Lady E.

Lady E.   12x12 acrylic

Lady Elizabeth Bruce, wife of Randolph Bruce was enthusiastically welcomed to the community. In reading old newspaper articles, it appears that Lady Elizabeth was an active and valued member of the local society, hosting parties and the Red Cross Society of Canada meetings at her Wilmer home. Pynelogs was built for her. Sadly, she passed away before she could live there.

The relaxed and open feeling of the photograph as she enjoyed her garden in the lovely summer sunshine inspired this painting.

Ack, deadlines

Pynelogs is having a party of the century gala to celebrate their 100th birthday. 100 artists are submitting a painting. 100 people who buy tickets will get a painting. I have to get my painting done!

This is a lovely photograph of Lady Elizabeth Bruce, the woman Pynelogs was built for. I think her gentle spirit still lingers so I am trying to get a painting done with this photo for a reference.

 

Well, I have the layout done.

Ghost town

I had the good fortune to be involved with a creative installation at the Nikkei Centre yesterday.

Steve Nunoda created hundreds of scale models of the internment shacks that Japanese Canadians were moved to during WW2. He had an old box company create the templates out of tar paper, a durable, flexible material that the buildings were roofed with.

A scale model 

based on one of the original shacks.

Many hands make light work. For me, this was the best part, touching and smelling the tar paper while Steve and some of the Japanese elders recalled stories about the internment.

We made 98 models.

 

The models were moved to the beautiful Kohan Reflection Garden.

We placed rocks inside each building so that they wouldn't be blown away.

 

Momoko Ito, our Nikkei internment museum director helps with placement.

Momoko and Steve do some fine tuning.

 

And voila, a ghost town commemorating the 220,000 Japanese Canadians that were displaced during WW2. There were several camps in the West Kootenay. Now hardly any trace is left. 

If you are interested in more about this historic event, check out:  http://www.nikkeinewdenver.ca/

June--flying by

The King of Rhubarb   16x16 acrylic   SOLD

I am still unpacking, cleaning, sorting. This is the longest I have gone without painting in the last nine years. Pretty scary.

Maybe, I should qualify that. This is the longest I have gone without painting creatively. I inherited this very dark dining room with our new abode. I found the darkness depressing.

 

Two coats of primer, two coats of paint and a new chandelier create a dining room that I don't wince at. I am also considering a blog about my new environment because this village is so different.

The most amazing race

Secretariat won the triple crown in 1973.

In the Belmont, a race they didn't think Secretariat would win because they considered him a sprinter, you see Ron Turcotte look back at the field falling behind. He knew he was racing the clock then. When he asked Secretariat to go, that horse flew.

You can watch that amazing race here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCMtaNiMDM

It was the most amazing race ever and still makes me tear up.

D-Day

My Dad flew a mission for the 8th Air force on D-Day. They flew over Arromanches, France. They were told that they would be making history that day. While I am proud of his courage and his service to his country, I know that someone had to be on the receiving end of those bombs. It was years before I found the place he was talking about because he pronounced it "arrow= manchees".

I found this interesting article regarding Arromanches.
lhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2429903/Peace-Day-Reminder-millions-lives-lost-war-artists-stencil-9-000-bodies-Normandy-beach.html

Mother/Daughter time

My daughter came to spend the week with me so that we could have some mother daughter time before My baby has her baby. Once we got her here (now we know why they call Castlegar airport, Cancelgar!) We actually managed to find enough art supplies in my still unorganized art room to make some prints. It was a great visit.

It can't be June!!!

 

Little Piggies  16x20 acrylic

This is a painting I made several years ago. One of my daughter's friends was painting her toenails on our front stoop. I admired the way the stair rail shadow fell on her.

I still exist, I am still unpacking! And now, housepainting. I am working on a zesty orange kitchen!