kitten, flycatchers and roses
Oh boy I forgot what it's like to have a baby in the house. The little engine in his cat brain started up at 4am.He was basically running up the walls, jumping all over the furniture, and up on the windowsill to get at my yellow roses, where he tried to pull them apart leaf by leaf.
I finally put the roses by my bedside and that darn cat tried to get at them any way he could. After a while, he lay down in frustration and just stared at me.
Robbie had to work today and so Theo and I were hanging out at my art desk, where I tried to get some work done, but that kitten was hell-bent on getting at my feather collection. I took my roses into the studio with me and at least they were safe for a while.
He wasn't satisfied with just one feather, he wanted them all, and when I tried to put him down on the floor, he attacked my hand. Ha, thank goodness for my big brush. It worked as a sort of broom to gently sweep him off my table.
I did manage to get a little work done. Here's one little flycatcher.
Actually, the only reason I got some work done was because Theo wore himself out and fell asleep. His brain seems to have two functions, fast forward and off!
After he fell asleep I managed a second fly catcher. Not quite finished, but I ran out of daylight. Tired to the max this evening. (Babies and jet lag will do that to you.)
Jiggity Jig
As I write this post there's a snugly little kitten beside me dreaming away. He's the most inquisitive and intelligent little thing! This morning, Robert pulled back the curtains to find him hanging off the sheers. He keeps trying to get to the cluster of ladybugs hibernating in the corner of the window sill, but they release their scent and he goes off sneezing.I'm aware that there was a day and night there in my immediate past, but I think I was up for 32 hours, so time just blurs. I remember landing, that beautiful, huge, orange, horizon sun, that bouncy kitten, those funny chickens, and the meadow.We pulled up to West Cottage and Robert said, "Jiggity Jig."
I know this is naughty...but I couldn't help myself
So there are perks which come along with the professional photographer tittle...
...and have a lot to do with owning a pro camera and staying on the 19th floor of a downtown hotel. (OK, so, these photos may have been taken from the 28th floor, but that's not really the point of this naughty story)
The point is that at night time, these sorts of visions and resulting photos are so irresistible for me...
...it's like a moth to a flame.
So at night I practice my low-light photography,
And in the day time, over my breakfast...
I look at some more.Now I do understand that this is pretty naughty of me, but I figure that people who live in those apartments do know that there's a hotel directly across the street, so I figure they know that having open curtains invites inquisitive looks.(besides, I may have wanted a photo of that 20ft lit-up deer and the apartments just got in the way...ehrm.)So I was just casually looking around...thru my camera...as you do, and came across a beautiful piece of red sculpture, which naturally needed closer inspection.
Oh my gosh guys, I found Frasier's apartment!Look at how gorgeous this is? How impossibly stylish! With a wall of paintings, sculptures, those beautiful glass walls with view, a Christmas tree just waiting on the balcony, AND a harp! (sigh)
OK, I'll stop being naughty and put the camera away. :D
A date with SAM - the Seattle Art Museum
I wonder how it happened. Did Monet and Renoir retire to Monet's studio after supper, where, Monet, tired from a day of work, lit his pipe and picked up his book, while Renoir began to paint? Did Renoir say, "Hold it right there my friend!". Was it a natural evolution, a free and easy familiarity between friends? Was it Renoir's studio that Monet visited that evening?We will never know.But aren't we lucky that the Impressionists found these irresistible moments and laboured to capture them?
A portrait of Monet by Renoir 1872Come visit the Seattle Art Museum and the Intimate Impressionism exhibition with me. This exhibition just took my breath away.
Painting after painting. Rare glimpses into everyday moments. True life. An Impressionistic reality show.This next painting is Madame Camille Monet and her son Jean by Renoir.I wonder what lead up to this painting.
Later, Monet recounts this conversation: "Manet, enthralled by the colour and the light, undertook an outdoor painting of (Camille and Jean) under trees. During the sitting, Renoir arrived. . . . He asked me for palette, brush and canvas, and there he was, painting away alongside Manet. The latter was watching him out of the corner of his eye. . . . Then he made a face, passed discreetly near me, and whispered in my ear about Renoir: 'He has no talent, that boy! Since you are his friend, tell him to give up painting!'"Oh thank goodness artists never listen.Now look at this one:
Mound of Butter by Antoine VellonIsn't it the most sensual take on an ordinary slab of butter.You know what's so magical about seeing the paintings up close and personal? I can study the brush strokes. Almost touch the master's hand. Those thick impasto strokes. Like glooped on butter on the wooden knife.
And then look at the beautiful wispy brush strokes which describe the cheesecloth and the egg shell.
And these ordinary prune plums and nasturtiums. This is Red plums by Pierre Bonnard
Everyday ordinary plums and garden nasturtiums. It's that common magic I love so much.And Paul Cezanne. Unmistakable, isn't it? Even if you were across the street looking at this you would know it's aCezanne, wouldn't you?
Those blue shadows of the tipped bowl, the angles of the milk jug. Cezanne said, “There is neither line nor modeling, there is only contrast.”And now we come to my favourite painting in this collection, (although how can one possibly chose), but this one I wanted to step into the minute I saw it. I want to sit in that eternally spring garden, under those apple blossoms, at that green table, with that book. The Green Table by Pierre Bonnard.
I walked out of the Impressionist's exhibition into the American painter's collection, and the intimate feeling continues.
This ethereal, so completely, unbelievably, beautiful portrait, is The End of the Day by William Sergeant Kendall.This is the artist's wife Margaret and their first child Elisabeth.Look at the gentle light on Margaret's neck, the blue bow and chubby knees of the small child.
And now we go back in time. This is a small area of a much larger painting: A Shepherdess Adorned with Flowers by Gerrit van Honthorst 1627
You know, I'm glad that the Dutch seemed to have escaped the worst of the Protestant Reformation movement of that era and could still paint decadent beauties like this.And even further back in time, we have Portrait of a Young Woman 1565 attributed to Santi di Tito.She's the most beautiful mystery. She wears the dress of an unmarried woman, yet her emerald ring suggests marriage. No one knows who she was, even if her initials may have been C. A. C. I could spend the day looking at this painting, trying to figure out how the master described the gold threads, the lustre of the pearls, the highlights in her hair.
Now it's time to end the visit, but I could have stayed here for hours and hours. This last sculpture also took my breath away. I love all Art Deco, Art Neuvo, and especially cast bronzes, so love this sculpture called Greyhounds Playing by William Hunt Diederich 1916.
I hope you've enjoyed coming with me to the SAM.How lucky are we to have cities in this world with such beautiful and valuable art museums. :D
An hour at Pike Place Market
I drove mom down to Seattle for the weekend. She has an anesthesiology meeting she'd like to attend, and me? I like to get out of town.Got to the Renaissance Hotel late afternoon and walked down to Pike Place Market.
There's that Sleepless in Seattle romance here...do you know what I mean?The last rays of the sun were just filtering in, and so I sat and watched the sunset.
And then I walked around the market.Oh my goodness, the fish throwers are a funny bunch.
And the fruit is so sumptuous.
I really wanted to buy a handful of these beautiful chantrelles, a bit of chicken, a little cream, a pinch of salt and pepper. Oh what a yummy dinner that would make. Alas, there's no kitchen in my hotel room.
I walked on to a little cheese maker. Beecher's artisan cheeses.
I absolutely could not resist a small tub of cheese curds and a small wedge of their signature Flagship cheese. Now that I can have without a kitchen.
Next stop was Lamplight books. No I can't possibly walk past a secondhand book seller without going in.I picked up three books: Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber, A Summer of Hummingbirds by Christopher Benfey, and Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir. They seem like good books to me. Anyone read any of them?
It was already getting dark when I walked out of the market and I turned back to the hotel...
...up the lovely, glowing streets of Seattle.
Tammie's Drawing Challenge: Threshold
I love Tammie's drawing challenge: threshold. It feels very appropriate for me this weekend, because this is my last weekend in Vancouver this year.And maybe that's not quite an accurate statement, because I'm off to Seattle first thing tomorrow morning till Sunday night actually...which is why I'm jumping the gun a little and posting my response this evening.
I was looking at one of my Oxfordshire sketchbooks and realising that, when I get back, home will not be as I left it last September. Home will not look like this late summer collage in my sketch book.Home will not be this beautiful soft pink air and harvest gold warmth of late summer. Home will be a cold, low sunlight and purple blue shadow of winter. Oxfordshire has crossed the seasonal threshold.
But home will be even more beautiful for being in winter, with frosty mornings and evening fires with my love, warm cuddles with a soft kitten, friends and neighbours to catch up with, skating on ponds and carolling in the village... and I can't wait.As I keep turning the pages I come across another threshold of sorts. A bit more of a dramatic threshold between life and death. It's a poem I wrote a few years ago and quite forgot about, but it still takes my breath away. It's a response poem to Robert Fitterman's poem "This Window Makes Me Feel..." Would you mind very much if I shared it?
Catching up on work, late into the night...with music
Oh yes!T minus 4 days till I switch countries and get to hug Robbie and meet my kitten!Tons of work to get done!!!!So distracting up here in my studio. Art and creativity potential all over the place. Works in production just begging for me to pick up a brush or quill...And my city is sparkling across the straight.
Chloe is giving me a hand scanning originals which may end up on Etsy!!! OMG if I ever get my "tomorrow" together!
And I'm at my business desk trying to find a lost document. We're listening to some fabulous music that I identified on Shazam! And boogieing in our chairs.Fabulous songs like:Imelda May "It's good to be alive"Roberta Flack "Compared to what"Regina Spector "Lady"Martin Garrix "Animals"Oh yes, it's my turn to feature MY music in the studio. C says, "That's so you!"Funny though, we come to something like "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit, and Clover says, "That's so weird! I just heard that and thought, 'does mom know about this song?'"An we come to Walk of the Earth and Beck and C says, "Oh no way! I love that!"Then she puts on the Walk of the Earth cover of "shake it off" and we watch the video!
I can't find that document and I must have it before Dec 31st, (but actually I only have the next 4 days), so I give up and decide to call the Government to get a replacement tomorrow. I also heard someone trying to break into my door the other night, which has pretty much freaked me the F*** out, and has me reading stuff on Google like this article to see if I should invest in some super-lock to keep myself (and my stuff) safe.So my business desk...Riptide by Vance Joy plays, and C calls out "Oh my god I love that!!!"Anyway, my business desk is structured in such a way that keeping accounts and juggling my money becomes a joy rather than a chore.Everywhere I look there's something beautiful for my eyes to land on.Here is an owl C made for me from some vintage fabric and buttons, sitting next to a vintage Chinese cricket cage, a bowl carved from a prehistoric ammonite rock with an iron pyrite and quartz crystal in it, with a couple of tiny acrylic paintings in the background, a gift from Kers. I always wonder who that was who painted the paintings I now own.
Yann Tiersen - Comptine d`un autre ete - l`apres-midi is playing.Here are some vintage Steiff animals. They belong to C...a gift from her grandmother. I love having them look over my work.
Jonathan's lead soldiers are guarding this castle. Robert's sister and I have identical castles by pure chance. She in England and I in Vancouver. Pure serendipity.
A couple vintage Steiff mice are regarding me from the pencil ledge.Fun. "We Are Young" ft. Janelle Monáe is blasting out of the pc and the Marley speaker.
The owl and a pussy cat beside a street sign from Prague. My favourite street.
A beautiful photo of a 3yr old Clover plus a little town called Hedley where I want to live for a time.Does that make me crazy? Ray Lamontagne - Crazy is playing right now.
Snails from Prague on the base of this utilitarian light I got at the thrift. I really must think about changing this lamp to something more beautiful...but then the snails tell me they like it just fine.
A vintage beaded and rusty wire peacock is looking over them from the shade of the paper shelves on the desk.
A very mellow and beautiful Dex: edIT is playing right now, and we relax to a soft mood.Selfie in the studio skylight.
Oh, the doorbell rings. It's Bryson, and C's off climbing this evening. The spell is broken. Careless love, Madeleine Peyroux comes up next in the queue.That's a wrap guys. :D
Today can be classified in that "Well, if you can believe this!" department!!!
Oh, if you can believe this!Today I promised my mother that I would give her a hand running some errands and take her downtown for her specialist health check appointment.
You probably already know mom's 80 million years old, and hates driving downtown and trying to park there, an I'm a chill downtown driver, (probably owning to my favourite super aggressive, racing, weaving in and out of traffic driving style...in a safe way)So I drove my red sports car out to mom's and parked it up, jumped into her car and we ran some errands for her, I parked up in a back lane while she ran an appointment for 10 minutes, she came back to the car I tried to start it and...nothing. I clicked the starter again, and nothing. Again and again, nothing and nothing. After a quick read on https://www.toolnerds.com/ we knew for sure that it was the damn battery or alternator.
By now, mom had about 20 minutes to get downtown for that health check. I called a taxi and called mom's Mercedes person for the Road star roadside assistance for a jump start.The taxi arrived, and I packed mom off in the taxi and waited for help. The Road star assistance arrived and the fellow jump started mom's car. And now here's the trick: Why the hell did mom's battery die. I had the seat warmers on while we were driving, but the car shut down while I was waiting. Hmm...time for a new battery probably.
So while mom was at her health check, I drove around trying to charge up the battery, while speaking to the Mercedes people (hands free, don't freak out), trying to fit a new battery and routine maintenance into the narrowest margin of time, between tomorrow morning and Friday morning when I have to take mom to Seattle for a conference.Well long story short, several hours later, my sports car parked in mom's garage, I've got mom getting a lift from a fellow doctor to her hospital for her rounds tomorrow, and me driving mom's car to drop it off this evening for a 9:30am appointment tomorrow at the Mercedes service, where they'll fix everything.Whew!I must admit I always look at that photo of my late father in mom's dining room and think about the calm and easy way he'd handle any "freakout" situation. He never raised his voice, he never lost his cool, and he always got results.Now I can tell you that, for all the luxury and prestige, I wouldn't want have mom's temperamental Mercedes for a minute, but you know, one lovely thing about a full service, upscale car dealership is that they immediately called me a taxi and sent me on my way with a full price taxi voucher, today's newspaper, a promise to polish and clean the interior of the car, AND a cup of tea. I can tell you that by this evening I was willing to murder for a cup of tea.
This is the photo I took out of the window of the taxi while my iPhone was on 3% battery power from all the use!Oh my god it's so very good to be home!
Sunshine till the last possible moment
Chloe and I have been running around all day.When we finally got home in the early afternoon we thought, "let's get out of here!"
Now our beautiful Vancouver weather is about to change to rain...we knew it was too good to last...so we decided to beat the clouds and get on the top of a mountain and stay in the sunshine as long as we could.Oh heaven up here on the top of the world.
I'm looking at this cabin and wondering how I could import my family and we all stay here for Christmas. We'd bring the turkey and Christmas cake and we'd play charades and sleep in till noon, and we wouldn't move till well into the New Year, and when we got bored we'd go outside and throw snowballs and make a fire in the snow and roast marshmallows. All we'd need is each other and some snowshoes and skis.
Here on top of the world, where ravens stretch across the sky on easy wings.
You know, one of the things I love the most are the skeletons of grasses in the winter and dormant willow twigs.I can't count the times I've gathered some and brought them into the studio.
And I couldn't help myself this time either. I gathered a few grasses and seed heads to take home.
They'll sit in the studio, and maybe they'll become linocuts or paintings, but either way they'll stay there reminding me of this glorious hour, when the entire world was mine and I stayed in the sunshine till the last possible moment.
This post completes my Nano Poblano challenge for 30 days hath November. What do you all think guys, should I keep going? :D
Hello from Sunday night
Hello from Sunday night everyone.Lately I've got out of the habit of writing my hello from Sunday night posts, and I began to miss them. For me, it's really nice to take a little time on Sunday evening to reflect on my weekend and share with you.
I really do love writing this blog and posting some beautiful photos. It's mostly something I look forward to very much. At the beginning of November, when I signed up for the NaBloPoMo Nanopoblano :D I wondered if I might find the daily blog posts a bit of a chore, but I didn't. Mostly I found them easy and natural, like a 30 minute wrap-up of my day, like an on-line journal.
I wonder if I want to keep up the daily posts. What do you think guys? Is it a bit much?
Anyway, as you can see from these photos, it's been another stellar day here. Clover and I went for a walk down at the docks, which are just nine blocks from my house.
We didn't go very far today or spend too long, because my son Jonathan and his beautiful girl Chantal came for a late lunch. Chloe and Bryson are planning their trip to Japan in a couple months and, since Jonathan's lived there for some time, they wanted to talk to him about everything they could to prepare.
When Clove first planned a lunch with Jon, she was going to meet him somewhere, maybe downtown, and have her brother to herself, but I said to invite them home. Clove was a bit worried that Chantal and I might feel a little left out of the conversation, but not us! My daughter in law and I went upstairs into the studio and had a lovely catch up. She carved a little stamp for her Christmas gift tags while I worked on my lino cut. Ha, we know how to amuse ourselves, thank you very much. :D
Later in the evening I inked up the linocut and pulled a print to see what I got.
I must admit that it's not my favourite print. Actually, I don't really like it. I do like the trees and how I realised them, but I'm not keen on the field or the rabbits. They feel very amateurish. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
That's the thing about learning and exploring. You win some and you lose some. And, as my late friend, artist Robert Genn used to say, "Success has to do with deliberate practice," and "come talk to me after you've put in ten thousand hours." OK, so maybe I've got another...oh...nine thousand hours to go. :D