November Musings

I've introduced a lot of new work to my shop recently. During the past week, I introduced a new collection of pansy prints. They are available individually and as a set. I have a real soft spot for pansies. Aside from being beautiful flowers, they are associated with many childhood memories. I used to pick pansies in my grandparents' garden. An extra layer to those memories and associations is the fact that my grandmother's name was Viola.

This past week, I also had something to celebrate. I passed 2,000 followers on Instagram! I appreciate the people who follow me there so much. Instagram is definitely one of my 'happy places'. It's a great place to feel encouragement and inspiration. A real hub of creativity.

Because I have been working on the computer so much the past couple of weeks to convert paintings into new prints, I find my afternoon walks with Meeko extra restorative. On Friday afternoon, I decided to walk a little farther than usual on a road we don't usually take. The road is bordered by corn fields. It was so beautiful.

That was the day that I learned that Meeko is the colour of a corn field in autumn. Now you know too.

While I do love autumn, November is not my favourite month. I miss the flowers in my garden. I find the lack of daylight hard. It makes taking product photos more complicated. I don't like that it's already dark when Chloé gets home from school. I start to feel the pressure of the impending holidays. I have lots of things to keep me busy in the weeks ahead which is good. Colder days will mean that I can start to walk regularly in the little forest with Meeko again. We've already been a couple of times.

With plentiful studio time and Meeko time, I'll get through November just fine.

A Giveaway!

Hello, my friends. I am starting to feel the holiday spirit and am having a giveaway on Instagram. I wanted to be sure that you knew about it! You could win a nature collection print, a 'Celebrate Simple Things' card and gift tag and a set of recipe cards--all featuring my watercolours. Check out my post on Instagram for how to enter. It's simple. Click here.

I will be choosing the winner on Tuesday, December 9th at 9:00 a.m. EST.

❤  ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤

My Birds, My Flowers and My Buddy

There has been a flurry of activity in the backyard. Nests are being built, feathers preened, chirps perfected. I took several photos of my bird friends but most are out of focus. I was using my long-range lens and between my movements and the birds' movements...well, it didn't work too well. I was disappointed as I had taken several photos of my juncos. "My" juncos. You see how I think of them? Such sweet birds. I will have to set up my tripod in the backyard one of these days and see if I can improve my efforts.

The first daffodils are out. The crocuses are still lovely.  My botanical tulips are blooming but the cultivated tulips are only showing leaves for now. One thing I've realized since beginning my online life is that Montreal's growing season is behind many other areas. It means I have to be extra patient to see my flowers and it is sometimes long after others have posted photos of their own.

The past few days, I've been keeping extra busy. The week started sadly. We went to the visitation this past Sunday for a friend and neighbour, a mom to two teenagers, who died at age fifty. Monday I found myself in tears more than once.  Life just doesn't seem fair sometimes. 

Concentrating on painting has helped. Getting out in nature whether in the backyard or on my walks with Meeko has lifted my spirits. I've kept very busy. 

Maybe you noticed the small changes on my blog? I added my 'Trowel and Paintbrush' painting at the top right. If you click it, it takes you to my bio on Etsy. I thought that some people might be interested in knowing about my background as an artist.  I also finished working on some flowered initials that I have added in the right hand column as icons for social media. Clicking on them will take you to my Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram and Pinterest pages. I forgot to do one for Flickr so will add it later.

I'm a bit of a latecomer to most bandwagons it seems. I tried Instagram very briefly over a year ago, panicked that my photos didn't look great and then retreated quickly. A lot of people I follow on Twitter post Instagram photos and I started to realize that it was a nice, fun way to capture moments and interact on another level with friends and acquaintances. So I have tried again. I am limited by my dinosaur 4th generation iPod Touch's abilities. I think most people are using the newer iPod Touch or iPhones to post their photos. Emma pointed out that my iPad has a better capacity to take photos so I am using that sometimes. I really like the way that looking at someone's profile page on Instagram gives a sense of the person. Like a visual collage bio. And I'm trying not to be a perfectionist about my photos (always a challenge for me :).  I quite like the experience this time. Here's a photo I posted on Instagram this morning. Meeko, my buddy, absolutely glued beside me on the sofa. Mutual comfort.

I have been working on a new print this week that combines a hand-lettered quote with some painted images. It took three tries to get the lettering the way I liked it. I'll post it once it is finished.

The week has ended for me with a cough and stiff neck. I'm not sure at all if they are related. Maybe my neck is complaining about all of the computer and painting time I've spent this week? On the other hand, Chloé missed school one day this week so maybe she shared some of her germs with me. So I am writing this with a heated pad around my neck and probably shouldn't spend too much more time at the computer today. I hope the weather is as beautiful in your corner of the world as it is here today.

You may have noticed that I've added 'Bloglovin' as a way to follow my blog in the right column. Google Reader is being discontinued in July. I don't know if Google will offer a replacement so it seemed best to provide another way of following me.  There are other options out there but Bloglovin seems to be popular. 

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