Week 3

Highs

Dancing with Paul at Starlight.

I had a great visit and dinner with friends and "pupkids" in downtown Vancouver.  En route, the skytrain was so jam packed with people.  I hadn't seen it that busy since the Olympics.  I'd forgotten it was the "420 Great Smoke In" at the Art Gallery.  This could have really been a high.

Watched a filmed version of a live ballet based on "Alice in Wonderland" at Cineplex Odeon.  It was amazing!  I wasn't sure what a filmed version of the ballet might be like however it allowed views you wouldn't normally see live, such as, close ups of the dancers faces and feet, views from above and behind and better coverage of the digital media images at the back of the stage.  It also allowed interviews of the choreographer, composer, costume designer as well as some of the dancers.  Imagine belly dance in the upper body and ballet in the lower or hip hop / break dancing in the upper and ballet in the lower!  There were influences from Sleeping Beauty, Little Shop of Horrors, Cat in the Hat and Singing in the Rain.  There were 2 intermissions during which people from around the world tweeted about the film.

Belly fit class!  What a blast!  

Coffee with a friend.

Book Club - a lively conversation about "The Lovely Bones"

Walking and lunch at a Turkish Cafe with my father.  We walked by a $35.2 M home on Point Grey Road rumoured to be owned by Chip Wilson and contain 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.  It takes up about 4 properties.

Watecolour class.  It's much more difficult than it looks!

Finished 2 books, "The Lost Manuscript of Jane Austen" and "Work With Passion in Midlife and Beyond".  The former a novel within a novel.  Very entertaining and written in Jane Austen's style.  The second was very insightful regarding alignment of one's needs, values, strengths and temperament to ones work.  Mostly mine all align.

I painted my frist 2 small more formal acrylics, still on paper not canvas.  I haven't got the courage to paint on canvas yet.

The first is from an acrylics painting book that suggests the image and paint colours.  I painted the image and modified the colours slightly since I didn't have all the colours recommended.  I totally guessed at how to paint it because I've never taken an acrylics class and am not sure of the methods in which one should stroke the paint on.  At first, I really didn't like this painting, however after drawing the people in and splattering some paint in the foreground so it looked like pebbles on the beach, I was really satisfied.

The second is inspired by a photo that I took on my trip to rural Turkey last May.  The lake was so flooded that trees were in the lake rather than on the land.  I'm really happy with this painting too.

The following two paintings are plaster works inspired by the work of Catherine Tableau whose demo I attended a couple of weeks ago.  The first is based on a trip I made to Morocco many years ago and the second is typical of hiking in early spring in the forest on the West Coast.

Memories of Todra Gorge

Glowing Bright

The following painting is my attempt of copying one of Soraya French's pieces in the book Dynamic Acrylics.  I really enjoy the energy and colour in Soraya's work.

Tumbling

Lows

One of my Aunts in Slovenia died.

Dealing with disrespectful neighbours from 3 different houses who park in front of ours, partly blocking the driveway, and also preventing the pick up of our garbage and yard waste bins.

Then dealing with 3 different departments at the city, for the second time, to try to find a solution that allows me to meet their rules for placing our garbage and yard waste bins when vehicles are parked in front of our home (often vehicles that we don't know so can't trace to houses).  Still waiting for a solution that doesn't require me to break the law and ensures waste is picked up.  How can waste pick up be so difficult?

Near Misses

None.

Misses

The man who tried to pick me up at Starbucks.  He attempted twice, while my friend was there and after she left.

Week 2

Highs

I started a Bellyfit class this week.  It's an aerobics class that incorporates Belly, African and Indian dance in the cardio section and pilates and yoga in the cool down.  It was a lot of fun!  Unfortunately, due to sound system difficulties the class was run via an Ipod without speakers.  

Seen on my walk home from Metrotown

Seen on my walk home from Metrotown.  Don't you love Spring!!!

Paul and I took a dance lesson for the first time in a year.  We repeated Beginners Jive Level 1.  Unfortunately, we can't go this week because Paul is working.  However, we tried the two basic steps and 2 under arm turns out on the dance floor at Starlight Friday night with much enjoyment and success.

I attended 2 demos at Opus.  

One on Pintura Rapida, a rapid plein air painting technique that has become a form of competition in Spain and is also used by artists to improve their painting skills.  Often the best work, is an initial quick painting or drawing because the artist hasn't had a chance to become attached to the outcome.  Two of my quick attempts are below.

I met an interesting retired professor of psychology at this session.  She has been painting 3 years and is creating lovely art using colours and themes that are inspiring to me such as people and images from foreign travel.

Inspired by a Trip to Capetown, South Africa

Inspired by the Farms in the Big Bend Area of Burnaby

The other demo was on semi abstract organic art using plaster.  I have inserted a link of the artists work below.

http://www.saatchionline.com/tabcath

I also attended a mixed media demonstration by Marilyn Hunt at the Burnaby Art Guild and inserted one of her beautiful paintings that incorporates a lot of texture, acrylic paint and mediums and digital images below.

Blackberries and Bees by Marilyn Hunt

I practised acrylic painting in my journal.

I went to another life drawing session and since it's an equal opportunity world ( if your read last week's post, you'll know what I mean), I'm sharing one of my drawings.

Lows

None, though I became aware how much time basic things like yard work, household chores, banking, personal paperwork and errands take out a a day even when you're not working.  While working, I' was always so hard on myself because I was tired all the time and couldn't get as many things done as I'd like.  Now I realize, that I really did accomplish a lot and that basic things like those above really do take a lot of time up.

Near Misses

None, unless you call wearing your pajamas until noon or 2 PM and not leaving the house on a couple of days "missing out on life".

Misses

None

Thanks for dropping by!

Week 1

Highs

I got to be a tourist in my own city and enjoyed a tour of Sun Yat Sen Classical gardens in Chinatown. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour.  I've been to this garden many times however never was able to partake in the tour because I was always there with visitors from out of town who did not speak english.  The main garden theme is one of balance; something very important to me.  It is about the balance of yin and yang or feminine and masculine forces, soft, round and curved versus rough, hard and square.

I went for a beautiful False Creek seawall walk from Chinatown to Granville Island (GI) through the Olympic village.  This is my old stomping ground from my teen years and twenties.  I used to walk and jog here all the time because I lived in Kits and worked at the Keg on GI.

If It's Raining, Must be Vancouver

Fritallaria

Street Art

I watched an art demonstration called "Beyond the JPEG" that taught how to print jpeg images on almost anything including paper towel and tinfoil.  I haven't tried the technique yet.

I had a lovely dinner and visit with my parents.

I went to a movie with Paul.

I drew and painted a portrait a day.  Here are a few.

I went to my first beginners watercolour class.  It was a near miss because only 6 people signed up so was nearly canceled by the centre coordinators.  In spite of me being too young to join, one of the participants who complained I wasn't 55 years old, was happy I was there after all since I paid the adult fee rather than the senior fee and increased the numbers so that the instructor was willing to proceed.  The instructor says that "watercolour should be 60% the paint, water and paper doing their own thing and 40% the artist".  Based on this premise, I created the following at home after class.  I started with flowing pink, orange and blue paint, then saw flowers so painted in the pot, scissors and flowers in the foreground.

Once again, I had to find a new hairdresser.  They seem to move salons regularly.  So I tried a new one and went blonde.

Please skip the following post and go to the "Lows", if nudes offend you.  

I went to my first Life Drawing drop in session.  During the session the participants draw 5 - 1 minute poses, 5 - 2 minute poses, 2 - 5 minute poses, 2 - 10 minute poses, 2 -25 minute poses with the remainder of the 3 hours divided into more poses.  Here are some of my attempts.  I'm not sure how to do shading.

Lows

My Mum had a lumpectomy.  I hope the results in 2 weeks time will be a "high".

Loonie skate and for that matter all other weekday ice skating on a decent transit route has been canceled until July.

Belly Dance class was canceled due to insufficient numbers.

The weather most days.

Misses 

The move "The Host"

Near Misses

I had a "Disaster DIY" trying to install shelves.  As you can see by all the plaster fill, it was a near miss.  Thankfully I realised the danger and removed the shelves before they fell down.  Lesson learned - confirm the thickness of your drywall before using hollow wall anchor screws or hire a carpenter.

That's all for this week.  Thanks for dropping by.