Tracking the wilds

Afternoon walk.The weather has warmed up slightly. It's gone from -20 to -6 or so, so we went for a tracking walk.We took Duke the Wonderdog and of course Ruby...who just ran on ahead scouting for what she could smell.We rounded on the road around our friend's ranch......and headed into the woods.Ruby was wearing her Cowichan sweater but soon got it caught on a barbed wire fence so off it came.We followed coyote tracks all the way.At one point we saw moose tracks and possibly bear. Well, we thought it wasn't as big a paw print as a bear should be, but we know the bears are out now and it was a BIG paw print.We also saw a rabbit and deer, but mostly coyote.After about 20 minutes, we came out of the woods onto the meadow.And we looked over moose tracks paralleling Whitehorse creek by the ancient cabins.We let the dogs investigate a coyote party involving yellow snow and apparently delicious scents......while we took in the glorious panorama.On the way back, I found a bit of fur caught up in the barbed wire and thought about what that might be. Coyote? Fox? Too high for a rabbit.In my eagerness to investigate, I stepped into thigh-high snow.Duke laughed. Fatty human

At Lac La Hache at a friend's ranch

Chloe and I are visiting our friends at Lac La Hache.It's magical here in B. C.'s Cariboo; even if we've caught a cold spell of -20 for a couple of days.The horses here at the ranch don't care one bit.They have their beautiful velvet coats on.This is Duke. He's the ranch dog and the most obedient, friendliest, snuggliest thing on 4 legs.He loves chasing ice and snowballs. Actually, he'll play fetch forever.Just as we got here, Doug finished a massive hike thru knee-high snow back to the ranch because his snowmobile got stranded miles away.He enlisted Chloe as copilot and they rescued the wayward sled.This was the first time Clove ever drove a snowmobile and she loved it to pieces.We were originally going to ranch-sit for a few days while our friends went on a Las Vegas holiday, but the world being what it is, they decided to be safe and cancel. Instead, they went out for dinner and a movie and a lovely stay overnight in the nearest city.This meant that Chloe had the responsibility of holding down the fort ranch for a couple days.The house is heated via this wood burner which needs fueling every morning and night. This means 4 sledges of wood daily.But there's always time for tea.The horses need tending to and moved from one pasture to another.After their morning feed, Chloe has to try to move them.Happily, all she has to do is ask Duke for help.He barks and herds them to exactly where they should be.Ruby tries to help, but all she wants to do is eat the horse treats.I'm completely in love with these purple shadows cast on this gloriously white snow. I know that purple shadows on snow are a bit ubiquitous, (kinda like sunsets), but who can resist them? I can't.But just as I get a pristine shot lined up, one of the pups runs or digs thru it!Ruby has been a bit of a city dog while Bryson has been in UBC, and is not quite used to the temperatures up here in the North, so we make sure we run the dog around a lot to keep them warm outside.I did have a few hours to dedicate to a little sprig of ponderosa pine in my nature journal. (Note to self: get the photos up there on Instagram!)This is the first layer of watercolour. One or two more layers to go. Intricate little paintings like pine needle branches take so much time!Our first day went by in the blink of an eye.Soon it was sunset and time for all those stars not obstructed by city lights.Tell you something.I could get used to this.

Perfect autumn day in the country

Is it your favourite season?MINE TOO!With precious few sunshiny days left before the winter rains set in, we're taking every chance we have to drive out into the country we love.One of our favourite destinations is the quaint little town of Fort Langley.And one of our favourite places for lunch is Wendel's Bookstore and Cafe.It's half bookstore......half locally grown, homemade, organic goodness restaurant.While we waited for our lunch, we had a mooch around some of the books.I found this amazing colouring book of the universe. Talk about intricate! It's a sort of paint by numbers of galaxies and solar systems.Chloe fell in love with the Glamping book now that she owns an Airstream, but the book which really spoke to us was Penguin the Magpie.It's a story of an injured magpie chick who helped a family deal with a tragedy. It's all told in the most stunning photographs imaginable. Just an amazing book.Lunch!After lunch, we walked around the Fort and peeked into the antiques emporium.We really like mooching around in this space, but I honestly cannot believe the prices. I suppose I've been spoiled rotten with my finds at car boot sales and thrift shops.After lunch we went for a drive around.I particularly love this road. It's called Telegraph Trail and is a historic road built to run the first telegraph wires in 1865.We stopped by the side of the road because Chloe spied something.It was a little book hut! We borrowed a 1937 copy of Robbin Hood.No idea! Robert took this photo of me in my reading glasses walking back to the car...LOL.So we carried on down the road till we spied a field of sunflowers with a sign which said: "Aldor Acres open for October".I've driven past this little farm and always managed to miss any opening times, but here we were, so we stopped and went in for a look.Oh my goodness, what a beautiful little farm! We came away with corn, black currant jelly, two peacock feathers......and a huge bunch of sunflowers!

A September roundup

Hi again,I've just been looking thru my photos of the past week and, oh my word, we've done a lot.Also, because we've been so busy, I haven't been keeping up with my posts, so now that we're into October, I thought it was time for a roundup round here.Robbie is still in Vancouver, which is lovely for us,and, with his help, I've been managing to work thru some tough decisions I have to make.One easier decision is guessing the right time to return my indoor plants indoors.I love letting them have an outdoor holiday over the summer, and I think they thrive more when they come back inside for the winter.I'm also trying to gauge the right time to protect some less hardy plants which have to stay outside, like this phormium, a few scented geraniums, and two red bananas.Last Friday was the last Shipyards Market for the season.Not being here for the prime three months of the market season, we only really got a few Fridays in, but they were fun to the max.We came down for supper.We'd walk around all the food trucks and usually pick our favourite fish and chips.Then a little ice cream or a sweet treat for dessert.And then we would stay till closing, watching the city sparkle, listening to the band and having a little dance.There hasn't been much time for art lately, which I know is bad, but my therapy journal workshops have started again and it's so lovely to see all my old friends who love to come journal with me and some new friend who can benefit from my approach.In other news, I prepared several wood panel paintings for a demonstration and practical class for Culture Days at the Arts Council.I love supporting my local arts council, and, face it guys, if you don't support your local arts culture in your town, what will you have?I had a full class with 20 people signed up and several more on the waitlist.I taught them some collage and painting and transfer techniques which they can apply to wood panels and possibly enter the anonymous show at the Arts Council, which will be held at the end of October.If you'd like to enter this show, (and there's plenty of time), then the info is here. My last year's post about this show is here.I supplied some ephemera, prints of my bird sketches, transparent paper and matte medium, and the council supplied the rest.We only had an hour and half together, but everyone did a brilliant job!The other news in our world is that we have been seriously contemplating a move out of North Vancouver into the country, but we're not sure where.Somewhere where there is a bit of land, not too far out of the city, not on a busy road, in the sunshine, with some trees, barns, a pond or stream or waterway......oh, and did I meantion that I want to take the hosue with me?Crazy as it seems, I'm contemplating moving not just us, but the whole house and garden because I know full well that my beautiful Craftsman house will be bulldozed down to make way for a modern duplex on this lot the minute I sell it. Furthermore, all the garden plants, which I've saved from local construction sites in the first place, will be lost to the bulldozer too! I just can't bring myself to allow that.So as crazy at it seems, we might be in for a new adventure.But then, there's nothing new about that with us, is there? :D

Second day back in Vancouver and all hands on deck for an art show!

It sounded like such a fun idea at the time!My lovely friend Camila, of the NV Arts Council, invited me to exhibit my art at the Music in the Park festivalAnd I thought, "jet lag be damned!"So, completely ignoring sleep deprivation at the moment, I put on my best Music Festival dress, hitched my posse into service......and headed out to the festival.This is Capilano River Regional Park and the Vancouver watershed and reservoir. What a glorious park. One of my favourite parks in the Lower Mainland.And here are the artist's and maker's tents.Robert and Chloe were great. They helped me drag everything out of the car and set up and then naffed off back home to have a rest.So paintings on display......sketchbooks open for inspection and fresh flowers, (thanks to the amazing Clove) ......and an interactive painting on offer......I sat back behind my tables and painted some merlins....within a few minutes and festival was open and loads of people started to come by.Music was playing all day and people were invited to dance.There was so much to see and do!I must say that sitting in the pink shade of a red tent is very flattering! I think we should all bring our own pink light with us everywhere we go. :DEveryone seemed to love my little birdies.I got so busy talking to people about my art that soon it was 4pm and the festival was winding down and I hadn't even popped round to meet any of my fellow exhibiting artists and makers.Robert and Chloe came back to help me pack up and I left them in charge while I ran around and visited.Here is some beautiful bead work by Tetiana ZarubaLook at this beautiful dreamy, creamy pottery by John Winkler.I really loved these great birds by Elizabeth Austin.These beautiful plein air paintings by Maria Josenhans took my breath away.Some beautiful stonework by Jocelyne Dodier. She was so busy with tons of children trying their hand at stone carving. We talked about how I still have my children's elementary school soapstone carvings. We thought that probably every parent does...lolHere is some work by Christine Hood of Huges and Co.This is by Cydney Eva from Pattern Nation.Cydney also made this interactive art for the children.Huge clouds of reclaimed material stuffed with balloons. The kids have the best time with them.So the music played on and the people enjoyed it to the last song.And then it was time to pack everything and go home.But before I did, I took a photo of the interactive canvas I had going.This started as a collage of vintage ephemera with a few outlined birds and evolved in this amazing collaborative piece.Birdies everywhere.I really loved being here with all these people in this beautiful park this Labour Day.Now to catch up on my sleep. :D

Art in the Garden weekend the recap.

Hello everybody.What a weekend it's been and what a work up to the Art in the Garden show!It's been a fantastic few days, mixed with hard work and exhaustion, and a couple sushi suppers. Come, I'll show you how it all went.As late as Friday afternoon, the day before the expected 300-400 people came for a visit, I was still picking up weeds and leaves and bits of stuff, cleaning and filling up the waterfall, putting things away and bringing things out into place.As I complained to my friends on FB, I took the glass from my tea caddy trays and into the kitchen to wash them, and, as everything was all soapy, the bottom glass slipped out of my hands and crashed into my stone sink, upsetting four vintage and heavy ceramic ink bottles on the window ledge, which crashed on top of and around the tray.Well, my hearts stopped, but, miraculously, nothing broke! Not even a chip! Can you believe it?By the way, are you my friend on FB? If not then friend me. :)So, after a few deep breaths, I opened the garage-studio, parked my sports car against the doors, moved tables and chairs around and put my big oil paintings on the easels because I thought it might be nice to have people wander into the studio.And then I did what every artist/gardener would do the day before a major outdoor art/garden show, I cleaned up the entire inside of the house!I know you can relate. ;)And then I painted well into the evening till I felt a bit calmer, and went to bed.Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm and some more flowers started to open. It's been such a late spring that most of my late May flowers are still in very tight buds, but some are making up for lost time, so I'm happy about that.I put my paintings on the big studio table,hung some more paintings around the garden, and opened my sketchbooks on some stands and shelves so people could have a mooch thru them.I brought out my vintage tea service and some old tea pots. I love serving tea in real tea cups and saucers, and ages ago bought these for use when there are big crowds. I also bought some crispy coconut cookies. Just the thing for a little pick-me-up in the heat.And then it was noon, and, with Chloe's help, we opened the garden!Morgan took up a favourite position. She was funny. All weekend she made the rounds to people she liked. Everyone loved seeing her.And loads of people came. About 200 each day.And my little birds flew out with their new owners.People enjoyed the garden. Some walked thru and sat for a bit, some sat in the cool studio, some came to see the rescued 100yr old grape vine or the rescued peonies, others came to see the art or listen to the concert.The concert was amazing. This beautiful girl, Feona Lim, played and sang on both days.Feona was accompanied by this beautiful girl, Jill Russell.I loved it so much.Everyone stopped and painted a little something on our interactive canvas.Young and old, everyone really loved sharing a little of their art and left a mark.Here are some close-ups. I love the pink baby squiggles. There were a couple little guys here who could barely reach!Here is the full canvas. Amazing, right?Well, the weekend just flew past! Before we knew it, it was 5:30 pm Sunday night, the art in the garden weekend was finished, and some friends stopped by for a visit.So we sat for an hour and chatted and cleaned up and moved things and watered, and then we went out for late sushi......while the garden bloomed on.

Hello from Sunday night, and Happy Mother's Day to all who nurture and love

Hello from Sunday night everyone. I hope everyone had a lovely day, and all the caregivers and nurturers and all those who are in a position to love another, I hope you all had a wonderful day. And for the other, pray I hope this post will lend you comfort.For us, it was a beautiful Sunday.Finally!After days and days of rain, the sun peeked out. You know, it feels like we went from winter to summer in a weekend. I'm just two weeks from the open garden Art in the Garden weekend and am thinking that perhaps there won't be any roses this year. What an odd spring it's been.But today the hummingbirds were displaying, and the swallows have returned, new little goslings were everywhere, and eagles were soaring high in the sky in pairs.Chloe and I drove out to mom's, picked her up and headed to the old fishing village of Steveston to meet Jonathan, Chantal and our Megababy Asher for lunch and a walk. I had forgotten to pick up a chest pack from the closet which I bought online for the sole reason being us visiting this fishing village, but I was certain I would be back soon with it to complete the fishing experience.We had lunch in our favourite fish and chip restaurant and walked the boardwalk into the old fishing village and then just sat on the pier and talked.So there we were, four generations talking in the sunshine.Such a beautiful day.PS. Chloe bought me a new camera for mother's day. It's a little polaroid camera and we had so much fun taking photos and trying to figure it out. I'm excited to take it to Europe and be able to put some of the photos in my travel journal.

Birthdays and art

It's been a long standing tradition with me and my children to make gifts for friends' birthdays. I think it's a much lovelier thing than buying something mass market at some store, (unless of course the gift you buy is a handmade something special), so when Chloe was invited out to her friend Nicole's birthday, she thought long and hard about something special.Nicole is a climber and outdoor girl and loves mountains, so Chloe painted this beautiful painting in the middle of a vintage teak tray.Isn't it lovely?After it was dried and cured, Chloe protected it with varnish so it can be used and it will last.It was my friend Dalyce's birthday this week too.I painted this little robin on one of the 1912 dictionary pages with the word "read" on it. I liked that page for her because Dalyce owns Booklovers, the used book store we love so much.Another little piece of art, I rescued a vintage handmade quilt form the thrift store this week. It's the softest cotton in the world with these perfect little squares and a beautiful pink and white ticking on the back.I washed it today and hung it outside to dry and then kept running to grab it before the rain cloud and re-hung it after the cloud passed. Marathon drying!Then I sat down for a little rest and some kombucha in this glass. One side has a sign which says Impropaganda, and the other has this slogan:I love this glass. It makes me laugh.Anyway, I sat at my dining room table and made all kinds of lists of thing which need to be done in the next two weeks. Whew, tired just thinking about it and thinking that the work to be done on those lists leaves very little time for art!But I wanted to show you one more thing I did this week.I made myself a little travel journal/sketchbook for June in my home country, the Czech Republic.I chose a bright yellow book called The Scent of New-Mown Hay, carefully took almost all the pages out (kept a few front and back pages), and glued in a bunch of signatures (page bundles) made from random paper and some Alphonse Mucha postcards I brought from Prague.I glued two ribbons for book marks into the last few pages along the spine and hung an ancient lead fish from one of the ribbons.And then, just for fun, I painted the first page and my old friend the house sparrow.I love this little bird and paint him often. I love that he lives with me in Vancouver, Oxfordshire and Prague.This page contains all sorts of symbolism for me and is the perfect way for me to begin my summer.

Hello from Sunday night and the Opus outdoor painting challenge

Today was the Opus Art Supply outdoor painting challenge day and I must tell you that I've been painting up a storm lately for the Art in the Garden show May 27th weekend, and painting plein air all day was something I really didn't feel like doing today, but the great guys at Opus convinced me to enter and so I did.And then thought, why do I have to do a painting when there are so many different arts? Since the rules were to register and pick up a 8" x 10" canvas or watercolour paper, instead of doing a painting, I decided that I really felt like doing was a lino cut. I haven't done a lino or stamp cut in what seems like forever, so I was really looking forward to it.Each Opus store has a sort of city corridor designated where artists can set up and paint, and, since last year I was painting in the forest, this year I thought it might be fun to paint at the beach.Today was the most beautiful day down at the beach. There were all sorts of boats at work and play,The seals were out sunning on their rafts,And dandelions were blooming in the land not yet designated for construction.I decided that maybe I would like to do a lino cut using the dandelions as my inspiration.The most wonderful thing about today though, was that Chloe decided to join me in the painting challenge.So we set out all our supplies and got to work.I'm not really a printmaker and so not really proficient or even very familiar with lino cuts, (I only know the basics), but soon I had a design drawn out on paper and transferred to the lino. Then I took yellow and white chalk pencils and drew out the positive/negative areas. (So i thought...lol)Those first few cuts are always so nerve wracking for me, but soon I figure out what I think I'm doing and get into a rhythm.We were in good company. All along the grassy area were other people taking part in the challenge and lots of people walking by stopping for a chat.It's lovely to have strangers stop by and chat and ask questions and reminisce about their last lino cut experience. Usually that turned out to be high school! But almost everyone said they loved their lino cutting experiences and wished they could do it again, and then asked tons of questions. I'm so happy that I could answer, show my supplies, and encourage people to take it up again.And so Chloe painted and I cut, and before you knew it, it was 2pm! And our pieces had to be handed in by 3pm! And I hadn't even made one test print!It was obvious to me that my lino cut design would take several more hours to complete the way I envisioned, and so I scaled back my design a little bit and, at 2:20, pulled the first test print on a spare piece of paper.I was really happy with the test.So I inked up the lino cut with a nice, generous amount of ink, and printed two prints on the watercolour paper I was given, and chose what I thought was the better one.And there we have it. At 2:40, we had our pieces ready for the display.So we packed up all our gear and drove the three blocks back to the Opus store.Then we signed over our pieces, they were hung on the display wall, and we mingled with the other artists.We met several friends who also took part and it was lovely catching up.Look at all the beautiful and diverse art people made today. I was so thrilled to see that whole families participated. I think that's a wonderful way to spend your Sunday and I felt so lucky to have Chloe with me. :DMy camera was super low battery, but I still managed to get these two photos of our pieces hanging on the display wall.And there you have it. A lovely Sunday and a lovely memory now on display on my mantle.Thank you so much guys at Opus, thank you for putting on this great community event.

Hello from a lovely cabin long weekend...except for the pack rat infestation! Part 1 of 2

Well if you can believe this!Chloe and I packed up a weekend's worth of clothes, food and the paddle board for a lovely Easter break at the cabin. A lush, semi arid, mid-province, late spring sunshine, lakes, wood fire, peace, no electricity, no cell phone reception, get out of town type weekend.I unlocked the door and the first this we saw was last year's bouquet of cabin greenery, (which we always leave as an homage to the cabin gods), tumbled off the table and on the floor.A few seconds later we noticed that Dusty the bear, who we inherited when we bought the cabin, was torn in half and his head and paws were missing. We found ourselves trying to figure out if we were looking at the aftermath or a burglary or a vadalisation.In fact it was both. It seems that I left a window slightly ajar last October, and even though there was a screen blocking the open space, somehow a pack rat got in.We found a bunch of pack rat residence material all over the main floor. So Chloe and I cleaned and bleached and threw stuff outside till very late.And then we went upstairs to the sleeping loft.OMG!!!Let me just say that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING upstairs was torn up, peed on, or otherwise destroyed. So out went the blankets and pillows and mattresses and box springs and carpet and underlay. And from the main floor, out went games and puzzles and cushion and coats and sweaters. And then I bleach-washed everything.Talk about spring cleaning!We cuddled up absolutely exhausted on the sofas in some clean blankets I brought from the city and went to sleep.Saturday morning dawned bright and cheerful and one could almost ignore the disaster around us.I walked down to the pond and found a pair of Canada geese standing on the rock in the middle like nothing at all unusual was happening this morning.But something unusual was. There was a mountain on ruined stuff to be disposed of, and poor old Dusty the bear needed a decent send off.I felt so sad you know.But as I was ripping out carpeting Friday night and throwing 25 years of accumulated blankets and treasures into a burn pile, I was thinking how five generations of my family have affected this beautiful place with their energy, and that is a thing which can never be destroyed.But I felt particularly sad for Dusty the bear who has been an anchor at the cabin for all these years.He will never be replaced...at least I have no idea how he ever could be. I'm firmly against trophy hunting and there is no way I would actively go out and buy a real bear skin (except the one I bought with the cabin). Although I do go hunting for smaller over populated animals with my bow, I recently went and checked the best bow sights and decided to buy one. I felt like a sort of guardian of the spirit that was Dusty, who happened to end up on our wall, and now that he's gone, I felt like he needed a proper send off.So we built a pyre of a bonfire with fresh fir and cedar, had a moment of gratitude, and laid old Dusty to rest.And then we burned the lot. Everything. Carpets, beds, blankets and pillows and quilts, magazines, underlay, coats, sweaters, board games...we burned and burned all day long.Somehow in the clean-up, one of Dusty's paws was saved, and so we put it into the glass medicine cabinet along with the hummingbird skeleton, woodpecker skull, silver ore, and other family and cabin treasures.Later in the afternoon, after I was sure the fire was just smouldering, we drove to the nearest little town of Pemberton, to the hardware-home store, for air mattresses, a little battery operated inflater, batteries, mattress covers, big plastic bins, and a rake for the rest of the stuff to be burned.Back at the cabin I put some Brussels's sprouts in butter and Parmesan on the stove, boiled some water for tea and made some black bean and sweet potato burritos for supper.And Saturday evening came and the hope for a more peaceful Sunday.