Trying to Be a Bit More Creative ...

This is a LONG way from any sort of finish, but it gives you an idea of the direction I'd like to take it. I'll probably do a few of these in the smaller format [ 11 x 8 in. ] to get a feel for the work. I am trying to express my feeling about Vancouver - the mountains, the ocean, a warm summer evening, screaming over the Burrard Street Bridge in my TR6. Ah, the joys of youth. I liked, no loved, Vancouver twenty years ago, before the huge influx of overseas money. It still felt like you could almost know the entire city and everybody in it [or a friend of theirs]. It's become too big, too wealthy, too ostentatious, too self-absorbed ...  I could go on, but suffice to say that it has become the 2nd most expensive city in which to live, right after Hong Kong. So I am trying to re-capture the old, beautiful Vancouver.

I am using an old 1930's photo as reference.

More inspiration for a later painting - my niece, Paulina. I'm thinking of doing a  Mona Lisa take-off.

My nephew, Julian, definitely an Elizabethan Romeo.


As always I love to hear from you!

A Painting Finished and a Mystery Solved, Too!

I'm calling this done. I am not 100% thrilled, but then, when am I???

His Imperial Nooginess, at dinner. Note the tummy bulging beyond the extent of his rump - definitely not good.

A better view of his too well-fed tummy.

Electric rope pulled down all along the back fence line.

Bruno was a very busy lad.

You can see where he chomped the richer grass right down to the ground.

He even pulled the plastic guides for the electric wire out of the fence posts.

EEK!


The mystery was Bruno's increasing girth.  For the past week, he had been fed the same amount, and yet was gaining weight.  It had reached the point where I was worried, and cutting back his hay to bring his tummy down.
 A few years ago, I had a beautiful Hanoverian mare who also loved her food.  I did not realize the seriousness of the weight problem, and as a result, she developed laminitis, foundered and I had to have her euthanized.  I didn't think I would ever get over it.  We had been together for almost twenty years.  So now, I am very alert to weight gain in a horse.
Back to Bruno.  He was still too big in the girth, so I thought to go out in the field this afternoon to see if I could find his secret stash.  I  did, and now the fence is re-done, re-wired, and the lad's weight should come back to normal in the next few days.

As ever, I love to read your comments.

YES! I Started Again!

I just wasn't quite liking the way this looked ...

So I started again, with a smaller format [ 7 x 7.5 in. ] and much more yellow in the flower.

Then some orange siena

Lots of playing back and forth with the alizarin and the orange.

I thought a leaf would be a good foil. There are two blacks - a harder black of alizarin and phthalo green, and a softer one of quin. burnt orang, quin. violet and indanthrone blue. It's not quite finished yet ...


As ever, please feel welcome to leave comments. 

The Survival Garden, Etc. ...

I like having a vegetable garden, as well as a flower garden. This year, I didn't have the time or energy to rototill, so I am trying container gardening. This spot gets sun all day long so it should be good. I planted lots of snow peas, lettuce, spinach, cucumber, broccoli, red peppers, and of course carrots. 

Hopefully, a small stash for Bruno.

The lupine is doing very well, too. I became fascinated with them after watching a Monty Python skit eons ago, about an 18th c. highwayman by the name of Dennis Moore, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but he stole lupines. OK, you had to be there .. 

Day lilies coming along well, now that we have more sun and warmth.

I am here with the "practice" version of the Burrard Bridge. Already I can see the right hand blues are too dark, but it will look different when the buildings are done.

And the tulip needs help.

I've heard rumors to the effect that Joscelyn [ the dentist with the broken arm] is planning to come back to a full work schedule next week. She only had the pins pulled out [literally] two days ago, so we all, at the office, think she's pushing it, but then she is a very determined lady. So I may be back to footloose and fancy-free, but financially tight  very soon. To be continued ...

As always, please be most welcome to leave your comments - love 'em!

From Barn Grunt to Watercolor ... Today's Efforts

 I painted my first washes on the "practice" landscape - an overall warming wash of yellow ocher. I  let it dry, then masked the skyline and mountains. Then I painted a w/w wash with aureolin, quin. coral and phthalo blue.

Here I've done the shadows with a glaze of  quin. burnt orange and phthalo green [blue shade, I think].

These are the under-glazes - alizarin for the dark center, quin. siena for the warmer areas of the tulip, and quin. pink for the cooler spots.

Believe me, it IS redder than this. I've started applying carmine w/w, to get the varied depths of red in the flower. I've never used carmine before, and I quite like it. It is a bit warmer than alizarin, and it has more body, so when applied w/w it doesn't explode all over the wetted area.

This is it for the next few days - back to the office. As always, your comments are most welcome! 

My Home Away from Home ... or ... the Land of the Barn Grunt

Grooming kit on the floor, various and sundry spurs, whips, lead lines and bits hanging on the wall.

Helmet [a MUST, though I don't like wearing it, I do value my brain intact], mixing spoon for Bruno's  mash [mostly ground flax and supplements in the form of pellets], bug spray, massage lotion with coolant, hoof treatment, butazoladine [an analgesic and anti-inflammatory] , and of course carrots.

Bruno's "undershirt" that he wears under his blankets in the winter, our bridle [with a very kind "KK" bit], and a lunge line behind the bridle.

Behind the towel, side reins for lungeing, B's fly mask, another lunge line, and the mandatory broom.

We've had barn swallows in the barn for about the past 10 years. They are nesting now, and have at least one clutch of four babies.

No hot water here - we're tough! Sink draped with Bruno's protective boots [he must wear them or he rips off his shoes from over-striding], with various disinfectant washes and shampoos.

One view of the tack room - saddles, saddle pads, sheep-skin pad so the saddle feels comfortable for the Big Guy, polo wraps for his lower legs, and more stuff than I know is there, I'm sure.

Other view of tack room - more of the same, girths, wraps, whips towels, paper towels ...


Once upon a time, I was a princess. I lived in the city. I drove a cute little TR-6. And I spent all my money on clothes, make-up and all sorts of other frivolous things. Then, about thirty years ago, after a weird riding accident while holidaying in Puerto Vallarta, I decided to take riding lessons, so I would learn what to do when a horse reared up and went over backwards with me in the saddle. THAT was the beginning of my life as a barn grunt.
One of my sisters, Stephanie, coined the term "barn grunt". It is someone who lives, eats, breathes and everything else HORSEY. The frivolous life style flew out the window. The sports car was sold. My social life became non-existent [when you get up at 4 AM to go riding before work, it precludes staying up past 9 PM]. I developed muscles from riding, cleaning stalls and paddocks, and throwing around bales of hay. I became a regular at the nearby hospital as a result of riding accidents. And I have never been happier.
And then, eleven years ago, I moved out to the country. At one time, I kept my horse boarded in Southlands in the city. It was as close to rural as you could get in Vancouver. But my horse was getting "sour" - mean and crabby - from the crowding, so I moved Her Highness out here. A few months later, I was most fortunate to find this small farm. Actually, it found me, oddly enough. And here, I am as happy as the proverbial pig in a mud wallow.

Life Is GOOD

Bruno having a munch on the lower end of the yard, after a ride.

Gorgeous weather. Fruit trees in bloom.

Before

After. I did paint in a "ground" then the rest of the background looked really off. So I darkened a bit in the fall of leaves, and brought the grass green up higher, so the front of the goose would show more. These colors are off - still don't have photoshop. Otherwise I think The Mad Conductor is done.

I did a quick sketch of this last night.

This morning, I got it on wc. paper, and started a soft background w/w wash with aureolin, quin. gold and phthalo green.

This is a very rough color sketch I've done of the Burrard Bridge.

This is a more detailed sketch I've done for the painting. I'm doing a smaller one - about 10 x 17 in. - if and before I move to a larger format.

This is another sketch, from a very old photo, when the bridge was just completed in the mid-1930's. I like the more thrusting angle of this sketch. I may do both.


I finally have some time to myself for the next few days. The Boxer Girls were picked up by my sister on Saturday. We went for a 2 hour walk, then sat and had tea, and chatted. I love the two dogs, but they are very needy. My sister has no children and these are her surrogates. They usually stop eating, or eat very little when Denise is away. Mind you, at home they are very picky, too, and she hand-feeds them. Um ... NO!
Bruno and I have had some very good rides. He is g r a d u a l l y becoming more supple. As for me, I can feel my "riding muscles" starting to come back ... the core muscles, and the ones that enable you to crack walnuts with your thighs!! KIDDING! But sometimes it feels like it.
I'm back to work on Wednesday, and Friday and Saturday. I'm not sure how the dentist's arm is doing; it might be another two to three weeks of really working for a living. And I'll probably surprise myself, and find I'm missing the work when it's cut back again.
or not! :)