A hike between the rains

Round here you have to pick your time. Either pick your time or get used to hiking in the rain.That's what it's like when you live under a mountain.I've often wondered if it might be a better idea to move further South here in the Lower Mainland. Maybe to the delta of the river where it's sunnier. But then I might miss the mountains so I pick my time.Today C and I hiked up to the Baden Powell trail and headed up into the mountains. We came to get some fresh air and a workout.Crystal clear streams. View out over the city. Best idea ever. :D

Taking some time for art each day

I'm prioritising taking an hour, (or two if I can spare it), for a little fun art each day.Not work related art, just fun art, just for me.I'm working my way thru the journaling your story course, and it's helping me think that "just for me" art time, just to practice, try something new, follow a prompt, engage with fellow artists, is as important for my happiness and health as painting sell-able works.Remember the journal I showed you yesterday? Well, yesterday I painted a sort of idealised world on the first two pages. An amalgamation of Vancouver forests and Oxfordshire country.Here is the sketchy beginning......and this is the completed painting.This first image in my personal story journal came from a prompt from the first video Jeanne included in this course. A prompt to become deeply personal and think about what is mine, what I might be pulling from my past and taking with me into my future, and then begin to pull my story together.Forest melting into fields.This was a deeply emotional couple of pages for me to paint; especially because I miss Robbie so much and wish it were just that easy to step from these forests into those fields.But I'm very happy and relieved that I finally painted this. It's been an idea in my head for a few years now, that painting of forest melting into fields, and I'm glad that it's out of my head and down there in my journal for me to build from.Today I turned the page and started fresh with a new prompt. A quick prompt for practice, an audio only prompt to incorporate wet and dry techniques. I had no idea what it would be, (since most of my fellow artists in this course seem to be painting girl's faces, I sort of figured I'd end up painting a girl too), but a magpie decided to join me instead.And now for something completely different!Chloe and I had the most wonderful time with my son, his girl Chantal and her family. We felt so loved and accepted meeting Chantal's family for the first time. It was the most wonderful evening.And Good news on the fat cat front. Both Morgan and Milo are responding brilliantly after their first week of dieting and have already lost a bit of weight, and all of us...me included with daily yoga and careful eating ...will soon be down to our pre-Christmas trim and sexy selves.(Morgan is hating everyone a little less these days. :D )

Starting something new

Hi everyone,I'm starting something new today. I've said this before but I'm pretty excited because the course I signed up for is starting tomorrow. I've never taken a live, on-line course before and so am curious to see what this experience will feel like and what it will lead to.Two great things happened recently: thing one is that I won a lovely giveaway of a Bella Grace magazine at my new friend Anna's blog The Attic at Anderwood, and it has just arrived! :D So thank you so much Anna, and thing two is that I found a beautiful large book at my friend Dalyce's second-hand book shop to re-purpose for the art journal I will be using in my course.I was thinking of collecting some images and ideas for the course and making an ideas board, but then I already have one, which I love, on a long piece of wall in my kitchen. So I'm a bit ahead of the game there...lol.So this Sunday lunch time, C and I had a lovely time watching listening to Youtube videos while she worked on her upcoming trip to Japan and I worked on a page in my latest found poetry book.Pretty appropriate for the day of making a new journal and receiving the Bella Grace magazine, because the found poem says:A book. Just in time. A long breath. Instructions by heart. Quiet reading days. Honey.Speaks to me of finding the book for my new journal and being able to curl up with the Bella Grace magazine.But not tonight, because we are invited out for supper with my son Jonathan and his beautiful girl Chantal to meet her parents and siblings for the first time! Jonathan and Chantal will be having their first child in March, so it's high time we were all family. (Shh, we're bringing lovely little gifties with us as a surprise for Chantal and her mom.)But we have to be off.Morgan is getting fed early, (she hates everyone because she's on a diet to lose a good three pounds), so right now she can't believe her luck!Here is a little video to share. Talk soon. :Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBanK-sDsgc&feature=youtu.be

Drawing challenge: Rhythm

Hi everybody,I'm so glad you could all come join, (or just pop in to see), this first drawing challenge of 2016We're all trying to find our rhythm.For me personally, it's not altogether that easy, and, spoiler alert, I haven't finished my piece of art as of right now, (Friday lunch time), so technically this will be part one! Although I will just come back here and edit later...but then I did set my heart on a totally new to me art form: making and printing a collagraph.Lats year in Art in Action I saw an artist do a small demonstration, and have wanted to try since then. Her name is Sue Brown and she prints the most amazing birds with her collagraph plates. So I set about to try to learn a little bit more, (I should have paid more attention at Art in Action!), and it seems that I needed a piece of art hard board to carve into.Armed with my hard board, a pencil and my sketch book, I got to spend 3 hours with C on Thursday evening, in the art school she works in, with no one around.What I envisioned for rhythm, is a small wild creature just picking itself up from the winter, ready to find its rhythm back in the world. This small creature turned out to be a wild hare, and the place it is picking itself up from turned out to be winter grasses.So I played with some grasses and weeds which I sketched on transparent sheets and moved around the composition, and when I was happy with it, I transferred the images and began to cut out the top layer of paper from the hard board.Guys, please remember that it's a bit of the blind leading the blind here with very little idea of what I'm doing. :DSo I worked quite late into the evening, and this morning...I had most of the rough cutting done and the plate was basically ready for fine work.So, as usual, I will tell you the great and not so great things I found out about doing this. The paper lifts off in layers, but the lifts aren't clean and leave fluffy, pilly, rags behind...and you're all probably shaking your head saying, "duh!"...but my thoughts are, will these pilly bits make a weird texture on the print? So we will take a deep breath and say what Robbie says, "Time will tell." :DWell here we are. In the strong morning sunshine, you can see the marked difference on my plate between the cut away part and the smooth original surface of the paper.One last thing to do before I'm off to my yoga class, is coat this plate with gloss medium. In my research I found out that it's imperative to use gloss medium to seal the paper and keep the ink on the surface.OK, I'm off to let this dry and work on it some more later this aft. Wish me luck. :DIn the meantime, please link in and let us see your rhythm. I'm so looking forward to new and fresh inspiration.[inlinkz_linkup id=599339 mode=1]

These days

Whew!That's all I have to say.It's been a bit of a shock to the system getting back to the city and Pacific time.It's also been a few days of a steamroller of emotions, which are just now staring to calm down, (thanks to daily yoga.)The dreary Vancouver weather has not done much to lift the spirits, alleviate jet lag, or give me some light for photography or art as a distraction to stop moping around missing Robbie so much, so I was beyond giddy to see a little break in the rain and a little sun peeking thru.Chloe's friend Nicole came for lunch and a girly catch up and brought some pieces of wood and a small electric sander, and the two of them had a blast listening to music and practising their woodburning art.Chloe made a lovely study of trees, and Nicole made a sweet little fox.And I stopped by my friend Dalyce's book store and bought a large 1940 book to use as journal for an upcoming journaling workshop.I've signed myself into Jeanne Oliver's journaling from the heart course to try something new and I'm very excited to give it a go.Something else happened this week, and I think you would probably have to have been living in a cave somewhere on a deserted island not to have heard about a certain person's passing. Hit me straight in the heart and I had to pour that wounded heart into a little art. Nothing grand, just a little painting to say goodbye and also to never have to let go.Ashes to Ashes Starman. (acrylics and inks on watercolour paper) The Chamaeleon constellation connects thru his eyes, while the constellation Lupus looks up from below.

Drawing challenge: Rhythm

How about a new drawing challenge guys?Welcome to a new year of art, a new year of drawing challenges to keep us going. How did your 2016 start? I know some of us are full speed into wonderful art. I've seen so many of our friends on FB just jump right in and make some art. You're all such an inspiration to me.As for me, I'm off to a good start. Taking my art in this new year seriously. I'll be learning from and trying to emulate the art ethics of our friends: Barbara Bee with her imaginative daily paintings, Celine with her consistent and beautiful style, Patrice with her clear and crisp prints, Nadine with her love of learning new things, Tammie with her yoga fairies, elves and pixies and all her fantastic woodland creatures...Eric, Ariane, Carol, all of us an inspiration to each other. There's so much to us, to our group. So much talent and imagination.We're way beyond drawing. We're making art in every thing we do from paintings to photography to sewing to printing to writing. We've got this. :DSo I'm back in my studio in Vancouver......where there's a spur of the moment watercolour painting happening on a random scrap of paper, (mainly so I could have something for this post to inspire.)My art supplies, which I travel with, are unpacked on my drawing desk ready to be put into their Vancouver containers, and I'm trying to find my rhythm.Bossy frog says: "Get to work!"So pick up a brush, a pencil, some ink. Pick up your camera, your sewing, write us a poem. Come join in and let's get 2016 off to an artful and strong start.

Time with my boys

Things have been a bit quiet here in blog land and with good reason. You see, I needed some time with Robert and Theo because tomorrow I must away back to Vancouver.And we'll miss each other for a few months, but it's time again.The more our month together have to be interrupted with months apart, the more I'm determined to figure out our lives. But now Christmas time is over. Friends have been visited, Christmas treats have been eaten, copious amounts of tea have been served, Micro T has been neutered, vaccinated, and accidentally given two baths, a little art has happened, and a couple major jobs have been completed.So one more sleep and off I go. Next post from home, missing home. :(

We're pretty like we mean it!

I was having a wonderful, luxurious bubble bath this morning, when micro T decided to accidentally fall in!Oh Theo!Well, we did our best to towel him off and then he spent several minutes trying to walk while simultaneously shaking his back paws and what he actually managed was a sort of limp/fall over sideways action, and then jumped up on the bed and licked himself dry while I did my hair and make-up.Good, at least he was too busy to try to kill my make-up brushes.Actually, I thought it might interest you guys to see my travelling make-up kit.It's evolved over the years, and, while I keep make-up here, we all know that foundation, lipstick and especially mascara goes off after a few months, so I tend to take my favourites back and forth so I can use them up.Everything I carry between my two countries fits into this little zip-up bag. I've had this bag for about a million years, and it may have been a free promotion thing with some kind of cosmetic way back when, but it's fine and works for me, so no reason not to use it.This I LOVE! It's a little Dior travelling kit. Not only is it sexy, sexy Bakelite black in a velvet pouch......it's got this lovely array of shadows and lip glosses, a blush and powdered foundation. It comes with a mascara, a little sponge and a small array of brushes. With my green eyes and Mediterranean complexion, I favour these soft plums and bronzes, so this is absolutely perfect for me.It's called the Dior Cannage Couture Collection Make-up set and available at duty free, but I can't seem to find it on line to link to it.I don't actually use the tiny make-up brushes in the Dior kit because they're a bit too bitty for me. But I do have this slim and sexy envelope from Mac...Which holds a perfect selection of brushes with slightly shorter handles.I love the blond foundation brush. It's perfect for my mature skin and works much better than sponges can. I also love the sweeping blush brush and the angled brush for precise eye liner lines. This kit is called the Enchanted Eve Brush KitThe other things in my travel make-up kit are: This Mac foundation. It's the Studio Waterweight SPF 30 foundation. It's brilliant, but I think I might look at the Dior foundation which is in my kit next. I really like that one now.The Dior mascara in the Dior kit is lovely, but I prefer this mascara. It's Blinc. The brilliant thing about this mascara is that it builds little tubes around each lash and those tubes don't melt into my eyes and don't cause allergic reactions for me. It's dead easy to wash the little tubes off with plenty of water. They just release. I love this mascara.There's nothing quite like Mac blush. It never gets into wrinkles and just blends in beautifully with foundation. I prefer powdered blush and my favourite shade is Plum Foolery (again, green tint to my Mediterranean skin needs a plum rather than a peach colour).The lipstick I love these days is this pencil from Mineral Fusion. It's a perfectly moisturizing lip tint/lipstick/gloss and I love knowing there's nothing poisonous on my lips. I have it in three shades.The last thing in my kit is this Hourglass ambient lighting powder. It's a great all purpose highlighter for eyes, cheeks, that little area just above your cupid's bow. :DWhile we're at it, I thought I might show you my travelling jewellery box. No idea where it came from, but I've also had this for a million years. It's pretty much all I need to hold a selection of jewellery and hair accessories. There's always my family crest ring, my grandmother's gold watch, my diamond studs, hair pins, and a special bracelet my daughters bought me years ago, but the rest of the jewellery just gets swapped around depending on what I feel like taking with me.Today I had to go to boots and I picked up this sparkly top coat for my red nail polish. It seemed beautifully festive. I really like the Rimmel nail line. The polish is thick and glossy and dries in a couple minutes. I also bought some Simple Kind to Eyes Revitalising Eye roll-on. It's cucumbery and cooling and feels great.And so, Theo and I are both bathed, refreshed and sparkly, and can get on with our day. :D

Day out to that magic scrap yard and Wallingford

We looked at the weather app which said that this would be the one sunny day for the next 10. Robbie needed a piece of a vintage car to finish building his steering wheel assembly in Medusa, so off we went to visit the magical scrap yard which keeps on giving us part to renovate, and in his case, build, vintage cars.The part he needed was a steering shaft and he found on on a vintage Scimitar.Here is the black mini which donated vintage rear lights and other little bits for my new grey mini we are building. I like the thought that these scrapped cars are living on as wonderful components on our one-of-a-kind builds.On the way back home we stopped in one of my favourite towns, Wallingford, at one of our favourite little lunch restaurants, Catherine's.We're traditionalists in our hearts, as were really beyond giddy to find our favourite table, beside a little Victorian bay window with the reading fairy, looking down onto the street, vacant and available.Then we popped into the antique emporium next door and had a good mooch.I loved all sorts of things here, including a black Victorian overcoat, some emerald rings I couldn't afford, this vintage train set, which would have been amazing around the Christmas tree...if we didn't just get a kitten who already bounces off the walls!......and we both loved this cross stitched sign.Then, we stopped off at the sweet shop and picked up some crumbly, buttery fudge, and drove home.

On this last day of 2015

I had this inexplicable desire, on this last day of 2015, to visit the stone henge next door.In our neighbouring village of Stanton Harcourt is an ancient stone henge I've written about before right here.On this last day of 2015, it seemed very important for me to connect with the ancient, with the old, and with the future me. Kind of a maiden, mother and crone moment.To get to this ancient site I walked past a disused WWII airfield.And skirted the edge of a meadow......and walked along the shore of a lake.To where rabbits burrow in the ground digging up secrets from under the henge.Then up, over, into, and over the circular bank and the ditch to get to the stones.It always feels like there's powerful magic here.On my way, I picked up a couple flint pebbles in the shape of hearts, which the rabbits unearthed, and left them in the western most stone.A small heart to say thank you to 2015. Thank you for all the lessons, for giving me time to recover and heal. Thank you 2015 for taking it easy on me and allowing my chosen word, "ameliorate", to wrap me like a comforting hug and not overwhelm, and help me make small, positive changes over the year. Just as I had hoped.And a big heart for 2016. A big heart for hope, for happiness; an open-hearted invitation for 2016 come what may.And on this last day of 2015, found while walking this last walk of the year, an ancient rabbit skull representing the deep secret and magical past of the henge, Last year's alder cones representing 2015, fresh hazel catkins and a dandelion blossom representing the future 2016, and a sprig of mistletoe representing the now, this Christmas time, this liminal day.And, on this liminal day, I hope for the brightest and happiest future for all of you my friends. Happy New Year.