a day's drawing





 

Last night I started copying a reproduction of a 17th century painting of Madonna and Child with an unidentified sainte by an unknown Emilian artist, thinking I'd finish it this morning, but took the whole day to work on this piece in my favourite sketchbook with the brown paper.

 



4B graphite of a dear threesome

 

peace

 



Sunday morning eagles

 

A brilliant day here in Kentville today and the mercury is struggling to get above 5 degrees C.

I have many pictures to show you of our trip around the vicinity yesterday in search of eagles.

 



 the start to our day, a rural Sunday morning.

 

a winter field of brussel sprouts stalks looking out toward the North Mountain

 

old barns on the road to Sheffield Mills

 

The curtain parts on the Three Graces

a ballet of pines

 

Like marks on paper, I call this Farmfield Script

 

I enjoyed the textures of this winterfield so much that I tried it out in sepia tones.

I took so many more photographs of it; it's caligraphic lines intrigued me so much over the rolling landscape, but I will spare you the rest.

 

the forest's edge

 

winter marsh

 

Four X's

 

another side of another barn

 

Mullioned windows and picket fences

 

home

 

The Grand Old Lady of Canning

I took several pictures of this magnificent mansard roofed house when we came out here last spring to scout for a place where we might live.  This house stopped us in our tracks even though it wasn't for sale.  It was in its prime surrounded by the most beautiful spring gardens.

 

an awfully big tree on a street corner in Port Williams

 

a strange bird on the telephone wire

 

 

All these pictures are mixed up from our day out because I've saved the best (for us) for last|

the eagles!!

 



Wally, my hawkeye, saw a lonely little box on a post in an abandoned opening in the scrubby trees and identified it as a map box. Who knew??

 

And just around the corner...

 

Oh, but they were too far for our camera to really capture

yet one can just make out the white head of the male bald eagle who sits on a branch over that fieldscript I showed you earlier, and just below him the larger (by 2 kg. usually) female alights, her massive wingspread apparent. I call her Vee and her companion, Dot, or Cipher, hmm...

 

Further down the road, we were much luckier

 

We came to a rise in the road with some tall trees on the right.

I got out of the car to walk up so that we would not be parked on a "blind hill"

Near the top on the left sat this sweet child by his family's apple orchard

and across the road...

 

THIS!

 

And a huge female bald eagle who sat near him, ruffling her feathers, preparing to fly,

 not at all happy with my snooping

 

and then she did - fly, that is.

Then, too, did the male.

 

Pretty darn fabulous

And that was all on Sunday morning.

 

 

 

Let's be kind to ourselves so that our well is full



pretty details

A gorgeous sunny Saturday. I'll have to tear myself away from the new embroidery I'm doing to go for a walk and get me some of it!



 

Those magnificent densely perfumed lilies I showed you a few posts back have all opened and died now but for two that are still deliciously pink. The rest have faded to a whisper of purple like this one.

The delicate veining in the paper crisp petals still shows, so crepe-textured and fine.

 

a small cut-out of a pen and ink drawing with a little watercolour thrown in.

 I had thought it might work for a collage project I'm working on.

 

 a detail from the dress with lovely textures of

washy india ink.

 









 Much talk of seeds and gardens around here.  Vegetables and flowers.  What we really need is a shade garden, starting with the shade. Perhaps a small tree or two, perhaps a grape arbour.  Planning is key, but dreaming is too.

 

It won't be long now. Staying focussed on what is true.

Peace

watery ink sketches

 

Playing with pen and ink on watercolour sponged heavy card stock...

 



ride a bunny measures almost 4 inches x 2 1/2 inches

but it looks rather nice enlarged like this

 

catgirl is done in the same medium, measuring 3x4 inches

and scribbbleportrait is done in the same medium again, 3x4 inches

 

 

A windy day here, enough to blow you over.  A good walk in a big box store set me up for the day.

I'm a happier person for getting some exercise this time of year when the walkways are icy treacherous.  Midwinter is a time of inwardness, biding my time til sweeter weather comes.  Drawing, writing, reading, radio for company and pots of tea.  Keeping warm and focussed on what matters.

 

peace







awakening to love

 

 

Things receive their inherent worth, each of which has a dream

 

We've indulged ourselves with flowers

Pink Oriental Lilies

Their scent is intoxicating, their rubbery texture reminds me of the flowers from out of a Rousseau dream

that I saw in Costa Rica- already a year ago- and suddenly I'm there again...

 

Mother and Child work in progress

 



We are at the cusp of February.  I never realized before that the 14th is the middle of February.  Valentine's Day is one of those loaded days, like Christmas, where we are liable to bet  all of our hopes and dreams on one pony.  I didn't really understand why I put those words and together in the collage I posted today (that I finished last night).  I still don't.  I did it intuitively.   But I suspect, by using the baby image, that I meant to say that we awaken to our inherent value in a kind of rebirth, and within that awakening there lays a message in the form of a dream. Like a flower opening to the sun, we are born to awaken to that dream or, perhaps,  from that dream to...

love.

 



snowy door and purpley outlines



 

Apart from some crazy wind, we got off fairly easy.

 

 we got a nice snow mould of our front door!

 

Lucky for me, Wally loves to blow snow. Wally and the Walnut tree.

 

a lovely purple for this outline

work in progress

 



Can't stop me now, now that I know how to post images by myself, I will try to keep a more regular posting as there is so much to share.

happy winter days

cozy winter nights

all good wishes

all good thoughts

 



the calm



 

There's a certain amount of excitement in the air about the impending storm.   Wally and I,  however, miss a good, old-fashioned snowstorm.

 



Winter has become my favourite season.



At 3:30 this afternoon, the calm before the storm,

and the last bit of sun we'll see for a while.

 

Little baby embroidery, with stitches removed and added since last time.

 

Oftentimes it feels that each step along the way must be, indeed, a new beginning. One must bring a sense of presence and freshness to each task, old or new, in order to find the nugget of truth that lays within, for each alone to see.  Like cleansing one's palate in order to taste something new, we owe it to ourselves to keep resetting the bar, always pulling ourselves forward toward the possibilities. 

 

Perhaps I'm waxing didactic, but this Present state of mind seems to be working for me as I delve into areas I'd never be if I didn't keep requiring more of myself.  For instance, I've had a great time working on this embroidery.   Because I gave myself time to see it fresh over the course of the week, I saw directions I could go in, ones I went too far in and made the decisions to remove or add the stitches necessary to bring this picture to a higher state of resolution. Even now, as I feel it is done, I begin to see what could be done to make it better because I keep coming back refreshed.   I am encouraged, and grateful.  I highly recommend it!

Peace

 

a small miracle

 

Today a small miracle.

After 2 1/2 years of sharing creative aspects of my life in these posts, here on this blog, my faithful Wally trying ever so patiently to walk me through the process,  I have finally uploaded my pictures by MYSELF! Ta-Daa!

 

It doesn't help that I struggle with my left brain, not that I don't have a completely good one, but somehow, probably through neglect, I struggle with instruction, always preferring to do something creative before anything linear.



 

You will have seen how much I enjoy taking pictures.( Yesterday and this morning have been gloriously sunny.) And of course it is my great joy to be able to share them with you as I live a fairly isolated life and somehow this helps me to feel more connected with the world.

Perhaps the reason this bit of obsessive drawing (pen and watercolour) looks so perplexed and unfinished ( and probably will remain unfinished ) is that I find I need to move on

 looking for something that will hold my right brain's attention.

 

But today I persevered with hints and encouragement from my sister and Wally. How empowering!

 

It astounds me how much of my life has been spent avoiding things I'm afraid of, things that I want!

I thought you might enjoy this video as much as I:

 



 

have a lovely day

winter drawing in stitch

 

You'd never know what a lovely sunny morning it is here in the Valley -the Annapolis Valley- by the picture I took yesterday morning.

 

How I love a snowy winter and the gentle light of this frosty morning.  The morning traffic rumbles along more quietly, golden orbs like fallen stars in a blue transit between night and day.

 

a small freehand embroidery, work in progress, that occupies me

with thoughts of making an accordion book - a concertina-

for entry into a book show being held this spring in Toronto.

we'll see.

 

another miraculous day unfolding