and thereby hangs a tale

Autumn Colour in the Annapolis Valley here lasts much longer than it does in Ontario, and how grateful we are for it!

The next few pictures record a walk I took on Friday around noon.

 

Such a lovely bank of trees across the road from the house in the previous picture

 

a humungous Maple leaf amongst its "normal"-sized brethren

 

Glorious Golden Guardians

 

the house they guard at the top of the hill

 

 

Today I saw a most wonderful painting by Elsa Mora.
It made me think of the saying" And thereby hangs a tale" so I looked it up and found this which I thought you might enjoy:

From Shakespeare's As You Like It, 1600.

JAQUES:
 A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
 A motley fool; a miserable world!
 As I do live by food, I met a fool
 Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun,
 And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,
 In good set terms and yet a motley fool.
 'Good morrow, fool,' quoth I. 'No, sir,' quoth he,
 'Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune:'
 And then he drew a dial from his poke,
 And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
 Says very wisely, 'It is ten o'clock:
 Thus we may see,' quoth he, 'how the world wags:
 'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,
 And after one hour more 'twill be eleven;
 And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
 And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
 And thereby hangs a tale.' When I did hear
 The motley fool thus moral on the time,
 My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
 That fools should be so deep-contemplative,
 And I did laugh sans intermission
 An hour by his dial. O noble fool!
 A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear.

I take this fool to be a jester or clown by his "motley wear", and therefore funny to the speaker, but wiser too than he may care to think.

and here a start to my latest mixed media

 

wishing you a lovely start to a wonderful week

 

In the pink

What a beautiful day to wake up to!

The sun was well up by the time I had risen because I stayed up so late playing with...

THIS!

 

Done only with paint pens, and a limited palette as well, I also had trouble bringing up

the pinks on the computer that likes to turn them to a tint of violet

 

Tonight I tried a detail shot under the stove hood to bring up the glitter in the metallics.

It's funny how I love to work with colour but keep my home in neutrals.

 

I understand many are enduring the damp and cold of late autumn, so I'm grateful for the extra sunshine and moderate temperatures for a little while longer. Keep warm and well my dears.

 

 

an hour and a half holiday

How hard we try to be good little ants and not naughty little grasshoppers as we focussed on the yard work on Thanksgiving Monday, mowing the lawn, planting the perennials that decorated our deck all summer, and bringing in our small harvest of giant zucchinis, artichokes, cucumbers and eggplant. A few hardier veggies remain like the chard, beets, kale, cabbage, carrots and parsnips.

It was a long time coming, our belated drive in the country to see the autumn colours, but at 5:20 we shut the door and headed off for... ONE HOUR and a half.

Up into the hills of the "south mountain" we drove seeking out our beloved maples,

with the colour that is so necessary (to us) for an autumn drive.

 

Higher and higher we drove, still finding farms at the very top

 

with old apple orchards, that this part of the world is so famous for

 

til finally, we were about as high as we could go

and looking to the north we could see "the north mountain" with its famous Blomidon capping it off

 

Several turns in the road took us lower and lower til we were driving along a ridge that overlooked the Gaspereau River, resplendent in the evening light

We found a place to stop (posted with a warning to watch for the difference between Brook Trout and young Salmon which look similar but must be protected.)

 

a beautiful view of the Gaspereau River in the evening light

 

How lovely the reflections of sky and water and trees, beautiful trees

 

This is what we've been missing from our beloved northland

 

wild asters grow everywhere this time of year

 

another view to the left (west) bank of the river, flowing ever so gently

 

and a closer detail of this pretty maple

 

Across the road a little white duck preens itself in the shallows before bed

 

as above

 

so below: COLOUR!!

 

The colour we sought was SO CLOSE by; the wildness we missed within minutes of our town home

This is what we needed. A shot of raw nature to boost our immune system

highly recommended !

 

Oh! I just realized!

 

You might want to see what I've been up to!

 

sweet dreams

 

 

autumn gratitude

It is a Quintessential Autumn Day here, or what I like to call a Calendar Day because of the crazy bright colours against a cerulean blue sky like the calendar photos of old, so brilliant you don't believe it could be real!

Yesterday, the colour looked more like this in the hazy morning sky.

 I love them this way, all muted and romantic.

 

Our waning garden: only one eggplant grew; you can barely make it out near the back, third plant to the right. On the right you can see 3 of our Harelson apples, red and ready.

 In the foreground, the top of our massive hydrangea.

 Beans and tomatoes are gone. Beets, parsnips, cabbage and kale and chard remain.

The little maple at the corner of our neighbour's lot has lost so many leaves and never did get the brilliance of the maples I miss from northern Ontario. Both my sister and I pine (hey! a pun!) for Algonquin Park this time of year when our family would holiday there.

 

Last night I got out the Prismacolors and played around on top of the acrylic ghosts of figures I put down a few days ago, still a work in progress or wip as they say.

Fairy#1 wip 

Fairy #2 wip

Fairy #3 wip

 

Fairies 2 and 3 wip

 

Working on this much texture is a revelation to me. And the way the Prismacolor coloured pencils blend so well because of all the wax they have in them is another eye-opener. Then, of course, that one can use them on top of acrylic paint! Well, I'm thrilled.

 

It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. Personally, I don't get it.

I think every day is a day for thanks giving.

Thank you! for visiting.

 

change your trajectory

Somehow time seems to be speeding up. I must be having a good time...

Still seeing some crazy skies over New Minas where the big parking lots open up

 great expanses of sky.

 

After several false starts, Wally took the onus away from me and started painting my wee studio himself. Say good-by to the old auto wallpaper. Wally thinks he may have to cut out a swatch for himself since it reminds him so fondly of his childhood bedroom papered with the same print!

"But what would I do with it?" he asks. "

"You could put it in a scrapbook, or frame it, or use it for a book cover," I suggest.

Hey, why not?

 

Yesterday, a new muse flew in.  She'll be growing some fairy wings before long, taking on a new persona as I work on my mixed media altered book with a fairies theme under the tutelage of Australian artist Jane Davenport.

 

I've really enjoyed the process of "vandalizing" a hardcover book.

Really! If you know me, you'll understand how transformative this has been for me.

 

Another spread in the same book where I practise my fairy tale story-telling,

another huge learning curve for me- so fun!

 

 Look for the possibilities in your own life, the things you never thought you could do. It changes your trajectory to change one little thing. That could be a good thing :)

 

a sunset fairy tale

Have I told you? I don't believe I have. I've started a new online art journaling class with one of the same teachers as my last class, Jane Davenport. This one is called JOYnal. Such a great name with a Bronx accent (even though Jane is from Australia). The focus is once again on mixed media techniques based on a structure of drawing and painting. I am learning about altering old children's books. But the big stretch for me is that the subject is fairies, or elves or sprites or gnomes. Whatever strikes one's fancy in the realm of magic.

I've been in the class for a month now and I have been struggling with the whole fairy thing even though I once was a HUGE fairy tale lover. Therein, I've learned, lays the secret. Before there were ever pictures of fairies, there were TALES. Its the tales that hold the magic for me. What lays in the recesses of the human mind where these very serious stories originated and continue to resonate, that's where the magic resides.

Imagine walking out of the shopping mall on Monday night and seeing - THIS!!

As I gaped, struggling for my camera, a man walked past and said,

"Someone just got released from Purgatory"

I cracked up. Talk about a fairy tale!

 

The sky burned redder and redder; I'm having a hard time recapturing it.

but OH, it was stunning.

Then, almost as suddenly as we came upon it, it faded to purple and was gone.

Like a story, it got told-  and disappeared,

  Only a memory remains- and a few pictures that can never recapture the emotions it aroused.

 

And so it is with my first mixed media project done in my first altered book,

never quite what was in my mind's eye.

 

I am encouraged though. What I thought was inaccessible to me - fairies - seems somehow more viable as a subject on which to hang my explorations in mixed media. I am enjoying watching the process unfold.

peace