Viva La Vida, sandias
Overcast day, so a little trip into town. A little walk down the El Malacon boardwalk.
With Chloe's new GoPro Hero 4 Black! Oh she's so excited to the max.
Me, I'm into the magnificent frigatebirds. I love how they hang out on the statues and roof tops here.
C's into her GoPro, but just wait, she's editing a wonderful little movie right now. Hopefully she'll upload it and I'll link it for you. :D
Oh, I'm also into the pelicans.
And picking plumeria blossoms for my hair. And feeling very Frida Kahlo-esque
And the bright, beautiful colours of Mexico.
It's easy to be happy here and enjoy life. Viva la vida!
And viva la never ending supply of limes for the Coronas.
And the watermelons? The sandias? Oh yeah, love those too! :D
Here we go: Chloe's postPlus her youtube for her charming video:https://youtu.be/tJNh8X4OfkE
Ola from Sunday night, which suddenly turned into a Monday morning
There's something to be said about bringing the weather with us.
But we Vancouverites, what do we care about the rain! We don't ever bother with an umbrella in a good old West Coast downpour... so a tropical storm? It's just March lioning it.And then there's that sky!
And that tropical Pacific.
This evening I walked in the warm, wet sand, and let the surf splash up my legs. I watched dolphins playing and pelicans floating, and small birds darting among the palms, until the last of the light was gone.
And then, exhausted from two extremely shorts nights and hours of travel, I slept, and slept, and slept thru the warm and humid Mexican night. :D
Spring Break, a drawing challenge
Within every heart is a wild thing which needs to find fellow wild things to sing with in harmony.
Art: Wolf Pack on Chopin, in watercolour, ink, watercoulor pencils. Page chosen because of the tempo of this nocturne. Instructions = sempre, acceler, agitao, riten, Dopio movimento; always, faster, restlessly, dramatically, faster still.Spring Breaking news: Come visit this fabulous pack:Nadine, Tammie, Susan, Amanda, Melodye, Renee, Renee, Melanie, JoAnn, Joke, Sharmon, Renilde, Lucia, Patrice, Silke, Annton, Ariene, Carole, Marian Eric, Stefanie, and Norma! Oh Yes! :D What a wonderful pack we have.
Total randomnocity
Yesterday Morgan came in with a hitchhiker; a slug tangled in the long hair at the tip of her tail. Ugh. Ever try to detangle a slug from the tail of an ornery cat with razor blades for claws?
I mentioned to my friend Margot that I wanted to buy a slow cooker (again, after millions of years without), and she said not to because she was sure she had two and I was welcome to one of them. Thank you so much Margot, I'm loving it to pieces and so far made a most terrific stew, chili and chicken cacciatore.
I was just at my favourite book store, Booklovers, to find some books to take with me to Mexico. You know, the kind you don't feel badly about leaving behind for the next holidayers, and the owner, Dalyce, handed me a Terry Pratchett Discworld book, which I immediately snapped up. I've read it several times already, but only have a copy in England. Obviously I need a copy here in Vancouver as well. I love Terry Pratchett books to pieces and, even though it may have been somewhat expected, I was immeasurably sad to hear of his passing yesterday. I'm sure that he's now walking thru Discworld with his friend DEATH. Godspeed Sir Terry.
Many of my favourite bloggers are full speed decorating their homes for spring and I'm like...meh.
But I am getting some art done and finding tons of inspiration in my studio. :DSharing with Nancy and the random bunch.
Giveaway over at a Butterfly in my Hair
About two months ago, my friend Vibeke asked me to be part of her landmark birthday giveaway. One new item from one new artist/craftsperson per day for 30 days.How fantastic is that?My turn came today and so I proudly offer these three silver stacking rings for you to win, thru Vibeke.Pop over to her blog and leave her a comment. She will pick the winner in five days.Go and get in on something wonderful. :D Go on, you know you want to! :D
Drawing Challenge: Spring Break
I must admit that I miss it when there isn't a drawing challenge called for the week, so, the hell with it! I'm calling one.Is it a North American thing, or is it "spring break" in other parts of the world? Either way, pick up something of the "Mad As A March Hare" thing and your pencil, brush, pen, (fill in your idea of self expression) , and join us.I'm off to Mexico for the second week of spring break so that's why the sudden impulse to paint one of my most favourite flowers this evening: the plumeria.Even if you can only muster a recipe for the perfect margarita ... Hey, I'm in! :DSo calling all my creative friends. Mix me up a margarita spring break special. :D You tell me here, or on my FB and, as usual, I'll link to you on next Friday the (OGM) 13th, and then we have a party visting each other over the weekend.Edit:In, so far, are: Nadine, Tammie, Susan, Amanda, Melodye, Renee, Renee, Melanie, and JoAnn.
Hello from Sunday night
City and country, a perfect blend this week.The sun keeps shining, the daffodils are up, some of the cherry trees are in full bloom, the weeping willow in the country has that bright green flush of new leaves...you know the kind that I mean? I brought some branches home for the vase.Just a quick mention that Vibeke's giveaway is still going on, and will continue with a new, wonderful gift to win every day for the whole month, (my turn in on the 10th with three silver stacking rings), and to my snowy friends out East, I do have a guest bedroom. :DBig warm hugs.
A bespoke pencil case
Here's some terrific fun!Recently, I booked us a week away in Mexico, and, having C's children's art class self portraits and Frida Kahlo on our minds, we thought we'd make a couple pencils cases to take with us. After all, how hard can it be?So we got a little bit of raw canvas, cut four identical rectangles, and got to work.We drew our designs in pencil, traced over with a sharpie, and filled in with acrylics.
It took a couple of days, but by this afternoon, when the sewing machine was transferred from the craft room into the studio, it looks like a bomb went off in here! :D
I'm not a very good seamstress, and so had to look at a couple of videos about fitting a zipper, but, in the end, it wasn't too difficult.
Bless the person who invented sergers!
A few final snips and...
Ta-da! A bespoke pencil case!I love it. Now to finish C's. :D
Happy anniversary to me!
Gosh!Wordpress sent me a Happy 5th Anniversary notice.Five?How in the world did that happen?
It's hard to believe that five years of my life are chronicled here. (OK, maybe four, because the first year I was so scared of that blank screen that I avoided writing anything...you know...it might not be perfect and someone might criticize me. I have a very strong "anti-critical mother" vibe.) But here it all is; the ups and downs, the whimsy, the silly, the beautiful, the tragic. Life. My life. I'm rather proud of it.But I don't have much of anything monumental to say today.Actually, I was going to write about these clumps of daffodils. Well, I still am.These, (of which there are at least ten clumps round the garden), started life as those cheap dafs one buys at the grocery store for about $4 to make one's house springlike and cheerful. Well, when they've bloomed their little hearts out, I just plop them into the garden where they green up, feed their bulbs and come back next year as cheery and as happy, and even bigger than ever.
In the garden are also lettuce seedlings. In the cold frame for now...as I don't really trust the March weather...but I'm so looking forward to some home-grown veggies. That first salad from the garden is such a treat.
There are some few garden flowers in the house. The hyacinth, same as the dafs, began life as grocery store cheeriness. It's always a good idea to plop the bulbs into the ground and see what happens. After all, I figure since I bought them anyway, I have nothing to lose.In the studio, is a map. I picked this map up at the local thrift for a couple of dollars, but when I took it home I realised what a special map this is. It's a 1959 map of Austria showing the old Czechoslovakia, and, specifically, showing the exit route out of the old Czechoslovakia into Austria that my family took when we escaped as political refugees.
And, after a bit of internal debate...there be Merlins!
Here is the male Merlin,
And here is the female. Still a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.
Of course, Morgan couldn't care less...lol.
But for me, five years! It's a small monumental achievement. :DBy the way, my friend Vibeke at A Butterfly in my Hair, is having a month long giveaway. Each day a new artist, craftsperson, amazing woman is offering a something special and unique to win. EACH DAY! My turn will be on the 10th with three sterling stacking rings in beautiful spring-toned stones. Go get yourselves in on something special. :DSharing with Ivy and Elephants
Hello from Sunday night, yes I know it's Monday morning
You know what I discovered recently?I actually only have two hellebores in my garden and they're not very exciting hellebores at that.Out at my favourite nursery, Southlands, Thomas had all sorts of these beautiful guys. I love winter bloomers.
Is it me or have I blinked and suddenly there are about a million exciting new cultivars from the boring old Winter and Lenten Rose types? Look at the ruffles and spots and variegation! Have to look around my own hood for houses which will be demolished this spring and go steal save a few.
The Southlands neighbourhood is a very bucolic country gentry life neighbourhood, with horses and stables and rural life right in the heart of a big cosmopolitan city. It ends at one arm of the Fraser River and the Vancouver airport is on an island just beyond.
It might look bucolic and country charming, but the average price of houses starts somewhere around $5,000,000 and goes up from there. One particular house overlooking the path and river is listed at $12,000,000 and has 5 bedrooms 5 bathrooms, about 5000 square ft, and an average city lot. Buying a house in Vancouver means that you can probably afford a house anywhere else in the world...except maybe New York, London or Tokyo.
But it is beautiful here. Blooming trees and pussy willows and horses in back yards.
Sharing with Judith and the mosaic bunch. :D