Tour de Victoria

It was pretty cool to be apart of the first ever Tour de Victoria. To have such an awesome organized event in my own home town how could I not. The logistics to pull this off must have been incredible. We had a road lane to ourselves for almost the whole ride. What a joy to ride under those conditions.

I wanted to train better for the event but since I didn't I opted for the shorter less hilly 90 km route as opposed to the 140 km route. I still feel proud of myself for doing it. My average was 26.8 km per hour which I thought was respectable. I came in 395th out of nearly a thousand riders in the timed portion for the last 12.5 km after already riding almost 80km's.

Ex Canuck Trevor Linden chats with Ryder Hesjedal before heading out on the 140 km route. This event is the brain child of Ryder and big props to him and his team for making it so well organized. Next year I hope to do the 140 km route.

Ryder Hesjedal (left) and Pro City rider Jamie Cameron come to the finish line

see more pictures here

http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/Photos+Tour+Victoria+brings+local+sports+celebrities+good+vibes/4857307/story.html#ixzz1NhKdU5xY

I wish I had a picture of myself but I didn't even take a camera

The elite riders riding with Ryder

Thanks to all who worked so hard to put this on, the many volunteers and also for all those who came out to cheer us on. I think I even heard my name once or twice.

Tour de Victoria Rocked!!!

Strathmore Workshop with Roz

I signed up for the free online workshops that Strathmore put on and I am sadly taking the last one. This Month it has been Roz Stendahl teaching us "building your visual journal from the page up" Roz is full of great information and my favourite thing I learned was adding a page extension but in a unique way. I found a page that I had already sketched a horse and cut out 3/4 of the page on the right but leaving the horses head. Then I glued in the extension but first I lined up some complementary decorative paper. I love the effect. I am going to experiment with different ways of interpreting this idea. I already saw some different ways by seeing what other artists doing.

I added a fancy brad for a knob and pumped it up with a couple of washers. I haven't figured out what I will put on the back of the "door" yet.

The backside is already getting interesting. I used Roz's sugestion to continue the colours on to the next spread.

Its been really a great class to get inspired and get moving onto my pages. You gotta love that!

Thanks ROz :)

A Man of Distinction

Peter Moffatt Sandham 1922 - 2011

Dad, I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with you the last few days. We had some great talks and just being together was so comforting. You were such a sweet guy.

He had a wonderful life and was hardly ever sick. He got to stay home till the end. We don't know exactly what he died of other than his body said that it was finished the ride and it was time to go. He didn't have any pain and his last morning he was even joking around with me.

No regrets but of course we will miss him dearly.

One generation is now gone from our lives but not our hearts.

He was a proud Canadian

Peter and Shyrle were totally smitten and spent over 62 years showing their love for one another.

A class act from start to finish.

We love you Dad and will miss you so much. :(

big hugs Patti

I've got a secret to share

Its my new journal constructed by Jonna Barnett

Isn't it cool! It's leather bound with copper covers and hot pressed watercolour pages (my favourite) and its a small gem 3 1/2 inches square.

I lucked out and just bought some keys from the Tim Holtz line and found this copper one with Secret on it. How perfect!

I decided to give the book a big head start and went through all the pages and painted them with walnut ink. This is the inside front cover and I pressed my fingers in the still wet walnut ink to get great finger prints.

Friend or Foe???

Pictures of my fur kids as youngsters. :)

Keiko and Cody on the left and Gatsby and Jazz on the right.

Jazz is having fun, Gatsby not so much.

Just playing around.

It is so interesting what pops out at you after you slap some walnut ink on.

Some pan pastels and tape added here.

What do you see?

I see horses. :)

Red Queens and Great mail

Working in my Strathmore watercolour Journal. I really like them. This is the large format one. I started with a transfer from the local newspaper of a show in town and then I drew and painted over it with gouche, gel pens, oil pastels, stamps, Grunge letters, light modeling paste and some decorative paper. Phew! and I probably forgot something. This was a really fun page to do.

Oh boy great mail!

Here is a snippet of Andrea's work.

I am delighted with my special treat in todays mail. Andrea Joseph has been drawing up a storm and I love her work. So when I saw on her blog that she was creating zines, I checked out her Etsy Store and purchased a few. They are wonderful! Great quality printing showing off her detailed work to best advantage. If you don't believe me go check it out yourself ;) I am going to save some time Saturday morning to sit and browse through them with my morning coffee.

Thanks Andrea!

Much needed giggling

Or super hero's with the power to laugh!

Nothing better than . . .

The Healing power of good friends. :)