Evolution of a Mural

I painted this little boy's room a year and a half ago but the family moved a few months later and so wanted the same basic composition but with his name on a steam train rather than on a line of laundry since the young master - at the advanced age of 2& 1/2 - has an enduring love of that era of train.  (Thomas, you know).

Original sketch; didn't bother too much with the trees since, well, I've done them already.

One hour in, sketched in the composition and begin blocking in lights 'n darks.

Four or five hour mark; mostly blocked in with colour.  The Mom wanted the train in shades of blue rather like Thomas but less bright and more tasteful.  Tomorrow I'll continue to de-wonkify the backend of the train, paint on the letters and take a stab at depicting the actual railway.  I find I prefer to tackle the more difficult, finicky bits first to get them out. of. the. way.  Time permitting, I will fine tune the landscape elements. 
Day three will, hopefully, bring it to stupendous fruition!

Concentrated Goodness!

Meet my Wednesday evening watercolour class.  Represented here is a huge chunk of local and regional - almost outta control - volunteerism.
Looking into the camera is Joyce who, with her husband heads up Search and Rescue for our very large region.  She also gives various courses around the province and has been feted and recognized in Victoria for her efforts.  Lani the Lawyer -our only relatively young 'un - has been at the helm of our local recycling and environment group, K.U.T.E. (Kitimat Understanding The Environment) for countless years now and is active in other related groups.  (KUTE came into being about 20 years ago and was named by Gr. 10s)  Ms. Jay in the green shirt is one of only 2 people who do Meals On Wheels and the night before this photo had stayed up till 3 a.m. baking 28 dozen cookies for a fundraiser.  Hidden is Judy, one of the many hands keeping the hospital auxillary functioning and optimizing medical services for all Kitimites. Most are active in a church and all have many other irons in the fire in addition to being a pillar for their families.
Volunteering, creating and teaching art all provide the reward of being in the company of the best kind of people in the world.

The Sun Sure DO Shine...Sometimes

The hiking group has morphed into a snowshoeing club for the winter & that's how we've been motoring through the wilderness for the past 3 weeks.

Last week, which was also my first real snowshoe trip, we up then down Fire Mountain completing a round trip of 6 kilometers and crossing 18 small streams each way.  I could barely lift my feet by the time we returned to our vehicles.

Today we ventured off trail and into the woods, over uneven crunchy snow.  We covered 4 to 5 kilometers in a 2 & 3/4 hour period.  One person didn't even wear snowshoes due to how hard the snow is today.  We can get snow (white concrete) conditions so hard that one can walk across it in high heels - the heel digs in but that just gives us more traction.  How do I know we can traverse our snow in high heels?  Probably from having to check on my backyard weather station all dressed up to go somewhere.
The big issue today though was ... noise.  We made such a racket crunching over the snow that we all had to stop if anyone wanted to speak and that probably added the 45 minutes to today's adventure.

It Was The Best Of Days...

...when TwinB received the phone call from the Alberta College of Art and Design informing her that she'd been accepted for January.  They'd had a 70% increase in applicants over September so it took a long time to sort through however, earlier they had mentioned that her portfolio was 'a high priority'.
She had a few minutes...maybe even a couple of hours to savour the news and then

It Was The Worst of Days

when she got a message via facebook that her best friend ever - her 'soul-twin'  Adam had died of a drug overdose a few hours earlier.  The chain of information and message was exactly the same as a false alarm we'd heard 4 years earlier the day before TwinB moved to Calgary but somehow...somehow she knew this time it's for real.  Our fragile yet endlessly resiliant Adam is gone. His addictions, a terminal illness.  
I've been reading snippets of the messages he sent 'B that she'd posted on livejournal.  They loved to play dress-up and write poems and stories together.  They found each other endlessly inspiring.

He would refer to himself as a palsied little bitch due to his mild cerebral palsy and on occasion he was a real live...person with perpetual drug problems.  He was also one of the sweetest young fellows I've ever met and am grateful to know him.
Your 23 years of struggle are over.
Update: March 3/12
Damn. Wish you were here.
Betcha never figured that your death would trigger so much shit and fall-out.
People loved you and were SO posessive of your attention/friendship.
My darling TwinB has had so much angst and domino effect from your death...Adam...why...why...why...???
WHY???

Wednesday's (Aborted) Wanderings

Thought I would give snowshoeing a try.
Hah!  Try again.
My good friend, the Gumboot Fairy, gave me a pair of snowshoes, declaring that she discovered she actually didn't like snowshoeing, despite her love of  being in the forest.  This was my second try and after a couple hundred meters I was convinced there was no way I'd keep up with the others.
This wasn't much of a surprise after seeing pair after pair of the same style snowshoe unloaded out of the back of the truck and they were about half the size of the ones I subsequently struggled with.
We were less than a half hour walk back to my car so I informed the group that I'd head back on my own.  Got some lovely photos during the tiny window of sunshine we were treated to this morning.
Wonder if they're still out there?  A fairly wicked maritime type blizzard has since descended upon us.

Welcome To Winter

Wow.  Haven't posted in over 2 weeks.
We've been through the season of the snow creations during those first heady days of normally wet snow that is so great for constructing anything one can imagine.

Then on to a chill.  This clearing lead to temperatures of -12 with outflow winds that knock it well into the minus 20s. Two anomolies here; mist/fog which we rarely experience and limply hanging flags.  The constant wind normally takes care of both those situations.
Today, it's the winter wonderland with probably a foot of powdery snow.  I have every light on the the house and am cooking a roast and roast potatoes.
Oh...and TwinA is currently at 92% in her studies! (graphic digital communication)

Craft Fair 2011

This egg tempera is one of the paintings I sold at this year's Christmas Arts & Crafts Fair.  I also managed to sell one of TwinB's pen and inks and displayed her two scratchboard pieces to much admiration and interest.  I had them framed by my lovely Hamer The Framer who performed her usual magic on them.  She's the cheapest and the best - how can you beat that combo??

This was her little corner and what's that? Meat-On-A-Stick?! Of course it is.  Wouldn't be festive without!