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.

❤  ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤

A Clean Studio and Backyard Miracles

I took this photo this past week in my studio. I'm pretty happy with how it's looking these days. My studio cleanup has made a big change. Because you are my friends, I will admit that there are a few things not appearing in the photo that still need to be dealt with. There are quite a few boxes not within the camera's range--maybe even nudged out of its range with my foot when I took the photo. My studio is not in a state of perfection yet (as if) but this part is what I see when I come up the stairs and it is making me happy. There has also been more light this past week. I love that.

I have a skylight in my studio which gets northern light. It is lovely, even light--the perfect light for painting. In the winter though, my skylight is sometimes covered completely with snow and, on those days, there is virtually no natural light. The skylight is my only window.  My art lamp is good. I've had it for decades and it combines fluorescent and incandescent bulbs to approximate natural light. But nothing can compare with good daylight. I am grateful for the days when I get that.

I have been painting in past weeks. If you follow my Instagram feed, Facebook page or Twitter account, you may have already seen these paintings. I took these photos one evening, hence the dramatic lighting. :)

These wintry days, I often paint using photos as reference. This is a sweet little Eastern cottontail rabbit who visited our front yard last June. I have loved rabbits all my life. I have a postcard of Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare that I have kept for years. This is my first painting of a rabbit. I am so proud of how this little fellow turned out. I am going to paint more. I know that many people detest the rabbits that visit their gardens and ravage their plants. To date, the rabbits who have visited here have only looked cute and pruned my plants lightly (and driven Meeko slightly crazy). All is well...for now.

I did this daffodil painting from a photo I took in my back garden. It was in either Chloé or Emma's garden patch. The photo didn't show the tulip in the background or daffodil buds at the side. I added those to help the composition feel more balanced. I know that not everyone agrees with using photos as references. I really don't see the problem as long as you use your own photos (definitely not okay to copy others' photos without permission) and also not be a slave to them. I like to use my photos as a starting point and then to put them aside and make sure that the painting makes sense on its own.

This is another painting that I worked on most recently. I slept very badly for a few nights this past week. About four hours each night. Because of the very tired state I was in, I didn't want to do final details on a painting I loved or to try to start a painting that might be complicated. I have a stack of paintings in one drawer--paintings that were either intended as studies or were meant to be more but didn't quite work out that way. I figured I would spend time on one of them. If it worked, great. If it didn't, back in the drawer. This is the 'after' of the one I decided to work on. I should have taken a 'before' photo. I am so happy with how this painting has turned out. This was a sweet, unexpected visitor in our yard about two years ago. I had to look it up at the time. It looked like something between a large sparrow and a fluffy bunny. A google search showed me that it was a 'snow bunting'. The study in my drawer seemed awkward and had many hard edges. I scrubbed the hard edges out and adjusted the parts that had bothered me (around the beak and eyes). I really like how it has turned out.


A lesson. Perhaps a life lesson. Don't give up on your paintings. I have learned this over and over again. Maybe every now and then there is one that definitely deserves to end up in the recycling basket but for most, put them in a drawer. On another day in perhaps another year, there will be hope. Oh yes, and be open to the appearance of miracles in your backyard like snow buntings. :)

Warm Wishes from Canada!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers! I have been looking at Instagram today and it is making me hungry! All of those beautiful photos of Thanksgiving dinners. Oh my, the pies!

We celebrate Thanksgiving in October in Canada so we fill our bellies then but, come November, we feel hungry again! Imagine that!

I am offering free shipping in my Etsy shop this weekend for the big Black Friday + Cyber Monday shopping weekend. I've never offered free shipping before. I hope it helps some holiday shoppers. It's available to everyone no matter where you live and there is no coupon required. I've already adjusted the shipping to zero in all of my listings. It is available right now up until midnight on Monday, December 2, 2013. I hope you take a moment to have a look.

I had the weirdest dream about it last night.  I dreamt I was wildly trying to cancel my free shipping offer as I realized that the frozen hamburger patties were going to defrost in the mail. Huh? I was mailing single frozen patties in envelopes. How bizarre! Where did that come from? When I was writing about my dream in an email to my sister this morning, I started laughing to the point of tears.

If any of you do take advantage of my free shipping offer, I promise no defrosted hamburger patties, just pretty paintings, prints and cards celebrating flowers and nature. You know me by now. :)

In other news, we finally have pretty snow here! Usually Montreal leads in snow but, this year, everyone seemed to get it before us. Two nights ago, we got our first snow but it was slushy and, well, it just didn't count. Last night, we got a light covering of pretty snow. Not much but this one counted. Plus, the temperatures were cold enough that Meeko and I were able to do our winter forest walk for the first time this season. Talk about joy! Part of the trail in the little forest near us goes through a swampy area so it needs to be below freezing to walk there. It's inaccessible for three seasons of the year. I wasn't sure if it would be okay today but the water was frozen 'just' enough. It is one of the few places that I am able to walk with Meeko off-leash. We have worked so hard together, so he knows that he can run ahead a certain distance but then needs to wait for me to catch up. I was so proud of him today to see that he had our routine memorized despite the fact that we haven't been there since last March. I wish I had my camera with me today as the forest was so pretty but there will be plenty of opportunities in the weeks ahead.

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating today too! I was just reading that Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah haven't coincided for 125 years and it won't happen again for more than 70,000 years. Wow! Wherever you are in the world, whether you are experiencing snowflakes or sunshine, and whatever your faith, I hope you are celebrating both the day and season. ❤

A Very Special Painting

When I received the message on Facebook this past summer, I remember reading it with my hand over my heart. Andra introduced herself as the mother of a little girl who had recently died of cancer, a day before her sixth birthday. She wondered if I would do a painting in memory of her daughter.

My initial reaction was that I couldn’t possibly do it. It seemed so sad. I thought that doing the painting would make me feel sad. Then I reread her message.

The girl she was describing was a joyous and happy person. Andra listed the colors she liked best: pink, red, yellow, light blue and green. She told me how Helen loved flowers, ladybugs, rolly-pollies, butterflies, birds, the beach and sea creatures. She said that she wanted the painting to include Helen’s name as well as some of her loves.

I realized that this was a very happy painting she was describing.  Helen enjoyed so many of the same things that I do. She was someone who loved nature and who thoroughly appreciated the world around her. The list of Helen’s likes included many of the things I love to paint the most.

I wrote back to Andra and, over a series of emails, we came to an agreement that I would do a painting for Helen. She wanted a painting that was larger than I usually do. After much thought, I committed to doing a 16 x 20 inch watercolour.

Andra was lovely throughout the process. She left the visual side of the painting entirely up to me. I showed her the initial rough sketch I had come up with and then she very, very patiently waited to see the final version. The painting took me several weeks to complete.

My initial rough sketch when I was trying to figure out the contents and composition.

I started by painting the banner and then began adding all of the other elements.

Slowly but surely, I added all of the creatures and flowers.

With most of main elements in place, I started to pull the sky down and behind the flowers.

This watercolour was an absolute joy to work on but it also was a lot of work. Its size, the number of things it included made it one of the most complex paintings I have worked on in a very long while. The detailed sketch alone took me two days. I don’t generally do detailed sketches but this painting required it. By the time I finished the painting, I realized I had looked at almost 50 reference photos in order to be sure that I was being true to all of the creatures and flowers I had included. In my research, I even found a flower that is called ‘Helen’s Flower’ (Helenium). It’s the yellow flower on the left and right (visible in the full view of the painting). The shell, sea urchin and starfish were all from my seashell collection. Some of my garden flowers were used as models.

A detail from the centre of the painting

Details from the bottom of the painting - A snail, mushrooms, a heart-shaped rock and three rollie-pollies playing together on the rocks at the right hand side.

It was so important to me to create something that was not just a good painting but something that was appropriate to and worthy of Helen’s memory. I wanted to create a painting that Helen would have loved.

Do you want to know something? I didn’t feel sad once while working on this painting. I felt happy. As I was working on it, I found myself thinking ‘Wouldn’t it have been nice to have met Helen and then I realized I did. I had met Helen “through” my painting.

After I sent photos of the completed painting to Andra, she responded within minutes:  “Oh, my goodness...It is absolutely beautiful! Helen would have loved it! The painting is soooo Helen…” Mission accomplished. I had created a painting that was true to Helen. I burst into happy tears.

When I asked Andra's permission to do this blog post about my painting and the story behind it, she said she would only agree if people didn’t feel sorry for Helen or her family. She said “Helen was so joyful and happy, she must be remembered that way too.”

My painting was done for a beautiful, joyful little girl who loved the world and all those around her. This painting is a celebration of a wonderful person named Helen.

A Mermaid's Tale

We have just come back from a glorious week beside the ocean in Maine. Two days at home and my head is still back in Maine with the mermaids, sea birds and beach glass.

Mermaids, you ask? Well, the only one I was able to get a photo of was a beautiful sand sculpture made by Emma and her cousin, Erica. But I think there's a possibility that there were other mermaids lingering behind the rocks just beyond my camera's reach.

Emma and Erica's beautifully sculpted mermaid complete with seaweed hair.

We rented a house with my sister's family. We spent many hours walking on the rocky beach in front of where we stayed. Each tide would bring in more sea glass, enough to share with everyone who was there.

My collection of sea glass and pottery. The most amazing find was the glass stopper pictured on the right.

It turns out that Emma has an eagle eye for finding sea glass. Even after the rest of us had combed the beach thinking we had found it all, Emma would find pocketsful of sea glass treasures.

And speaking of eagles, we saw one!  A bald eagle flew by on more than one occasion. Once, it flew within feet of the front porch. I don't have a photo of it that time. We just stood there awestruck. Here's a photo of it a little higher up in the sky on one of its fly-bys.

We also saw loons, herons and seagulls. I took a series of photos of one heron looking for and catching his supper.

I've started a painting of some of my beautiful beach finds. It's a way of me staying in touch with our beautiful Maine vacation while I slowly get used to being back home.

This painting is still in progress. A few more details to go.

Uh oh. It's happening again. There go my thoughts, somewhere back in Maine with the mermaids, beach glass and sea birds.

Midsummer Mosaics

Where did the month of July go? Well, part of ours was spent in the beautiful Muskoka region of Ontario.

Meeko is always up for a road trip. He will often hop into the van before we even get a chance to pack it. He's like a space marker. "Don't forget me!"

We spent nine days with family (cousin time!), reading, walking, cooking and swimming. We visited the lovely Wednesday farmers' market in Gravenhurst. Always a treat.

Meeko swam in the the lake and then swam some more.

We saw some forest creatures--several deer and two sweet fawns (in the photo above). I got a fabulous photo of a toad. Who would have thought that a photo of a toad in a rusty old wheelbarrow could be so beautiful?

I did a bit of painting while I was there. There's something wonderful about painting on a screen porch while listening to soft music and accompanying waves.  Chloé made a video of me. I didn't realize what she was doing. I'm very camera shy and probably wouldn't have cooperated if I knew what she was up to. Then she posted it on my Instagram account. The rascal! You can see it here. I'm not looking particularly glamorous but I am definitely deep in the painting 'zone'.  At the end of the video, you will hear a steam whistle. Meeko barks every time he hears it--even when I play the video. :) It's the whistle of the historic Segwun steamship that is North America's oldest operating steamship. It tours Lake Muskoka on a daily basis during the summer months.

I'm always amazed how much a garden can change when you are away even for a short time. It looks great thanks to our wonderful neighbours who water my flowers when we are on vacation. The garden is definitely in the billowy midsummer curve towards fall. I came back to hydrangeas blossoming and echinacea is in full bloom.

We have another short trip planned before the girls go back to school. When I was young, we would never go back to school in Ontario until after Labour Day. In Quebec, schools start in late August. I can never quite get used to that.

Hope you all had a beautiful July. I'll leave you with some photos of my mid-summer garden.

The photos in this blog post were all taken with my iPad. I did the mosaics with a cool little app called 'Picstitch'.

A Baby Sparrow, a Feather and a Cautionary Tale

Summer is here! Both Emma and Chloé are on holiday now. My days change significantly when they are in the house each day. Not that they are difficult at their age but I find my brain is more easily distracted when others are here. Plus for sure, there are occasional interruptions and taxi duties. And more sharing is required of computers, etc. Now it is the cranky, middle-aged mother, not toddlers, having difficulty with sharing.

Good news! I am slowly but surely getting used to my new computer setup and starting to produce prints from it. So proud of this little baby sparrow print.  I just added it to my shop today. I'll also be adding him in a larger 8 x 10 format. I have other prints ready to go into my shop and a pile more paintings to convert. It's slow work but worth it to me to do it right. Plus Emma, who is a Photoshop whiz, has been helping me a lot.

After having one of the best months ever sale-wise in May, June has been so, so quiet. I was worrying about it and then realized that it was actually a good thing as my computer situation would have made it very hard to keep up had it been busier. A good lesson in accepting and adapting to circumstances.

Here's another addition to my shop this week.

This is a card based on my sparrow feather painting. A customer asked me if that painting was available as a card. I try whenever I can to respond to customer suggestions like this. This one was a real challenge. I first approached it the way I do most of my paintings when making them into a print or card. Usually I scan the painting, then isolate my image and remove the paper texture around it. No matter how I did it, I was losing fine detail from my feather. I worked on it for hours, Emma helped me too, and I was about to abandon the idea of it ever being a card. Then I had the idea of including the paper texture! In the end, by including the paper texture and adding two fine lines as a frame, it has retained the three-dimensional look of the original work. The original painting was done within a rectangular hand-embossed area. It was definitely a 'eureka' moment. Wish it had come a little sooner but glad it came at all. :)

And a cautionary tale. I was so elated when I finally figured out the feather card that I immediately sent a message to the customer who had made the enquiry. And then I quickly sent an email to an artist friend with whom I share lots of the ups and downs of my art making and print making. I pressed send and then looked at my screen. To my horror, I had sent the second email (the one destined for my friend) to the customer as well. In the email I had referred to the 'stupid...I mean sweet sparrow feather', all within the context of the hours of work it had taken to finally get it right. A friend would understand. A customer? I'm not so sure. When I realized what I had done, I immediately sent a note of apology to the customer but I think the damage was done. I haven't heard back from her. I still feel awful and so embarrassed about it. From me to you: Be careful with that 'send' button.

I seem to be more tired lately, more distracted, clumsier. My feet seem to be twice as long as usual. Do you know the feeling? I am wearing new glasses which may be part of the problem. But I also think that the past weeks with all of the computer troubles have taken their toll. Nothing that a bit of summer can't cure I'm sure. ♥

My garden wakes up and I move forward

How do you spell joyful? How do you spell happy? How do you spell uplifted spirits? I believe they are all spelled G-A-R-D-E-N.

These photos were taken this morning on a little stroll through my back and front gardens. I mention the backyard first because that's usually where my walks begin--out the back door with Meeko by my side. This time of year is bursting with daily changes. I do regular inspections of shoots and buds knowing that more and more blossoms are on their way. The anticipation is delicious. The birds have been so loud (in a good way) the past few days. They are my marker that spring has truly arrived. There was a little song sparrow earlier today singing his little heart out. He perches in the neighbour's tree and I always like to imagine from year to year that it is the same little fellow. 

Spring. So much activity. So much life. So much to look forward to.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful words of encouragement that you wrote for me after my last post. I had tears in my eyes as I read them--not of sadness, more of amazement and gratitude for the wonderful, eloquent, big-hearted bunch of people who gather here. Thank you as well for the honesty that you spoke of your own art and struggles.  There is enormous strength in knowing that we are not alone in our worries and challenges.

Many of my posts are about ordinary things on ordinary days, but I have to say that when I have spoken up about deeper and more difficult things, the response has always been quite amazing. I find it extraordinary that we are able to make connections and establish friendships in what could be a cold and impersonal forum. I was thinking that the only thing missing at times like that is a big pot of tea or coffee or a bottle of wine in the middle of the table as we share our opinions and experiences.

I've put my setback behind me and have been painting this week and finding joy and satisfaction in it. I hope you are able to find time for creative pleasures this week whatever your medium. A big, big hug to you all.

My Heart and My Art

I hesitated to write this but it's about something that has taken up a good part of my week, so here it is. I have been waiting over the past week for an answer to something. I applied to be part of an online market. It's not important which one. What I wanted to talk about was my reaction.

First of all, the wait was hard. It's a case of only being contacted when the news is good. That made the wait even harder as I was hoping until the very last moment that maybe I was included and that the response had been delayed. But the answer at this point is definitely no.

And why does that hurt so much? I've been thinking a lot about it the past few days. Why does rejection of our art hurt? I think it's because it is part of us. Whatever we create includes a piece of ourselves. When our art is rejected, someone can say 'Don't take it personally' but it does feel personal.

I know the rational side. My art wasn't a good fit with this particular market. My art doesn't appeal to the curator. They were looking for a different style. That category was full. There are any number of ways I could explain it to myself in a reasonable way.

I know the emotional side. They don't like my work. They didn't pick me. They liked others' work better. My work wasn't good enough. I feel mad. I feel sad. Oh boy! We artists can be hard on ourselves.

I have a trick for when I am having trouble dealing with something. I imagine what I would say if it was one of my daughters having the same problem. It quickly provides perspective. In this case, I would say: "It's okay and understandable to feel a bit sad about the rejection but it is important to remember that it is only the opinion of one person. That needs to be weighed against all of the very positive things that have been happening for your work and the wonderful support it has from people all around the world. Maybe there is something you can learn from this and then you need to move forward."

Well then, that feels better. Doesn't it? Having one person say no doesn't take a thing away from all of the other positive achievements.

This is the photo that accompanied by very first blog post.

Being able to sell art online is wonderful but it's hard too. I remember the knots in my stomach when I made my first blog post. I remember when I put those first few things in my Etsy shop. Unless you are creating only for yourself, there is risk attached to sharing your work with the world. There will be people who like it and people who don't. When I mentioned to a friend that I sometimes wondered if the representational way I paint excludes me from some things, she said that for every style of art there is an audience. She is right. My sales have been increasing lately. I have had sales to places as far away as Greece, Australia and New Zealand. I have lovely customers and have made some wonderful online friends. My shop is being noticed by more people. I am creating new work on an ongoing basis. I am growing as an artist. I am being true to my heart. I am proud of what I produce. I am having fun.

The paintings at the top and bottom are of practice exercises from a course I am taking on botanical borders and hand lettering. Wonderfully therapeutic work to engage the brain while the heart is figuring things out. :)

If there are occasional tears, I think that it is just part of being fully engaged in my art. Have you ever noticed the materials that I list in the 'item details' under my Etsy listings? I list the paper, the ink or paint and then always add 'my heart'. Because it's true, my heart is there. The note that I send with each order confirmation says "Thank you so much for ordering from me! Knowing that you like my artwork puts a smile on my face. :)" If you saw me at my computer when I get a new order or receive a compliment on one of my paintings, you would know that is a fact. I do smile--both inside and out. ❤

Happy Spring!

We are not enjoying spring weather here yet. We had a big snowstorm on Tuesday so our spring so far looks like the photo above. Meeko is enjoying his snowy walks so I am trying to concentrate on his joy while outside. Trust me, under that fur are happy eyes. :)

While inside, I am painting 'spring'. I started working on a painting yesterday that I have had in my head for the longest time. I wanted to 'paint' my blog and shop name. I chose the name 'Trowel and Paintbrush' because of how much I love both gardening and painting.

The second photo has a little more detail in the flower.  I've used Fabriano Artistico soft-press 140 lb. paper for this painting. It's the first time I've used their soft press paper (a grade between cold press and hot press). I'm not sure how much I like it yet but it is very easy to lift and push colours around on it which you can't always do on other papers. 

In the past couple of weeks, I have also put the finishing details on paintings that were in my 'almost finished' pile. I've already posted these on Facebook and Twitter but will include them here for those who only follow me here. 

So as you can see, there is a winter palette outdoors but the palette inside my head is definitely one of spring! The first day of spring was yesterday here but I am still celebrating. And happy autumn to my friends down under!

Coffee, Tea and Cake

In the past two weeks, I have worked on two paintings, one of tea and the other of coffee. My idea was to show the plant behind the beverages we enjoy on a daily basis. I tend to drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. I love both. And, as you already know I adore flowers, so I was happy to learn that both tea and coffee plants have beautiful white flowers.

The coffee painting gave me some problems early on. I just wasn't happy with how it started. That's when watercolour can be a troublesome medium. With oil or acrylic, I could have covered over the parts that were bothering me. I thought of abandoning it, but my stubborn nature kicked in and I found a way to balance out the composition and have ended up liking it after all.  The tea painting is already available as a print in my shop. I just have some small details to finish on the coffee painting and then it will be made into a print too.

Emma made the most wonderful orange cake over the weekend. It was as delicious as it looks. She used the recipe here. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

Chloé has her March break this week. Emma has hers next week. It's the first year that their breaks have been out of sync. I hope to find moments to paint in between spending some time with them. I have so many painting ideas swirling around in my head these days.

Leaf collection

The winter weather continues here despite occasional teasing hints of spring. Meeko and I walk every day whether mild or very cold like today. (Thank you, Meeko.) I don't always remember to take my camera but I did have it with me on two walks in the past few weeks. I was so enchanted by the colour and the wonderful forms of the dried leaves that have managed to hang on despite this winter's snowstorms and high winds.

Who says winter is drab and colourless? I took more photos of other beautiful forest finds that I will share in the days ahead.

I've had several people comment on how I like to paint leaves. It's true. I do. Looking at all of these leaf photos made me think of the leaf paintings I've worked on in the past year. I did a little mosaic of with some of them. I'm actually working on another painting of leaves right now--tea leaves. It will be a little different. I'll let you see it when it's a little further along. :)

Despite the fact that I am smitten with the dried, papery leaves I've been seeing in the forest lately, I am so looking forward to those beautiful green ones that are only a couple of months away.  This time of year I start to ache for spring. ❤