Got out of town...to my cabin
It's a bank holiday weekend here and I've been dying to get away for a few days, and I wanted to visit my daughter Kerstin, but I also wanted to spend some time at my cabin. I decided to take the very long way around and head up to my cabin overnight first and then the back roads from there to visit with Kers and our little girls.Guess who was waiting for me under the eves of the cabin. The little screech owl.Right where I left him last time. :D
My neighbours were up, (there are three other cabins around me separated by properties of 5-10 acres), and we decided to have a little meeting about our rights to the small creek we all share. We lease those rights from the government, and that protects the watershed and our water from pollution and diversion by logging or anything else.
Inside the cabin was quite chilly but soon the fire was roaring and the stove heating the whole space.
First thing I always do is walk around and pick some flowers and greens, or anything else in season...like old wasps nests on twigs, and make a little bouquet for the table.Then I had some lunch.
And then, believe it or not, I slept for three hours!
While the world went on around me.
When I did wake up I went for a walk around the cabin,
and out into the meadow.The lupines are so beautiful. I think that my grandmother may have planted there some 20 years ago.
Mostly they're that gorgeous blue, but look at this blue and white one! I even saw a pinky-mauve one.
Back at the cabin I decided to sketch in my "sketch book"Not your typical sketch book, but I loved everything about this 1923 music book and so decided to give it a new life.I chose this page to paint the tiger lily from my little bouquet because its other common name is "Turk's cap", and on the opposite page I painted a wild columbine.
Then I started an evening grosbeak, but this is as far as I got.
Instead of painting I went outside and relaxed on the trampoline.Selfie without a single stitch of make up. You don't need make up at the cabin! :D
I heard the screech owl hunting at night from his little perch just outside my bedroom window, but in the morning he was gone.I started a fire as soon as I woke up and the stove was hot in no time and my tea water boiled. I love toasting toast right on the stove top but the time it takes to go from beautifully toasted to singed is a fraction of a second!
Well, I had my breakfast, drew and painted a little more, and it's time to clean up, lock the cabin and head out.
I hate to leave but I'm excited because I'm getting even further out of town!
Friday random
Friday always seems like the perfect random sort of day to me.Does it to you?I mean, the weekend is almost here, and anything can happen. I love the weekend! I bet you do too.
Friday evening usually finds me right, here at home, on the front porch. Admiring the flowers.I'm not much of a party girl.
Speaking of flowers...
The very short, almost ephemeral, season of the flowering black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is upon us. Don't blink. It only lasts a week or so.
The thing is that the flowers are just so out of this world delicious as fritters!My favourite batter is as follows:1 cup flour2 Tbs sugarpinch of salt1 egg2/3 C milk1/4 tsp vanilla1/4 tsp fragrant rum (I use Czech rum)Olive oil for fryingDredge the flower clusters in the batter, or, strip the flowers from the stems and mix into the batter, then, spoon into the oil.Fry a few minutes till golden brown, drain a few minutes on paper towel, sprinkle with sugar/icing sugar, EAT!Oh my gosh, there's something about eating flowers that makes one feel like a Goddess. Like Venus and Athena on Mt Olympus! My friend Katie and I shared these fritters and we didn't even touch the brownies!Out of the world delicious!Don't confuse black locust with laburnum though. Laburnum is poisonous!I know, now it feels like a sort of Russian roulette, but laburnum blossoms are yellow and black locust are white...go figure.
Tuesday I taught the therapy journal and, while my students were busy finding the perfect words to describe the day, I carved a couple of stamps. I love carving stamps and love stamping the resulting carving to see what I got! Such a thrill. Then, my students are welcome to use those stamps Win, win!
Since last Sunday night and the fresh pizzas I'm so not over them. This one with beef pepperoni, mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes, parsley, mozza! OMG!
And last random, roses! Roses and roses and roses!Bunches and bunches and armloads of roses!Ever since I read Martha Stewart's gardening book and that her husband gifted her with umpteen rose bushes for mother's day I thought, well then, all I have to do is move to the country and Robbie will be so happy to gift me umpteen rose bushes. But I'm here in the city, so I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to have, (over these five years in my small city garden,) cultivated enough rose bushes to just be able to go out in the garden and clip as many of the blossoms as I like.I love roses.But I still want to move to the country to grow so many rose bushes that it borders on an obscene amount!
Sharing with Nancy and the random bunch.
Pizza, family and friends
What is one of the simplest things to make for supper when you have an impromptu get-together at the end of a very busy weekend?Pizza!
While the little ones were busy with snacks...
...and toys,
we welcomed out friends Warren and Taven and opened a bottle of wine.
Then gave the children their supper, made them a bedtime treat of hot chocolate with five mini marshmallows, (that's a grandma sort of thing!),
And put them to bed.Ziggy was so tired she actually fell asleep on the sofa. Without her bottle! Uncharacteristic for her. Only later we discovered some spilled melatonin, and so suspect that she may have eaten one. Oh well, she got the best sleep!
Binky and Bunny were sharing a bed, so they got a bedtime story or two...
...and lights out.
Nice!Kidlet free and adult time.
Kerstie and I prepared some toppings for pizzas for our supper.
It's so easy to make pizza dough as long as you have some yeast and flour, but this time we bought some fresh pizza dough from Whole Foods because I was painting all day and Kerstie and Adam had a day of catching up on Vancouver stuff.We made four pizzas.
Here is Adam's request: a pulled pork pizza:-dough pulled onto an oiled baking pan-topped with: barbecue sauce, leftover pulled pork, onions, yellow peppers and some cheddar.-Baked for about 15 minutes.
Here is my most favourite: artichoke and sun dried tomato, pesto and feta pizza:-dough pulled onto an oiled baking pan-topped with homemade pesto: a bunch of fresh basil, a handfull of pine nuts, 3/4 garlic cloves and a little olive oil whizzed around in a food processor, artichoke hearts in brine and sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil and crumbled feta-again baked for about 15 minutes
We also made a chicken pizza: method same as above, but topped with tomato sauce, left-over shredded baked chicken meat and mushrooms, onions, peppers, fresh basil, and shredded mozzarella.And a veggie pizza: the second half of our homemade pesto, all sorts of veggies, sun dried tomatoes, and mozzarella, then baked and when still hot and just out of the oven, sprinkled with fresh basil fresh sliced tomatoes and olives.We ate them all as soon as they came out of the oven. Over cloth napkins. In the kitchen. Family style.And then we chatted and caught up till way too late. <3
A Sunday painting en plein air with Opus
Hey, I was just so excited for today to come because today is the Opus outdoor painting challenge day.I already scouted the Opus painting corridor and decided that I loved the quiet of this little creek in the green space. The theme was to paint the spirit of the day where ever we felt like being today.This is Mackay Creek. According to our local Streamkeepers, it's an endangered little space because of local urbanization. Coho, chum, cutthoat, and steelhead salmon have access to it and its spawning grounds. Wildlife habitat uses it as a safe travel corridor. I decided that the spirit of this little stream and the spirit of my day, lays in the fish and waters of this little stream.
So I packed up my oils, registered at Opus, picked up my little 8" x 10" canvas and found my spot.
I looked up and down this stream but loved the little natural weir and the bubbling, splashing sound of the tiny waterfall.
I did a quick sketch using a sharpie of the vision I had in my head, and then did a quick under painting in fast drying acrylics.
And then, started in with my oils.
In my little green space, I met a lovely fellow artist.
And then these beautiful chows came walking by to say hello.
And two duck families swam by.
While I happily painted the afternoon away. :D
By 2:30 I was done. You know that Picasso quote, "It's easy enough to start but hard to know when to finish," so very true.Actually, the only reason I stopped is that 3pm was hand-in time.But here it is: The Spirit of Mackay Creek.
Then, we artists all, gathered round to see our creations.
What fun! What glorious imagination.I loved this day.Thank you so much Opus. :D
Eric's art challenge: sky
Helloo, helloooo!Long time, no DC.I'm so happy that Eric has called a new DC, Drawing Challenge, which has now been renamed AC, Art Challenge. (And it's our 194th! WOW)It's so lovely, and I think Melodye suggested it first, but it's true that we are all so diversified that the word "art" seems to suit more than "drawing".So back to the AC :D Eric has called for sky, and what a glorious subject that is.
I love skies. I love my grey, cool blue Vancouver sky, and I love my Armageddon dramatic Oxfordshire sky.So I picked up my oils and my brushes...
...and I painted myself a sky on some oil painting paper.
And then, while the paint was still wet, I flipped my brush around and scratched a little saying thru the wet paint. It reads: "Clouds float into my life to colour my sunset." Never to bring me down with rain. :D
Come pop over to Eric's this weekend and check out everyone's skies, and also check in with Ariane on a weekly basis to see if anyone's called the art challenge for the week and come join us.
Painting on ephemera workshop day
Hi everyone,It's been a wonderful week round here and lately I've done all sorts of things which have taken me out of my comfort zone...and survived them!
Last night I was asked to teach a painting on ephemera workshop at my local Opus Art Supply shop.It's a little nerve racking for me to do that, especially since I'm not by nature a teacher, but I figure that I can do anything I put my mind to, and since I just gave a two hour painting demo, how hard can teaching people to paint on ephemera be?
I got everything prepared, had a quick convo with Opus to make sure the necessary supplies were available,
And, with the company of my cats, I sat for a few minutes in the evening sun, and read another part of my new book: Nick Bantock's The Pharos Gate, Griffin and Sabine's Lost Correspondence.Nick showed me a some of the art he was using in this book pre-publishing, and I couldn't wait to have it in my hot little hands. Oh my gosh it's all so fascinating! Do you all know Nick and the Griffin and Sabine books?If you don't then I'm so very jealous, because now you get to discover this amazing story. You get to riffle thru books and books of postcards and letters, see the beautiful art, put the unbelievable journey together for yourself.
But that was only a 20 minute sit down, because, as soon as my tea was finished, I headed down to Opus and to my workshop.And my workshop was the most amazing fun!
We all found a piece of music we liked, and all ten of us painted an American or a British robin step by step while I gave directions and tried my best to help with each little hick-up.By the way, you can watch me paint on ephemera here and here, and pick up some more techniques. :D
I love watching people who've never picked up watercolour, or who've never painted on ephemera before, learn new techniques, discover how it all works, and create a beautiful little painting and some new skill to build on.
Boy those two hours went by so quickly! But in the end, I had a wonderful time and it seems like everyone enjoyed themselves. I hope we can all paint together again.
And, as a matter of fact we might be able to, because everyone is invited to take part in Opus' outdoor painting challenge this Sunday. I haven't painted "en plein air" for a while, and am really looking forward to the challenge.
But first, out little girls are coming for the weekend and I'm so excited to see them.Rock on week!Rock on. :D
Painting while Primavera smiles
Just today!I stepped out of the front door and look at these amazing orange poppies!
It's hard to believe that when I first moved into my home, now five years ago, the whole garden was various shades of pink!
Now there is an absolute rainbow here. For example, look at the irises.
Each one saved from the bulldozer at neighbourhood construction sites, and each one more glorious than the next.
The other night a wind storm kicked up and blew down several of the heavy stems. I cut them and brought them into the house.
Because, you see, I started a large oil painting last month when I had a bunch of white lilies and some purple anemones.
I was dying to get back to that painting and, while I had the cut arrangement, it was an absolute ideal time to paint in the irises.
I spent a happy couple of hours painting them in and then I roughed in some of the anemones.
What a glorious spring in the garden. I'm sure that Primavera is smiling.
Now I want to paint out those anemones and paint in the orange poppies!...maybe a bunch of my yellow roses? (This is my saved Jude the Obscure, and the fragrance from just one blossom can perfume the whole room.)
How is your spring/fall going? I hope if you're in spring, you're getting some lovely, warm sunshine and roses, and if in fall, well then, I hope your autumn bounty is grand. I'd love it if you told me. :D
Catching up...in an artistic way
Hi everybody!I know I've been bad this week and practically ignored the blog, so sorry about that and thank you to all of you who emailed me to ask what the heck was going on. :D
It's been an unusually heavy week of commitments and bookings and my usual photography and blog time seems to have evaporated. But I've just come back form a wonderful couple hours at the North Vancouver Opus Art Supply store, where I gave a painting on ephemera demo to around 20 wonderful women.I answered questions, told them everything that I manged to figure out so far, and passed around my sketchbooks and pieces of art.I love that. I love it when artists share their craft with other artists.We all had to start somewhere...right?
Chloe sensed that I was a little nervous about this demo and so she sent me a beautiful little video this morning with a brilliant pep talk...in that, "You've got this mom!" way.She also said that something like five planets are in retrograde, so anything's possible.You all know she's in Japan for the year, don't you? But you may not know that I write her postcards every three/four days and mail them to her.
Actually, I don't just write her postcards, I make them too. Usually they are collaged, sometimes painted or a combination. I'm having so much fun making them and sending them off, and I'm pretty good at the Japanese Kana character writing system for the addy.
Chloe looks forward to a couple weekly postcards. She says they make her happy and some of them she carries around in her bag for inspiration and strength.Speaking of our girl, I know you all probably miss seeing her smiling face here on my blog, but you can always catch up with her on her blog, (now that she's writing it again because I threatened not to renew her domain if she didn't [joking, but only just]), and you can also see her beautiful videos on her YouTube channel. I'm so very proud of her beautiful photography and cinematography skills.In other news, I led another therapy journal course.
I'm constantly amazed at the work these wonderful and self described "non-artistic" people create.
It's so good and so positive and happy it just takes my breath away.
I also took part in a vision board workshop.
That was amazing fun.
Here is a beautiful and very meaningful board that one person made,
and here is another's. I think they will love looking into their vision boards and finding terrific inspiration and meaning.
As for me, I decided to do something a little different.I've made vision boards before, but the truth is that I don't really have room to put up a vision board somewhere and contemplate it, so I decided to make a vision journal in an old Moleskin which was kicking around the studio.Here is the first page spread, to do with how I like to see myself.
This next page spread is to do with the direction I would like some of my art to go.One side...
...and the other.
The next spread of pages has to do with my childhood love and discipline of figure skating for 14 years. It's to remind me to go skating as often as possible.
And the next spread has to do with my flamenco dancing. Must get back to that again!
There are more pages but I'll save them for another time or else you'll be here all week! LOLThe way I see it, a vision journal will always stay on my desk where I can turn the pages and leave them open to something I wish to be inspired by, and I can pack it in my suitcase if I wish. That will work really well for me. Much better than a board would right now.And my last bit of news: I'm working my way thru The Artist's Way in a small, safe group, led by two fantastic student art therapists working on their masters.It's a little bit abridged, since we only have 8 weeks to complete the 12 week course, but I love it. I have had my copy since 1990-something, (probably 1993), and I have read thru it and started it several times only to give up around chapter 6. (with the exception of the morning pages...those I write for months and months on)I think that I'm perfectly capable of substituting the words "universe" or "good orderly direction" for the word "God" in my mind, but around chapter 6 the book seems too heavy into a Christian dogma and scripture, and I have terrific trouble with this. But with the help and support of my group, this time I managed to push thru that chapter and everything's fine now.Well, that's about all for now guys. I'm running a workshop at Opus in North Vancouver this coming Thursday evening where you can come and paint on some ephemera with me and I'll tell you everything I know. We'll paint a robin, but I'll bring plenty of paper if you want to paint your own thing. I think that there are a couple more spaces, and if not, I'm sure they can squeeze you in. Come paint with me if you can. :D Check out muraledesign for latest styles in artwork and other wall paintings.
Little girls!
How lucky am I?My daughter Kerstin brought my three granddaughters to stay for a few days.My goodness those girls are growing like the peas shoots in the garden. Practically right before my eyes.I can hardly believe that Ever will be 6 yrs old and will start elementary school next September. Isla is in preschool, and our little Zoe is repeating everything everyone says.We had such a lovely visit. We had loads of play time, a little visit to the beach, and supper treat of takeout curry, and a Dora the Explorer before bedtime video. Now it's time for them to head back to their home in the Okanagan and I'm looking forward to seeing them next month. :D
Love letter: Dear truth
Dear truth,How ominous,This single tenet that greets the overwhelmed world.The minor chords that fade into a bitter sweetness.Look, there is so much more that can be said.We marvel at words, we sell them...as much as a word cannot be for sale...we buy them every day.We buy them like food. Like gasoline. We send them to our friends, our enemies.Until we’re out of words. Then all that can be heard is breathing.A sweet simple melody strung into silence.There is joy here.There is also terror.A sweeping exhaustion.An exhale.And why?Maybe to elevate one who is nearly nothing to one who is suddenly more.But the truth is that by then everyone’s moved on.
Postcard: Self portrait as Frida Kahlo, considering Da Vinci's ghost, encouraged by Dali graces, saved by Picasso's dove, under Van Gogh's' stars, sheltered by Monet's waterlily. Pencil, ink, chalks, on Arches.Kept