Horse on the go

I took a picture of blurry grass, added watercolour of asian horse and Japanese poem and voila!

Writing a letter to Grama

And how else would I write my letter but on this fine Underwood machine, manufactured in 1913 and Ahead of its time!

I borrowed it from my brother and have been typing up a storm. It is such a cool machine to have! I wonder if he would miss it? LOL!

Peony the final curtain

Even the seed pod of this flower is incredible! It is huge!

Wild Idea Exchange

Chris and Sylvia and I did a very cool swap. It was Sylvia's brilliant idea. It was really interesting to see how we all interpreted it. This is Chris's creation for me. I have displayed it on my journal pages for the photo as the colours are just right for it, earthy and rich. Chris made me a Shaman Doll and a pouch full of charms and a very interesting crystal nodule thing. I just love it all. Thanks so much Chris!

This is my Wild Idea for Sylvia. I had this small cigar box that was quite shallow and just the perfect size to make into my Celtic Charm Box. I have a Scottish background, my mom is a Munro and I was channeling from my ancient people to create this. I was very pleased how it turned out. :) Cead Mile Failte is Gaelic for "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes"

Showing the inside lid and the charms and scrolls inside.

On the inside are maps and scrolls and spells wrapped in different coloured threads a hand pounded copper strap with VISION stamped into it a glass vial with Columbine seeds. The big seed pods are Nigella or "Love-in-a-Mist" a Stellars Jay and Hawk feathers a bundle of Lavender and Rosemary twigs, and a red candle. I really enjoyed working on this, it was a wonderful exchange.

From one happy camper

Exploring new ideas

The sun is shining and I am out painting on the patio amongst my jungle of a garden. :)

I have been using a some new techniques for applying paint and just letting the paint have a mind of its own.

Evolution of a Tree Peony

My Tree Peony sits under my living room window descretely most of the season, not even noticable, but when it blooms . . . Look Out!

At this point the bud must be about 4 inches thick across the middle.

First the bud swells to enormous porportions and teases you with colour of what is to come.

Then POW! She opens up.

The colour explosion is intense and amazing!

The Stamens are like little flowers in themselves.

The time frame is about 10 days from bud to wide open and I look forward to watching the event every spring.

When the flower is fully open she must be 10 to 12 inches across!

Talk about blooming your heart out! : )

Sofi in the Garden

I want to learn to draw better. The best way, I have read is to Just Do IT!

I would like to try and spend at least 30 mins a day. Today I spent most of the day on my patio surrounded by my garden and drew Sofi. I was inspired by the art on the cover of the latest Cloth, Paper Scissors, by Anahata Katkin. My journal page prepared previously with a walnut ink wash and a stamped border of garden things, leaves, a bird, nest, gate etc. Then I sketched in pencil my face, then I got out my watercolours and played. I let it dry and highlighted the eyes with a fine pen and erased most of the pencil lines. I used chaulk to add blush to her cheeks. What a wonderful day I had, sigh . . . from the contented artist :)

Happy Mothers Day!

A heart for mom. :)

More on my 15" Collage

This is the collage I started in Nick Bantocks workshop. This first image is a close up of the lower left corner.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I started anyway. I sanded around the soldier in the upper right corner and the mermaids in the lower right and added a skeleton leaf from my garden. I painted a lot of purple and green on as well as bronze highlights to the leaf. Its not done yet this is just the next installment. :)

Journal pages

I love the irony of these pages. :)

These pages are when I was home alone worrying about Tim out on a windy ocean.

Its alive . . .

With the buzzing of happy bees. I was caught off guard the other day when I wandered under our Japanese Red Maple. It was Hummmmmming . . . loudly! I looked up and just inches from my head was hundreds of happy honey bees. I planted this tree when we first moved into our house over 30 years ago. I was told it would gain a maximum height of 5 feet. Its over 16 feet now. Well if I had known of course I wouldn't have planted it so close the house. Now it is just too big to move (and believe me we tried!) and too beautiful to cut down. So we have to prune it, but it is sooooo worth it! I just love this tree. Now that it is mature in the spring it has hundreds of tiny flowers under the leaves and both are in beautiful burgundy and red tones. walking under it and suddenly finding myself in the middle of hundreds of bees instantly put a smile on my face. Such total contentment, sigh.

I love May in Victoria. It is my most favorite month. The garden is so incredibly lush and changing daily with new spring bulbs, perennials, shrubs and deciduous trees all bursting forth. Check out my Maiden Hair Fern. Its surrounded by Sweet Woodruff and native violets.


Its too bad we can't share the fragrances along with the visuals. My Lily of the Valley is just starting to peak in its flower production and it smells just amazing!

Cheers Pattio

Nick Bantock

This weekend I took a 2 day class with Nick Bantock. It was a great learning experiance. It was so nice to meet the man behind the story teller. He has a great sense of humour is an eloquent speaker and is very down to earth, such great qualities for a teacher. He challenged us to delve deeper to get to know ourselves better through our art. I had a fantastic time and what I learned will definately help me to grow as an artist and aspire to stretch myself more.
Thank you Nick!

We started the first day with small collages 2x2".

Then we did 2 4x4, one of pure content and one of no content. Then we did an 8x8" below. We were only to use black and white and it was meant to tell a story. I found this exercise quite a challenge as I always work in colour. The second day we worked most of the day on a 15" square collage. This seemed huge after the smaller sizes. It was quite an exciting couple of days. I haven't finished my big collage yet but it has a very interesting start, one where I am trying hard to think outside the box. :) My 15" collage. Cheers Pattio