Family Huddle

This was painted en plein air in Sicamous B.C. standing at the edge of my brother and sister-in-law's home. They have so many flowers and interesting objects in their yard to choose from. So many people walking by told me how much they enjoyed "my" yard on their walks. Yes I did fess up to it not being mine. One fellow stopped his car to tell me his wife was painting as well on her back deck so I dropped by when I was done and met a new art friend,
how great is that!




"Family Huddle"
10" x 8" Oil on 1 1/2" deep canvas
#20031718

Mara Lake Calm

"Mara Lake Calm"

8" x 10"  Oil on 1 1/2" deep canvas

#200028718

Oh what a glorious morning! I finally organized myself to get out early and do some en plein air painting. This is one of my favourite viewpoints, amazingly the well organized town dump is at my back! The sky was hazy and colours were soft from forest fires in the province. It felt so good to be out feeding my visual eye and soul. The sounds of birds, the scent of the cedar trees, early morning temperatures and happy walkers interested in what I was doing and my progress all added to my delight. 

High Water

"High Water"

7" x 11" water colour

#20026718

I painted this from the vantage point of our yard. While we were away our kids were looking after our cabin during flood watch and this is the view when I arrived. These trees on the edge of our beach were well under the water. The reflections of the sun through the branches were beautiful and soft so I thought water colour would be the perfect medium.

Working on the Sicamous Legion Mural

Last week I worked on the mural on the long wall at the Legion in Sicamous, B.C. The Eagle Valley Arts Council collaborated with the Legion to have this mural painted. There was a lot of work done before I came on the scene but worked for 4 days with other local artists. We had so much fun and the laughter was loud. It was heart felt work as we have our own family members as well as passersby that stopped to share their memories. It was a pleasure to work with these ladies (and a few more that did not get in that day's photo). Thank you ladies for the fellowship, art experience, and laughter!

My sister-in-law Marg and I (she named us the blister sisters as in "blister-in-law", what fun. It was awkward to paint under the stairs but you can see we still had fun.

Ready For The Shedding

"Ready For The Shedding"

12" x 12"  Oil on canvas with 1 1/2" painted sides

#20027618

I really liked these bulrushes and the fluffy seeds looked like they were barely hanging on. Bulrushes are hardy and seem to grow in the most unlikely places. My photo reference was taken last fall as I walked along the road near our place in Sicamous, B.C.

End of holiday sketches - Surrey, UK

We ended our holiday with a half a day and evening in Surrey, UK with our friends Lucy, Barbara and Peter. They took us for dinner at the Weir Pub then we walked along the channel. These are some of the views on the walk. Barbara and Lucy drove us to the airport for our flight back to Canada the next morning after enjoying a night as their guests. What a wonderful holiday and my sketch book will conjure up all those wonderful moments and memories long after the holiday is done.

Holiday sketches in Port de Soller, Spain (5)

 We have now said goodbye to our friends and moved to another stunning floor of a house overlooking the Port de Soller. The views are stunning as we are up on a hill. Surprisingly enough it only takes us 10 minutes to walk down to the bay.

We loved exploring the bays and near by towns by car and foot.

This is the beautiful view from our decks, in fact there were 3 decks, 1 with deck chairs another with a table and 2 chairs and the third with a table and chairs that we enjoyed our meals.

This was the end of our Spain holiday, Flew to London England. One last sketch book entry to add of Surrey, UK.

Holiday sketches in Spain (4)

This page in my sketch book was of our day after Shelly and Art moved on to other adventures in Portugal. With a cow dairy allergy, meals are usually not sophisticated but this was my favourite meal of the trip. Memorable enough to draw it out!

 Maps, tickets and other memorable tidbits also get glued in. For these sketches I used both sides of my book.

Holiday Sketches while biking in Spain (#3)

 

I loved and drank a lot of beer on this holiday. It was so great the locals have beer or wine with EVERY meal. I did not quite do that but especially enjoyed the beer on our bike stops. These are labels Bruce pulled off for me...seems he has a talent or is it the challenge?

These two pages are a compilation of some of the things I enjoyed while riding in the countryside. Wild poppies and flowers growing in between the rock walls "Wild [poppies on the edge of raodways and fields dancing in the sunlit breeze. Poppies waved and bobbed as we happily passed on our bikes." 

Holiday Sketches in Pollenca, Spain

More photos of my sketch book during our Spain cycling holiday with 3 other couples. Some days it was just notes or writing and other days it was more art than writing.

This sketch is across 2 pages of the house that we rented. It was perfect for the 8 of us.

I left this matted water colour ink & water colour painting as a thank you to the owners with a card everyone signed.