Week 7

Highs

Visit to Vandusen Garden

What a great time of year to go to Vandusen Garden!  There are still some azaela, rhododendron and tree peonies blooming and the Laburnum Arch with purple Allium at its feet is also in full bloom.  

Camouflage

Goldilocks

Laburnum Arch

While wandering the garden and thinking about Paul still sleeping, I wrote the following poem.  (He worked until 10 pm last night and has to work until 11 pm tonight.)

The bloom of flowers is so fleeting

Their joyful nature can't be beaten

So don't just lay there sleeping

Times a ticking and the blooms aren't keeping

Hurry up or you'll be weeping





Life Drawing - Forgot to mention that the previous week's model was 6 months pregnant.  She was absolutely glowing and extremely proud of her ample bosom.  This past week, I was very frustrated with my attempts at life drawing.  It has been a number of weeks since I've practiced drawing the human form outside of life drawing.  I think it's time to practice again.

Dancing at Starlight with Paul to "Quickness".  The band was ok.  We had a blast!  There were few people there during the first set.  We ended up being the first to get up and dance and had the floor to ourselves for 4 songs.  A little unnerving being part of the entertainment.  I kept thinking "pretend their is nobody there".

Attended a retirement party for an extremely knowledgeable and well liked colleague.  Had a great time chatting en route and back with two other colleagues.


Participated in my last Belly Fit class.  I was the only participant.  Sadly, the session is over.

Watched a demo on Mat Cutting at the Opus downtown.  I hadn't realized there were so many different types of cuts or how much a tile and mat cutter are alike.  I have experience with the former but not the latter.  Got caught up in some police activity just outside the store afterwards.  There were police everywhere hiding behind doors and in store fronts.  Some with large guns (possibly a stun gun) with hands on the triggers.  Not sure what was going on but we were in a slightly rough part of town right across from Victory Square.

Watched the movie "Mud" with Paul.  It was a little slow at times however the story was very unique and we enjoyed the movie overall.  The two young male actors were very good in their roles.

Some Art from This Week

The first two were inspired by my visit to Vandusen and the latter by memories of Greece in 1987.  I really like the effect of the light in all three.  I feel that I finally achieved some success defining light and shadows on a building in the last one.

Canna Lilies

Poppies

Greek Vacation

Started and nearly finished my first assignment for Art History 1 including an essay.  I can't believe how long it took me.  I almost feel as nervous about sending it in as I did when I was working on my degree.

Line Dancing Class - We reviewed 5 dances and were taught a new one called, "Feeling Kinda Lonely Tonight" to which one of our classmates said, "that's me every night".  Now we've got to find a country bar in Greater Vancouver that has line dancing so we can try out our moves.  

Lows

Felt a little melancholy due to lack of social interaction.

Near Miss

Opus Mat Cutting demo because I felt horrible on Saturday with intense abdominal, nausea and dizzy-ness all day.  And no I was not drunk from Starlight.

Miss

My lawn didn't get cut or edged since I felt so lousy much of the weekend.

Week 6

Highs

Lunch with a friend.  Great conversation and food!

Coffee with a friend.  Lively conversation, full of updates!

Continued trip planing by booking 3 flights, 3 sets of hotels, french language school and a home-stay and exploring webpages on walking & cycling tours, museums and Giverny (Monet's Garden).  I've going to Paris for a couple of days, then Montpellier to learn french for 3 weeks and then to Slovenia to be there with my Mum and Dad for their 50th wedding anniversary.  I have never been to my father's home country with him and am so looking forward to seeing things  through his eyes and learning about his life there prior to Canada.

Painting - this week continued to be all about flowers.

Fritallarias - I'm not very happy with this one!

For the next 2 sets of paintings, I painted similar objects with different coloured backgrounds.  I was curious how the background colour would affect the painting.  I enjoyed painting both sets.

Tulips in the style of Tim Fisher

Tulips in the style of Tim Fisher

Allium in My Garden

Allium in My Garden

Bellyfit - there was just 2 of us again and it sounds like I might be the only participant next week.

Receiving course material for Art History 1 at Thompson River University Open Learning (TRUOL).  I haven't taken a university course sine 1992.  Yikes!  I was thankful that they sent an Essay and Bibliography manual along with the text and 7 other manuals for navigating the course.  Now, I'll finally learn something about the ancient art I've seen on many of the vacations I've taken over the years.

Started and finished reading a book called "The Introvert Advantage".  I took the long test and found out that I am much more introverted than I thought.  I found out that introversion is not such a negative thing in spite of what our culture tells us and the clinical definition is quite different from the negative dictionary definition.  Parts of the book are insightful but others are nothing new.

Watched a live webinar on making a living as an artist, not because I have any aspiration to do that but due to my curiosity.  Mostly he marketed his gallery and new book.

Walking at False Creek - It's all about bees, art and gelato (hazelnut, yum)!

California Lilac and Bee

Attended a mixed media abstract art demo at Opus on Granville Island led by Rojia Dadashzadeh.  She was an extremely enjoyable demonstrator.  So incredibly enthusiastic and full of ideas.  You can see some of her art at the following web link.  http://www.rojia.com/

Dancing at Starlight with Paul to the music of YVR.  Some great guitar playing!










Paul taught me how to make broccoli in the typical Asian restaurant way that is usually made with beef.  (I can never remember how to spell broccoli!!!)

Lows

None

Surprises

Do you know it is cheaper to fly from Paris to Montpellier then it is to take the train and it takes less time?  

Weeding, mowing and general yard work are much more enjoyable when you have more time on your hands!

Misses

Watercolour class so I could be home for a courier delivery.

Near Misses

My lunch which I nearly burnt while writing much of this post.

Thanks for dropping by!

Week 5

Highs

Nitobe and UBC Botanical Gardens - I've never been to Nitobe before.  What a beautiful tranquil garden!  Hidden under a canopy of old growth trees, you enter into a peaceful oasis of vibrant green moss, pebble pathways, running water and calm.

I have been to the UBC Botanical Gardens before but in the winter when it was wet and cold, part of a field trip for The Landscape Technician certificate I did some years back.  This visit was much more enjoyable.  The Himalyan Blue Poppies were in bloom and many tree peonies.

Tree Peony

Himaylan Blue Poppy

Tree Peony

I participated in an Authentic Leadership webinar on The Inner Critic.  It was a good experience.

Dream Girls and coffee with a friend.  I enjoyed the latter part of the musical better than the first part.  There was much more of a story.  I wasn't familiar with any of the songs but one.

Mother's Day dinner with my Mum, Dad and Paul at one of my Mum's favourite restaurants in Kits.

Bellyfit - there were only 2 of us in class this week so the instructor challenged us with some new moves.  I'm glad nobody was watching.

Life Drawing - After a 2 week hiatus, my drawing skills were on the decline though I still enjoyed the session.

Line Dancing - we learned 2 new dances, that makes 6 now however once I walk out the door of the dance studio, I don't remember much.

Booked a trip for late August and all of September.

Painting this week was all about flowers.

Palette Knife and Brush Painting

Lows

Paul was still unwell early in the week, thankfully he was better by week's end.

Misses

The long public transit ride to UBC.  With the walks to and from the skytrain and between bus loops, the journey was 1.75 hours each way.

Near Misses

The express bus (used loosely because it still took 1.75 hours) back from UBC.

Week 4

It was a quiet week.  

Highs

My Mum's medical results were terrific.  She doesn't have cancer.

Wow!

I went to a film about a Manet Exhibit that was recently in London, England.  It was very interesting learning about Manet, the culture in his time, how exhibits are put together, paintings acquired and more.  

I was fascinated about the way the exhibits are first created in miniature using boxes with windows cut out like the actual gallery rooms and miniature copies of the paintings in proportion to each other hung in the box on walls painted in the planned colour for the gallery room.  

I was also interested in how the paintings are transported from gallery to gallery with a full inspection by a curator before it travels and when it arrives.  The curator observed the packing and unpacking and travelled with the painting.  I did not realize that Manet is considered the father of modern art for introducing portraiture combined with normal scenes like landscapes, train stations and dining rooms as well as his controversial nudes.


I attended a "Meat Fest" lunch with my department at work.  It was great to see everyone and have a chance to catch up with a few.  Thanks to Clarinda for inviting me and the organizers for all their preparation: Dulcie, Vince and Shau Ching.

An unexpected invitation to the symphony, "A Tribute to Ellington".  It was an enjoyable evening catching up and listening to the music and hilarious commentary by the bass player of the Pizzarelli Quartet from New York.

Walking with My Dad

I read a quote by Erich Fromm that I liked.  "Creativity requires the courage to let got of certainties".  I need to learn this.

I read two books this past week.  In writing this, I suddenly noticed both have the word "shadow" in the title.  One was a very interesting fiction book called "Born Under a Million Shadows" based in Afghanistan about a young boy and his mother who are left on their own after the loss of 3 siblings and the father/husband.  The other book is a non-fiction book called "Meeting the Shadow" and is about meeting your shadow side and the shadow at play in many environments such as home, work, etc.  While reading the chapter called "Meeting the Shadow in Daily Life", a woman on skytrain told me, "I met my shadow in Jesus".


Some paintings from this week.

Moroccan Man

Lemonade

Tranquility

Lows

Paul has been sick for most of the last 2 weeks. He has not been in full health for months and seems to be getting more and more run down.  It has me worried which I know he'd tell me not to be however it is my nature to worry particularly where there is uncertainty such as now where the root cause for his poor health isn't known.

Misses

Not my garbage and yard waste because no vehicle was parked in front of the house.

Near Misses

My attempt to paint a focal point of my own design in a painting.  The painting sucks however I did manage to create a focal point.