Feeling Sheepish

I love all the farm animals around here but my favourite to draw is likely the sheep. I love chickens and roosters too. And pigs. Cows. Hmm. Okay, so I don't have a favourite...

Study of a Cabbage

Did you ever really look at a red cabbage? Pretty darn interesting once you really check it out close-up. I did this drawing a few years ago and once I was done, I got a salt shaker and ate my subject.

Big Things

Richard and I have been taking pictures of "big things" around the countryside for the past few years. Here's one of my favourites, taken in Philipsburg, Quebec very close to the U.S. border.
(I just hope that the big guy doesn't drop that glass of Coke on my head!)

Richard's Stuff ATCs

Sitting around at Richard's house...he's watching baseball or football on TV...what to do? Grab some paper and pens and start drawing his "stuff." Blue shorts were red. Red tea towel was yellow. Weird mood. Kinda crazy ATCs...

Art Journal: Rain

The art journal that Peter and I do together on a semi-regular basis was themed "Rain" this go-round. The fun with this spread was that only one of the Victorian figures had an umbrella and I had to add it to the others. Can you guess which illustration had the umbrella originally?

Baby Chipmunks

Yesterday afternoon Richard and I were sitting on the swing, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle and feeding 3 or 4 hungry (or not so hungry) chipmunks. When two of them came up to us at the same time there was a complete frenzy of rolling around and athletic jumps through the air. During quieter moments, I noticed a hole amongst a rock pile and saw three little chippies emerging. So darn cute. Of course after I had the camera with me, I had to wait another half hour till two would would come out (number 3 was very shy and wouldn't appear).

Birthday BBQ by the Rigaud

Last night we celebrated a friend's 60th by the Rigaud river. We had kabobs on an open fire pit, and when it got dark, lit fireworks and even lit the number 60, made of plywood and kerosene-soaked rope!

Cinnamon Handpuppet

My 12 year old Cinnamon was so matted that I had to get him groomed. "What kind of cut would you like?" the groomer asked. Cut? There are cat hairstyles? I went for the lion cut. When I brought him home, there was a definite "titter" heard coming from the other cats. No one would talk to Cinny. I kind of felt bad for him. Just like the time a kid would get a bad haircut at school and everyone berated him for getting a "beaner."

But Cinnamon soldiered on, marching around the house proud as a peacock. And today, 2 days later, he's back to being the king of all he surveys. He's even starting to boss me around.

Mo' Pie?

I had people over for a barbecue last night to celebrate the beginning of summer and the longest day of the year. Richard made brochettes on the bbq and I made potato wedges and Greek salad. Dessert was a fantastic wild blueberry pie (the berries were frozen and purchased last year from the 4H club fundraiser). Save your fork Duke, there's pie!

Domino & Nutmeg Have Their 15 Mintues

My two cats and their fame! Domino shares a spot with a Hound on the "Do Not Disturb" side of the hotel card. Nutmeg shares her mug with a Yorkie on the "Please Make Up" side. These cards were made around the time of the Westminister Dog Show in New York.

I suppose now they'll want royalties...

My Morning Cuppa Joe

For my birthday last week, I bought myself a Cuisinart coffeemaker. My other coffeemaker still worked but the coffee never came out hot enough. Plus the timer was broken (and there's something wonderful about waking up to the smell of fresh coffee.) Life is good.

If It Quacks Like a Duck

Yesterday my friend Peggi picked me up and we went with the Vankleek Hill Nature Society to their annual "Birding at the Alfred Lagoon and Rhubarb" event. The birding was fantastic. We saw 12 species of waterfowl and many other birds as well. The Alfred Lagoon is eastern Canada's best place for watching ducks with many unusual species nesting there. My favourite was seeing the Ruddy Duck with his bright blue beak swimming close to Mrs. Ruddy Duck and their nine ducklings. The other striking sight was 200 or so male mallards coming into the lagoon for the evening...the females busy with their young did not accompany them. (The photo of the mallards above was taken by Richard early this spring.)

After all that birding, we headed to Monika's house for an evening of rhubarb. Intead of pie this year, everyone was asked to bring a rhubarb dessert. Not only were there several rhubarb pies, there was rhubarb cake, rhubarb mousse, rhubarb cheesecake and even rhubarb cookies.

Great Weekend

What could be better than a weekend of hot days and cool evenings. A perfect breakfast with impossibly fresh eggs. Attending an annual yard sale that sees an entire town participating and showing its wares (I got an April Cornell tablecloth for $1.50 and a 1964 Agriculture Canada booklet called "Meat" for 25 cents. Richard got a portable phone (that works!) for $10.) A wonderful barbecue with neighbours where we sat outside, sipping red wine and talking till the wee hours of the morning, with citronella candles burning all around us. Chopping wood in the noon day sun and stacking it in the cool barn. Weeding and watering a thriving garden. Sitting on the swing in the shade with Richard, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle and feeding a myriad of chipmunks who have discovered that I always seem to carry peanuts with me.
Summer is wonderful.

Poppies

I've had this poppy plant for 2 years and this is the first year it bloomed. I just love its salmon colour. Just gorgeous!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake ATCs

I bought a box of President's Choice brand Pineapple Upside Down Cake because I loved the packaging so much. (Turns out, the cake inside it was pretty darn good too.) I just had to make ATCs out of that terrifically retro box. The images were so much fun to work with and I added pots and pans brads as well as funky 50s-type brads. Fun.

Please Feed the Animals III

Last year, I fed a chipmunk till hibernation time. I somehow think this chippy must be the same one as last year. She came out of her hole in early spring, ran up to me and stood on her two back legs wanting food. I've tried feeding a few other chipmunks and they're not nearly as friendly as this little chippy. Now that I've bought peanuts, there's no stopping her. Yesterday, she jumped on my lap wanting more.

Please Feed the Animals II

"Hey Richard...where's my carrot?"

Please Feed the Animals

After an exquisite brunch yesterday at Chateau Montebello, Richard and I headed a few kilometres down the road to Park Omega where you are in the "cage" (your car) and the animals run free. Best of all, you are encouraged to feed many of the animals (not the bears or bison) so we brought a big bag of carrots with us. There were red deer, white-tail deer, wapiti, bison, wild boar, black bears, wolves, geese, moose and raccoons. What a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday.

Happy Birthday to Me

Tomorrow is my birthday. As a little girl, I always had my parties outside in our backyard. When I turned 40, my friends Peter and Ron had an outside bbq-bash at their place in Toronto. There's something pretty lucky about having a birthday on June the 10th.

Tomorrow Richard and I are heading to Hotel Montebello for brunch (very chi-chi!) and then we're off to feed the big animals at Park Omega. Can't wait.

My niece Samantha, who is taking her Masters of Fine Arts in London, England, made me this birthday card. Love it.

Things are Blooming

A few weeks ago I thought things looked pretty slim in the garden. Now it's just bursting at the seams. This set of artist trading cards was made from a brown paper bag I picked up from the gift shop at the Botanical Gardens in Montreal. It was printed all-over with classic etchings of flowers. I cut the bag into ATC-sized cards and filled each drawing with colour pencils.

Cuppa Joe

Check out these cool lattes from a little joint in Lake George, NY. We both agreed that they were amongst the best coffee we had ever tasted!

Art Fayre

The Art Fayre's vernissage was held today at the Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan and it was just terrific. There were 17 artists exhibiting (including yours truly) showing 70 pieces of work from drawings and oil paintings to raku pottery and textiles. A very lovely show. I was pleased with how my stuff looked (and I even sold a piece)!

Happy June

I love the month of June. The weather is usually just right...not too hot, not too cold. And it's my birthday month, so it's always been special. I saw a chipmunk sitting beside my forget-me-nots and I thought it was the quintessential "June" image.