holiday vignettes

So many interesting things to see…..

 

 

summer's peaceful moments...

We are so blessed to live in a place of peace and tranquility - with occasional outbursts such as "watching cops chasing guys down the street at 4:30am" which one of our son's just posted on Facebook….[he works nights].  But such happenings are infrequent and when compared to lives of people in many areas of the world I am reminded to cherish life and to cherish even more the many instances when we experience an extra measure of tranquility and joy.

Other than the beautiful sunsets, vegetation, and flowers which have been an incredible feast for our eyes and souls this summer I have entered here a few added moments I have experienced.

tea with a friend

smoothies after working in the yard

evening prayers at St George's Cathedral - first time I had been in this beautiful place

downtown in the early evening - I love the lights and reflections!

Coffee with Doug at an outside cafe sheltered but enjoying the cloudburst!

Devin Cuddy band - our son Geoff opened for them.  This took place during a thunderstorm and when the power went off acoustic guitars replaced the electric and a homey evening became even more homey….  the windows on either side of the upper stage gave us a great view of the lightening and rain.

And... it is always a privilege to have the time and space to paint….

There are times when working on a painting I want to throw up my hands in despair!!  If I make it through these moments then the piece will usually come to some acceptable conclusion.  This painting of two young people walking down Broadway Avenue took several weeks to complete [I will let it sit for a few weeks now and have another look to see if I need to twig a few things before giving it a final coat of varnish].  It is large:  48 x 36 inches and there were numerous moments I wanted to give up - but I had determined to learn to paint street scenes and this is my first acrylic one.  Feel free to make suggestions if you see something which might be corrected/changed.

I did this view because it was taken on a peaceful early summer afternoon… and the shade along the street makes the light and dark spaces very interesting.  When I began I had no idea the number of perspective considerations I would need to take into account!! But I hope I got most of them correct.

Along the Avenue - acrylic, August 2014

Peace to you…

work/vocation

Vocation

IT COMES FROM the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God. There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-interest. By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

- Originally published in Wishful Thinking, Frederick Buechner

It has been 7 months since I 'retired' and many ask me what I am doing.  Since I was 'part-time' and I considered learning to paint and express some purpose through painting also my "work" I've always felt puzzled as to what to say in reply, because, in a sense, my work continues.  It seems my days are full of busyness and there are so many things that I feel I need to do.  I'm sure I will 'work' until my last day on this earth!!  I must admit though that what Buechner says about vocation bothers me - while I am glad to do what I do and have done by way of 'work' I rarely feel that I am in any way helping to address the "world's deep hunger" - and I realize that may be different for each of us.  But I suspect it shakes down to the the question of how meaningful to others and God is what I do…does, what I do in anyway bring 'food and water' to anyone's soul and thus enable them to be more.

Much of what I do is enjoyable so I'd say I am living with purpose… with a purpose to accomplish a few worthwhile things before it is too late.  My latest endeavours have included finishing a quilt which I began many years ago for our eldest son.  While I have completed quilts for 3 other sons, two daughters-in-law, a granddaughter, and ourselves….  his just didn't get finished!

I call it "The Tree Planters Quilt" and perhaps the reason I let it sit for so long was because I wasn't sure it was finished.  Since I designed it myself I always wondered if I needed to add more.  Well finally I said, enough and just finished it!  Andrew planted trees in northern BC and Alberta for about 5 summers - hence the tree theme and the name of the quilt. The colours reflect trees, in the stars there are pictures of birds, and overall most of the material includes leaf patterns.

I have also finished two new paintings.  Acrylic on canvas 12" x 20".  I'm hoping they are both finished but I'm not sure what I will think after letting them sit for a week or so.

Marshlands

Passing Over

Plenty of rain and sunshine has caused our little garden to produce abundantly!  We have been eating many greens, trying out new recipes for Kale, loving the little sweet tomatoes, and looking forward to our first English Cucumber.  Yesterday I cleaned out the lettuce, kale and spinach, and picked lots of basil.  It took a long time to wash it all, but we will have plenty of fresh greens for the coming week.


The Garden path is getting re-gravelled and the flowers are incredibly beautiful and satisfying.

Yellow Roses: Friendship - Joy - Good Health

Yellow Roses 

Just finished "Yellow Roses" - 10 x 20 " watercolour.

Garden shopping

Instead of going to the market this morning I was able to go to our "garden" -  it has been a long time  since we actually had a vegetable garden so it felt really good to know we will be enjoying some fresh vegetables alongside our beautiful flower arrangements.  So nice to smell the roses and the peonies came out yesterday!

Two boxes made… one more to build.

 Doug built these garden boxes, I planted with a few starter plants and seeds as seen here.  Now everything is growing and we even have one tomato which is 'almost ripe' - had to cover part of the garden boxes to keep the birds from demolishing the swiss chard!

lettuce, swiss chard, basil, dill and mint 

"unnamed"…..

Just finished this painting and am searching for a name for it … always a conundrum for me! 

In the meantime, I'm pleased to be finished.  It is a 36x30" acrylic painting which has taken several weeks to complete … and I have reached the point where I don't want to 'fiddle' with it anymore. So I guess that means it is indeed finished!

A few small studies...

I've been busy working on a few smaller paintings.  I'm rather at a loss as to what to say about them except that:

1.  I like how yellow and blue complement each other - which makes our Saskatchewan landscape so lovely in the late summer,

2.  The clouds have been magnificent this summer!!

3.  I've missed sitting by the lake this year but will always find peace by the shore - even if a storm is brewing and the waves endlessly splash against the rocks.

So perhaps these paintings will remind you of summer on the prairies.

Still  [6x6" acrylic]

Summer Fields [6x6" acrylic]

Turbulence [8x8" acrylic]

Clouds Falling  [8x8" acrylic]

Sunrise [6x6" acrylic]

Prairie Summer [8x8" acrylic]
 

Storm Brewing [8x8" acrylic]

Evening [8x8" acrylic]

Rhythms of Water & Sky [8x8" acrylic]

Candle Lake [6x6" acrylic]

Sunset Begins [12x16" acrylic]