What can I say..Spring Break is over ...so what did I do??  I was busy as a...well see below and fill in the blank....

I was lazy as a .....yes you guessed it....fill in the next one....

I had to be curious as a ......as you can see I'm getting repetitive here....

Okay...I think I've run out of clever ideas...think I'll just post more photos!

Okay there has to be a couple horse portraits incubating here of these lovely guys!

And maybe a crocus portrait....or two...

I did manage to drag myself to the easel and create a couple new pieces....

Oh and my dog agility friend Chris did a photo shoot for me and Austin....aren't we a cute couple...if you are on FaceBook...you've seen this...

Chris has many talents...shortly after this shot...Austin got a hair cut...I didn't  :-)

Peace Love Hope!  Happy Easter Everyone!

It takes me awhile to process grief.  This is for a couple of my friends going through immense sorrow...my heart hurts...

Tomb building...Why would I talk about building a tomb?  Today was an "unsettling" day to say the least.  It started out quite glorious and I had great plans for a wonderful hike...which did happen early in the morning as usual.  You can see how wonderful a day it was here in the Okanagan.

Of course I ALWAYS travel with my buddy Austin the doodle.  He is a great hiking companion...doesn't complain and is always on alert.  Today however, he got a fright as we neared the end of the hike.  

I noticed him standing stock still, staring at something off the trail a bit - he moved toward what it was, then yipped like he was stung,  and ran towards me, tail between his legs ..looking back in fear.  I leashed him up and went to investigate...I couldn't see anything moving.

I saw a tan brown object laying amongst a bunch of Ponderosa Pine saplings.  I thought  it was a deer or fawn but it didn't have that shape...I got more alarmed thinking maybe it was an injured mountain lion and thought about Austin's fright.  The closer I got, however, my heart started to sink, my fear disappeared and I only felt remorse.  

Lying peacefully, as though asleep, was a huge Bull Mastiff dog.  Definitely deceased (I approached cautiously...I still wasn't sure if it was injured or dead) and intact.   Someone's pet.

Then I was angry and I cried and then I felt sorrow...I went through all the emotions of loss in a few seconds.  Memories of my own loss of my dog that died in my arms nearly 7 years ago came rushing back.  Then I got angry again and thought how irresponsible it was to dump this pet in such an open area.  

I was rattled and I left, not sure what to do.  One of my dog agility friends lives down the road so I stopped in for some advice.  He called the SPCA and the Regional Dog Control but these institutions are not responsible for dead animals.  I had to call the municipality.  I went home, made a call and waited and debated if I should do anything at all. 

The animal was lovingly placed in amongst a grove of small trees, and I felt for the owners and I felt their loss, but I also felt that they had a responsibility to the community and to that dog to dispose/bury/cremate him/her in a suitable manner.  Whatever their circumstances, I felt their loss.  AND I felt I had to do something. 

The call to the municipality amounted to the fact that the hiking area and where the body was dumped are not public - it is private land and I knew that.  The municipality couldn't do anything.  

I was brought up on a farm, have seen living animals die, have seen dead animals decomposed, but I was still rattled, and I felt drawn to do SOMETHING.  It unnerved me so much all afternoon.  When the boys got home from school,  I donned my barn coat, my work pants, our bow saw, my work gloves, and a couple old towels  and I drove back to the trail.  

That dear dog was still there, still intact, lying peacefully still.  So I started to work, tears in my eyes.  I petted his head and back and I covered him up with the old towels.  I dragged and collected and sawed pieces of deadfall and built up a tomb of logs and large branches, dirt, grass and pinecones.  I worked and worked until I felt that he wouldn't be disturbed by other curious dogs and would decompose naturally over the year.  

When I was done, I said a prayer for him.  It was a lovely late afternoon, very quiet and not a soul in sight.  (It's not a busy place in the best of times).   AND I no longer felt angry, remorseful, or sad.  Just peaceful.  It was something I had to do and in the act of doing, I worked through all those emotions and it was a cathartic experience...

There, I had to share it.  The whole incident made me think about the brevity of life, especially for our pets.  Appreciate them and hold them in a joyful place in your heart!  I do!  

Chobe the Siberian Husky, my first dog!  Loved 1996-2006

I had to share this with you, on, of all days, Valentine's Day, a day of Love!   After yoga class this morning, I drove to the Lake Country Art Gallery to pick up this painting.  If you remember from my last blog post, I had chosen this painting as my entry for the annual members show.  It wasn't selected, which was fine (I got a peek at the paintings in the show and the works are all fabulous!).  I decided to take this painting back to the library where I am showing my work until the end of February.   
Then I drove home, walked in the door, got a big furry and waggily hello from Austin, my dog, and I took off my coat.  I walked upstairs to make my lunch and the phone rang!  It was the collector who had purchased two of my paintings earlier this month after seeing my work at the library.  He told me that he definitely WANTED "Do You Want This".  I was stunned...I hadn't even caught my breath from getting into the house!  

Stunned, elated, joyous...I hung up after talking to him about arrangements and meeting after the library show...I literally shouted for joy at the top of my lungs and jumped up and down!  Poor cats and dog!  

So there you have it...Serendipity, the Energy and Love of the Universe, the Power of God, the planets and stars aligning, or coincidence...whatever you want to call it...it ahppened for me today and for that I am very grateful!

What an expression of love!  Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

The 30 Day Challenge is over, we are well into February, and I'm working on new painting projects and other things too!  The feedback from the challenge has been tremendous and I am working on a couple projects for shows as a result.  Stay tuned.  Below are the last few paintings and  of the collage I created of all the paintings.

I submitted this work for jurying to the Lake Country Art Gallery for consideration for the Annual Members Show.    I had a hard time selecting a painting for this year's jurying process and I almost decided NOT to submit.  I thought of submitting Day 30 or Day 29 from above, but felt they weren't polished enough...In the end I chose the one above one because I felt it was my favourite.  It was not accepted and I was a bit disappointed for a little while and I'm sure when I go to the exhibit I may feel that pang of regret.  But artist's need to learn to accept rejection...

I asked for feedback from the jury and I laughed!!  My gut instinct to go with something else was something  perhaps I should have paid attention to.  The jurors felt that I've shown this type of work several times now locally and would have liked me to submit something a bit different!  This one came close to getting in, but it just didn't resonate!  So in my heart, I knew...the moral of the story...I need to listen to my gut!!  

As for doing different work...stay tuned...I have a couple new projects I'm working on!

In case I didn't have enough to do, I decided that now was the time to learn to play the guitar!  I caved into peer pressure and music envy from my friends that can really play- looking at YOU two A. and M.  It's all YOUR fault!  I've had lots of music training in my youth, Royal conservatory Piano...quit before I got my Grade 8 when I was in my final year of high school and I played flute in concert band for many years...I just seemed to give up playing music once I hit university.  
The lovely blue guitar is one I got for my youngest son for him to learn on.  It's a parlour size but its a lovely guitar and has a great sound and one that I started taking lessons on.  BUT the guitar above was a recent purchase...an impulse buy...which I don't do that often but couldn't resist!!  Never go with your good friend to help her buy a 12 string guitar and come away with your own guitar AND an AMP!!  I have it on good authority that I got a steal and that this guitar is a great guitar!  Whew!  Now I just have to learn to play well!!  Wish me luck!   Now where did I put that pick?  ....better go practice!

Just catching up on posting from the 30 Day Challenge!  Here's last week's paintings...7 of them including today - Day 26.  I'm still maintaining momentum.   My week was thrown off -kilter with a sick son and over-stretching with some other projects....The next week is shaping up the same way, but I'm determined to FINISH the challenge...only FOUR paintings to GO!  Enjoy!

It's been a busy week.  I've been keeping up so far and even managed to get a bit ahead.  But by Friday, I was starting to slow down.  The 3rd winter Scene sketch below was Thursday's painting.  I like it quite a bit and I think it took me considerable more time than any of the others and that is why my time felt compressed.  That and all the other running around I do during the week!...There seemed an awful lot more of that.  

I can barely believe that tomorrow will be DAY 20!  I have appreciated everyone's comments and I really am enjoying  this challenge.  I think I'm going to stick with landscapes for a bit more yet.  As you can see, I can come up with a variety of landscape ideas AND painting and repeating a theme is actually a VERY valuable exercise.  The grain elevators above are an attempt at value studies, but I do like the "graphic" nature of them as well!

Thanks again for all the comments and support.  You guys rock!

I have been painting daily, just not POSTING daily...I think I felt like I was spamming everyone so I stopped.  I think posting them on FaceBook daily is more acceptable.  I still want to keep my blog subscribers!!  I love you guys!
So here they are...the last 5 days, most recent first! 
Please tell me what you think and which one(s) you like the best.  Any feedback is always appreciated...even tell me about the ones you DON'T like too!  I can take it!  Enjoy!

Here's my Day 8 painting.  This is from a photo looking east of the Tansey farm.  See the photo below.  This painting is very sketchy and when I was working on it I just looked at it and said...NO MORE - STOP!  I like it this way so I resisted overworking.  I am going to paint another one using this photo though!   Forganites...you know who you are...can you recognize where this is??

We had a big dump of snow again and all the roads leading across the interior of BC were closed for awhile for avalanche contral and just plain bad conditions!  On the morning hike I noticed a strange bird call and looked up to see this puffed up fellow!  He looks so dignified!

According to my Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, I believe he's a Northern Harrier, due to the "owl like facial disc" and his colouring and the strange call I heard!  The magpies were really annoyed with him and staying clear!  

It's Day 7 and I've changed gears to practice clouds and prairie scenes.  I grew up in the middle of the Saskatchewan "flat" prairie.  People always think it is pancake flat , but not so!  To get to my folks farm, one must travel down a small incline (fairly small!)  and in the far distance you can see on the horizon, a blue line of hills called the Coteau Hills, part of the geographical formation called the Missouri Coteau, one of Saskatchewan's driest areas. 

I'm likely to continue on the landscape stream for the next week of the 30 day challenge.  I really do need the practice.  You can see the photo I used for  my painting below.  I'm still working on expressing colour and value to make my work "read" correctly.  Mixing and painting interesting neutral colours is the key here, I think.

I spent nearly 3 hours (yikes) shovelling snow yesterday just to keep the driveway cleared.   Austin and I took a walk around the neightbourhood this morning and I took a photo of our local mountain Spion Kop, peaking through the clouds!

This photo below is looking towards Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, east of our house.  We'll be off snowshoeing here this weekend I bet!

And its snowing as I write.  In fact the Southern Interior of BC has a snow fall warning in effect.  We are in for a BIG dump of the white stuff.  Guess what I'll be doing in the morning, bright and early?  Stay warm!