peace on earth

Keeping a quiet Christmas Eve, Wally came home from a morning at work and had a long cuddle with Babu who couldn't get enough of him. I took a lot of pictures of our little squiggler and found I like this one best.

Babu loving Wally loving Babu

 

To my dismay, Wally signalled me to find the squiggler in a dryer of clean laundry. 

 

Then Wally called me out to direct my attention to the back hedge.

"When, what to my wondering eyes should appear...?"

 "How did you ever manage to see it?" I asked him. No bigger than a Christmas light bulb on Forget-Me-Not Cabin beside him. But Wally merely said he saw a flash of red. Then we had a talk about his peripheral vision of which I'm often convinced he has none. And he demonstrated with his hand where he could begin to see it from the side.

 

Beyond the dried hydrangea, in the boxwood hedge where a few leaves hang on...

 

our Christmas Eve cardinal.

 

peace to all living creatures on earth 

pre Christmas fun

 

Wally and I often call each other to come see how cute the cats are, cuddling each other as they sleep. Even though I sneaked in and tried not to wake them, it's hard for my little camera to focus in the ambient light with two contrasting cats, and capture when they move.

 

So here is a blurry shot of their cuteness as I unintentionally woke them.

 

Later that evening, Babu practised Kitty Mind Control on me

 as he waited for his supper to materialize. 

The ultramarine sky was vivid behind my incandescently lit paper snowflakes.

I suddenly got in the mood to cut some out a few weeks back, not having tried it in decades.

 

The moon behind our ash tree out front.

 

Half moon just before the winter solstice

 

Something was definitely afoot 

 

as Wally called me into the living room to witness

his creation! A homemade digital antenna!

We had to laugh as Wally had to hold it exactly in place

 to get the most amazing reception

of ONE channel

 

but he will eventually rig it up in the attic

 

Once Wally went to bed it was Muji's turn for reception

as he waited in my chair by my latest drawing

 

The wooden dolls have evolved to more movement in a setting

this one done in coloured pencil... before 

 

and after

 

Down the Night Garden Path

 Have a lovely unwinding of the year

 as you wander down your path

 

In the Night Garden

 

I couldn't go to bed last night, even though it was getting late, without drawing a picture.

It comforts me the way diary writing used to. 

 

Muji kept me company this morning while I finished it off.

 

I call it In the Night Garden.

watercolour, watercolour pencils and colour pencils

a detail of In the Night Garden

 

 

As with so many artists who turn to abstract as they age, I find it easier to feel resolved with looser work, what was once dismissed as a preliminary or sketch, now seems satisfying as finished work.

 

 

kindness first

 



Christmas preamble II

Just a few more vignettes around the house, this first batch taken on the mild morning of my last post.

Our front door wreath that I simply added a few more embellishments to.

When I see the cost of ready made wreaths, I'm amazed at how easy it is to do up one's own.

Jazzing up the Japanese Maple- just some silliness to welcome us home

 

From the opposite side looking toward our wonderful ash tree

 

Looking out toward a sunny spot on the other side of the ravine

Coming back in the house I see the odd wood screw we found in someone's yard sale.

Please, if you have any idea what it's from, I'd love to know. Please add a comment below. 

and finally a crazy shot of my angel, Muji, who yawns a good wide one,

revealing the maw of some kind of sea creature.

 

Now for a few more pictures from another day, or rather evening, when Wally sat down with me at the end of his work day.

 

 Babu jumped onto his lap

 

Until Wally finally gave him the loving he wanted. 

Here's the definitive shot:

 Wally with his tired smile and Babu who rarely stops moving.

 

keeping it light

light as in weight

light as in light

 

light in our hearts

 

Christmas preamble

 

We're slowly getting ready. 

 

as Muji naps

 

Suddenly our circa 1936 fireplace, the one I wanted to bring into the 21st century,

makes sense. Wally even found a very old Christmas stocking to hang on the left that matches the vibe of our old plastic Santa lamps that we found roadside one year.

 

Wally went downstairs to find Marion's signed record

 of the house her husband (and his brother?) built.

I leave snippets of Marion's decorating up like this old scalloped blind at the foot of the stairs

and even this shirred shear curtain on the front door where I placed this ridiculous secondhand Christmas wreath that I like for its animated personality

presents await boxing for the post, hopefully not too late

 

and now it's snowing again, as if I ordered it up.  It delights me.

We're forecast another mild Christmas and so this snowfall will soon be gone,

but, Oh, it's pretty while it lasts.

 

I'm loving this excuse to invite some sparkle into our lives

 

peace on earth

starting in our hearts

 

 

a little book for mom



Maybe it's because it's Monday, but after a sad week of loss last week, I am in need of turning the page.

So I made a little book. It's for my mother who has trouble accessing the internet to see what I'm up to.  I did up a  photo collection of this year's highlights, and put an original on the cover.

 

 

If you live in Canada, you may recognize the spine cut out from a tissue box. The turquoise with pink roses is washi tape, and the other paper is wrapping from a nice bar of soap. The watercolour is mine, of a wooden doll that debuted on my blog earlier this month.

Because the photos of my watercolours measure 4"x 6", my mixed media sketchbook (in which I did the originals) worked perfectly to make the folios as the paper measures 7"x10". Folded in half each page  would measure 7"x5" which would allow for a 1/2" border around each photo. (Oh yes, I must add an "r" on the end of November.)

Of course, that meant I had to turn some photos sideways.

 

It can be a precarious time of the year. Expectations of others and/or ourselves is a set up.

We're always better off with a sense of gratitude. 

 

Let us bring sweetness into our lives in the little things we do and the kind thoughts we think.

 

 peace

 

the wall of illusion

Strange times.
These are strange times.

Balance is key.
Harmony is another word for it.
We must live in harmony-
 with ourselves first.

We are so lucky to live this miracle.

my boys wake from their nap to explore their world.

 

Muji with his pretty pink ears backlit

 

Babu spied a blue jay outside. I missed getting a picture of it.

But I got this cool shot of Babu, regardless of my camera strap

 

Do you remember my post from last time? Here is the painting I suggested may morph before I'm done with it, and so it has. Here, with a few changes, before and after.

 

and larger

I added some pattern in white pencil crayon to the background with yet another light wash over it, light being the operative word as the wax in the pencil crayon only barely resists the watery paint.

I calmed the hair down and added a wash through her dress and more on the floor as well.

 and here is another smaller piece 4"x 5" with a large bonnet.

and another, this time, more of a portrait.

 

Now I will leave you with the words of Rumi, the transcendent 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic who said:

 

“Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion?”