Enjoying the sights and sounds of a Mexican market

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laundry hanging outside, Pochutla market Mexico, senses stimulated in Mexico

On our recent trip to mexico, after a fun morning exploring a coffee plantation, we headed back down the mountain and ended up in the town of Pochutla where there was a large village market.  What fun!  What color, sights, sounds and fragrances! Again, a feast for each and every sense.  Since this was also the home town of our cab driver, we had both a fantastic guide as well as first hand information to go along with it!

Before getting to the market, we enjoyed some of the sights along the way.  In many of the small villages before Potchutla, both the dwellings and the clothes hanging outside on the line caught my attention.

Not sure exactly why, but I have a ‘thing’ about clothes on lines.  haha!  I think I am amazed at just how clean and bright everything looks and maybe it’s a childhood memory of the ‘smell  and feel’ of clothes and sheets after having been hung out to dry.

Sorry, for the rather crooked picture here, haha.  I was taking it from the car on a hilly street and I was more fascinated by the color than if it was going to be straight or not!

As we came into the town and found a place to park, again I saw clothes on a line, this time way up high!

And the market was bustling!!  All of our senses were being stimulated! Sights, sounds, smells!! Loved it!  Sorry ahead of time for some of the rather blurry pictures.  I was walking with the camera and didn’t want to stop all the time, so many of these were taken on ‘the fly’!

You can likely almost imagine all the fragrances!  Such as; the fragrance of fresh onions along with that of raw fish, combined with smoked fish, spices and herbs, etc, etc.

Our cab driver’s Mama was also at the market – selling bread.  Of course, we needed to buy some for snacks later in the day!  It was delicious too!

So many colors in the wares for sale, as well as in the buildings surrounding the market and throughout the town:

By this time in our trip, I had decided that one thing I really would love to bring home with me was a hammock created by an artisan here. We stopped at a booth that had quite a few, but I couldn’t find one in the size and color I was hoping for.  The woman who created them, asked if we would like to come to her home where she had many more to choose from……….  And off she went with us trailing along……..

We had no idea where we would end up, but we were ready for the adventure!  She went down one street and then the next and the next and she was moving pretty fast!! She welcomed us into her home and she allowed me to take a couple of pictures of her baby cradle as it was fascinating to me ~ hanging there just inside the kitchen door.  It had mosquito netting on top that could be pulled down and over to envelope the whole cradle.

The loom she used to make the hammocks was right inside her front door and living area as were many rolls of hammocking material and many finished hammocks.  I was able to find one to purchase and also both humbled and honored to see her home. We were able to see her back yard where more laundry was being done, the sleeping hammocks were hanging out and corn was growing in any available cracks in the concrete.

We found Mexican people to be very friendly.  We thoroughly enjoyed them and often wished we could speak more Spanish.  After enjoying a refreshing glass of water, we headed on our way again, enjoying more sights and sounds of market day.

I liked this hair salon (white building) as it had hairstyles painted on the outside and one of them was mine!  (second from right, under the scissors) 🙂

We were surprised to find Scotiabank in Mexico!! I had to crop this photo twice!!  haha, one to show Scotiabank and one because I loved how this lady was carrying flowers on her head and in her arms!

Many churches, all quite ornate and again, so much color everywhere!

We watched some construction going on, skill saws cutting bamboo instead of lumber!  and concrete being mixed smack in the middle of a market area!

There was a huge flag flying at town centre:

And many more colorful booths that we passed on our way back towards the car!

Lots of radishes!!  haha.  They were huge and such a beautiful color!

And then we passed the floral area!  Loved the colors of the buildings as back drop for the flowers.

And before we left and headed back after another great day in Mexico; one more look at some laundry;   🙂

 

 

A trip to a Mexican Coffee Plantation:

What kind of images come into your mind when you think of a coffee plantation?

Maybe I am naive, but for some reason I expected something like our typical Canadian apple orchards, ie; rows of coffee plants all neatly lined up; out along the side of the mountains!  haha. It was not so!!  🙂  Well, maybe it actually is in some places, but not so at Finca – Don Gabriel plantation where we went for a morning on our recent trip to Huatulco, Mexico.

After a long and winding trip up a mountain and through picturesque villages and towns, we ended up at Finca/DonGabriel coffee plantation.  After a much needed bathroom break!!:)  we could walk around and enjoy where we had ended up!  The first thing we noticed besides the fantastic view;

was an amazing fragrance coming from some plants right under the overhang of the building.  It didn’t take long to find the source;

and then to realize that this was actually a coffee plant in flower and what a deliciously sweet fragrance!! We waited for our guide and just enjoyed the beauty of where we had ended up.  Again the views were breathtaking and once again each and every one of our senses was triggered!

The views of mountains in the distance and deep valleys below, though a little hazy, were spectacular.  There were no noises beyond birds and the wind in the trees.  Our young guide showed up, and our cab driver became our interpreter.  We first walked through an info area, showing how the coffee beans are harvested, where, and then how they are dried and made into coffee. There was an assortment of antique tools and some interesting information sheets such as in the picture below, showing which countries provide the most coffee etc.

Then, we headed back outside to see the rest of the coffee plantation!  This plantation rather than having the plants growing in rows under the sun, had the plants growing underneath and around the bigger trees of the tropical forest; both organic and shade grown.  They grew under and around banana trees and all over along the hillsides with paths meandering throughout the grounds.  As we walked we were again overwhelmed by all the ‘raw’ beauty all around us! Orchid plants were just naturally growing between tree limbs;

Imagine how amazing that would be when it’s in full flower!  And banana plants with their fantastic and very interesting flower heads!

Haha,  I’m realizing I really didn’t get many pictures of the coffee plants, but they were growing underneath all of these banana trees.  Many of them had recently been pruned and we were told that after pruning, it takes another 4 years before they will produce coffee beans again!

We came across a very inviting pool as we rounded a corner on the path!  I think I got so overwhelmed by the beauty that I forgot to take more pictures of this area.  There was an overhang that had hammocks hanging under it overlooking this pool as well as the fabulous mountain vistas.

And the flowers that were just naturally growing here, there and everywhere were stunning!!

We came back to the main area and heard about and saw some of the rooms that were available for rent!!  Rooms for rent??  Say what??  haha, and for a great price!  A great place to stay if you needed a total ‘get away retreat’!!  This was the view from the balcony of one of the rooms, many of which had a hammock hanging invitingly on the balcony.

This large moth was just outside one of the rooms;

We then headed to the restaurant area where we enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee!! Well, of course……..we had to!!  haha.  We were on a coffee plantation after all!

Love all the colors in the kitchen area!

And these great clay cooking utensils hanging on the wall, both useful and decorative…….

We also ordered a few soft taco lunch items.   They were made right there on the premises in an outdoor kitchen area over an open fire and the taco’s themselves were made totally from scratch.  Even being pressed by hand in a unique press!

And the coffee was delicious!!!  Mmmmmm! After checking out the view one last time, we hopped back in the car and headed on to check out the rest of the town of ‘Pluma Hidalgo’.  The roads up here were pretty narrow, basically one way, though they actually were for two way traffic!  haha.   A few ‘tense’ moments when we needed to pass another vehicle as no guardrails at all, and some steep mountain slopes.  One time we had to back up a ways to let a larger vehicle get by.

We stepped into a church where a service was taking place (on a Monday).  Church was full! It felt a little intrusive, so we came back again a little while later. It was beautiful inside with paintings on the ceilings and interesting displays in glass cases along the walls.  Since there were still some people inside I was uncomfortable taking any pictures.

The dwellings were always interesting and we saw lots of laundry drying.  Not sure why, but I’m always attracted to clothes lines full of clothes!  The whites were always soooo white!

From one point in town, we were able to view the mountains from a different perspective.  We thought this bamboo fence was kind of neat!  Along the mountain road we saw a few bamboo groves growing.  I was surprised by the yellow stems.

Loving the many colors and textures in the houses and buildings;

I just had to take a picture of this interesting recycling bin which was basically made of pop bottles and also filled with empty pop bottles!

On the way back down the mountain, we passed an organic fruit stand.  We stopped and had some ice cream made from the big green fruit.  I believe it is ‘Annona muriacata’ or Soursop fruit.  Whatever it was, it sure was yummy!

We picked up some organic bananas to enjoy later in the evening.

In the next picture you can see one of the local ‘buses’ on it’s way down the mountain.  We were being bounced around a lot in a car.  I can’t even imagine standing in the back or on the bumper of a pick up truck!

We ended up in the home town of the cab driver where a big village market was!  A whole new experience and a blog for another day!  Stay tuned………..

 

 

Beauty in Mexico

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Emerald falls, Huatulco Mexico, Magic falls

Recently we took a trip to Huatulco, Mexico!  Wow!  What an amazing time we had and what a fantastic place to stimulate each and every one of the senses!!

On one of the days, we took a trip into the mountains in the area, to the Emerald or Magic Falls; a small piece of creation that had us amazed at it’s breathtaking beauty!  We hired a cab driver who we met earlier in the week.  He spoke English and we got along great with him!  It is a pretty long, winding and bumpy road to get up the mountain but the views along the way are beautiful; small villages, Mexican dwellings, lazy dogs and cows sitting right on the roads. Hammocks hanging from front porches, multi colored clothing hanging out to dry. Sometimes when we would look down into a valley and see a river way down there we would see bunches of clothing lying out to dry on big round river boulders.  When we started out at the bottom of the mountain, all the vegetation seemed brown and dry, but slowly as we went up, things began to change and it became greener and greener, lusher and lusher as the road seemed to get narrower, dustier and bumpier. We passed huge cactus plants and large groves of towering yellow bamboo. By the time we got to the area where the falls were we were in a lush, green tropical forest.

We walked alongside a river and every so often there were small falls along the way.  And each one was exquisite and beautiful in it’s own way.  The thing that struck me right away was the amazing color of the water in the river.  It was this amazing mix of soft teal, baby blue and a soft bluish beige shade.  This combined with the warmth of the air, the sound of the gurgling stream and gushing water tumbling over the rocks, along with tropical birds and the lushness of the surrounding forest added to the entire atmosphere.  I wished I could just sit there and take it all in with an easel and paints.  I missed my big camera but made do with a small point and shoot.  I kept stopping because each new vista was breathtaking and beautiful in it’s own individual way ‘calling me to come and experience!!’  Pictures just don’t seem to capture the awesomeness of the incredible beauty and they certainly don’t capture all of the feelings that go along with it, but at least they are something and they captured a tiny fragment of what it was like.  So, why not ‘walk with us’ and enjoy:

Finally after many of these smaller falls, we came to a larger falls area.  Once again the color of the water and the sound of the falls and the beauty of the entire area was beckoning.

We waded into the crystal clear, cool mountain stream water enjoying each and every sensation.

We kept walking continuing to be awed by the sheer beauty!

The vegetation along the path was gorgeous.  Many plants that back home we would only see in green houses, garden centres or maybe in someone’s home, were flourishing outside and under huge tree canopies with small and large vines hanging down everywhere.  Here and there were beautiful flowers boasting vivid colors.

A few areas had rope swings and at one point we passed a volleyball net spanning the river with rock steps heading down that way.

The above picture shows some of the smaller vines that we actually looked like thin ropes! Not sure they would hold if we tried swinging from them!

Eventually we came to a bigger area of falls where the dirt path ended and now it was either hang onto the bamboo logs rails, or the knotted ropes, and ‘walk in the water’ path!  haha.  But first again, we couldn’t resist dipping into the fresh water and sitting in the cool pool with our heads under the falls allowing the water to cool, sooth and refresh.  What an amazing feeling!  All the while, the sun is shining, birds are singing, the wind is rustling palm branches and leaves and colorful butterflies are flitting everywhere!  No sounds of cars, no city or town sounds.  Only the sounds of nature.  Beautiful!

Once we got back on the trail and up the wet rock climb, we were in another ‘pool’ and this one led to a falls that we could back into and end up in a smaller cave behind the falls which we then climbed out of and ended up in a larger cave that also had ropes available for climb out of it again!

Haha, we let the guys go that way, and the girls went back out and around to get up to the next level. The cave itself had what seemed like a huge natural rock pool which we had to climb over the side to stand in the cave (in the pool of water).  Each level was unique and beautiful in its own way;  rugged and unblemished.  After enjoying each level we headed back down the path and to the car where we were still amazed by beauty along the way back:

Neat to see air plants on branches right along the path, growing there naturally and thriving.

And some colored leaves, their colors made brighter by the clear water flowing over them.  Everywhere you looked, up, down, right or left, ahead or behind, there was always something incredible and inspiring to see!

We were blessed and sort of sad to leave!  But excited to see what awaited us next in this beautiful area of Mexico!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early morning moment!

Tags

fog, sun rays

A couple of mornings ago, I was up and about a little earlier than usual.  I poured a steaming mug of coffee and while heading to the computer, I happened to glance out the window!  Wow!  I’m so glad I did, because what incredible beauty I saw out there right in our own side yard!!  It was just ‘one of those moments’.  Coffee and computer were forgotten and I ran for my camera.  This I needed to at least try to capture somehow!

It was slightly foggy outside and the sun was just beginning to come up, painting wonderful rays on the lingering fog!  It was absolutely stunning and so much fun to photograph!!

There was something glorious and almost spiritual about the look and feel of the way the sun rays shone down through the fog.

I enjoyed soaking in the moment and snapping pictures of the beauty.  Even though I love the pictures, the real thing was even better!

Everything just had this ethereal look and feel to it.

I took a few more pictures before the breezes picked up and the moment became a memory!

It was a moment to savor!  One now left to my memory and these pictures!

I hoped this might happen again on the next couple of mornings as well, but alas, no fog the last few mornings!  I guess it was one of those special moments that only happens every so often!   It certainly made my day!

Painting of a different kind!

Tags

Oxford studio tour, painting

It’s that time of year again, Spring!  Yay, (and finally!)  Bulbs have been poking their heads up from the hard ground, and blooms are beginning to appear.

It has been a long winter in Ontario this year with much snow and lots of cold, cold days, so Spring is very welcome!!  Along with Spring comes the annual Oxford Studio Tour.   www.oxfordstudiotour.ca

This year is the 8th annual Tour and my third time on the tour!  Always exciting to prepare for and to look forward to having guests coming through our homes to view what we have been up to.  Once again there are many great artists on the tour this year, and many wonderful pieces of art showcasing various styles and media! Clicking on the link above will bring you to the website with more info regarding each participant, maps etc.

Getting ready for the tour is always fun in itself.  This week, I decided to work on some new encaustic (wax pieces).  They are a beautiful natural bees wax color when finished which is a soft warm golden/yellow.

When I went to hang them on our walls which were a soft green color, I realized that I didn’t like this look anymore!  And suddenly I had an urge to paint!!  The green wasn’t working for me.  We needed a new color and we needed it now!!

So, off to the store I headed and picked out a warm sort of grey called ‘Autumn Fog’ by Sico.  I had never tried this kind of paint before but was assured that I would like it.

Always fun, to open a fresh new can and go for it!!  I started with the cutting in, one of my favorite parts of painting walls!  haha, but this was taking, long, long, long as there are 8 openings in this room;  3 windows, 3 doors, the fireplace and my art area!!

For some reason, those beginning stages are always a bit freaky!   I always second guess myself.  Did I pick the right color? What if I don’t end up liking it? etc, etc.   And doing this a week before the Studio Tour with so much clean up and set up yet to do, made me question my sanity!!  🙂

Finally, the cutting in was finished and I could begin the rolling!  This is when it actually looked like something was happening and the green slowly disappeared, and yet I wondered; ‘was it the right decision?’

That’s me, just a working away!  I had put down drop sheets just in case.  If I don’t have them, I will spill for sure.  I was dragging them around the room with me as I went!  But of course, I miss folding down one little corner and …………

I was excited to finish that first coat and take a look at our ‘new room’!!  In the end I loved it!!  Yesterday it got a second coat!  And now I can start to re-set everything!  Each time I walk in the room, I love the soft effect.  Things look different in the room and as our niece said, ‘It has a calming feel to it’.   Only problem now is seeing this new color against the old colors of the other rooms.  haha – the paint will have to change in more rooms – eventually!!

I also have a huge pile of purging, cleaning and sorting to do now!   We had to empty all the bookcases and shelves and……. I have been hoarding magazines!  Some of them, I keep because I just love the pictures inside and use them for creating journal entries or calendars for friends etc.  I think some will be hitting recycle, some are being thrifted and some that I just cannot get rid of will be re-stored into bins in case I decide to use them in some art journaling classes.  Funny how much stuff we can end up storing and saving!!  I guess it’s a good idea to clean out every so often!!  Spring cleaning as well as freshening up!!

Now that the room is fresh and clean, I can begin the set up once again!!

The curtains are re-hung, the windows washed and the glass cloches scrubbed and re-arranged.

I can start with the small things and then I will re-arrange the encaustic and the bigger art pieces!  Looking forward to this week, to finishing set up and seeing how the paintings look against the new color!  I think they are going to pop!  I don’t have any pictures of that yet, as the paint needs to cure a bit before I put things against or on it!!  So you may just have to come out to the Studio Tour to see the final outcome and also to see what color we picked to freshen up the front door (love it)!!  Have a great day and a great week!!  Hope to see some of you next weekend!!

Two years ago at studio Tour the magnolia out front was in glorious bloom.  If it warms up again this week, maybe…………

 

 

 

 

The loss of an icon

Tags

Tobacco kiln

Since moving to our present home, five years ago now, a ‘silent sentinel’ we’ve had sitting alongside the path out into the fields is our iconic tobacco kiln.  Yes, it was old and it was no longer used for tobacco, but there was just something about it!!  It stood there quietly, yet with its own story of years gone by.  It was slowly deteriorating, yes, but there was a beauty in it’s deterioration!  It had its own unique presence out there in the field and we often walked by it to walk the land or drove by it on the lawn tractor as we mowed the path.  It had a beauty in every season!

In the winter it had a sort of haunting, lonely look.  It stood out in the snow with the dried grasses all around.  It looked just as interesting on the first frosty days before the snow;

During the ice storm last year it was very photogenic!!

On foggy days, it seemed to have a mood all it’s own;

It stood tall amongst the goldenrod, fall daisies, and red Virginia creeper vine during the fall days;

The siding was peeling and the many layers of ashphalt pieces only added to it’s unique character;

Inside the kiln itself, was also interesting, with many layers of wooden boards once used to dry the tobacco;

Lately those same boards were used to house bird nests and likely the odd raccoon.

When the Tobacco harvest was happening, it made for a great back drop in pictures, even though was no longer used to dry tobacco.

It also made a great foreground for cloudy sky pictures:

Well, all that changed about a week ago!  We had wind, Wow!  did we ever have wind!!  It was gusting like crazy.  I was in the kitchen peeling some potatoes.  There is one window in the kitchen where I can look out and see the kiln in the distance.  This is what I saw:

Sorry for the rather poor quality, this was taken via cell phone through a window and a screen.  I thought the kiln looked like it may have a bit of a lean, so I ran upstairs to get a better view from an upper window:

Yup, definitely a lean!  A little while later, I heard another strong gust, I looked out the window again and watched as our ‘beloved icon’ in what seemed like slow motion, toppled to the ground, leaving me with only this view (no more kiln in the background):

Noooooo!!!!  I ran back upstairs to see this:

I was not impressed.  😦  I will miss this silent sentinel in our ‘back 40’!

but………… it did give me a chance the next day, to get a few last photos of the kiln  (to be shown in another blog)  stay tuned…….

 

Just a walk

Tags

monochromatic beauty, nature

I had been working in the studio for most of the day, preparing some new encaustic (wax) pieces.  It was time to do something else and get a little fresh air.  I figured it was a good time to take a walk.   Even though the leaves have mostly fallen and it seems like it might not be long until winter, I figured I’d see if I could find some beauty along the way!  I was pleasantly surprised!  In the garden flowering, are the last of the purple monkshood;

I loved how much color was still in the background of this picture!  The next picture also had some pretty rich color in it for this time of year.  Even though this is the Nightshade weed, it is a beautiful color right now and such a great contrast between the deep purple leaves and the brilliant red berries.

Pretty much everything else is now monochromatic in coloring; mainly in various shades of beige and brown but still so beautiful:

 

It was the perfect time of day, as the sun was beginning to set, just before dinner time and the glow that it gave everything only added to the beauty!

I especially loved the look of the dried Queen Anne’s lace heads:

 

 

Even this dandelion head looked exquisite in the fading light!

These dried up daisies were just alongside the path.  I love their dried beauty.  There is just something about them that is still breath taking.

And the sunflowers in the garden were also hanging there all dried up, with their leaves even dried like the wind was still blowing them.  As I walked up little birds flitted away.  They have been enjoying the abundance of seeds from these!

And elsewhere in the garden some more lovely seed heads:

And last but not least the tall grasses were dancing with their beautiful softly hued fronds:

Every time I walk outside there seems to be beauty to be found; in every season, and even in all sorts of weather.  If you get a chance, take a walk outside today and see how many beautiful things you can still find out there!!  Enjoy!!

A beautiful moment!

Tags

beauty of fresh snow, hoarfrost, ice fog

This post is going to be a little different than usual, as it is basically taken right from one of my journal entries – March 25th, 2014.

That morning, I got up early and had to hurry to get ready to make it on time to Kitchener for a few appointments with the first being at 8:40am.  When I glanced out the window, I was a little frustrated ~ once again it had snowed, and everything looked white meaning it was most likely a little slippery (again!!).  This meant I had to leave a little earlier and I still had a bunch of things to gather together before heading out.  Little did I know what beauty was in store for me that morning!!  🙂

Here it is from my journal:

“I drove into Kitchener early this morning on my way to several appointments.  I certainly didn’t have beauty on my mind as I left, but God had some beauty in store for me that morning!!!  What a beautiful drive I had!!  I did not have my camera with me – so the beauty I saw is now like precious pictures in my memory!  

Each and every twig, branch, fence post, wire and even every weed had been painted with a delicate layer of hoarfrost!  The dirty messy snow banks had been covered with a fresh white blanket – clean, crisp and sparkling.  The sun was just beginning to rise and it set this newly whitened piece of the world – just a – twinkling!!  The new layer of snow that I had found annoying and rather depressing just minutes before – now redeemed itself and I think maybe me too in the process!!  

I saw a robin – which two days before we had been so excited to see as it meant hope to us that this winter was pretty much over – huddled amongst some twinkling branches, her orange belly feathers all fluffed up and in stark contrast to the fresh white layer all around.  What a picture she would’ve made!  I glanced over to my right and a large clump of frosted pampas grass shone with a pinkish – peachy glow in the up-coming sunlight as it broke through the frozen mist behind them (how I wished I had my camera!!)

As I traveled a little further a movement caught my eye, and I saw three coyotes trotting across a freshly whitened field.  One stopped, warily looking back towards my vehicle. The three of them together looked so beautiful as if they also were enjoying this ‘gift’ of a morning.

 I continued on, and came across a small patch of ice fog.  I thought it was just car exhaust or maybe a small patch of regular fog, until as I drove through it, I suddenly noticed twinkling and it felt to me as if God was showering down sparkles of diamond dust!!!  The bits of ice within the fog were picking up the sunlight and twinkling it back into my eyes.  I had never experienced that before, but it truely was a beautiful moment!  I’m not sure I could even capture that with a camera if I tried! 

And then I noticed how the same glittering frost now covered all the tall weeds that were bent over and ugly from the winter but now were transformed and most beautiful looking.  I thought about how if our God could create such beauty all around, even transforming the weeds and ugliness left by a harsh winter, what more can he do with each of us!!  By now I had arrived at my first appointment.  When I came out a half an hour later, things were warming up and the frosty layer was melting away.  The moment had been  just that!  But what a beautiful and memorable moment it was!!  What a beautiful way to start my day!!

Because I just can’t seem to put up a blog with no pictures at all, I decided to look through my photo cache and see if I had some somewhere of hoarfrost along the roads, and wouldn’t you know it, I did have some from exactly 3 years ago!!  To the date!!  march 25th, 2011!  Remember to enjoy each and every day!!

 

 

Coincidence?

Tags

6, path, pathways, Proverbs 3:5, straight path

Coincidence?  Some might say so, other’s may call it a ‘God Thing’ or a ‘God moment’.  Whichever it was, it was pretty cool!  It certainly felt like an affirmation to me!

Last week I began a new mixed media piece using some photo’s I have taken of pathways!

I  always enjoy the look of a woodland path or boardwalk, stretching out before me and leading forward and onward through the nature and beauty all around.  I love how a path can meander a little and have greenery and sometimes big trees or flowers stretching out along its edges.  All these pictures of pathways that I have taken over the years reminded me of  a text found in Proverbs where it says:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will

 make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3: 5,6 NASB

I, and many others I know, have found this to be a pretty meaningful verse and I had been thinking of doing a piece around this verse for a while already.   I am in the process of getting ready for the next Studio tour, this May 3rd and 4th, and have been trying to finish up a few new pieces before the end of this month.  I began this one last week Monday and have been steadily working away at it.  I began by laying down the background colors knowing that I wanted to use some prints of my path photos as well as lots of greens and some yellows, golds, browns and grays.  I had been planning on using this piece in a blog to begin with – showing some of the process as I worked along.  Lol.  sometimes I have good intentions and then get carried away in the moment and forget to keep photographing.  At least you get a chance to see the very beginning and then again midway – nearing end!  So, here goes: the laying down of color to begin!  Not too pretty really!

After I get the basic colors squirted out onto the canvas, I begin rolling them into the shapes and areas that I want them.  This is done fairly loosely as I know many more layers will still be added on top of this and I just need to cover up the stark white of the canvas.

I used my hand to smoosh around some of the yellow at the top to get a smoother finish than I can with the roller.

The next step was to add some of my printed out photographs.

This is the point I got carried away and did a lot of work in between here totally forgetting to take any pictures.  Oops, sorry!   Most of the work done was fill in and layering.

I then decided to put the wording of the verse on small scraps and glue them down the one side of the canvas;

I found some meanings to the words in a vintage scrap dictionary and tore them out placing them down the main area of my path in various orientations, both horizontally and vertically to add some interest.  I know that I will want them to sort of fade into the background, but still be visible upon closer scrutiny.

Now I was at the point of having to decide what I wanted to place next.  I knew that I wanted some of the smaller pictures of paths framed with the copper foil wrapped glass pieces (something I usually add to each original) and that I would place them down along the other side of the canvas.

I wanted to add something a little more tangible, so collected some small smooth stones from outside to add to the pathway.  I was working on this for a little while yesterday while my daughter was looking on.

Then, my daughter and I were called away to do a photo shoot and on the way home, we needed to stop at a Gas station for a fill-up.  She offered to do the filling up and as she did, she knocked on my window and was motioning ahead of me.  I saw some vehicles and some people and wondered if I should know them or something, but I didn’t, so I opened the door and she said; “Mom! Look at that truck up there!”  I looked and could see a black pickup with a painted back window.  When I looked closer, I could see that it had three crosses painted on it as well as a verse.  I thought that was pretty cool until I looked a little closer yet, –  what verse was it?    ………..    the exact one (Proverbs 3:5,6) that I was working on!!  How amazing was that???  It sure felt like an affirmation to me!! I love those moments!!

I used my cell phone to take a quick picture through a very dirty windshield!  Haha, but you get the point!

Well, anyways;  today I continue working on this piece.  It is coming together quite nicely for having just started it last week!

Hopefully I can finish it up this week.  This is always the hardest part.  There is a fine line between over doing a piece and having it just right!

If you check back to my website late April, 2014 or come out to the Studio on May the 3rd or 4th, 2014 you will be able to see the original in it’s finished state!

 

 

The colors of Eastern Canada

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colors of Newbrunswick and Nova Scotia

This past summer, 2013, my hubby and I had a quick vacation out East through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  One of the things that really made an impression of me while there was the use of so many different colors!

There were many vividly bright colors, especially on houses and many found along the coastal areas of Nova Scotia.  So, this blog is dedicated to some of those colors!

The town of Lunenburg was especially colorful!  As you walked down the streets it almost looked as if someone had taken a big crayon box, opened it up, and used a different color for each house or building!  So much color!

There were colorful doorways, colorful trim and colorful flowers as well!!

 

All of these colors soon became homey and inviting.  I’m sure they would look really neat in a winter landscape as well!  That may just be another trip sometime!

The above picture was taken at a bed and Breakfast that we stayed in Halifax.  It was as colorful inside as it was out!  Loved it!!

We also saw this black house in Halifax!  All that black really makes the red door ‘pop’!

It was really fun to drive along and then suddenly turn a corner and see all sorts of color!  This was a trip to a different part of our country and we totally enjoyed it!!  So much beauty, both in the nature all around and also as you can see, in all the colors found throughout the Eastern provinces!