Don't wait

There was a bucolic rural scene, complete with a sagging out building that I've been meaning to take a picture of for ages. The shed is gone, the picture never taken.

 We all do it, I'll wait until ...... before I do..... 

Customers in the gallery frequently say 'when I retire I'm going to learn to paint'. They say that they have a cache of art supplies, all waiting until....

I was in the periphery of that group, I said when the kids were bigger, I'd get serious about my art again.

It took a brush with mortality to focus me and get me started. 

The problem with amorphic deadlines is that with out a clear plan most of our dreams stay just that, dreams.

What are you going to do one day?

The time is going to pass, God willing you'll live each of those days anyway, why not live them working toward your dreams?  

So today, take a few minutes write down your dreams, be it a bucket list, a life style shift (for me art is a lifestyle) something you want to learn, or accomplish, write it down. 

Keep adding to your list, dreaming should be a life long activity. Don't be afraid to dream big. 

Mull over the list and pick one to work on, next week we'll talk about where to go from there.

Hubby and the Grands, dreaming big

The Life of Rolley

Rolley was a great little guy, whom we had the privilege to share 17 years with.
He was a year and a half when we got him from Jack Russell Rescue.  I will never forget the first time we met.  His foster mom lived in a retirees trailer park, and he kept escaping from her tiny fenced yard.' He's a handful' she said as he peed on my foot, and so began  the kind of love affair that only a dog and their favorite person can share.
We had decided to get a dog - for the boys... they were old enough, and had been bugging for one, Wishbone was their favorite TV show, and so we started researching JRTs.  This was pre-internet, so that meant taking a few books out of the library...which turned out to be woefully inadequate. We had no idea what we were getting into lol.
Jacks are very high energy, independent thinkers,  and way too smart for their own good.
His first family treated these characteristics like flaws to be beaten out of the dog... so to say that he had trust issues is a bit of an understatement.
Almost right away he decided that Mom was the person for him, it still took 6 months for him to learn to trust me, but as it turned out he was the perfect dog for us.
We hiked and camped and boated all over Ontario.  We regularly hiked from Gainsbourgh to Western Road along the Dead Horse Canyon trail, we did parts of the Bruce trail, and most of the Kettle Creek trail from Belmont to Port Stanley.
 We did a lot of camping and  used to joke that he had a bone buried in every Provincial Park in Ontario.
Our very first camping trip together was to Algonquin. To understand this story better, let me remind you that he was 14 pounds of courage.  We had been together 2 months at this point, and he had already become 'my' dog, Bill and the boys had gone to the evening program at the park interpretive center, Rolls and I stayed in camp.  The boys were supposed to take the garbage with them but forgot, so I strung it up between two trees. Not quite high enough as it turned out, the raccoons came, lots of raccoons.  They kept trying to get the pinata that I had strung up almost in reach, fighting and carrying on each one yelling louder than the rest.
Rolley decided that his job was to defend his Mommy, but he was smart enough to know that these things were dangerous, so from under the bed shaking like a leaf, he did his level best to sound like a pack of wolves, howling and yipping, just like the wolves we'd heard the night before. I'd never heard him make those kinds of sounds before, or since, my little wolf.
Jacks aren't known for their love of water, but Rolley was always the exception.  We always made sure we were camped near a dog beach.  My boys were part fish, and if they were in the water, so was the dog.  We have countless home movies of the three of them diving off the rubber dingy, jumping off docks, and just loafing in the water. If we went fishing he was in the bow of the boat, biting at the waves, if we were canoeing, he'd
be in the bow, or occasionally swimming along side, he had his own life jacket, because he liked to jump off the boat if it was still.
He loved the beach when the waves were crashing, he'd chase them running in and out of the water as if  chasing a living thing. We had to watch to make sure he didn't swallow too much water, as he did once at Long Point.  We had quite a hike back to the campsite, and he peed all the way home.
I make ponds in every garden we have had, and they too were great places for a little dog to play.
Last summer we had the roof done during a very hot spell, I could hear the roofers laughing and looked out so see that my little dog was having a swim in the pond, they thought that was the funniest thing they'd seen, little did they know, that this was typical behavior for this little guy, even at 17.
Of course the gardens bring wildlife, and Rolley took his job of guarding the garden from marauding rodents seriously.  He was an amazing mouser, voler, and rabbiter, the latter he would shake to snap their necks, pull the fur off, then bring to me, basically unmarked,
proud as punch, with the expectation that I'd cook the lunch he'd provided.  This after all is what Jacks were breed to do, so I couldn't get mad, though I did the one time he caught a chipmunk. There after he'd watch them intently, but he never again tried to kill one.
There are so many stories I could tell, how he was a bit of a clown, and how the set of his tail and ears, told you how he was feeling, the way he would 'talk', or his klepto tendencies.
He stayed active, full of 'piss and vinegar' right up to the age of 16, when he started to slow down. He had cataracts, and was going deaf, but still enjoyed life, last year at 17 his hips started to give him some trouble, but he never complained. We took him to South Carolina for a month and he loved the ocean, and walking on the beach.
He started to decline in September, his kidneys were starting to go, and he was getting weak, but tough little dogs never complain. In October he could no longer keep down hard food, so we started making chicken and rice for him, but the last few weeks, even that wouldn't stay in him. He was still trying to be tough, always happy to get a treat, especially peanut butter doggie cookies, but we all knew it was time. Selfishly I couldn't
do it, and the last few days were terrible, he was so sick, until Boxing Day morning, when I couldn't put it off any longer. When we wrapped him in his blankie, and took him to Vet Emerg, he didn't even wake up, until we got there, when he was sick again.
The last thing he did was to give my husband a little kiss, then he nuzzled my neck, and was gone.
This is the hardest thing for a pet's person to have to do.  Intellectually I know it was the right thing to do, but my heart hurts. The house is so still, it even smells different, his canine brother, Spencer keeps looking for him, and looks so hurt and worried. How can you explain to a dog what has happened, when you can barely grasp it your self.
I'm grateful for the long life we had together, and will cherish the memories of a little dog with a king sized heart. Rest my friend, until we met again...I will always love you.

Rondeau Lotus

A few years ago, I was privileged to go to the Lotus gardens near Rondeau Bay (Ontario).
The gentleman who grew them, was at that time well into his 80's.  He remembered a time when the Lotus grew in abundance in the bay, and had taken it upon himself in retirement to bred native lotus, and try to restore them to the area.  Unfortunately, I don't remember his name, and a google search bears no recent mention of him or his gardens, but his legacy is evident, as the yellow lotus is now re-established in this it's northern most range.

The native yellow's weren't in bloom while we were there, but I did get photo's of this pink lotus.  I've painted it a few times, each time totally different.  As I was photographing this rendition, the sun peeped out and side lit it for a few moments, I've included both a frontal, and side lit shot, just for fun.   

What I did on my summer vacation:

Read racy books, drank more beer than I should have, napped, repeat.


Well O.K. I also hiked bits of Point Pelee, watched the sunrise over the marsh, (Wheatley provincial park)

counted herons, egrets and shore birds. Watched an eagle fly the shoreline,

triplet fawns at the tree line, and a young raccoon who decided my campsite was the chow line,

premium dog chow, not just for canines anymore...yum.


In other words, a perfect summer vacation. Right after my last post I tripped over one of the dogs (love 'em anyway) and cut the palm of my hand, which is still healing, so I didn't bring my art stuff...can't be tempted to get back into it too soon that way.

Studio Tour 09

Today and tomorrow, the studio tour is on.

We've been blessed with the only decent weather we've had all fall, and I hope you can come for a visit.

As you can see, I've been working on the Mother and Child commission, I worked on it at the Pinery show, and I think today I've finished it. I have to wait for it to dry (acrylic changes colour, the medium clarifies as it drys) but I do believe it is done. I have two other pieces done. I'll post them in a bit, and a third well under way. Thanks for your patience, I know I have been a bit lax in posting the last few weeks, but between self employment workshops, organizing the studio tour, Thanksgiving, and having the plague, life has been a tad hectic ;0

Sudio Tour progress

Tomorrow, is the first Friday event in Port Stanley, I'm not sure that I'm going as that is the day we have to deliver maps and signs for the studio tour, and I doubt I'll be back in time, but it's a fun event, so you should go anyway. Saturday is my show at the Pinery Provincial Park, I've got my fingers crossed for good weather, I'll be inside, so I'm not worried about rain, except from the stand point of, will people come if it's poopy?

No wonder nobody wanted to organize a studio tour. It's an incredible amount of work.
It's all I've been working on the last few weeks. Catherine and I have contacted artists and 'attractions'. In most cases that means driving out to talk to them, then driving back after they've thought about it, to drop off posters and pick up information forms.
I've spent hours sending press releases to various event calendars, thank goodness that's mostly on line now, I created a brochure and a map-time gobbler- driven the route, good thing I did, one road was closed, and another not where google maps said it was???
We've been making signs for the participants, and this afternoon we've got to go back to the printers (multiple trips) to get the map/brochures, and have signs laminated.....then we have to deliver signs and map/brochures.... pant pant, I'm exhausted lol.
Hope fully all of the running will be over this week and then other than a few more ads, I can get back to creating art.
This should be an awesome event, and next year we'll a) know better what we're doing, and b) not have to re-do some of this, since signs and map templates can be used year to year.
the map and brochure are here
Remember, this is a fund raiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Society. We can beat this dread disease

Mother and Child painting first step

That's a bit of a misnomer, the actual first step is griding out the proportions, then comes this step which is called a grisaille. This is where I fine tune the drawing of the portrait. Since I'm only using umber and sienna I can easily over paint and correct until I'm satisfied. This is the step that takes the most time. So far I have 7 hours into this one, and I've a LONG way to go yet. Have I mentioned that I'm picky?
I've been spending hours getting the studio tour going too, most of the administrative/publicity stuff will be done this week, and then I have 3 weeks to get some work (painting) done, or I'm not going to have any thing to show.
I've also been asked to show my 'At Risk' series at the Pinery Oct 3rd. I'll have more details soon.
First Friday in Port Stanley will continue until December, the St Thomas Elgin Artists' Guild show is just 6 weeks away, and I thought the season was winding down...

MacGregor Provincial Park, Tom Thompson

We're back from holidays. We spent a week camping at MacGregor Point Provincial Park. We hadn't been to this park before and were pleasantly surprised. It's a very large park with huge private sites, miles of hiking trails, and it's a birders paradise. We were too early for the mass migrations, but we still saw many species. I have a new camera that I've been trying to learn, and I hope some of the pic's I took turn out, if so you'll see them incorporated into paintings here.
On the Thursday we went into Owen Sound to the Tom Thompson Exhibit, at the gallery on 1st St., near the waterfront. It was a smallish display but there is no denying the power of his work especially the later pieces. You have to see the brush strokes which are simply amazing. You can't get that feeling from a reproduction so if you get the chance, go to Owen Sound and see them for your self and you'll understand what I mean.
Since I've been back I've been working on a new concept (for me) that I developed while away. It was kind of a Road to Damascus moment... I was napping in the truck on the way back to the park after the gallery experience, when I woke up the whole concept was laid out in front of me... stay tuned, I'm very excited about it.