The world needs more kindness

I recently signed up for a magazine subscription.  So unusual for me since I hate on line subscriptions.  However, it is my favourite magazine and it has not been easy to find it so I took the plunge.  I love the latest edition of “UPPERCASE - for the CREATIVE and CURIOUS”

I did my own version of a seed packet entry that I rifted from Cynthia Frenette (page 63) who had her packet included in the many artful entries.  I had cleaned off my gel plate on the page and had some flower type marks so I went with it.

Yes, I think we need more kindness in this world! 

Queen Bee

Here is my attempt at abstracting a female head reminiscent of Picasso style.  I added a crown, I had the song “Royals” by Lorde in my head.  It got stuck there; “You can call me Queen Bee! Let me have that fantasy”!  These may not be the exact lyrics but that’s okay.  I used some Himi gouache that I got at Christmas.  Sadly some of the tubs have already dried up.  Oh well.

Locker room and booster shot

We went into town yesterday to get out second COVID-19 booster shot.   Yippee! Very thrilled! 

Afterwards, we then met up with friends and I drew the restaurant (bar).   I use to come here a lot as it is in the plaza across the street from where I worked.  It is a friend’s birthday so I couldn’t finish as the birthday girl arrived so I put my book away.  We were in the same class in Grade 8!  

Nervous about being inside but decided I needed to “tear the bandage off” so to speak.  I’ll be anxiously watching for symptoms in the coming days. 

One good thing is that I have room for journaling since I left a bunch of white space! 

Danby to the rescue

We are still visiting with the family in the big city and yesterday our daughter took possession of this gizmo - a countertop dish washer.  I was surprised that it would work so well!  Good job Danby! 

Heritage United Church

It was a truly fantastic spring day here in central Ontario with beautiful blue sky and 18C (that’s 64F)!!  So I took a drive north to the village of Washago.  I wanted to draw a church that is up for sale.  Happy to see that they have post office and a LCBO ( our government controlled alcoholic beverages store); I got my letters mailed and picked up some drinks for Easter. 

I had three women stop by to see what I’d was up to standing along the side of the road.  That’s village life for sure.  One of the women offered a recommendation for another old church that I could draw in a village just a bit farther north.  I’ll go another day. 

Yup! It’s wonky but hey it’s in my sketchbook and I’m pleased to have completed it on location. 

Sunrise over a frozen lake

We live in the country a few kilometres (5 minutes by car) from Lake Simcoe in central Ontario.  In my past life I worked shifts and would stop off at the lake to see the sunrise.  I took a few of these photos and compiled them into two little paintings.  They are just studies for potential larger paintings.  I had these cheap 5 X 7 watercolour sheets taped off for another project but used them for this shell pink exercise. Thanks Mary Coffey for the great lesson on clouds.  I’ll be watching it again before I create another painting.  

My road eventually leads to the lake with a large bush area in between.  This is the public access area where people going ice fishing can leave their cars.  Snow is never exactly white even under the mid-afternoon sun. 

Provincial Doctor Announced

As Gomer Pyle might have said, “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise”!! Our top doc in Ontario just announced that we are in a 6th WAVE!! And, yes, wear a mask!!!!

We have our appointments for our 2nd booster next week! 

I drew him while he made his announcement on television. 

Cubist flamingo

Thanks so much Julie Lubbers for your lesson.  I enjoyed your instruction on the “how-to” morph your drawing into a cubist styled visual.  I am thinking I will be trying this again.  I don’t have an artist supply store nearby.  It has been too cold to order paint via the internet so I’m using what I could get at the craft store.  I would have loved to take Connie’s Artgraph class but I couldn’t but any.  Then one day, I went to a local Indigo book store (a chain book store here in Canada) and lo and behold, I got a tiny tub of Artgraph and some sticks on clearance!  I used it for this background and to add a bit of depth. It is an interesting material and look forward to using it more.  

I did this in my Royal Talens sketchbook so it is rather on the small side.  No matter, I had a good time!