Thursday 29 October 2015

I raked yesterday


Twice this week- twice!- Muji got into the tomatoes despite my making a blockade the second time.

and Purr-eed them!
He actually eats them and doesn't throw up.
 
Needless to say, I was not impressed. Of course he chose the expensive organic ones.
 
Life with cats.  It's pretty darn nice. They are affectionate little hairballs and I'm especially amazed at how far my relationship with Babu has come.
 
It has been a dreary, windy day of rain today with a lot of leaf loss off the trees
 
Our decrepit deck gate and the spent hydrangeas

At one point a leaf hit the window and caught Babu's attention.
He even talked to it.

Upon closer inspection

I was blown away by the myriad of railing reflections in the raindrops on the window

It was still cool outside but worth opening the window a crack

I raked yesterday.
This is done in black Derwent coloured pencil with Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils.
 
 
The weekend is soon upon us. I hope yours is pleasant as we see off the last few days of October.
 
 

Thursday 22 October 2015

just wow!

 
 I might have posted these earlier if it hadn't been such a busy week.
 

This crazy cloud formation on Sunday morning was a mind blower as it seemed to grow out of the horizon.  It was actually heading for the horizon, the southeast, over Forget-Me-Not cabin's roof.
 
the Hydrangea in the morning light, the lovely orange of the neighbour's maple tree beyond
 
I head for the front of the house where the ash is glowing against a dark western sky. 
 
Another maple in another neighbour's yard is spectacular against this dark sky while the chartreuse and dull burgundy of our ash take on the bright morning light.

Below, a huge pile of hedge trimmings for me to break down before it snows.
 
I slipped a garland of fake apples and cranberries into my simple wreath of artificial ivy
 to make this autumn door arrangement. 

perhaps a few more grapevines would dress it up 

the homestead in the morning shadows
 
down our quiet street 

loving the wildness our across-the-street neighbours leave
 
Sunday was a gorgeous day so we made the most of it with more fall clean-up and 3 loads of laundry on the line. I was taking the 2nd load in when it started to snow tiny pellets. But it didn't last long.
 
 
This is one of those long posts where I put up several days' pictures.
 
It was an intense start to the week as we prepared for 2 trips to Halifax in a row.  Both trips started in the dark of the morning; on the first morning I amused myself with the Venus, Mars, Jupiter conjunction in the southeastern sky and the millions of stars in the black sky.
 

On the second morning I took great pleasure in the Halifax sky from an 8th floor window,
 
moody, dramatic and ever-changing.
 
These odd curls moved in with a teasing break in the clouds beyond
 
The clouds twisted

turned some more and began to break a part
 
while the blue beckoned beyond some even higher clouds.
 
It was a cool morning though not nearly as brisk as the day before so we decided to "chill" from the busy morning by strolling the Halifax Public Gardens, a short 2 blocks away.
 
 We chose the path to the right
 
Some gigantic bulrushes
 
spectacular colour
 
tender, almost "too delicate for this world" scented roses

blooming on ridiculously tall stems
 
The bandshell vista

and that evening's sky over our back yard with a hardy half moon
 
*
 
 This morning's sky sent me running for the camera. Honestly, we get some crazy, beautiful, dramatic skies out here which must have something to do with our proximity to the ocean.

The southeastern sky over Forget-Me-Not Cabin.

Like a long draught of water, I can't seem to get enough sky.
 
Babu appreciating the morning too.
 
And finally, a drawing I started in the car on Tuesday afternoon, engrossed, when suddenly I saw Wally waving, as he drove. He said that our newly re-elected MP (Member of Parliament) as of last night, was celebrating by waving his thank you's from his car, parked on the side of the highway. Too funny.
 
Anyway, here is the drawing:
 
I call this The Faerie Queene after Edmund Spenser's epic poem of the same name.
 
In my search for a rich black, I bounced between my Derwent Colorsoft Black and Koh-I-Noor's Progresso coloured pencil in Black. The big surprise came when I scribbled over some of my drawing in the Derwent Colorsoft White.  The creamy effect indicated a brown tinge to at least one of the blacks.  I worked in my 7x10 inch, 98 pound Canson XL mixed media sketchbook.
 
Between my Derwent pencils made in England, the Koh-I-Noor made in the Czech Republic, my sketchbook made of French paper but bound in Poland, and my drawing made here in Canada, I find myself quite amazed by how these connections are made in today's world. I'm amazed even more when I consider all the human beings involved, the investments, business, advertising and travel that brought this all together. Not to mention the Internet, Google, Blogger, Telecommunications and Electricity!
 
Just Wow!



Saturday 17 October 2015

last evening's sky

 
Beginning where I left off last night, the aftermath of yesterday's rain as the sun sets behind the great old ash at the front of our driveway.
 


As seen through the vestibule door, reflections and all, we are finally seeing some leaf fall.

Wally called me to see the view as colour filled the sky.
 
Though I couldn't capture the colour in the southeastern sky,
 the "sweetlight" was enriching the colours everywhere else, as the sun set 

The northeastern sky had colour too that I couldn't capture over our newly trimmed maple hedges,
 the top of our neighbour's house beyond.

a vignette in this same window
 
The glow in the southern sky is waning now

as I catch a few parting shots
 
at dusk
 
Some details from some watercolours
 
that show merit in themselves and emulate last night's evening sky.
 
have a lovely weekend
look for the beauty; it's everywhere


Friday 16 October 2015

friday, dear friday


I'm relieved somehow that it is Friday.
Not that I have a typical work week; it's just a psychological thing that it is somehow an ending, a passing of some difficult processing. It's all good.

It's been a gorgeous week

The colours are deepening
 
I love the view to the southeast past the perimeter of the hayfield.
 
Here is Forget-Me-Not Cabin in context. You can see our neglected little garden with the concrete sheep statue by the tomatoes near the bottom of the picture.
 
Today it began to rain just as I prepared to do some yard work
 
so I committed my little drawing, that I cut out last week,
 to collaging it over a watercolour background
Each were "throwaways" in my mind til I brought them together,
"the whole greater than the sum of the parts"
 
with a little patience we come through even the most difficult times
finding calm in that centre that is the eye of the storm