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

 



flowers in our hearts

 

 

How frustrated I've been with my lack of application. I'm learning so much in my online class, I've been taking notes and digesting, or as one friend calls it, "percolating", but have little to show for these last 6 weeks. There has been much talk in the Facebook classroom (open only to signed up students) about not producing, and while both teachers assure us that producing is not necessary, still there is a feeling of missing out.

 

I am in the process of buying a book of poetry from my art heroine, Cathy Cullis  ,who has sold a darling little gouache today that inspired me to start sketching in my sketchbook after what I consider to be a long hiatus.

Wouldn't you know I started incorporating some Teesha Moore style journaling

and some Jane Davenport style shading BUT

with all the new art supplies I've been buying and the little studio I'm pulling together

didn't I sit down at the kitchen table with a pencil and two ballpoint pens and work my way through lunch and well into dinner hour without eating.

a detail of Sad That I Am

 



And the final version (for now)

 

The text started as a story a cashier told me this morning about her solar garden lights being stolen from her backyard; this as I was buying some for my yard.  "It's not the money," she said. "I know," I responded, "and it's not like they were stealing food. It's just an insult." So, with that in mind, I felt I couldn't leave only the sad part in, but felt compelled to add the part about flowers in our hearts, for as we know:



 

forgiveness is the gift we give our selves

 





testing my colours

It's been rainy, a little cooler and even a forecast of frost by the end of the weekend, a holiday weekend albeit a little early for Queen Victoria's May 24th birthday. She must be very  old by now.
But this afternoon was beautiful!

I've told you about the wonderful spent mushroom compost we got for the garden. Many bags of it are still stored in our garage where they are producing more mushrooms than we can eat. One evening earlier this week, I asked Wally to take a bowl out to the garage and fill it. He came back saying:

"Is 3 enough?"

 

Wally knows I don't want him to lop off this fabulous rhubarb flower.

Here's a progress shot.

 

And how about this Gorgeous Flower with the funny little twisting shoot

 coming up in its corner at 7 o'clock?  Yes, another of the millions of dandelion shots taken in the world today.

And another picture of our precious Harelson apple blossoms with drops of rain caught in their petals.

 

Lately I've been bogging down creatively as I watch the amazing work coming out of the online class I've been taking for the last 6 weeks. It's hard to believe so much time has passed and still I float around, learning heaps but not applying much save those few drawings I posted here last month.

 

Finally, I realized that I need a place other than the kitchen table (which I've loved working at so much) one where I don't have to clean up every night for supper.  Turns out I have such a space, about as large as a walk-in closet, which needed a good shovelling out. Instead of waiting for its turn at renovation, I started moving things about and ...VOILA!

 

What a surprise I got today when I opened my new box of Prismacolors and found that there was not one tray which I thought was a lot!  Not 2 which I thought was great! But 3!  So I start sharpening them with the little metal sharpener provided, watching Teesha Moore and her amazing art journals, and wouldn't you know, I started getting blisters by the end of tray #1.  Well, this isn't the kind of thing that daunts me (not like making art) so I decided to practise my ambidextrous skills (of which I have none) and stumble through almost the 2nd tray. That's when I stood up and saw I had a 4th!! tray of Prismacolor pencils!  Lately I feel that life is conspiring to give me everything and more than I ever wanted.  Sometimes I am quite overwhelmed by my good fortune. Case in point:  

 

Look at this view!



Testing my colours

 

Thank you for checking what's new with me.  I'm sure one day soon I'll be back creating  now that I have this lovely studio to work, I mean play in.

 

Peace and Love to all

that we may live happily together and work toward a happier planet

 





How Green Is My Valley

It is only now that I realize I have somehow managed to recapture some of the magic of my childhood when I see what spring has wrought from the natural world around me in this paradise that is the Annapolis Valley here in Nova Scotia.

The mist and rain this weekend brought up the emeralds, spring greens and chartreuse

 of a spring palette.

 

The cherry tree next door sent its blossom snowflakes sailing in today's wind.

 

These blossoms fascinate me for their indifferent beauty...

 

I enjoyed bringing up the polka dots of their many stamens by reducing the saturation of colour...

 

But Oh, the colour...and Oh the profusion, all from ONE tree!!

 

We waited long enough that the price has come down for fruit trees

and this weekend Wally picked up a Harelson apple tree, a Wisconsin variety

known for its hardiness and ability to keep its shape when baked in pies.

 

That means there'll be lots of baking around the corner as each little blossom has the potential to become an apple.

 

We've been blessed with a profusion of lilac bushes and hedges

A few white lilacs too, whose buds are about to pop

 

It's going to smell like heaven around here shortly...

And then there are the forget-me-nots, one of the sentimental selling points for this property that reminds me of my childhood in rural southern Ontario

 at my grandparents cottage on the Credit River.

 

We've finally determined that the Walnut trees that grow here are English Walnut which allow for all kinds of companion plants unlike the Black Walnut we thought we might have.

Wally has only just seen this huge rhubarb flower about to bloom and says it must go, but I do so want to see it bloom before he beheads it...





And finally the daffodils and tulips that are growing like crazy next door, a gardener after my own heart who loves a wild profusion of colour and mayhem.



 

How green is our valley

 

How grateful I am that we have chosen to make a life here

 amidst this spectacular land of forest and farms.

Spring is a time of rebirth, of growth, of upward thrust,

It is a time for Life.

 



where I'm meant to be

Forecast to be rainy for the next few days, I decided to catch some last shots of the lovely spring late afternoon yesterday:

The clouds came rolling in like great whales

 

There was a bit of a tussle over getting this beautifully weathered chair.

While it's true it may never be "fixed" I love it for its simple lines and character.

 

A regiment of garlic stands guard over a parade of radishes and spinach.

 

Rhubarb, a perennial, here for who-knows-how-long, is one of the many spring gifts our new home has given us.

 

Our neighbours have a giant fruit tree they said was cherry, but I don't know...

 

Whatever it is, it is GLORIOUS!!!

 

And here is the result of my efforts last evening: the primed mermaid cut-outs that will make up the pages of my mermaid circus book.

 

The online class I've been taking with Jane Davenport and Teesha Moore is filled with some very talented people, enough to intimidate one. Then there's my third yoga class I took today; now there's a group of strong women!  In the midst of all this power and talent, I console myself with the words my father said to me many many years ago when I wanted to quit my first year of college:

 

Sometimes we go to learn things other than what we went to learn.

 

Well, ain't that the truth.  Always, it seems, I come back to the same old problem of wrestling with my ego. It is a battle worth fighting, but here's the irony: you don't fight it, you release it. Just making it conscious is all that's necessary, and there's the rub: staying conscious.

 

in this moment

where I'm meant

to be



 



Maytime playtime

Yes, I know. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since I last posted. Spring has a way of escalating everything. And it's on the move here in Nova Scotia, which has surprised and delighted us as it was much colder here a year ago when we came out to scout this area for a new home.

Now I know I shouldn't be taking photos in the glaring afternoon sun, but I thought that if I don't do it now, another week could easily go by between one thing and another.

So here, in all its glory is Wally's handmade composter made from shipping palettes, complete with lovely black hinges for a door to shovel it out, a hinged lid to discourage racoons, and a divider for varying stages of decomposition. We will be careful to only put in organic waste as our herbs are planted right beside.



On the back deck, our annuals and vegetable seedlings stayed out last night for the first time.

I found the rustic shelving unit curbside on large item dump day.

(couldn't believe somebody would want the old Harvest Gold dishwasher that we put out at the curb last week, but it was gone a few days later)



stripey petunias awaiting their move to some hanging baskets

 

lovely trumpet flowers on this amazing hanging vine which I will photograph better later

 

darling Pulsatilla have a place in my heart

 for the tincture I once took made of some part of the plant worked like a miracle

Flower remedies: check them out

 

And finally a peek at the mermaidcircus book, a handmade art journal that I've been working on for the online class I've been taking

 

Spring. The magnolias are in full bloom as are the rhododendrons. Tulips and daffodils and hyacinth. I have started taking a yoga class and find I'm barely keeping up, but that's ok because at least I'm going!  Our teacher encourages us to do a de-tox. I think about it when I'm eating chocolate.

 I do believe it's important however, and thought I might pass it on to those of  you who'd appreciate her wisdom. Dandelion salad, nettle soup, burdock root tea; there are so many tasty ways to be kind to oneself.  (I'm hoping that writing it down will spur me on :)  )

 

There are all kinds of ways   

to be kind to ourselves.