silent movie

The blizzard has come. More wind than snow, but the whiteouts and drifting are treacherous, so I'm glad Wally got the day off.

Yesterday I watched my first Gloria Swanson movie "Why Change Your Wife" 1920, a sly, sexist silent, typical of the times. This because I've been reading Swanson on Swanson, one of the many neglected books from my personal library that I've finally turned to after paying yet another public library late fine.  I  don't know what possessed me to pick this one up, but I'm quite enjoying this slice of early movie making and life from the perspective of one of the biggest stars of her time.

 

So I call this Silent Movie

done in my old Laurentian coloured pencils

Now to make some soup on this blustery winter day.

Have a lovely end of January.

mixed media monday

Monday Morning. So far so good.
I hope this finds you well and enjoying this last week of January.
I'm pleased my cold has subsided with only rare sneezes to punctuate my day.

I finished this picture well over a week ago, but have had trouble balancing the hot pink with the more subtle colours. This will have to do:

Mother and Child

done in my old Laurentian coloured pencils, with watercolour and paint pens

It is lovely and sunny and cold here prior to the foreboding storm due tomorrow.

It will be a good day to hunker down,  make soup and paint.

peaceful thoughts

A Girl and a Cat

From a brilliant, sun-reflected on snow day here in Nova Scotia.

My cold seems to be passing. It certainly gave me lots of time to work away on this coloured pencil drawing in my 9x12inch sketchbook

:

A Girl and a Cat

with my old Laurentiens

a lovely Wednesday to you

spring in January

Friday was a hard day as I rode out a sleepless night and a dull-edged day with a cold. The wind howled around the house and blew snow all about. 



So where did this come from?  I call it Spring Dance

watercolour, Prismacolor and paint pens

Then, after a pretty good night's sleep I woke up to this:

on one side of the house

and this, through the maple hedge, on the other

Babu, our "little" 1 1/2 yr. old was in a good mood

wriggling about for cuddles and attention

He's a wiggler and rarely sits still for very long, unless he's asleep. 

Then he mews like a kitten when touched, too groggy for mischief.

 So as I talked to him

Muji, who heard me and is a little jealous, came running for his cuddles

Surprise! Babu, who is never jealous, took him in a stranglehold for a "licking", 

little wild boy that he is,  itching for some fun

This is normal around here,  even an ear licking

and Muji will take the love any way he can get it,

"Ah, Heaven..."

Then, it's Babu's turn: "tradesies"

and Babu loves it too.

Needless to say, this all makes me very happy to see my little Babu and my loving Muji getting along so well together. Muji has gone from hopping on his damaged leg a year ago to limping on it, chasing Babu who likes to pounce on him, playing jungle gym, provoking Muji to "play" i.e. chase him, great exercise for Muji who is as lazy as I. 

hope you are well and enjoying a restful day

keeping cozy

Good Morning. It's so cold here. Sunny, cold and brighter for the snow.

a mixed media page in my sketchbook

The words by Joseph Campbell in the upper left corner say:

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek

 

This picture came together on Monday and Tuesday of this week,

but I drew the elephant's head quite a few years back and the quote was copied in September.

It seemed an innocuous page on which to draw the little girl with the chicken so that I might play with some watercolour, but one thing led to another.

Then came the woman in the chair, the elephant's body and eventually the oak leaves.

Lots of layers of watercolour and coloured pencils, and eventually the Christmas napkin.\

I fiddled and played, adding paint pen gouache and building layers with each medium.

The oak leaf faces and the heart's words came near the end; I don't exactly remember where I stopped.

 

have a lovely, cozy day

 

 

a new page

What a lovely surprise! A new page to start a new day.

what a view to wake up to

 

Muji grabs some rays

 

Wally leaves a subliminal message

 

I hope you, too, are having a day of blessings. Well, I know you are; it just remains for us to see what already exists. For instance, I had to point out to Wally the hearts in the snow. He hadn't interpreted them as such. It's that simple. In the same way,we can miss what miraculous creatures we are. Carry your miraculousness lightly like an inward smile and more will unfold.

 

Within an hour so much changes

and yet we can hold that light we gathered inside us

 

a little (4x5 inches) watercolour I did on the holidays

not resolved but it's time to move on

 

keeping a light inside