last friday in august

Friday from my little part of the world.

Nothing much has changed, though Wally is working like crazy organizing cars for the flight squadrons, crew and support staff who are performing at the air show in Greenwood this weekend.

Wally has free tickets but I won't join him as it truly is his thing and not mine.

a crystal and beach stones on a window sill

Muji watches me take the picture.

Then it's off to the front porch to check the mail. Yes, we still get home delivery here. Sweet.

The lilies are spent in the lily garden but the mallow keeps blooming.

Muji has been waiting for me to come in 

and then he hears Babu clunking around in the kitchen.

Could he be cleaning up?

Muji was once an outdoor cat and the world outside continues to hold great fascination for him.

He continues trying to make The Great Escape through the bathroom closet, kitchen cupboards and the basement door. Some things never change. 

This is where I left off this morning at the kitchen table.

My ancient box of Eagle Prismacolor coloured pencils is getting a good workout these days.

The Jane Davenport set lays to the left. It is also useful for its unusual colours.

I don't usually use a mechanical pencil but I've bee working on a sketch of Botticelli's Venus and finding this fine graphite easier to work with, easier to rub out with that school grade eraser that has worked amazingly well for me on the cheap paper of my little sketchbook.

a bunny sketch in Derwent Black pencil with that marvelous "light green" Prismacolor that fairly glows in the background

and that picture I showed you as a work in progress 2 days ago, now complete.

Done in coloured pencils with some fine Pitt pen outlining.

I played with a similar fantasy background in the fox picture I showed you earlier this week.

It's a fun way to fill in the background but this time I had to subdue it with sepia pencil because it competed with my main characters- hence the extra outlining as well to help bring the characters forward. I have no purpose in having them petition the cat with open bags. I call it Collecting.

The weekend is upon us. So is cooler weather. I hope yours is pleasantly spent.

in peace and presence my friends

deer in the hayfield

Good Morning on this quiet Saturday.

In fact it has been a quiet week, spent stitching.

On Wednesday I spied this young deer, one of the fawns in the hayfield.

Just beyond him I could see his mother.

My pictures are blown up from poor shots to begin with, my little camera smaller than a playing card.

She remained like this for quite a while, certainly enough time for me to compose myself and steady my hand against the window. Ah well, better than nothing at all. It's a thrill every time to see these beautiful wild animals in their element.

And here are my "boys" in theirs. They were in a charming embrace when I went to get my camera.

But this is how I found them when I came back. "What?" they seem to ask.

Again, my little camera has trouble with the low light, but still worth a shot.

Considering a subject for a new embroidered piece, I doodle with my Japanese calligraphy pen that is set up with a cartridge like a fountain pen and gives an amazing fine line, the nib treacherous to soft paper- i.e. very sharp.

have a lovely last weekend to November

keeping peace in our hearts and intentions

turning a new page or "the doors of possibility"

For those of you who have been following my raggle taggle adventures in the land of creativity, you know I've been struggling of late, but seem to have crossed a threshold the other day. Well, upon my trepidatious posting of my latest efforts on the private Facebook page for the Mermaid Circus online class I've been taking, I received so many loving comments that I felt flushed with the excitement of so much support.

The very next morning I launched into the rendering of my fairy into a mermaid, and lo and behold a kind of Bill Murray appeared behind her for support. I just, as they say, went with the flow!

 

Yesterday was a fabulously sunny day.

 We've been bringing our seedlings in at night because it has been too cold for their little bodies, and though still a bit nippy in the morning, it was warm in the sun, out of the wind.

 

The afternoon brought long beautiful shadows from one of our English Walnut trees.

You can see our 'cross-the-road neighbour hung a Canadian flag on his property in honour of

 Queen Victoria's birthday (May 24) but it is our holiday today.

 

Can you see how the leaves are growing at the end of the branches of the walnut tree?

I think they look like little origami birds the way they grow straight up

 

Wally finally cut the grass which was getting awfully high, but kindly left me forget-me-nots growing all over the lawn like vaseless posies.

our first and last, our only tulips have finally bloomed, sheltered in a shady corner of the garden, coming up in what look to be a bed of irises, or lilies.  We'll see.

a progress shot of the rhubarb flower, getting quite stalky

Earlier that morning, I noticed my neighbour was having a yard sale and I ran over to have first dibs

Turned out she was set up all day the day before and I'd never noticed.  Just as well.

 I certainly don't need more stuff.  I'm always amazed, however,  by the intricacy of a hand-crocheted doily and bought this one for 25 cents.

 

I loved the way the afternoon sun backlit it.

and finally the mercouple that emerged in my sketchbook just prior to unconsciously turning him into Bill Murray the actor/comedian whose work I so enjoy.

 

Keeping spring in our hearts

 



there's alway a way

snowy morning light

 



Something Teesha Moore said in her new online class MermaidCircus  that she shares with Jane Davenport (just 2 more days to sign up) reminded me about the endless possibilities that come when one 'changes horses midstream', how sometimes it offers that elusive, exciting element that may have been missing from the original plan, how there really are no mistakes when one approaches art, and indeed their life, that way.

I remember how I once heard how the tiniest change in the direction of a trajectory can send something into space a billion miles from its original course. That blows my mind every time I think of it. The smallest change can have such enormous effect. Teesha advises to never panic over something "going wrong."  She says:

There's always, always a way to fix everything....

If you know...beyond the shadow of a doubt

that there's nothing you can't fix, then it totally frees you up

to just have fun and play and to have a c'est la vie attitude about the whole thing.

 

Just wanted to share that with you. It feels life-altering to me.

 

mermaid from my sketchbook

 

open to the possibilities