Manmade

We went to Thornbury whilst in Ontario

We went to see the salmon run

but they weren't on that day.

We walked down the river

looking for that familiar sight of salmon backs

struggling upstream

Not a one there

So we looked at man-made bridges

Quite a "structure"

you Atlantic Canada SAQA girls.

I say that because we have a show coming up next year.

called Structures.

I won't be making something like this

though I love their bold lines

and stark honesty of these forms.

I am staying focussed on my own environment.

At the mouth of the river

people were looking out into Georgian Bay

looking for salmon.

Remembrance

It seemed like an appropriate sunrise for a day such as this.

The moon was reluctant to descend into that bank of clouds.

Everything was frosted.

We met a hunter along the dike

who comes to a specific apple tree looking for

windfall that I presume is used to lure the deer.

He couldn't drag the apples to his car

because of a newly dug ditch.

Oh, too bad!

I didn't tell him there was another tree further along

laden with apples.

Little puff balls littered the ground.

Do you remember I started a stitched
interpretation of this pattern?

Today our family is thinking of

My grandfather Shanks who was sent to WWI
as a young man
and luckily survived because he was invalided out.
and
his uncle who joined the artillery in 1914
and was killed in Belgium in 1915

My other grandfather Frank who was a doctor in WWI
also luckily survived because of Tuberculosis.
I have the pulled thread bed covering he stitched
while recovering.
And he was a good watercolour painter too.

My father who enlisted into WWII
and spent his war fighting in the Burmese jungle.

My father-in-law who was a pilot in WWII.
He escaped Poland and made his way to England
where he joined the RAF Polish squadron.
But his brother however was one of the Polish officers
killed at Katyn

My uncle Alan who was a civilian in Hong Kong
and taken by the Japanese as a POW.

My brother's father-in-law who was in the army
in Singapore at the time of the Japanese invasion
and taken prisoner of war.

Lest we forget.

Hand Hubby's Birthday

A windy blustery day

with windswept waves on the basin....

....so windswept they reached the dike.

There is usually quite a large area of salt marsh between the water

and the dike.

But on to the significance of this day.

Happy Birthday Richard!

He's been my honeybunch since 1964
I love him to pieces!

Scratching a Blue Week

So busy coughing with a cold

I haven't had time or the inclination to do much.

Been cancelling things to stay away from people.

I couldn't cancel the opening of the show in Yarmouth.

The AGNS and the Friends of the AGNS

put on a wonderful reception.

It always amazes me how well the journals are received.

They seem to touch people

but one artist insisted it was because of the choice of colours

and execution of each image.

Each of my wonderful artist friends talked about their work

and interpretation of "Breaking Patterns"

Oh, yes, and many admired Handy Hubby's work as well.

Much to my surprise I also sold three paintings

to two lovely young women who I am thrilled liked my work.

By the end of the week....

.....still coughing....

....but....

....perhaps the colour will come back soon....

....and my voice along with it.

Bathrime Expressions

You talking to me?

Do we have to have a bath?

Was that a bubble?

You forgot behind the ears!

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

As we approached this bird on the salt marsh

I thought it must be in trouble

'cos it wasn't flying away

and Rusty Pups were approaching

but then realized it was driftwood!

Now that makes a beautiful scruffy bird doesn't it.

Scratching the End of October

The days are getting shorter

The week started with a day at Diane's

asking a lot of  "what if" questions

as we explored with rusty water,

black walnut and oak leaf dye pots.

Not many leaves are left on the trees.

On Thursday four of us from the Artist Way Cooperative

drove to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth

and hung our show.

Halloween...seven pumpkins...the RP's seventh birthday.

And so starts the month of Remembrance

and we turned the clocks back.

Sunday was a day of computer work

my least favourite work

therefore my least favourite stitch!

Well it started off as chain stitch and morphed into something else.