m still writing – I’ve just started my fourth book, a mystery (hopefully a series) loosely inspired by a Toronto musician from the 30s and 40s.

I started making wacky jewelry pieces that probably nobody but me will ever want to wear, but I think they’re amazing. Some of these items are available on Etsy if you’re also the kind of person who enjoys rocking an outrageous statement necklace.

I also started making art of various types, including paintings and sketches but mostly digital art which I get the biggest kick out of seeing come to life on some garment or usable object.

All of which is to say that regular readers (all eight or so of you…) can expect to see more art and writing, and less food-related stuff. I’m not sure yet. I’ll see how it goes.

Restaurant Review – Alder

Alder
Ace Hotel
51 Camden Street
Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm – 10pm
fully accessible via ramp/elevator in hotel lobby

“Just book it now, or we’ll never get a table!”

The hungry husband and I are looking at the Tock reservation system for Alder, the new restaurant in the newly-opened Ace Hotel Toronto, helmed by Chef Patrick Kriss of Alo. Knowing how hard it is to get a table at Kriss’ other restaurants, we figure we have to move fast. Alder launched a few days prior and still has plenty of tables for its first weekend open to the public, but we don’t expect it to stay that way. As it is, we take a 5:15pm reservation and are pleased as punch. We don’t normally eat on “Vegas time”, but we also don’t normally go to King West willingly on a Saturday night, so needs must. Continue reading “Restaurant Review – Alder”

Book Review – A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting
Sophie Irwin

Back in the days when I ran a food and drink website, I regularly had people applying to write for me who intentionally emulated the style of Anthony Bourdain. When I would reply to them and tell them to find their own voice, they would get angry at me. “I want to be the next Bourdain!” they’d write back emphatically. But here’s the thing, we only ever needed one Bourdain. Everything else, every person who wrote anything in a style of flowery, meandering prose punctuated with sharpish observations of the world, would always be second rate. Solely because they weren’t Anthony Bourdain. And it wasn’t that their stories, or observations, were bad, or even badly written; it was just hard to get past how desperately they were trying to be like someone else.

Such is the case with writers who emulate Jane Austen.

I get that the Regency era is hot right now. I get that the fashions are fun and that the etiquette and social rules of the time make for lots of opportunities for the drama, intrigue and misunderstandings that are the backbone of a good story, romance or otherwise. But there’s got to be some plotline other than of a plucky young woman fighting for her family, or against the unfairness of social hierarchy, who overcomes the odds and falls in love with her (rich!) nemesis. As much as I want to adore Kitty Talbot, out on the hunt for a rich man to save her household of young, orphaned women from certain ruin, I just can’t help reading A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting and thinking how this is just trying to be so, so hard to emulate Austen.

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Tiny Stories – Girl’s Weekend

“You sit here, and Trish and I will share this seat, and Sally, you sit there by Loretta.”

Everyone did as Brenda said, even though it meant cramming into a space on the streetcar that left them all cramped and awkward. Of all of them, she was the only one who had been to Toronto before.

After a few minutes, Brenda jumped up. “There’s one of those cute step-up four-seater areas open! C’mon!”

Loretta, tired of walking all day, and tired of being bossed around, dared to question her friend’s demand. “Can’t we just sit here, it’s fine.”

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