horse mural at Calgary Stampede

check out the HORSE MURAL at the
Calgary Stampede

Phil Alain and Lewis Lavoie

from

MURAL MOSAIC

have organized this great mural project

check out their website for details:

www.muralmosaic.com

created by 174 artists, each painting their own panel

which forms the horse mural when they are put together

Here is the panel I painted...

"Iron Horse" -panel # 62

I saw the sign...

I saw this sign in Vancouver last week.....

I guess I better get MOVING...

good thing I started going for my daily walk again

beautiful bleeding hearts...

I love how these look like they have a droplet of water

dripping from the center

I also love this quote from Eckhart Tolle:

"Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal than the plants out of which they emerged, would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. They not only had a scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a fragrance from the realm of spirit."

pretty poppies

I saw some incredible poppies on my walk this morning...

my poppy mandala...

eating crow....

I guess it was me after all...

yes....I am the GUILTY party....

It was me that forgot to return the dinner plate.

funny how the blame got shifted to my sister...

I guess I will have to eat crow

...so sorry Lindy Loo that you had to suffer the rath of the plate berate

basement babies?...

I was attempting to make some basement babies yesterday...

and this is what arrived....

vancouver art scene....

I have always enjoyed perusing the unique art
from the Vancouver art galleries

and my last visit didn't disappoint.....

here are some favorites from the

MANDY TSUNG

This is one of her "Belladonna" paintings that
was on display at the Ayden gallery...
but check out these great "eye" paintings
from her website http://www.mandytsung.com/

J. SHEA

KRISTIAN ADAM

and from some other galleries.....

BELLA TOTINO

I love how she titles her paintings...

like this one which is called
"I don't know what I am doing that for"

or this one....which is called:
"Saturday night weiners and beans"

CAROL HAIGH

Jesse Reno workshop

JESSE RENO

Jesse Reno "Never Doubt Your Ability to See the Future" 24 x 48

I just got back from painting with Jesse Reno in Vancouver...

Here are some of my paintings...

this one is probably my fav......which guy is flying?

we started off applying paint to the surface with our fingers...

covering the entire surface with random colors

I haven't finger painted in a very long time

and it was FANTASTIC!!

remember?

running your hands through the gooey mess?

once we had our surfaces covered...then we starting adding shapes like eyes or circles....
then we outlined an image in the colored mess
making it the foreground and blocked out
the background with a solid color,
which was the hardest part because we were all
used to making the colored mess the background.
We also added bits of drawing with charcoal or black crayon
and oil pastels....and sometimes drawing with our eyes closed.

Here is the progression of one of Jesse's paintings...

Here is Jesse Reno with artist Lana Guerra

I can remember meeting Jesse for the first time...
I was fascinated by his hair....
(which is probably when my desire for dreadlocks started!)

Jesse & Leanne

THANK YOU to LEANNE
from Rubydog's Art House
for putting on this workshop...
taking great care of me & all of us!

guilty pleasure....

well...I hate to admit it

but I have this guilty pleasure of secretly taking

a page from magazine while I wait at the dentist or doctors office.

Why is it that all the good articles or reference material

shows up at that moment in that magazine??

Sometimes the magazines are really old so its not like I can go buy

the same magazine....so I shamefully rip and tear.

It all started when I was waiting for my daughter at the

orthodontist...and I came across this great picture of a diamond....

It really inspired me and there was no way I could leave without

taking that image. So I painstaking started to rip the page from the

spine of the magazine...a 1/4 inch at a time so that no one

would notice. I have seemed to master that technique

pretty good now...(not that I do this alot)

BTW...Here is the painting that was inspired by the diamond picture....

I know...I know...how horrible it is for the next person that
comes along reading an article and they flip the page and the
end of their story is missing...I apologize.
That same thing has happened to me when I was using a phone book
at a pay phone...(payback I guess)

I do believe in the law of give and take...and the karma thing

so I understand that there will be some payback / balance created....

and I am ok with that.

Anyway...CHECK OUT this article from my recent dr ofc visit...

ELEPHANTS are so fascinating!

I love that fact that they are led by the oldest female! GIRL POWER

This article has rekindled my desire to go to Thialand
and stay at one of those elephant camps where you get
assigned an elephant and feed and care for them during your stay.
I LOVE that fact that elephants are so large but they are so gentle.

When I go...I will have to include a side trip to Bali of course!

Hindu goddess?....

Here is a fantastic creation done by my neice Leya...

it reminds me of the Hindu Goddess Durga...

An embodiment of creative feminine force,

Durga exists in a state of self-sufficiency and fierce compassion.

Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never

loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

Durga