Unresolved

Wild Fire 10" x 8" is oil on an acrylic background. If you're wondering why the painting appears to be square it's because I'm only showing you the top half. (Yesterday, I did a split shift around going to Bertine's pottery studio to glaze three pots for the raku firing on Saturday.) I'm struggling with making the leaves look believable. I thought they looked a fright last night, but this morning they look even worse. Something will have to be done!

Return of Spring

Our weather has been anything but spring-like. A change from the cold and wet, yesterday, brought the promise of improvement. Playing in the dirt seemed such a perfect opportunity to procrastinate. It was finally nice enough to be outside, so I cut down last year's dead rubble and cleaned up the flower bed on the south side of the garage. This simple patch amazes me in that peonies will fill in and cover the dead tulips, then the holly hocks will grow and tower over the finished peonies. Not bad for a neglected garden.

Today, it's even nicer, there isn't a cloud in the sky and the mercury promises to hit 19C. This isn't going to help me to go to my room and make art!

Lounging Tulip

Yesterday, I used acrylic to paint this 12" x 16" panel, thinking that when it was finished I'd be brave and put a coat of Golden Glass Bead Gel over it. I chickened out even before showing Bill what the product looks like (on a 5x7 sample panel). His words: "It looks hideous". You see, sometimes my died-in-the-wool, traditional painting style bores me.

I set up the cloth and shell and painted them first knowing that when I cut a fresh tulip from our backyard and put it under the light it would open, droop, change. Stepping back (which I ought to do more often) I observed that the entire cloth was much too blue, so I washed a white glaze over it. And still, at the end of a long day, I was not happy with it. To me it looks lack lustre.

All evening, and again when I woke today, I kept mulling over my options.
1. Leave it alone and move on or ...
2. Spend another day on it, repainting (over the acrylic) with oil in the hopes that it will have more life/sparkle.

Maybe all it needs is a coat of varnish?

Glass Bead Gel - A coarse textured medium with a Heavy Body viscosity that holds peaks. Made with genuine glass beads, its unique visual effect – like that of condensation on cold glass – is best seen in thin films that allow the mono-layer of glass beads to be illuminated on a light colored ground. Glass Bead Gel can appear very similar to Coarse Pumice Gel or Clear Granular Gel when mixed with enough paint to hide the appearance of the glass beads.Glass Bead Gel ...

Mother's Day

I'm in a very reflective mood today. Other mothers have sent sentimental messages that stir tears. First, I want to acknowledge my own Mother, Priscilla Marie (nee MacDonald 1926 - 2003) and thank her now for all I did not while she lived. This photo was taken in July 1950, when I was not quite two ...

For giving me Bill, I thank his Mother, Ann Kennedy (nee Lowe 1926 - 1977). She left us much too soon when she died of MS at 51. Always missed and lovingly remembered. This photo was taken in June 1974 ...

Next, I celebrate the fact that I am a Mother! Fortunate in having two great daughters; Denise (born March, 1975) and Laura (born January, 1978). This photo was taken Christmas Day 1979 ...

Here they are in the summer of 2005 ...

And now, I applaud Denise for being the wonderful Mother that she is. Through Denise and Larry having their precious daughter, Avery Lynn (born October 2008) I am now a Grandmother! This photo was taken this past February, 2010 ...





Both of my girls have phoned, but I won't be seeing them today. They were here last weekend and I'll be with them next weekend in Canmore. That's when I will have my own private Mother's Day time ... once the buffet/brunch crowds have died down!

Memories

The best thing about going to The Crossing Resort is gawking, in awe, at the exceptional peaks lining either side of the Icefield Parkway (Alberta Highway 93 north). I love stopping just before Bow Summit to look back and see this, the finest bit of drive-by landscape in the Canadian Rockies ...

On May 5th, 2010, there was still plenty of snow at this elevation; 6000 feet. Beneath the sliver of horizontal white, where the road bends, is Bow Lake which won't thaw until mid June. Our destination is a little beyond where 93 crosses The North Saskatchewan River ...

Miles from nowhere, nestled beneath impressive peaks, the family owned and operated (since 1975 ... when I first had my black and white wildlife prints there for a season) complex is open from April to October.
http://www.thecrossingresort.com/


Bill and I were there to set up my display of reproductions, for the 19th consecutive year! The enormous gift shop has been beautifully rearranged this spring and owner/general manager, Mike Fikowski, has given me this prominent display, the first one you see when you enter ...


Driving away, the following day, I let memories wash over me. Gazing at familiar peaks I thought of so many precious times spent on hikes and trips into them. Of the people who travelled with me and the moments shared amidst this raw, wild beauty. And of how very fortunate I am to mix business with all this pleasure.

Belated Easter Egg Hunt

As if celebrating Bill's birthday wasn't enough we added, walks to the park, tennis, boche, and an Easter Egg Hunt to our weekend. I woke early on May 2nd, went outside to hide the loot and was secretly glad there wasn't another soul out and about, on a Sunday morning, at that hour!


This photo is the calm after the storm, when all the goodies are gathered and in their bag. The video tells the story best ...

http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0090009/photos/22752120@N04/4576478048/

The Canmore kids, Laura and Adam left first. The Scammells departed, mid afternoon, from the tennis courts. I cycled home and had a two hour nap!

Family Time

This weekend all the big kids and our little one are here. It ought to be quiet for another hour. They're still fast asleep this morning, sacked out here and there around the house with a couple stowed in the R-Pod for good measure.

We've been teaching Avery about cupcakes. There's no better way than hands on! I'm sure that someday she'll learn how to use utensils.

Bill's birthday feasting table.

I try, really I do, to get a good group photo when we are all together like this but I tell you some of these people are simply nuts. I take no responsibility for them.

The birthday boy cuts into his birthday pie.