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.