Monday, June 11, 2018

JULY 2020


Covid Series # 1
Acrylic on Canvas, 12" x 12"

Canvases stretched and gessoed for new series
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I have been making masks for our local hospital, 
most recently for children. 
every patient discharged from hospital leaves with a mask.
I found a wonderful like shop in Shelburne. 
She sells material by the quarter!
I love working with new material.
I am creating...with material!

Masks...washed, bagged and ready for delivery to the hospital
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So much has happened since my last post
Covid 19!
I decided that I needed to make 
my way back home to Canada. 
I left Barbados March 9th, leaving my husband in Barbados. 
He eventually made his way home as PM Trudeau 
said the window of opportunity was fast closing. 
We have been "staying at home" since that time...
venturing out for groceries etc.
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the beginning of March, 2020

'Ronald', my granddaughter gave him his name, 
lives in St. Michael 
at the home of artist Alison Chapman-Andrews. 
I met him while visiting this artist on the 
Barbados Artist Studio Tour in February. 
The tour is on again March 14th and 15th 
with 30 Artists and Artisans taking part. 
Oil on Canvas, 12" x 12" 
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...these grow in my garden...
watercolour

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 ...a picnic on Dover Beach with Paul, 
my sister and my niece when this little fellow wanted to join us, 
some times these beautiful black birds with lime green eyes 
can be a nuisance but most of the time they are fascinating to watch. 
When I arrived back home, looking at my videos 
I noticed he was missing a foot. 
Walking in this sand can be difficult but for this little one 
it may have helped with stability. 
...maybe he will be my next painting. ...
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Mangos ripening on my tree...
as they ripen, the monkeys take them, 
I would not mind sharing if they ate them, 
but they take one bite and toss it to the ground...
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...I love these black bellied sheep. 
I have painted this fellow many times...
oil on canvas
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...Sculptures at Batts Beach...
looks like a village all constructed of washed coral,
free standing, no cement, against the backdrop of...maybe 
abandoned Four Seasons... 
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February 2020
Sketching in Barbados









...in my garden...


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January 2020
...a week with my daughters
Disney Marathon Weekend...

I run for the loot
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September/October 2019
Rancho Relaxo Artist Retreat
Each year I am fortunate to be invited 
to join artists of many disciplines at 
'Rancho Relaxo Artist Retreat' Severn Township, Ontario.

‘Field and Forest, Rock and Stream’
linocut print, water based ink, handmade paper, chin colle

Lee Contemporary Art Gallery, Orillia
October 17th
ink sketch
 ...watercolour sketches...tree line on the far side of the bog...
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Photos taken at the artist retreat...
 toadstools perched atop a carpet of green 
and
always something unusual to delight the eye

 
 I enjoyed a few hours sitting on a rock
watching this beaver build his dam


 Wild Asters
and 'the old chair', like an old friend, greets us each year perched atop 
the moss covered rocks beside the stream
...a photo from a few years ago, 
I am sitting in a dry stream bed painting 'the old chair'...

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I continue to make time for crocheting prayer shawls.
Yearly Blessing of the Shawls
St John’s United Church, Alliston
                                            


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Oil on Panel
on-line with Dreama Tolle Perry
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Barbados
View of the East Coast and Sunset over Oistens
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I never tire of Hibiscus against the blue of the sky
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Peebles Beach, horses from the Garrison at sunrise
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Cane cutting and transport started March 6th
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February 2019
The first of the new stain glass windows to my church here
at Holetown Methodist
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Visitor to our front porch
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Oil studies on panel
with Dreama Tolle Perry
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My art work of a different sort. 
After the repair of a plumbing problem we were left with a 
large gaping hole and no matching tiles. 
With the help of some 'additions' from 
Earthworks Pottery this is the result.
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Postage stamps of Centenarians of Barbados.
I may have posted this before...I love this recognition of those 
who have contributed to Barbados in some way during their lifetime
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my desert rose...First time blooming!


                         
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I continue with oil studies... 
on-line course with
Dreama Tolle Perry
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December 2018
 Paul was asked to give a helping hand.
He arrived to the community Christmas Party on the back of a Jeep
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 I ran in the Barbados Marathon Run in December.
It was so very hot and I was ever so thankful for
the downpour of rain at the midway mark.
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-befriended Lynetta and offered to do a painting of her-
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A visit to Earthworks Pottery
November 2018
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 Briar Hill Community Centre
Acrylic on Canvas...
ongoing paintings from my 
'Ontario Series'
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October 
I ran in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon Weekend.
It was cold!!!!

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South Simcoe Arts Council 
Juried Show 'Arts on Main'
 
'River of Gold 1'                                 'River of Gold 3'      
Mixed Media                                      Mixed Media
36" x 36"                                              36" x 36"
‘River of Gold’ are large, mixed-media, multi-layered paintings that question the value we place on our precious freshwater waterways. Through the manipulation of paint, the brushing on and scraping away, an aerial view of landscape is revealed: landscape devoid of vegetation ‘River of Gold 1’ and landscape fragmented by man’s hand, ‘River of Gold 3’. These paintings are doorways to conversation.
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Artist Retreat, Amherst Island, Ontario
week of September 10th
with B.C. Artist John Stuart Pryce

'The Lodge', where we stayed
Demo by John Stuart Pryce

 ...the Church...Across the Bay...

...my painting of 'the Church across the Bay'...
oil on panel
 ...painting en plein air...

 Such a beautiful place
 ...en plein air...
'A Local Farm'
oil on panel
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Exhibit at Briar Hill Community Club
...month of September...
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I continue work on my series 'River of Gold"

'River of Gold 3'
Mixed Media on Canvas 
36" x 36"

...the process...
 
 

 
Landscape fragmented by man’s hand, ‘River of Gold 3’
Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 36"

We know about our water and how we are abusing it, 
we know there are Canadians who do not have clean water,
and in the name of progress and technology and greed and neglect,
we are destroying the lands,
abusing/polluting our rivers and streams, ponds and lakes.
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'...breakdown of 167 subwatersheds reveals the pressures that
different parts of Canada's water systems face....
overall stress level, pollution, alteration of water flow,
water use, habitat loss, fragmentation of ecosystems,
invasive species, climate change.'
Ivan Semeniuk

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...I keep myself busy...
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in the next few weeks I will be busy planning for a party
 to celebrate my wedding anniversary, July 28th

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South Simcoe Arts Council, Alliston, Ontario
June, 2018
'Compassion, Canvas & Community - 
expressing Colours and Images in a Life Affirming Way, 
what builds and enhances a compassionate community?'
SSAC partnered with 
Matthew House Hospice in 
presenting this year's topic.

I decided to involve my community of friends and neighbours 
near and far with the request for an answer of two questions...
-What do you do or say to yourself to calm or soothe your soul?
-What do you do or say to help another when they are sad, 
when their soul is hurting, something to lift their spirits?
Their responses were incorporated into this painting as a 
continuous text within colourful shapes, suspended...

'Our Collective Thoughts", 
mixed media on canvas, 
36 in x 36 in
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 small water colour sketches
in preparation for acrylic landscape paintings...
'Ontario Series'
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Ottawa Marathon Weekend
I ran the 5 K with my niece Dana
I run for the loot!
..........

AGO, Toronto
...with my son...

....Back in Barbados...
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small oil studies completed in Barbados
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Over the winter I crocheted a number of shawls
for St. John's United Church Prayer Shawl Ministry, Alliston, ON
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I continue to enjoy painting small oil studies.
...paintings, gelato, completed with online oil painting course under 
Dreama Toll Perry...
remembering my time in Florence, Italy
where I ate a gelato every day

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I am fascinated with Barbados Black Bellied Sheep...
such intriguing expressive faces! 
painted in oil on panel





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Three Exhibits I enjoyed...
Cousins who had not seen each other in 50 years 
bumped into each other at this exhibit, Douglas, Kay and Paul
They met at this Exhibit featuring their late cousin Mark's Bequest 
of Allison Chapman Andrews paintings

My husband's cousin Julianne

Heidi Berger and Jason Hope Exhibit 
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Blossom from the Cannon Ball Tree

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The Night Blooming Cereus blooms only at night and ONCE A YEAR! 
I could not believe my luck when I saw a bud forming on this plant of mine. 
I watched it closely as the bud began to grow very large. 
I checked on it every half hour and it finally bloomed around midnight. 
It was very fragrant! By morning it was gone. 
I found it all very exciting.



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Fall, 2017
Oil on Canvas,
Workshop with Peter John Reid at the Gibson Centre
Alliston, Ontario