A full day of teaching journal / sketchbook making courses at Opus

Last Sunday I had the best fun.Opus Art Supplies invited me back to the store to teach my journal making techniques in two back to back courses.I had two sets of ten students and we had the best fun.The staff at Opus are the absolute best. Every bit of the supplies I asked for I got.I brought about 35 old books with me, some inspirational books, ephemera, and ribbons for books marks, and the Opus staff gave us everything else we needed.We had huge and luscious tubs of acrylic, mat medium, brushes, inks, white gesso, pencils and pens, tracing paper gel pens and stabilo pencils.It's just amazing, and, I suppose a little expected when you teach in an art supply store, but amazing nonetheless to have all these supplies to play with!And I think everybody had a great time.At two hours per session the time just flew by, and my students created some beautiful pages.Even the practices on the tracing paper were works of art!Some people loved it so much they took their palettes home with them so they could continue for another hour or more.And some people took advantage of the 10% off art supplies offer for attending my course and browsed the store for ages trying to limit their choices...lol...I know how that feels.More pages:Everyone has such individual style! I love it.Some people mix and apply the paint cautiously, in minute meticulous strokes and small brushes.And some people use large brushes and swirl the paint around.To me, it's always inspirational to see what's happening on the palette.Before I knew it, 6 hours flew by.And the last thing people did was get some ribbon to create a book mark for their journal.And then it was time to go and everyone asked me when and where am I teaching next?Umm...I'll be happy to do this again in the fall when I come back from Europe.(If Opus will have me?)Thanks so much guys at Opus and thank you so much to all my new friends for coming to make a journal/sketchbook with me.

Art Challenge: on this Earth Day

I may not have spent a most Earth friendly and economical Earth Day.You see, the day dawned bright and shiny, the first sunny Vancouver day in weeks, and I brought three garbage bags worth of pack rat dirty cabin sheets, blankets, sweaters and coats to wash.And with the day so sunny, I managed to wash 7 loads and dry them all outside.Morgan helped, of course.There were also cabin toys to wash. I couldn't be sure that the pack rat didn't crawl all over them and couldn't see our little ones holding them without a good wash. Some of these are over 25 years old and original to my children.The rest of this glorious day I spent working.Painting in the studio. I'll post the progress soon.And while the rest of the cabin gear was drying on the line and over dining room chairs...And while my neighbours were outside getting as much sunshine as they can (before tomorrow's rain sets in for the next week)...I went up to the attic studio and painted my house sparrow.Again.I do like painting the house sparrow for Earth day.He's the most common bird in the world.Like we are. Common people. All of us.Everywhere.I painted him in acrylics and inks in my re-purposed Bartholomew's Atlas of the world homemade sketchbook. This page is a mix of inks and acrylics and collage and chalks.A great big THANK YOU to Melodye for bringing this art challenge to us.Come celebrate Earth Day with us. Think about joining us in our art challenges. You can do it.We believe in you. :D

Sunday, finally a calm cabin day.

Sunday morning at the cabin and maybe one half of a degree above zero.I could see my cabin cleansing fire of yesterday still smouldering, so I decided to keep cleaning up some of the dead wood over our five acres of land because in this semi-arid region there is a very limited time I can safely burn things outside.The day started in a much more relaxed way; in the clean living room with a review of my sketchbook...which I had plans for but had no time to work in... some foil baked fingerling potatoes with garlic and onions in a sort of cabin hash brown bake, and my usual tea.Maybe it's the waiting for the stove to heat up and boil the pot of water and cook the potatoes, but food just ends up tasting so much better up here.After breakfast I took a long walk over our property and had a good assessment of last winter.Some of our neighbours told me it's been a very long winter. Maybe that's the reason that the pack rat broke in and ate Dusty the bear, (and the sinew from some of the vintage snowshoes). But at least there was no sign of the beaver this winter!I've been trying to grow a weeping willow here in our little lake, (which is really a pond but has been named "lake" for the look of it), for the past 25 years and it seems I only end up growing winter beaver food, but this year the little willow is still there.The water in the lake is low right now and the undergrowth sparse, which means I can walk all the way around and check out every inch of the bank rather than using the meadow paths.Last night there was a chorus of frogs who probably live in the little swampy area where the skunk cabbage grows. One of them says the classic "ribbit, ribbit" and that gets the rest of them going.There are a couple of fallen aspens (thanks to last year's beaver), and I'm trying to decide how to, or if to, drag them out of the lake.That's me in my OOTD, (which I hear is a popular tag), some unknown brand cabin hat which came from who knows where, 80's Nordic wool sweater and no make-up. Yeah, that's how we do it!And here is the carpet of periwinkle which my grandmother planted 25 years ago.This is what's become of Chloe's childhood raft. It's a sort of living island now. Also can't decide what to do with it, but maybe it needs to stay in the lake and evolve.Here is the remains of last year's tent caterpillar nest. Ordinarily not a good sight, but this land is so big that even the tent caterpillar moths belong and are left alone to make their living.So I walked on exploring the lake banks and meadow and across the first three acres......and came to our river.The Gates river runs thru our land and is a protected salmon spawning stream. The water level is very low because most of the water is still locked up in the snowy mountains.Here is the morning view from the river, across the meadow, to the lake.Oh yes, one more beaver killed tree. This time one of the large blue spruces.It's caught up in the other spruce and I suppose I'll need to drive my SUV into the meadow to pull it out.(You can just see the cabin thru the trees.)Here are some lupines that are just starting on the meadow. I love these faithful little plants. They come back every year, and every year they multiply and get more beautiful.View of the lake and cabin beyond.And back across the land to the railroad tracks which border one side.Back in the cabin I was contemplating what to do with the ghostly imprint of Dusty the bear.In the end I decided to put a painting there. The painting is one of five which were painted by a patient of my late father's and show various lovely scenes around BC and also England. It's a nice memory to have here at the cabin.Finally, a lazy Sunday afternoon of reading and relaxing.And a new, fresh bouquet of seasonal greens. This time pussy willows, fresh elder, red willow branches, and some seed heads.So with a cheery fire warming the cabin......and the sun setting...we lit the candles...And had a good night.

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.

Hooray, sun! An afternoon for much needed gardening.

Oh hello sun!I remember you.One of the very few times I saw you lately was St Patrick's day.Yup, March 17th. That's the day I start my annual sweet peas and garden peas.Actually, I usually soak the pea seeds a few days earlier so I can plant them on St Patrick's day.So I got out my vintage clay pots and bought some seedling soil and started all my seeds, in the sunshine, in the garage/studio/potting shed.Started: peas, squash, lettuce, beets, baby's breath, straw flower, shade garden mix, pollinators, and snapdragons.The radishes went straight into the cold garden soil.And then it rained and rained and rained.And my little seeds began to sprout.While I felt like Milo.Who wants to go out in the rain? Not us.But I kept thinking that I've got to get out there because in a few short weeks the garden will be on public display for the Art in the Garden show! Yikes!Suddenly today, SUN!So I got my morning appointments out of the way and hit the garden for three hours.I put away our little girl's toys and got my seedlings out of the garage and out of the cold frame.Morgan was the usual help.I planted out the peas and beets, and also some previously bought Swiss chard, kale, and lettuce seedlings.Then I did a bit of weeding and planted two new climbing roses.Then, the really big chore. I felt like I wanted to thin the ornamental plum to let more sunlight into the garden. It shoots up suckers like no other tree I know.There. Now all I have to do is tie these branches together and put them into the green recycling bin to be picked up on Monday.Unfortunately tomorrow it's back to rain. But for today at least I got my vitamin D and feel good sunshine and a start on the garden.Oh, and one last thing I did on this sunny day is brought in armloads of my camellia; the most beautiful camellia in the world.The blossoms only last a day or two and fall off, but how glorious while it lasts.Source: https://pgflandscaping.com/tips-on-selecting-the-right-grass-for-your-lawn/

Teaching the therapy journal day at the Wellness Centre

These days are my favourite.Loads of work, but so very satisfying.I love teaching the therapy journal at Inspire Health, my wellness centre.I bring in old books, my own journals (plus my own therapy journal which I kept during a 2014 cancer journey), and I get to lead a workshop in my art therapy approach with other people in various stages of dealing with the battle. Everything I bring is there for everyone. The art in my own journals, my techniques, my images, all can be copied, photographed, traced, used for reference and remembered. Books for inspiration, bits of ephemera for collage, onion skin paper for copying, inks, felts, charcoals, gel pens, stabilos, mat medium...anything I can think of I bring.I'm always so surprised and amazed that some say they've never drawn anything more complicated than a stick man!The work that comes from the precious hearts of my students is so spectacular it always leaves me breathless.This afternoon was just a beautiful time, with all of us sharing and singing and laughing and trying new art techniques.Look at this beautiful self portrait my friend Helen painted in her journal, Look at those amazing words she highlighted all around her.Here are some more of Helen's pages. I can't believe she never painted before the therapy journal came into her life.And here is a beautiful page from my friend Shiva's journal.I love to teach here every month, and each time it's different. Today an accidental double booking for this big room resulted in a 30 minute overlap and a choice: stop 15 minutes early for a Zumba class, or, share the space! That's a choice? LOL.Can you say Zumba art? So much fun!

A painting day...with dragons

Well, that was an unexpected treat!After last night's gut wrenching return to the city in blizzard conditions, Kerstin decided to stay in town a full day and night and let everyone relax and recover.I got my daughter and our little girls for a couple more days: a time when I could finally stoke their predilection towards diamond painting.Only thing is that today was a scheduled painting day for me, so Kers and I hit the studio for some paint fun.And we painted away happily while two of our girls we being chased around the garden by......a Zoe dragon.But soon the dragon got tired of the game and they all decided to come paint in the studio too.In the garden, violets are in full bloom.Violets are Kerstin's favourite flowers and Isla's second name.Kers and I had so much fun painting. We toned and painted a bunch of backgrounds for some ocean paintings I want to paint.And these little daffodils are from last year's forced potted things bought in the grocery store for late winter cheer. I love planting my grocery store bulbs in the garden. They always come back.We painted and then took off the paint and layered and layered the canvases into a deep ocean look.This one's getting close.Tomorrow Kerstie and the girls have to drive back home, but the roads are all melted so she should be fine. Tomorrow is another scheduled painting day for me and I'm looking forward to some oil action on top of the acrylics. I hope to paint in the feeling of depth and of the sunlight filtering thru kelp, and maybe some silvery, sparkly fish I think.

Hello from Sunday night which turned into a Looong Sunday night, which turned into a Monday morning post again

It's been a beautiful family weekend round here with my daughter Kerstin and her three little girls, and on Saturday we picked up my mother and all of us drove out to visit my son Jonathan and his little family.Most times when it rains in the Lower Mainland, it rains right here where I live underneath the mountains, but a few miles away in White Rock, where Jonathan lives, most times the day is much sunnier.This was the case on Saturday, and so all seven of us got into Kerstie's big Suburban people carrier and went for a visit.I brought an easy lunch of cold cuts, pate, a salad Nicoise, dressing on the side, and some fresh buns.The cousins, who haven't seen each other since Christmas, played along beautifully. It was wonderful to see that Asher is almost walking and that he's clapping along and waving bye bye.But Isla's incredible hair proved too tempting and we had to keep an eye out for that.Little Butters just hid under Chantal's chair or the coffee table for safety.Everyone had fun playing and catching up, and soon it was time to go back home.This bear on the left is Jonathan's baby teddy bear. I can't even remember the amount of times that bear has been stitched together and washed. I'm amazed it has any threads left.Then back home, and as the day was fine, the girls asked to have their afternoon tea outside.And while the day was fine in Vancouver, Sunday morning a blizzard hit on the coastal mountains just as Kerstie and the girls were heading home, stucking them behind a horrific accident on the highway in subzero weather for two hours before she managed to wiggle the car thru a gap in the barrier and try an alternate route. No sooner did she get on that route then that route was shut both ways as well. Kerstie had no choice than to turn around and head back to Vancouver. They arrived at 10pm having been on the road for over 8 hours!I think they may take an extended holiday with me for the next few days.

Late night ridiculous!

It's Friday night, and so what are three city girls free for an evening going to do?So we found ourselves without the wee ones as their other grandmother took them for Friday night.Well, as it turns out, we walked down to the waterfront pub to have supper.Nine short city blocks down, three much longer city blocks over, to the Tap and Barrel pub at the shipyards.We actually loved our walk down the hill. (Imagine San Francisco but in a shorter way.)It's so much fun to walk past the houses and apartments to get down to the sea. We chatted all the way...but also peeked into the lit windows. (We're bad like that.)But in about 20 minutes, we got to the shipyards and the sea and to the pub for a late supper.By this time my daughters were sick of my camera...lol.We had a lovely supper at the Tap and Barrel. The tempura cauliflower with curry mayonnaise was out of this world. We ordered a second portion!After supper we thought we might take a taxi home, (and besides, it was raining cats and dogs all during supper), but just as we finished and walked out, the rain stopped, so we walked all the way up the hill and back home.

A ski resort holiday weekend part three

Our last day up at Big White and we reluctantly packed the car and checked out of our condo, but we were not leaving the mountain. Not when the day dawned sunny and bright. The best of spring skiing.Since Sunday was the children's day, Monday was going to be the challenge the mountain in full force day!So we put our youngest two into the Big White day care for the day,Put Ever into a two hour lesson,Got our kit on,And hit the serious slopes.Kerstie and I went up to the top together.Up where the beautiful snow ghost trees were. Up into the powder.And we took one of the more challenging runs down.And then we did it again!The runs from the top down took about 30 minutes each and soon Ever was finished with her lesson, and it was lunch time, so we took a little break.A small hot chocolate and that hit of sugar was so good!Then we took turns skiing with Ever and hitting the more challenging runs.I snapped this selfie with the little Binky on the chair after one of our runs.Turns out this is may be my most favourite photo of the weekend. I loved skiing with her so much.And then, after everyone's thighs were burning and feeling like jelly, I took one more chair to the top by myself.Chose a challenging run,Looked around one more time,And headed down.