Senior Art Show at the Gallery

These are the two pieces I put into the Seniors Show which opened this week.  The reception will be on Saturday at 1pm. 

I chose to try something new for art.

I started with a 9x12 inch sheet of watercolor paper. I laid some deep rich colors with Nick Bantok ink.  I let that dry.

I chose white gouache to do my Dandelions but unfortunately what I thought was permanent was not so the color ran into my gouache.

I used a straw to draw my flowers by blowing the white around.

Title: Dandelions
Size: 11.00 x 14.00 inches
Mixed Media
Mat: Archival off white / black narrow
Frame: Silver Brushed Metal

On this piece I was thinking of deep space images from the Hubble telescope.

Once the deep colored layer had dried on the watercolor paper, I spattered both white acrylic and black acrylic paint using a toothbrush and kitchen knife.

I like the dark and light spots which suggest deeper places in space.

Title: Nebula
Size: 13.00 x 16.00 inches
Mixed Media
Mat: Archival white double mat
Frame: Wide Black Wood

Exchange Cards

I got my Exchange cards made for May.

I have decided to use my 4x4 photos from my past calendars.

This is a beautiful Red Poppy I think taken at the community garden.

I chose Tangerine Tango card base with a small piece of green card stock that I taped together on the back.

I stamped the green with Border Builder stamp set - script in Basic Black ink to just to knock down the plainness.

I wrapped a piece of Daffodil Delight ribbon around the element over the join and taped the ends to the back.

I then adhered the full layer to the card front with double sided tape.

This card features a warm rich orange rose taken at the Botanic Park.

I chose the same Tangerine Tango card base.

I added some complimentary strips of card stock behind the photo. Cameo Coral, Groove Guava and Peach Parfait.

I adhered the strips and trim the right hand end with scissors cutting at an angle.

Adhered photo with double sided tape.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

On my visit to Beaumaris Lake this week,  I found several pairs of Blue Winged Teals.  Maybe they are checking out the lake for nesting places.

These are ducks and the blue patch can only be seen when they open their wings.

I have not seen these at this lake in the past so things are different this year.  Not sure why.  I have not seen pelicans yet but a lot of Canada Geese.

A friend gave me a small art glass vase designed by Robert Held - a Canadian glass maker.

Love the gorgeous purple glass with the iridescent colors along the bottom third of the vase.

I placed some baby's breath in it for now.  Maybe, later in the year I will be able to have live flowers.

It joins my other pieces made by the same maker.

A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley which is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Historical fiction set in Paris.  In the modern day, Sara an amateur code breaker has arrived to look at a diary from around 1732.  Sara comes to live with the owner of the book.  Her live-in housekeeper has a young son who seems to have abilities in this area as well. The son's father, Luc lives nearby as his parents are divorced.  Soon, there is an attraction between Sara the loner and Luc the business man.

The dairy was written by Mary Dundas who wrote it in code to be sure the contents could not be discovered by spies.  She is a second generation Jacobite exiled to France. Mary becomes embroiled in a plan to help a mysterious Jacobite man stay out of the grasp of English authorities and the diary tracks her journey over the country, her relationships with her compatriots and her budding romance with the severe MacPherson.

Loved this book!

A friend and I went out for lunch this week. I suggested Vietnamese food and she agreed.  My favorite Vietnames restaurant survived most of the pandemic then closed as other business were opening.  Disappointing.  I had to find another. I had eaten in this restaurant years ago and it was as good as I remember.  

The pelicans were at Heritage Hills Wetlands this week but due to a situation on the trail my attention was diverted for a time.  While lending a helping hand to a senior on the trail time passed so by the time I had a camera in my hand again, they were at the far end of the pond.

I decided it was too hot and I had been out too long in the heat to pursue them any further.  I was told they had been around for a couple weeks already so I will find them again on another day.

It was exciting to see them even at a distance.

A few other things I found at the wetlands.  A Mourning Cloak butterfly, a Ruddy Duck with it's blue bill and of course Poplar Fuzz.

A good week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 I headed to Beaumaris Lake again this week in hopes of finding Pelicans but no such luck.  I just don't know where they are.

There was not lack of other birds at the lake.

A Wigeon, Red Wing Blackbird, Mallard Duck and a female Red Wing Black bird.  Grackles, Canada Geese and sparrows too!

It was a very nice walk around the lake.  I headed out earlier that the last visit so a bit fewer people at least earlier.  I was there quite a while.

I have photographed pelicans on May 5th in year's past so I will have to keep looking.

The wildfire situation in our province continues to be dire with many people displaced and living in evacuation centers with only the wish to go home.

Rain is badly needed of which we have had very little.

Air quality is very poor.

I say thank you to all those fighting the fires.  The ones who have been injured. Those who have come to provide relief to those on the front lines.

To those who are providing support to evacuees and fire fighters a like with water, food, and a place to rest.

I think of those who have lost their homes and in some cases their livelihoods to these fires.

I had the final white filling on my root canal this week. 

Fortunately, it was not needing freezing and not a really long job.  The hard part is I have run out of dental benefits. Ouch!

The Friends We Keep by Jane Green was a book I finished this week.

Three people met in college.  They lived together for 4 years, hung out, got to know each other very well. After graduation, careers took them to different parts of the country and the world.  There were phone calls and emails, weddings, and funerals over the next 30 years.  Much life experience some good, some great and some not so great.

They had made a pact that if they were single when they turned 50 they would live together. They attend a school reunion and reconnect. Maggie, now a widow,  lives in a large house in Somerset England, Topher's mother is living in England and he in New York, Evvie's son has left home and so a move would be possible for her.  So they move in together, come clean about their secrets and start new adventures. 

It was a good read.

This American Coot couple was very busy making a nest from last year's dried bulrushes.

The male I assume was tugging and pulling to dislodge them one at a time and bringing them back to the nest.  Once the reed arrives she busied herself with the perfect placement of it.

Then the process repeated itself.  I watched for quite a while and it was still process when I moved on.

I guess are a least a few days away so young ones still later than that.

I have seen baby Coots in early June but with taking 21-25 days to hatch I expect it will be later than that this year.

The neighborhood gardens are starting to show off their blooms.

There are Clematis growing the wall in a beautiful light lavender color.

There is a yard full of colorful tulips. 

I found a yellow poppy in another front yard.

The purple Alium is just starting to open.

I have been spending time a thrift shops looking for the perfect tealight candle holder. I would like to have a Fairly Light candle holder but they are quite costly.  Not going to happen soon.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

We had a farewell lunch with our quilting group for our leader who is moving.

She brought a few magazines discovered during her decluttering process. 

I brought these home as they are small projects and working with small pieces of fabric which I thought would be interesting.

I have not really had time this week to look at them.

The air is smoky because of the wildfires burning in our province.

The air quality is not great but I really enjoy my walks outside so I have been going anyway.

People are being evacuated and our trees are burning to the ground by the hectares.

The spring perennial flowers are starting to bring some much need color to the gardens in my area.

Siberian Squill, Red Tulip and Bleeding Hearts.

We had a good day for Mom's funeral and the internment of both my Mom and Dad. There had been a lot of planning and things went well.  The day was gorgeous shirt sleeve weather.

I walked behind the hearse with my twin sister and her husband as it brought them to the cemetery.  Mom passed in January and Dad 1 year to the day of the funeral. They were both cremated so we chose what would have been their 69th wedding anniversary for this event.

The graveside service was lovely.  We were lucky enough to get permission from the owner of our home which they moved from in 2017 to gather some soil from Mom's wonderful garden so we could cover their urns with the soil she so loving took care of for 50 years.  

Their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren participated along with life long friends and family.

I was able to catch up with high school friends who were the ladies who prepared the funeral lunch.

We were so blessed to have them as parents for so long.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 The trees are starting to leaf out.  Beautiful spring green colors appearing in many places.  The Fiddlehead Ferns in the small garden are ready to unfurl into wonderful textures. The American Robins are back and looking to make nests I am sure.

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard is a book I finished this week.  

A young man, Stefan, is in prison for murder of his girlfriend. Thea Demetriou, his mother continues to love him despite now knowing how this happened.  Stefan does not remember. 

After his serving his sentence, he comes home to a town which will not let him move on. The mother of Belinda the girlfriend has set up a movement to bring awareness to dating violence. They are always on their doorstep.

Slowly, he begins to start a new life.  He decides to start a program where people can reach out to ones they have wronged and help to make things right.  It is a soul saving project for him. It provides an avenue for several people in his circle.

The book was surprisingly very positive and uplifting.

Another week of medical procedures. A Pulmonary Function Test for my coughing and shortness of breath in March.   The root canal to save one of my front teeth finally was done, now that I could sit for over an hour and not cough.  The prep was very involved but finally the dental specialist came in and it was a bit tricky he said but went well.

In my search for Pelicans this spring I headed to a large city park on the east side of town.  Someone mentioned that sometimes the pelicans are there.  It has 3 water ponds, picnic tables, lots of parking, woodland trails and biking.  I saw canoes on the water but no pelicans. Where the heck are they?  I know they are here because other photographers are posting pics.

The Journey by Josephine Cox was a gripping read.  I finished it in a couple of days.

The book relates two time periods 1930s then the 1950s with Lucy Baker in her old age.  Lucy and her daughter, Mary visit the cemetery regularly and Ben Morris has seen them before as he walks his dog. One day Lucy falls and Ben comes to help the women and they leave in a chauffeured car.  Lucy has dropped her purse and Ben, later that evening, delivers it to this large Edwardian house.  He is invited in.

The time shifts to Lucy's early life. The man she loved from afar, the one she was seduced by and resulted in a child. How the unwed mother was rejected by her family and taken in by warm hearted souls. How Barney Davidson came to her rescue in a time of need, how he was seperated from his family and how he came to be in the cemetary that Lucy and Mary visit regularly. There is a 2nd book so I will have to keep an eye out for Journey's End.

This week's Macro Mondays Challenge was the onion family.

I chose spring green onions for my close up shot.

You can check out my Flicker Photostream (SMDPics).

Have a great week!