Beach Umbrellas

"Beach Umbrellas" 16x16 acrylic

Nice to think about the sun returning some day. Just got back from a walk with the dog. -25C. Crisp!

It intrigues me that Art is a language. I see something, I smile. I paint that image. A person looks at my painting, they smile. We have communicated. Great paintings can move one to tears or great joy. Isn't that amazing?

Cabin Fever Two

cabin fever two 12x12

This is Jinx in a different pose for a painting that has gone to the CAbin Fever Show in Kimberley.

Robbie Burns Day

Well, if I wasn't so slow on the uptake (I admit, I am severly chronilogically challenged--I seldom know the date) I would have gone to a Robbie Burns dinner last night. Canadians are rather into this because so many have Scots backgrounds. I have attended them in the past. Lots of kilts, dancing and haggis (stuffed sheep's stomache--sounds gross but tastes like good sausage).

Just to put you in the mood, check out this little ditty on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJB1u1ZFzrk&feature=related

Shack near Edgewater

12x12 acrylic
An attempt at painting some of the local landmarks. I never seem to be able to handle green!

Reverie

Reverie 16x16 acrylic

I quite like the feel of this one, very warm and nostalgic.

I just started reading " A Girl named Zippy" about a precocious girl growing up in a very small Indiana town in the 1960's. It reminds me a great deal of my own childhood. Certain passages, like this one "Everyone in Mooreland believed in God (except my dad). There was no such thing as multiculturalism--no people of color, no exotic religions, no one openly homosexual (there was one old bachelor who had suspiciously good taste in furniture, but we didn't question his private life)."

For the most part, my childhood was calm and safe. We were free-range children who roamed wherever our bikes could take us. The Dads were mainly farmers and oil field workers, WW2 veterans who picked up their lives and soldiered on, careful to refrain from swearing in front of wives and kids. The Moms raised varying assortments of children to mostly good effect. Everyone grew a garden and canned for the winter. They laid crude oil on the gravel roads in the summer to lay the dust. I loved the smell of it so much I could almost eat it.

Help. I'm addicted!

Attending the ancestors
My brother cleaning one of my relatives tombstones in the old Cravens cemetery near Burnt Prairie, IL

I signed up for Ancestry.ca a few days ago and I am now obsessed with downloading all the census forms regarding my ancestors. You can learn a lot from the forms and it is like a gateway to your families history.

Todays post was inspired by the Willow Manor blog: http://willowmanor.blogspot.com/ where she posts a ghost story about her house.

The house I grew up in had a quiet spirit that would come and gently sit on the bed I was sleeping on in an upstairs bedroom. This only happened occasionally as the only way I would sleep upstairs would be if I had a friend stay over night. It didn't always happen, but it did happen several times through the years. My family always kidded me about my "spook". Shortly after my mother passed away, I was telling my sister-in-law about the occurences and looked over to see my brother nodding his head. This is the self-same older (much older) brother that joined in the jibing about my ghosts. He finally admitted that he too had been visited by some sort of energy upstairs.

I decided to be brave one summer when I was home from college and sleep upstairs (my usual bedroom was downstairs) Night after night, I thought I could hear breathing or soft footsteps on the stairs. The baseboards along the walls would glow faintly. Irritated at being afraid, I had finally had enough one night and announced out loud that I didn't believe in ghosts. A sound like that of a large heavy stone (think small bowling ball) falling on the roof was my answer. I vacated and spent the rest of the summer in my regular bedroom.

When my Dad moved from the house in the 1970's he sold it to a childhood playmate. They have never experienced the ghost.

You asked for it!

Polar Bear Swim 2 16x16 acrylic

Lock up your boys! Here is Polar Bear Swim2. Ok, I now know that fur is really hard to portray.

I am really liking my link within widget.

Backyard neighbors

After a number of years, it is still a thrill to see these big beasts out by the back fence. They come at twilight and at dawn to check out the thistle patch. Unfortunately, I passed three dead by the side of the road on my trip to town yesterday. Slick roads, darkness and elk are a terrible combination. They have no car sense whatsoever. If you see one starting to cross the road, hit your emergency signal and slow the heck down. Once one crosses, all the others follow.

I don't know how they manage to sustain themselves in this hard weather, signs of digging for forage are everywhere.

Teapot series

tea for two 16x16 acrylic

I am working up a collaboration with a potter for a show later this year. She makes beautiful teapots--I paint teapots. This is a painting of a small copper red teapot and cups that I own. I like the way the cups fit warmly in your hand.

Red Nude

red nude 8x10 acrylic collage

I see glimpses of sunshine, yippee!

Polar Bear Swim 1

polar bear swim 16x16 acrylic

My poor long suffering husband lets me use him for a model occasionally even when he knows I'm up to no good...but I appeased him by letting him know that Polar Bear Swim 2 will be based on me.

Cabin Fever is striking HARD. If one more person tells me about their trip to the southern US or Mexico, I am going to go ape shit! I just want to jump in the car and drive. I dream of the backroads of New Mexico. I long to explore Montana and Idaho (sans snow of course). I've never been to Wyoming. At times yesterday both the Trans Canada 1 and 3 were closed down due to road conditions so I wouldn't get far even if I tried. The only nice thing about today is that it is realatively warm and sunny.

Blue Nude

blue nude 8x10 acrylic collage

I sent off an application to take part in a week long painting expidition in the mountains this summer. Working in a group of 6 people doing plein air painting with the expectation of having work ready for a show in November would be a great challenge. Wish me luck!

Green Nude

green nude 8x10 acrylic collage

It wasn't that cold out yesterday (-15C) but I didn't take into account the stiff breeze. I had to cut my walk short by half-way because my cheeks were feeling crispy, my stupid boot had a leak and was filling with snow under my sole and I wrenched the heck out of my knee in foot deep snow. Grrrr.... my resolution to walk 5 K a day is meeting with hard competition. Today might be better, snow is falling, the wind sock is hanging limp. We'll see if this stupid stiff knee will loosen up. Kirra loves fresh snow and frolicks pretty madly for a 12 year old dog.

Wabi-SAbi

"Leather Buck"
16x20 acrylic collage, rust paper, rice paper, textured gesso, brown paper and fusible interfacing

"Wabi Sabi: is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional." L. Koren

Wabi-sabi works for me!

OK, I'm having trouble naming this one. I'm not real thrilled with"leather buck". Any suggestions?

Follow your heart

acrylic collage 16x16 rust paper, anaglypta wallpaper, tissue

I do really like the textures on this one. Still doing battle with the composition thing.

Rust Paper

OOoooh, rust paper....I learned how to make it and can harldy wait to use it!

Nude collages

Nude collage 1 8x10 acrylic/collage

I am inspired by other collage artist on the internet that are combining life drawings and collage elements. I like the freshness of life drawing sketches and if I can combine them with some of the interesting collage papers I have created, all the better.

Bulldog revamped

bulldog 16x16 acrylic

I found that the skyline was drawing my attention away from the truck and that it was too close to the centre of the picture so I raised it. This painting is now at Artrageous Gallery in Cranbrook. Now I want to get cracking on the "Cabin Fever" show in Kimberley and some nudes for a special burlesque event to be held at Pynelogs in Invermere.

Hogmanay

photo from Kiltmen.com

Drat, I missed it. I thought Hogmanay was Jan. 6 but alas it was the 1st. Anyhow, I have some interesting videos to share regarding men in kilts. I found Jamie Fraser, the hero of "outlander" the most thrilling character ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfcuQM6BvtA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bdnsAosfVA&feature=related

Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever 12x12 acrylic

Poor old Jinx has a hard time in winter. He wants so badly to stay outdoors but we have had a lot of cold weather this year and he has to come in and warm up. He gets pretty snarky about being inside: terrorizing the dog, swiping at me, running though my feet as I am going downstairs. Warm weather can't come soon enough....at least a pineapple express. For those of you that don't know, that is a warm front coming in from the Pacific that ususally melts everything. I haven't seen the ground since the 3rd week of November.

Happy New Year 2011

I like New Year's. I like the feeling of hope and optimism and making resolutions. I'm working on my resolution list. They contain the usual thing of eating less and working out more, trying not to put my foot in my mouth too often, places I want to go (always Ghost Ranch and Santa fe) studying for painting--emulating painters I admire by the traditional fashion (making copies) and close attention to the drawing of the model.

A few things I would like to investigate this year: raising angora rabbits for the wool, playing the recorder, fire spinning, acquiring a skill that actually makes money, learning how to build bluebird boxes and chicken coops, developing collaborations with other artists, encouraging people to buy local art.

FAVORITE BLOGS OF 2010

http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/

If you love all things French, and if you don’t, you will

http://www.happylovesrosie.co.uk

Bright, cheery, inspiring British stuff

http://aspiring-homemaker.blogspot.com/

A lovely nostalgic blog that makes me think of some of my back to the land adventures

http://www.auntpeaches.com/

Peachy keen and just plain crazy!

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

I may not always admire the fashion but it is certainly thought provoking

http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/

Terrific, fearless, creative woman

If you have a favorite blog I should know about, please let me know.