an early evening drive in the valley

Hello and welcome back, or just plain welcome to those of you who have never been to this site. It is a gorgeous day here in the Annapolis Valley after a post Hurricane Jose dreary start to this week that culminated in much needed rain on Wednesday. Wally told me that hurricanes start as thunderstorms in Africa and escalate as they move westward out to sea. The results here are generally benign though that can be a different case altogether on Nova Scotia's south shore. So far so good this year.

It has been super dry this last month. Though there is some colour change, the leaves on the trees are crispy and somewhat brown from dehydration so we're glad for a little rain. Today is the first day of Autumn and we're sure to see some change in the weather. Already the nights are cold, the days temperate, sometimes warm.

Last week we drove to Berwick to find some bits and pieces at a specialty nut and bolt shop to assemble a no longer made Ikea shelving unit that we'd like to put together alongside its twin that Wally already put together. I'm sure the package of elements will show up one day (we've looked for many months), but in the meantime we'd like to get on with it. So last Thursday, after quite a bit of paper sorting on my part and much painting and plumbing on Wally's part, we rewarded ourselves with an afternoon drive. These are my best shots from a moving car:

A big grey house in Berwick with signs of ongoing renovation on the front porch

one of many apple orchards that line the drive home

another apple orchard with old apple wood stacked

an old country home tucked back from the road

an old barn turned garage, roadside

pride of ownership, an old home, landscaped and in good repair

a humble old country house

a corner house in Waterville looking quaint and somewhat European

a maple lined drive with a tire swing hanging from an old maple out back 

the old Waterville Community Centre (I think)

evening country homestead

raised bungalow with a courtyard installation

Cambridge Baptist Church with a promise of "ham potato scallop bean supper" on September 30th

The yellow door makes it

Muji in the vestibule after breakfast. I just missed him rolling around on his back which always means he's in a good mood.

Babu has taken to exploring under the rolling laundry cart which we use for a recycling divider.

Here he does the combat crawl. There's a conch shell in the stew can where I'm softening the  periostracum outer layer to make it more presentable. I change the water every now and then; it sure smells like seawater. 

Worked and reworked, I struggled with my propensity for muted colours, trying to bring the children (cut-outs from a Tim Holtz pack) into the foreground by colouring them with pigment markers. The muted washi tape colours didn't help, nor did the outer border in Winsor & Newton pigment markers and Gold Sharpie paint pen. Eventually I blacked and smudged an ink background over the original brown coloured pencil background which helped immensely, and added the quotation from who-I-don't-know in white Sharpie pen. It says:

"Do not let your fire go out spark by spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet and the not-at-all.  Do not let the hero in your soul perish in the lonely frustration for the life you deserve and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It is real. It is possible. It is yours."

Enhancing the subject with a darker outline,

this mixed media piece is a mix of watercolour, coloured pencil, paint pen, ink, and a washi tape border. The chair is based on my 1930's pink chair in the living room.

 Another mixed media piece starting with an inked circle for the face and coloured in watercolour with a little coloured pencil on her pathway and in her hair and dress. I used some white paint pen for details. The wing of this Flower Fairy is done with triangular points of colour cut from a magazine, the border done in various washi tapes. I felt the border was encroaching too much so I used some white China marker and white paint pen to enhance the separation between the picture and the border.

Late last night I completed this circle face group of a mother and her children.

There was no black outline for this watercolour but I felt it needed the distinction once again and added it afterward in fine-lined India ink with a  Pitt pen . The little boy's hair and teddy bear are blacked with a Derwent Colorsoft pencil.

Thank you for dropping by dear viewers. 

 with conscious breath that pulls us into this moment

happy Fall Equinox

this day like no other

Friday, and what a fabulous day it is. The air is fresh! That's one of the things on my wish list when we moved out here. We're lucky to live in a town with relatively little industry.

My dear boys are still playing me for kibble, and so we have several goes at getting them to eat their proper meal which is laced with digestive supplements, good oils and just as importantly, especially for cats, water. Here, Muji gives me the look. His accessories are a stem of Dill that I give the boys to play with, and the tip of Babu's tail.

Once done, they get their kibble, which is dessert for them even though it's a formulated food product. That makes them very happy. Then they are allowed to trade plates for proper cleanup of tasty bits.

I finally dared to cut into this giant watermelon with a scared ( scared? I mean scarred) hide

like the whale that it is.

The other remarkable thing about it is that it has SEEDS! I feel like a relic of the old world that I should even be remarking on this. Hopefully, the tide is changing with this new generation of environmentally aware youth. Bless them.

I was struggling this week with subject matter as I've mentioned before, and under this drawing there are two more completely different ones.  I like the challenge of not working with reference material as I believe in the wealth of visual information I've accumulated over a lifetime. I correct a lot more this way, but I don't remember using my eraser so much as with this piece.

Eventually I gathered the courage to start colouring in, but my confidence was low.

Layer upon layer of coloured pencil, I gradually built up form, continuing to correct my drawing.

Eventually I gave myself permission to stop. There's always more one can do. Most artists would call this a preliminary stage. I'd be interested in seeing this painted but I've never had the discipline to build further than this stage; either I'm painting or I'm doing a rough impression like this. It's the concept that matters more to me, somehow, than the final product.  Often I like the initial drawing best.

This piece, Mother and Child,  started and ended with graphite,

but mostly it is in coloured pencil with touches of India ink.

Drink in this day, dear readers,

this day like no other.

peace

lambie love

Last day of February embodies layers of meaning for me.

an urge to get into the country overwhelms me

the Gaspereau Valley is only minutes away

 

 

yet we don't get out there nearly often enough

 

the Gaspereau River runs through the valley

 

land or orchards

 

and vineyards

 

and other types of farms

 

today you may want to brace yourself for blurry shots of

 

sheep

 

and lambs

 

Lots

 

and lots

 

of lambs

 

pretty rare

 

and precious

 

 

for a city girl like me

 

I love watching the little critters

 

Their tender smiles

 

their innate innocence

 

too precious

too dear

 

and then suddenly they are bubbly

 

bounding about with abandon

 

no purpose no particular direction

 

even on mamas back

 

oops, a little confusion

 

and on another mamas back

 

it's all a bit much for mama

 

a fine sheep she is

 

a noble placid profile

 

 

and donkey watches on

 

a careful eye on the babies

 

Tomorrow, another installment of our country drive, so good for the soul.

let the animals show you how it's done