Blog

The new images here will be shown at the Ashcroft Annual Art Show and Sale held in the Anglican Church Hall from the opening on April 25 at 6pm until Tuesday April 29 at 5 pm. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend due to my proposed trip to the UK which begins on April 25.

Last night after several recent nocturnal visits we captured in the live trap another female packrat (no smell, no smelly urine). If one were to have any intruder arriving via the cat door as this one did, one couldn't have asked for a more polite one. The only evidence other than the banging of occasional bits of kitchen ware dropping on the floor should one awake, was, for a few days, some discreet fecal pellets and then yesterday, a pile of philodendron leaves left on the sofa. Wish I had aphoto of her!

The other day I took a beautiful big, female packrat down to the feedlot at the foot of our road. the feedlot is 6 kilometers from the house. Her coat was very thick and light coloured, perhaps like a chincilla's, and she must have been female as there was no smell. The males give off an obnoxious odour. I had been setting the live trap lately because we could hear rustlings coming from above the ceiling for some time. Obviously, she had been gathering leaves, etc. for winter.

Packrats (bushrats) can be a horrible nuisance. They can almost destroy your home if they get in while you are away. Urine and feces will be everywhere. Books, clothingand furniture all gets chewed. The smell is horrendous. This happened to me when I was, for a time, working in Abbotsford.

At the same time, these little animals can be fascinating. I was sitting by the fire one afternoon long ago when I lived in the nearby cabin and a very sleepy looking packrat trundled over to small table near my washtub/sink, climbed up the table leg and sat there drinking for quite some time from my half filled wash basin. This packrat had toppled a jar of peanut oil during the night and obviously was needing some hydration. The dog continued to sleep by my feet and the whole incident must have lasted 5 or 6 minutes.

My preparation time in the morning before painting is with my sketchbook, watercolour crayons (no water), or oil pastels, coffee and the CBC radio and in cold weather there is a fire. Sometime my vision for my proposed painting is difficult to find but with my sketchbook there is always ease. I like ease!

Subjects tend to be people or animals for some reason. My attempts at abstact art can sometimes feel a tifle odd. Perhaps when I am a more mature artist I will achieve the elegance that I see in the work of others. Sketching, however, gives me the freedom to play with astraction anyway and I do find it fun.

Recently an artist friend remarkd on the smiles of my portrait subjects. "How could a sitter force a smile for so long?" was her queston. I asked her how often could I find sitters to sit long enough and often enough for a painting, as long as I live here in this isolated setting.

I like to take a number of photos of a person and arrange as I see fit. A smile is a way of expessing something important about a person that a more serious pose cannot. Some people have spectacular smiles as well as spectacular warmth.

We lost nearly the last of the apples last night and Bazza and I chased off a fat, shiny black bear at the top of our hike this morning. He (probably) took off up the steep slope above us and would stop, turn and look at us every little while. Bazza was a very good dog and stayed close but gave a warnng bark when they met. There have been so many apples this year that I am starting to feel happy about sharing. This is fill-up time for the bears and I expect that this is a good year for them.

Another thought: When not painting, I like to fill sketch books with anything that comes into my head. Sometimes I'm inspired by what may be on the CBC at the time. Bless the CBC! It is a much needed resource when one lives away from towns.

Instead of visiting Glastonbury, as I had expected, I have just spent a week at the Earth-Spirit Centre at Compton Dundon, Somerton, Somerset. The course I took was: Healing the Family and Ancestors, and was led by the extraordinary Jill Purse....highly recommended!

Following all this I managed a visit the Portsmouth Dockyard and visited the Victory and the Mary Rose. The Mary Rose's dark setting made me slightly claustrophobic but after having read the Napoleonic novels of Patrick O'Brien and Bernard Cornwell, the visit to the Victory was quite thrill.

Old Cabin, Studio, Carol's Llamas, Doing his Nails, The Bunkhouse

10" x 12", 10" x 12", 20" x 16", 20" x 20", 9" x 12"

acrylic, acrylic, acrylic, oil, acrylic

I'm having trouble adjusting the lay-out.

On April 19, the Ashcroft Art Club held it's five day Annual Art Show and Sale at St Alban's Anglican Church Hall, 501 Brink St. in Ashcroft, B.C.

Good attendance, good paintings, sculptures, photographs and sales!

Here I am with two of my portraits of Deidre. I don't know about the white blurr in Deidre 1. I didn't put it there.

I spent the summer of 1964 painting... in the Aveyron, in France, and in Ibiza, Spain. Here are some of the paintings done then: a self portrait, my friend Heather, the beginnings of political interest in, "Woman", done at Black Death House in the Aveyron and "the Builder", done in Ibiza. At that time, I was quite sure that I wanted to be a painter.

a r t.

However, a whole new set of circumstances happened and I returned to Canada, got married, became a mother and eventually even became a physical therapist again. Painting waited until retirement, for the most part, and now it is my challenge and my joy.