On my painting table this week

What was on my painting table this week: my finished amaryllis, my maybe-finished pomegranates and the beginning of a seashell painting.

I worked on the seashells a little more this afternoon.

Taken in the evening so everything has a bit of a yellow glow from the light.

I had a lot of trouble getting myself up to the studio this past week: appointments, car trouble, mother duty and sometimes just getting stuck on the computer chair.

I'm going to try and do things the other way around this week. Painting first. We'll see how it goes.

Gusts and Blooms

There have been a couple of days recently when I have sat inside the house and watched the weather change in a rapid, extreme way. I get this feeling that I'm trapped inside some sort of bubble (like a snow globe) and there is a mad scientist* outside spinning the weather dial. Yesterday, we experienced driving rain, melting snow, sunshine, ferocious winds, flaky falling snowflakes and plummeting temperatures--all within a few hours.  Have you been having weather like that?  I went out for a walk with Meeko in the afternoon and came back early because the trees were bending so much with the wind at that point that I thought it wasn't wise to continue.

Odd weather makes for good days to hunker down in the studio and paint. My amaryllis painting is coming along--still in progress but almost there.  It's come a long way from its pale beginning.  The blooms on my plant have started to wilt so I am so happy that I took several photos of it. I was thrilled this morning to see that another stem is starting to grow from the base so I will have more beautiful flowers to admire in the weeks ahead.

Thanks everyone for the oh-so-kind comments on my last post. I am very lucky to have such a lovely group of online friends. I also appreciate those who come to read and don't have the time or inclination to leave a comment. To show my appreciation, I am thinking about having a giveaway sometime this month--perhaps a small original.

Meeko and I have the house to ourselves for many hours today. Jocelyn, Emma and Chloé are going to be away for the day and most of the evening--all going in different directions. I feel a little bit giddy with the thought of all that time to myself. I'll paint during the day but I'm not sure what I'll do with my evening. Perhaps a Downton Abbey marathon if Meeko agrees. I think he will. He's enjoyed the episodes so far, as he likes the canine cast members especially when they bark.

Happy February and happy weekend! ❤

*unfortunately I think that 'mad scientist' is foolish mankind

On Age and Amaryllis Bulbs

Well, hello there! I feel like my January is just beginning. Emma went back to school on Monday after a month-long break. So the house is mine again during the days. I don't mean that in a selfish way. I just find it easier to concentrate when I'm alone.

I made it up to my studio yesterday and actually painted. It's so hard after a long break. I get weirdly scared and then everything is fine again, once I get a paintbrush back into my hand. I started to paint an amaryllis bud that had just started to open. I've never grown an amaryllis bulb before. I don't know why. They are so simple to grow. It was included as a bonus when I ordered a bunch of tulip bulbs in the autumn.

And look what I found when I walked up my studio stairs today! I gasped out loud. So extraordinarily beautiful! Its name is 'Rosalie'.  I think I'll do another painting of it.

January just seems to be slipping by. I might have been quiet here but lots was going on. Chloé went back to school on the 8th so she is already busy with school projects and extra-curricular basketball practices and tournaments. Emma started her new term of CEGEP (Quebec's unique college for Grade 12 and 13 students) yesterday. She has recently started taking driving lessons. She had her hair cut--over ten inches which she is giving to a local foundation that makes wigs for children with cancer. She looks so very grown up and beautiful with her new haircut. I sold an original painting out of my studio last week which was a wonderful thing. I've also joined a number of treasury teams on Etsy and have become a leader of one of them. I'm really glad to be back painting and my challenge will be to make sure that my social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter can be such time holes) and Etsy involvement are kept balanced so I can keep producing new work--well, because that's where the joy is.

Chloé made a beautiful family tree for her Spanish class. She used metallic silver and gold markers on black bristol board and cut out photos of apples to represent each person. The class had to present their family trees in front of the class and describe their family members including their ages. I cringed when I heard that. I'm sure I'm the oldest, or one of the oldest, mothers in the class. How did I get so sensitive about this age thing? I surprise myself sometimes. 

Actually last year, my private new year's resolution (and we don't tend to choose the easy things, do we?) was to embrace my age more fully. I don't think I was very successful and here I am a year later and a year older! There's nothing much we can do, is there? Even though there is much talk these days about age acceptance, I'm not always sure it's true. Youth does seem to be revered more than age. And as an artist who relaunched her career in her fifties (there I said it!), I think I worry about being pegged or ignored because of my age. I was very interested in reading Lisa Congdon's blog post this week. It really resonated with me even though I am a full decade older than she is. There, I'm getting very brave, aren't I? And now I will go look at my blog stats and see if my readers are running for the hills.

Here's a special somebody who doesn't care how old I am. I'm willing to bet he loves me just the way I am and almost as much as he loves snow.