HAPPY NEW YEAR

Please go to my new blog at http://silverthreadsanartistspilgrimage.blogspot.com

MY BIRTHDAY

Today I turned 71. I started a new blog to celebrate the beginning of a new year and to record LITTLE MOMENTS that I experience each day. I an keeping this blog to record my artistic accomplishments and will also keep my crazy quilt blog to record my sewing accomplishments. I'll see how it goes having three blogs and may end up combining them but for now I will have all three. I hope you will visit http://silverthreadsanartistspilgrimage.blogspot.com/ My other blog is http://secretgardencrazyquilting.blogspot.com/ but there isn't much there right now, I hope to change that in 2011.

NEW YEARS INTENTIONS

I have begun to set my intentions for 2011 and have started a Book Of Possibilities (from the movie Last Holidays). This is my new journal for 2011, I love the Paperblanks Journals. They have such beautiful covers and the paper inside is good quality:

This is my Book Of Possibilities. I love the cover with the turtles and the shiny gold:

This is the first page:

The picture is from DJ Pettitt http://djpettitt.typepad.com/ it says "begin again". The verse on the other page is from the new calendar I bought with art and writing from Jeannine Roberts Royce http://www.jeaninerobertsroyce.blogspot.com/ The words are: "I burn with a fiery passion. My fearless stance is held with a calm and poise belying the fire and focus at my core. My passion burns freely....igniting my dreams, illuminating my path. I rise beyond all limits. I have an abiding resilience and resolve to never hold back, never stand back, never look back. I reach great heights. I shine as I soar."

The next pages are a photo from DJ Pettitt that says "love flowing freely" and buttons and headers from the challenges that I am joining. "Twenty Minute Challenge", "100 Paintings Challenge" and "The Sketchbook Challenge". They are all related so I don't think it will be too much:

I also plan to take some classes from Laure Ferlita at http://paintedthoughtsblog.blogspot.com All of these challenges and classes are to improve my watercolour painting.

I hope you have some really fun, creative intentions for 2011. If you have, I would love to hear what they are.

BOXING DAY

Relaxing after a busy Christmas:

I had really nice Christmas day with my YDD. We had a very laid back day - opened our gifts to each other, ate snacks, went for a walk, had a meal of chicken, broccoli and cauliflower, watched Shrek and played a couple of games of scrabble. We chatted lots and generally relaxed and enjoyed each others company. My other DD and my GD phoned so my day was complete.

I woke up with my cold worse than ever yesterday which put a bit of a damper on things for me, I was dripping and sneezing and all those fun things - I am concerned about my DD catching it, so hope she will be okay. I feel much better today and went out to buy a new journal for my Book of Possibilities for 2011 and also found a really nice calendar for 2011. With my Birthday being on the 30th and New Years Eve on the 31st, it is an especially good time to set some intentions for the year and think about what I would like to focus on. I asked DJ Pettitt if I could use a couple of her photos in my 2011 journal and she very kindly sent me a couple of copies. Her handmade journals and photographs are amazing, you can visit her at http://djpettitt.typepad.com/


I thought I would take you on a tour around my living space decorated for Christmas. First is my living, sleeping space:

Next is my studio not far to walk from my bed to my studio:

As you can see, it's very tiny and I have given up a lot of living space to have a decent sized studio.

Next is my Christmas forest scene with my watercolour, that I just had framed, in the background:

Butterflies, birds and boas were my theme for this year and I found it all very magical and have so enjoyed being in this little forest space over Christmas:


Jack Frost was a gift from my EDD several years ago and it is one of my favourite decorations:

Hope you enjoyed my little tour. It is a tiny space but is very cozy and has a great view!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

My very best wishes to everyone for a Merry Christmas. Blogging has become an important part of my life and I have so enjoyed meeting everyone from all over the world and seeing all the wonderful creativity.

HAVE A JOYFUL HOLIDAY!!!

I've been gone for a long time again! I get busy and just don't take the time to write anything. I visit all my favourite blogs everyday though.

We did the Santa Shuffle and had great fun. I walked it in just under one hour and was pleased that I wasn't last. LOL We raised $610 for the Salvation Army Christmas Fund between the three of us.

I am continuing with my walking and weight training and have lost ten pound so far. I feel so much better and have so much more energy.

My two daughters and I had our Christmas on December 11th because my eldest daughter went out of town the following weekend. My youngest daughter and I will get together on Christmas day and have another Christmas so it has been a very strange year. I feel like I have two last minute preparations in the past three weeks. It is all good though and I am looking forward to spending the day with my daughter on Christmas day.

I have done a couple of mixed media pictures 18X24, one is for my eldest daughter for her birthday. My two girls have their birthdays on the same day- Jan 27th - having been born six years and forty minutes apart. My birthday is on the 30th Dec my granddaughter on the 4th Jan, my great granddaughter on 4th Nov. All out birthdays within two and a half months with Christmas and New Years thrown in for good measure. We really could have timed things better!! LOL

When things get back to normal and some sanity returns (hopefully) in January I will blog more often and maybe get more connected by joining One World One Heart again.

Last Sunday, I went to my friend's book launch. It is so exciting so see someone creative work come to fruition. So much blood, sweat and tears go into the production of a book. My daughter did the layout for her so that was very exciting. He book is called Romance Your Writer Within,

And Reawaken Your Passion To Write. If you are interested in this book you can contact Melba Burns at melbawrites@gmail.com or go to her website http://www.melbaburns.com/

Another neighbour is getting his book into production at this time. He has worked on it for ten years!! Maybe this will get me inspired to do something with the book I started many years ago.

SANTA SHUFFLE
I am going to walk the 5k Santa Shuffle on Saturday to raise money for the Salvation Army. My two daughters are going to run it so it should be lots of fun. They can cheer me on to the finish line. I cheered them on two years ago when they ran it in Victoria.



After we do the run we are going to the Burnaby Village Heritage Museum that is all decked out for Christmas. They also have the carousel from the Pacific National Exhibition that I used to ride when I was a kid.

Hope you are getting into the Christmas spirit and that it is a happy time for you. I know it isn't for some people. Hugs to you if it isn't.

ART JOURNAL PAGE

I was sitting looking at this yellow page in my art journal a couple of days ago and thought it needed a green apple on it. Then I thought of a pear and then the cockney rhyming slang "up the apple and pears", popped into my head. Up the apples and pears means stairs. Just a bit of silly fun!!! I lived in England for fourteen years, five of which was spent in Haverhill, Suffolk which isn't too far from London.

I got my Christmas decorations out of storage today ready to decorate tomorrow. I look forward to having my tree and lights up this year, some years I don't feel quite so in to it.

Hope you are all having a great week.

CHRISTMAS IS NOT FAR AWAY!

There is a great folk art give-away at http://dianesalter.blogspot.com/ Pop over and enter your name.

Yes, I have been gone for a few days - over a week again - I don't know what is up with me lately I just get distracted.

I have continued to do my walk workout and my daughter started me on weights earlier this week. I have lost 7 pounds and about 10 inches. I feel so much better and have so much more energy. I able to go from morning until night now, it is great!

We had some snow on Thursday but it has all been washed away by our rain forest rain. It was very pretty at the time though. The weather was also very cold at the beginning of the week and we are such sissies here in Vancouver -4 freaks us out. LOL

I have bought some white birds, red birds and white butterflies to decorate for Christmas, which I will be doing over the weekend. I made my Christmas wreath for my door the other day with a white boa, red birds, red ribbon, poinsettias and one white bird. It looks very Christmassy!!
So I have been creative after all!

MUSHROOMS

This is my latest mushroom picture:

Still enjoying the watercolours. I came up with my own colours for this one and wonder if it is a bit boring and needed more colour. But it is all practice.

Went to visit my friend today and go for a walk with him. We had word today that he is being moved to a care home close by here, which was his first choice so I hope it turns out to be better than the one he is in. It will certainly be better for me because I will be able to walk there rather than have to take two or three buses.

I working my way up to a twenty minute challenge, I think it will be a very good exercise for me. I will have to get a timer.

REMEMBRANCE DAY OXYMORON

The eleventh month
day, hour, leaden grey skies weep
killing to bring peace

THE FLY BY

The old planes that used to fly overhead when I was a child and we would run out shouting and pointing, it was so unusual to see a plane in those days. How things have changed!!

URBAN WILDLIFE

During the early Fall, a friend and I went to Stanley Park and wandered around all afternoon. It was a beautiful day and we were fortunate enough to see some swans:

and about nine raccoons. Someone was feeding them and one by one they crept

out of the bushes. There was a mixture of babies and adults, obviously several

families:

I have been painting off and on for the past four days but I haven't finished anything yet. I have also been doing a little embroidery on my purse. I am slow but I get there eventually.

I worked out hard this morning and it was raining and cold and windy - such dedication!!!

The cold finally inspired me to go to my storage locker and get my winter clothes out. It has been so warm here up until today that I haven't needed my sweaters. I guess Fall is well and truly here now.

I am off to have a hot bath and get ready for bed.

NO REFLECTIONS TODAY

It was dreary and rainy most of the day.
A late bloomer:

Granville Island: Crystal Ark

And the Kid's Market:

I painted two more mushrooms today and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It is so nice to just get lost for hours in colour.

I had a delicious morning sleeping in and just dozing and reading and I feel much better for it. The exhaustion has passed and now I have two days off from exercising to look forward to. I went for my walk - I was ordered to have an easy day today because I worked hard all week - and enjoyed being out in the misty rain, it wasn't cold so it was a pleasant autumn day.

AUTUMN REFLECTIONS

Another beautiful autumn day, I took this on my early morning walk.

I was going to paint today and got a picture drawn but I had to do four loads of laundry and that took me all afternoon. Now I am really tired. I find with the radical change in my schedule and the exercise I get tired early in the evening. I have been going to bed around 10:30pm, unheard of for me, and am asleep just after 11:00pm and then wake up a about 6:30am. I haven't kept these hours for many years. I guess I will get used to it sooner or later.

These are a couple of Zendalas that I drew over the past couple of months when I wasn't blogging.

URBAN SUNRISE

Can you believe I'm sitting here at 7:30 am waiting for it to get light so I can go for my walk? This is the person who hasn't got out of bed before 10:00 am for months. Amazing how a little encouragement and support can help us change our lives! My whole eating, sleeping, creating schedule has changed in the past three weeks.

What a treat watching the sunrise while I walk. I was sorry I hadn't take my camera yesterday as the mist rolled in and out while my daughter and I walked, it was very mysterious and mystical.

FORESTY THINGS

I love mushrooms and bought a book about a year ago so it will come in handy to paint lots of different mushrooms:

I painted these two pictures today, one to make up for missing yesterday. I was really busy yesterday and just didn't feel like painting when I got home. I went to bed early.

My DD came this morning for my training, I pulled something in my upper thigh yesterday and it is kind of sore tonight so I hope it feels better tomorrow so I can do my walking.

I'm still liking the watercolours, no clean-up to speak of and no mess while I'm doing it - that works really well for me.

I have been staying home a lot lately, I am really fed up with the traffic and noise and grumpy people. I live in a quiet oasis in the middle of the city so it is very nice to be at home. I'm feeling quite content these days, unlike my usual anxious, needing to go out and do something sort of energy. I don't know what brought about the change but it is good.

WATERCOLOUR
I finished watercolour number 3 today. I am really enjoying working with watercolours. No mess, not much clean-up.

I spent some time in the lobby tonight watching the trick or treaters. Quite a few goblins came around, brings back lots of memories from my trick or treating days and also my kids.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween.

CHELSEA AND CHLOE

I spent some time this afternoon making a birthday card for my great granddaughter. She will be two on November 4th.

I wanted to paint but, because it was a sunny day, I decided to prune the hydrangeas in front of my apartment. They have been blocking my view all summer so it's nice to get some light in and see the city again.

I am feeling rested today - had a nice sleep in this morning - so I will be raring to go on Monday morning when I have to work out again.

I have discovered a "twenty minute challenge" in my travels through blogland and I will be doing that. You are to do a painting in twenty minutes. I think this will be a good way to get some practice. There is no need to report in or no time limit, just a personal challenge. You can upload your pictures to a blog if you wish. There is so much to discover once you start going from one blog to another, what a wonderful resource for people like me who don't go out a lot and don't have a huge social network.

I'm off to watch Heartbeat and Midsommer Murders!

A DREARY AUTUMN DAY IN VANCOUVER WITH A BEAUTY ALL ITS' OWN

When I was out for my workout walk this morning I took a couple of pictures but it was a dreary Vancouver day so they are dark pictures. The autumn ones are quite pretty though.

Had a day at home apart from my workout this morning. I slept in and I feel much better today. I was beginning to feel a little exhausted from the workouts that aren't really that hard but much more than I have been doing for a long time. I get the weekend off so I am happy about that.

I finished a watercolour I started a few days ago, started a new one and did a little stitching on my next crazy quilt purse. What a great way to spend my day! Oh yes, I also did the crosswords in the two free papers - I do those every day!

The watercolours I am doing are exercises from a book called How to Draw and Paint Fairyland. It has step by step instructions which is a good way to learn. After I have done a few, I will branch out and do my own.

There is a BIG workshop going on right now and it sounds like fun. I love painting BIG, when I was going to art therapy I always wanted to do everything BIG. I will pass on this workshop though because it means using acrylics. There is such a sense of freedom in painting BIG.

FREEDOM - WHAT A WONDERFUL WORD!