Breaking up the panels...

2, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Who would have thunk it?

Breaking up the panels...

3, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Quite interesting...shall do more of these...nice trick!!!

Hmmmm

4, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

I thought I would give my wooden panels another go. Originally I bought them to experiment with moving panels about while I paint, in hopes that I could trick myself into generating ideas. All those months ago, I remembering being pleasantly surprised how much I liked painting on wood. Could it be my surface? Moving panels about also works well for me, keeps me thinking, changing and moving forward. I 've never been much of a 'design' or composition guru; so in this way, the twitching up of panels really does help...hmmm, least I think it does! And...note the busy parts of the painting are pushed to the sides...hmmm I usually do the busy parts right smack in the middle. Well this definitely does force me into a different way of working...and I really needed the push. Not sure which orientation I like this painting yet, thought I liked the red circle at the top...not sure!

White, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Untitled, Acrylic on Canvas, 36" x 36"

Color and Emotions

Squeak detail, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

So much I have learned over the past few weeks...I've really been doing some searching. Because of emotional trauma, I was no longer able to paint with bright colors and lets face it...my paintings without bright colors, well there is no life in my work without it! Color is emotion...for example, what colors do you pick out to wear when you are deeply sad? Blacks? Greys? Neutrals? Pale tones? I could still wear bright colors...for outward appearances, NO DOUBT, but I couldn't paint with them. For me to paint with emotion, it wasn't happening... I wouldn't even paint with sad emotion (dark somber colors), I couldn't go there either.

I was numb.

Today I feel so liberated!!! =D

Squeak Squeak 36"x 36", Acrylic on Canvas

Squeak Squeak 36"x 36", Acrylic on Canvas, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Cannot even remember the last time I finished a painting (maybe 2007) , but there you go, success...thought something might be brewing, had a hunch. I will absolutely start another one tomorrow, with the same energy. =D

Lady Bug

Lady Bug, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Lady bug lady bug, do you think you have found a bright yellow flower to perch upon? Well I'm happy you have found something bright. Go Lady bug! Yes my support even extends to Lady Bugs...sigh!

Sometimes small things can be big things? Today I am refilling squirt containers of paint and unclogging blocked nozels ( yes how ironic that the painter who has a creative block is unclogging the flow). It is seemingly a small part of painting, but doing the dirty work is a big part of life. And there you go, such wisdom...haven't had much of that lately...hmmm Anywho, sometimes small things can make big differences? Just sayin and thinking out loud here...

When the writing is on the wall, do I listen?

Drawing 2007 3, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Well I do always listen but I don't always hear, but this time I am hearing loud and clear! This drawing (detail of a 2007 drawing) is on the wall of my painting space. I look into it everyday. Lately, I've been quite interested in what it is trying to communicate to me. I believe it is telling me I am working in the wrong medium. One day, I will think I have a painting happening and then it will die right before my eyes and I will glance over at this drawing, time and time again, I look to it. Why on earth am I putting myself through all this daily torture of painting? Look what I can create on paper!!!! I can make magic happen on paper and it has always been my number one love.

Sometimes, it is important to know when to switch gears. In the words of my favorite painter " you know when you're making love and when you're not making love." ~ Philip Guston

-33 windchill this morning. Next week, I'm heading downtown to go ice skating on the canal. It has become a tradition to mark my Dad's birthday. I shall be thinking about all those locks we passed through in Europe and the lovely friends we met there. The people I've got to get my butt in gear and write back to. Luvy luvs from Jacie

Slice of Shoofly Pie

Slice of Shoofly Pie 2, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Well helllooooo there! It has been ages since my last post. I've been painting up a storm and of course cooking up a storm. Doing some snowshoeing in the beautiful forest. Although, it would be right swell if I could actually take some pictures while I'm out there; however, the camera does not like the cold temps. It will operate, but the change in temperature from inside to out and back again is not ideal for digital cameras, so I'm waiting out the cold. My painting is finally progressing, although not in the direction I had thought it would go. A friend helped me to see that if I wanted to let the work evolve, I should just let it happen. Funny, I hadn't realized I was fighting with myself and not letting myself evolve, but really that is exactly what it boiled down to. So I have let go and I am having a ball and using big brushes and making sweeping movements with my arms; thus, I am also building arm muscles. Wahoo! I'll show you what I've been working on real soon.

In terms of taking photos, last night I took a shot of this slice of Shoofly Pie. This camera was new to me when I went to Europe and I had not read the manual. However, when I uploaded many of the Europe photos to flickr, I noticed on quite a few of them it said they were taken in normal mode. Normal mode hmmppphhh, whatever that is I thought!???! I would say, the first 1/3 of our trip, before I started using scenery mode and sports mode, I was setting the camera to this one camera icon. Only to realize last night when I took this Shoofly Pie photo in manual mode... normal means manual!!! Ohhhhhh Myyyyyyyyy Gawwwdddddd! Well isn't that just tooooo funny!

BTW, this Shoofly Pie is just totally to die for!!!!! Now I'm off to paint on this beautiful Sunday.

Tripod Party Bouquet!

Tripod, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

R and I are listening to music tonight in our media room. B.B king and lots of Raggae. I am doing a few digital drawings on my Wacom drawing tablet. Why can't I do this on canvas? It comes so easily to me with a digitized pencil. The medium is so immediate, so perfect for how I like to work, which is with great energy.

Having fun tonight, while the snow continues to fall, just outside my window. We have tonnes of snow! Great for snowshoeing, which is what I've been doing lately. R had 3 weeks off work and we had so much fun together...oh we would be sooooo very good as a retired couple!!!!! Now he is back to the stress of work and driving in the heavy traffic. We are in the 4th or 5th week of a bus strike and people are getting very fed up with the whole affair. Everyone practically commutes by bus, here in Ottawa. At least we have a vehicle, certainly we are not as bad off as some...and I get to stay home and paint, really I can walk anywhere I need to go.

Tomorrow is a full painting day! I may bake cookies as well! Yum!

I'm loving working with panels!

New Work, Acrylic on Board 2, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Happy New Year! I've been able to steal a few moments here and there to do a bit of painting. Actually, I was in mid - stroke when the power went out this evening. It was out for a couple of hours. So I had to leave it for the evening.

I'm still working out this two panel birch piece. It is a whole new way of working. I can see now how endless the possibilities can be with rearranging panels as I work. Great fun! No pressure! No thinking! What on earth has gotten into me? I believe I am painting again!

Oh happy happy day!

Turn Brain to Wool Setting and Paint!

New Work, Acrylic on Board, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

Bingo bango bongo, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go...la la la laaaa... This song keeps go through my head as I paint! Love it! I think it is an old 20's song, or perhaps 40's; in any case, it is fab!

On Boxing Day, I headed for the new DeSerres art supply store in the mall near our house and I bought four 12 " x 16" birch panels. Really, I was just winging it, as I really had not a clue what to do with them. I've never had much success with painting on board, but ahhh then again I'm not having much success with painting on canvas either. I started out, painting on them, as one painting and I keep rearranging them. What I discovered was I really like being able to rearrange panels and turn them upside down etc. It is the puzzle person in me, I figure.

This afternoon, R and I were lounging in Chapters (book store)and I was reading (looking at the pictures, ha!) in a bedroom decor book and there was one accent wall in an all white room, that was black. Well, a vague hazy light bulb went off and I thought well I could mask off a strip of my painting panel and paint it black and go from there. A slight, fumbling direction. Jacie's searching in the dark here! Ha! Well, as I was yapping away on the phone to a friend, and not thinking much about what I was doing (like drivers on their cell phones) , I masked out a band with painters tape, painted it Payne's Grey (my fav) and then taking Leya's encouraging advice...I freaken let go! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'm still falling!

After a while I separated the four panels into two. As I continue, they will either come back together or not. I feel free!...and it is working. The colors still need much attention, but a good start for sure!

Oh my, controversy going on at the National Gallery of Canada, and I found it in the New York Times. Quite interesting! BTW, as an artist, I am so sick of defending the National Gallery's purchase of the Barnett Newman painting, ha ha, you see that folks, has only increased in value over the years, duh? Well of course it has!!!! It was a brilliant purchase!

Bingo bango bongo, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go..la la la laaaaaaa

Christmas Morning Walk in the Woods

Beautiful Trees, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

I just spoke with my dear friend Leya on the phone and I asked her what advice she had for my current (long term) creative block. Leya said "get angry with it...let go!" Oh boy, I am a-fixin' to do just that, actually I do feel angry with it. I don't get like that often, but the mood has definitely struck!

I hope everyone is having a safe, healthy and happy season with family and friends. I've been eating way too much! Today I just wanted to jump on my bicycle and do some winter cycling. However, the icy wet roads saved me from putting myself in such danger, otherwise I would have. I do need the physical activity. I'll go cycling will when we get a layer of snow. This evening it is extremely windy and we are bracing for power outages. As I was talking to Leya, the whole side of our house rattled with a big gust of wind. It should be very pretty tomorrow for taking some photos, as we are expecting some flurries over night and tomorrow.

HA! Love Our Nasty Talking Santa

Talking Nasty Santa, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

I'm up to my eyeballs in Christmas preparations. Mainly cooking and baking. This morning, I baked a batch of Gluten Free Vanillekipferl, slightly altered from a 400 yr old Bavarian cookie recipe. Omg, yummy! R is always my taste tester and he loves them. Vanillekipferl is an almond/vanilla shortbread, with loads of butter and three eggs I believe. Well my recipe has half the fat and it is made with soy margarine and no eggs. Often, I do cut the fat significantly in recipes, but not so much that it destroys the flavour. ie. so you can tell it is a diet product (yuck!) In fact, I cannot even tell the difference between these and my Mum 's traditional shortbread recipe with a full cup of butter in it.

The afternoon was spent wrapping and preparing a roast in my new slowcooker (an early gift from R). I love to cook, so it is a lovely useful gift! Also, since I returned from Europe I can no longer tolerate (so spoiled I am) bad coffee, so R got me an Espresso maker and a milk frother. So in the mornings, I've been making us a nice tall cup of Cappuccino with lots of wet foam. A great way to peal our sleepy eyelids open and begin the busy day. This evening, I made a double batch of Gluten Free pie crust. It will chill overnight in the fridge and tomorrow morning I will make two Tourtiere pies for Christmas Eve dinner. It has long been a tradition in our family (since my Dad was part French Canadian) to have Tourtiere on Christmas Eve. This will be the very first Gluten Free Tourtiere in the Wiggs tradition. Yup, we really miss him! I got to tears the other day, when I was washing dishes and I starting singing the words to Silent Night...I got to the part...sleep in heavenly peace.... and I lost it. Dad we sure are living! Loosing you has made me keenly aware of just how much energy I need to put in to enjoying life everyday. So life is packed full, from dawn till dusk and beyond.

Tomorrow Tourtiere, oh and in the afternoon I'm making German Fruit Bread ( another tradition from my Mum), We toast it on Christmas morning. It is very yummy. This will also be the first Gluten Free run of it.

Almost forgot about our trip to Toronto. Bahhh it was pretty uneventful really. It was too cloudy to get any good shots of Frank Gehry's AGO. In the summer we will go back. Also, it is so bloody squashed in there that in order to properly photography it, one has to get on the roof of a building across the street. I think I may have a lead on that though. Wink Wink!

Until next time, Love to all!

There She Be, The Avalon Imagery

Late Afternoon on the River Danube, Melk, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

This photo was taken just outside of Melk Austria, with that beautiful golden glow of a bright late afternoon sun. It was a glorious day. Although, it just occurred to me, this picture doesn't look at all sunny or bright. Ha! Actually, the bright sun was coming from the the opposite direction and was lighting up the boats. Or it could just be my positive outlook. lol

Today I got my Mum's calender all ready to have printed for Christmas. I could hardly sleep last night, worrying about whether I would choose pictures she would like. etc. Mum will be gracious and pleased with any gift. It is me who is the perfectionist! When it came down to putting a calander together with pictures from our trip, I realized that only landscape oriented photos were acceptable. Rats! I did a tonne and I mean a tonne of vertical pictures, what with all those statues and building details. So that certainly did narrow down my choice of photos and I guess it did make it easier in the end to choose 12 from hundreds of photos.

I'm painting daily, pretty much all day, give or take a couple of hours baking etc. Nothing too exciting has come about yet, but I keep at it as always and try not to get discouraged. I keep fighting with the ideas and for some reason won't let it come out on canvas. Drives me nutty!!!!

The government take over, is for now 'a no go' , parliament will resume again in January. In the mean time, the leader of the Liberal Party has been asked by his party to step down ( and to think how close he was to becoming our next Prime Minister) because they realize just how incompetent he is and therefore can never win an election with him as party leader. Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes that is my two cents worth of Nah, nah, nah na na! Loosers! Giant "L" !!! However the man set to take over as leader of the liberal party, is no weiner and therefore may give the conservative party some trouble. Please do keep in mind, when we talk about a conservative party, at least in Canada, we are really just talking, just barely right of middle. This is not a party who is extreme in any way.

Now to make some Bouillabaisse for dinner and some cinnamon buns for R. I've never made Bouillabaisse and it calls for saffron, which I don't have and it is super expensive, so I looked it up in my food substitution bible and it says to use tumeric and paprika. So there you go. That saves me a hike to the grocery store in this -21C wind chill day.

R and I are driving to Toronto this coming weekend to go the big annual motorcycle show. I am hoping to take in the new Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which has been redesigned by Frank Gehry and is now open. I'm crazy excited to see it! Frank Gehry grew up very near the AGO. I love his work! Mostly because I'm crazy about organic shapes and all things sparkly! It will be a hoot to photograph. I'm packing my tripod and our Panasonic 35mm equivalent digital camera. Wish me luck!

Have a wonderful day! Luv luv Jacie

Waiting a decision...tap, tap, tap Democracy or Not?

As of 10:30 am, we are currently waiting for the governor general's decision as to whether democracy in Canada has changed forever. Those of us in Canada who wanted and voted for an honest and stable government ( it was the first government we ever had that wasn't into lies, power, corruption and drama) are outraged at the unethical actions of the opposition vulture parties of the Liberals, New Democratic (aaahhemmm)Party and the Bloq Quebecois party. It is beyond discusting. I don't care what party a person voted for, this is very wrong! The people in Canada are not going to tolerate such bullshit. The Conservative Party (meaning they have values) was voted in fair and square and now we may have a future Prime Minister whom even less people voted for than our current Prime Minister. And he is weak, very very very weak! I look into his eyes and a see a man who is very afraid, he will be revealed as the coward he is. That will be our future governing power!

The Bridges of Cologne

Leaving Cologne, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

This photo of the bridges in Cologne, on our way up the Rhine, is a good representation of my impression of river cruising. I love love love bridges and we saw more bridges than I have ever seen. To view my photos in flicker just click on the bridge photo. ;o) To view sets of pictures just click on set after the word Cologne and that will take you into the Cologne set. Then click set again, top left side and it will take you into the sets of pictures from each different place. You can also click on the little magnifier icon that says 'all sizes', just above each photo and view the picture at high resolution. In many cases, the pictures would be best printed not at their original size, but 1 or 2 sizes down, so as to reduce the visibility of noise.

Our friends Janette and David went across the river in a Gondola very much like this one. They said, you could see the entire city from up there. Then they went to the zoo and had a wonderful time there. Lots to do in every place we visited.

I'm posting this photo from my flicker, which I don't often use, but it will be a good way for you all to view the beauty of Europe. Ahhhem...in a shorter time span! LOL

In the beginning, of my editing these photos, I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. I thought I knew how to use photoshop, I thought I knew what a good photo looked like (although, my whole life I could never take a good photo, I just squeaked through the pass level in my photography class in art school) ; in any case, this trip would prove that I knew less than very little about photography. Ha! Editing did prove to be a huge challenge and I am still learning and still working on editing the photos that are worth editing for high resolution. That would not be all of my 2200 odd photo collection. Ha! Many are either underexposed to a point where it isn't worth trying to work with them or overexposed with blowout highlights and cannot be made into good photos. A good photo is good from the beginning. In my never to be humble opinion! All of the photos I have edited for high res. so far have been touched up only to sharpen them and reveal their true light and color. Very little color work needs to be done, after the levels have brought out their natural beauty. In photos where the color cannot be saturated as much as it was when I took the picture, due to overexposure or noise from too many competing light sources, I have abandoned these photos. Many were taken on the canal cruise in Amsterdam, where light coming from all different directions, bouncing of water etc. proved to be too much for my camera. I would have needed special filters to properly capture it.

So if you see only 1 or 2 photos in a place where you knew I took a tonne. They are still under preparation in the Wiggs lab and will be coming shortly. In this way, I can edit one and upload, one and upload at my leisure. Industrial photos are my favorite and they are about to go through stage three of editing. Industrial Awesomeness coming soon. Some of the industrial photos taken on the river from Cologne to Amsterdam turned out very well. I hope you enjoy the journey. I've had a ball working on these photos!

Yesterday, I was no able to get to painting, as I was doing html battle with my last blog entry. The photos were not all opening up when I clicked on them. I learned a lot yesterday about html code.

Then I shoveled the driveway. While standing there at the end of our driveway, with the snow scoop in hand, I began to look around at the shadows ( it was cloudy, about 3pm with the light getting darker) of the tree trunks, the shadows under the eves of the roof, the shadows of distant trees etc. I realized that they were indeed very dark ( even to the human eye) with very little shadow detail in them. I was a lot surprised to see on the photos I took in low level lighting, just a whole lot of dark grainy yuck in the shadows, with very little changes in tone, if any. Well, it turns out, the camera did a better job than I thought it did, because there tain't much to see in those shadows even with the naked eye. Quite interesting! My little Panasonic did very well!

Have a fun filled wonderful day wherever you might be!

Always be led by your inner voice...

Sunrise in Vienna/ Over the River Danube

Pinch me, I'm eating breakfast in the middle of the River Danube, while watching the sunrise over Vienna. Pinch me hard!!!! I am, one lucky person! It is so very beautiful. I shot this picture from behind glass and the glass seams to have acted as a filter. I believe this is why the blue is so saturated and the highlights have no flaring. If you look closely (click on photo) you can see three suns. I dare say, these are pot light reflections from the inside of the boat. It took me a while to figure that one out. Ha!

Yes, I loved Vienna. The experience of walking around the beautiful streets was larger than life and beyond exciting. As we are now blanketed in snow, with morning traffic rerouting (the result of a big fire) being compounded by the treacherous road conditions; I do indeed, sigh to myself and think, well, I always have Vienna. I can easily close my eyes and go back in time, ahhhhh there we are near the Viennese pastry shop, talking to sweet Janette and sweet David ( two lovely people we met on our trip, I miss them) about the quirks of the local bank machine. It is warm, mostly sunny and there is excitement around every corner. Best of all, I am with my Mum and we are having the time of our life!

Vienna Elegance

Mostly Mozart, Everywhere Mozart/Vienna

No Kangaroos in Austria/Vienna

Philip Guston's Monument/ Vienna

We bypassed the Albertina, after seeing the crazy long lineup to see Van Gogh. I believe, I said "Van Gogh can kiss my ass", no, I stand corrected, that, was in Amsterdam; in any case, Van Gogh, you can kiss my ass, I love you, but not enough to stand in a huge line up to see you. No offense! LOL ... My single focus that afternoon was to go to the Modern Art Museum, funny no line ups there; in fact, there were no more than a couple dozen people in the whole building. Fine by me! :o) Have you ever tried to view paintings 6 or 7 people deep? It is no way, to view art! So there we are, walking through the top floor of the modern art museum...Josef Albers with two green squares (lovely) and on to the next floor...What? What is this? A show called ' Bad Painting, Good Art' ...omg, omg, there is a Philip Guston painting on the opening banner...my internal compass, in Vienna, has led me away from all the popular galleries (always be led by your inner voice, it rarely sends one in the wrong direction!) to Philip. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! My eyes filled with tears, as I stood before 'Monument' and 'Black Sea' . I was in a dream state. Mum said "well have a seat on the bench and spend some time looking at them." I couldn't even answer her, words were far beyond my reach (imagine that!). It was too overwhelming , too emotional... I just wanted to keep it short and sweet ...then I said goodbye. It meant everything to me! Mum was very generous to give up her afternoon in Vienna, so that I could go to a gallery. I am sure there were other placees she would have liked to visit. We were great travel companions in that way. At one point, in Cologne, I wanted to go see Gerhard Richter's paintings in the afternoon, but Mum really wanted to go to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. Actually, I did as well and the chocolate museum was so amazing I said, Gerhard Richter could wait until the next visit to Cologne. Our trip to Europe was just that, our trip. It wasn't all about Mum and it wasn't all about me, it was about US. :o)

Beautiful Vienna Statue with Winged Children (Cherubs)

Later on today, after I do some painting (first day back to painting, I'm so thrilled) I will be uploading pictures to my flicker, so you can see a lot more of my pictures in a quicker time frame. I'll still post some at high res. to my blog. At this rate, we won't get to Amsterdam until the spring thaw! Also, because I took over 2000 pictures and have been editing until the end of time itself...Ha! ...I am now having circulation problems and I can no longer sit for hours on end at a computer. I know, how halarious it that! However, I do have to get my butt in gear and get a wall calendar (with trip pictures) made for Mum and a skull collage for R. So much to do!

I've been busy reorganizing the house, bagging up clothing for the good will, cleaning the kitchen cupboards and getting rid of all things gluten. I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I made Vichyssoise one day, bagels yesterday and Chocolate pot de creme the day before. Chocolate pot de creme (chocolate custard) will also leave one without words. The recipe called for whipping creme, but really @ 35%MF, I don't go near the stuff. I used light cream at 5% MF (bad enough) plus a Tb. of cornstarch and since it doesn't have to be whipped, it is a substitution that works. I'll be posting the recipe to my Gluten Free Wiggs blog, when blood flow allows. LOL

The house now feels fresh, clean and spacious, filled with the smells of home cooking and holiday candles. It is time to paint. Oh...and shovel snow. It snowed all night and is still snowing now. The snow, it always ruins my summer!!!! But very good for working off chocolate pot de creme, since I no longer have back problems. Eight months now and pain free! Yippeee!!!

Have a wonderful day! Luv luv Jacie

Photos from Bratislava and Vienna, Words from Canada

Captive Falcon/ Budapest, Hungary

Ah yes, the spaceship has landed and I am no longer of another planet. However, I draw the line at returning to reality, that would just kill my spirit - so I ain't goin there! Ha! Reality almost clobbered me over the head a week after returning from Europe, when 15 cm's of snow hit the ground. What did I do? I pulled the blind down and went back to editing pictures. The thought of sinking into a long cold winter is extremely unappealing. So that was the third and fourth week of October, it was -6 C with windchill, then last week it warmed up to 19 C and we had summer again. It was the same temperature it was in Europe. Yeahhhhh!!!! Yesterday, for November 11th, it was 4 C. I don't mind so much easing into it slowly, dipping my toes in just slightly, but I'm definitely not into polar bear swims. Today it is sunny and a bit cool, but no snow.

Bishops's Tomb/ Bratislava, Slovakia

Two days ago I started flipping through my stack of paintings ( works in progress) and it was beyond halarious, my reaction to them. First one, uhhmmmm...definitely underexposed ; second one, needs cropping ; third one, omg...way too saturated! Ha! I had a good laugh ! I looked at them long enough to be satisfied that there has been a shift in thinking. I have stepped far enough back from them, to begin again with a very fresh eye. Perhaps it takes leaving ones homeland to begin again. Photography has definitely had a big influence on my thinking about color ( hue and saturation), light, composition and texture. I am very anxious to experiment and very soon I will return to painting. My head is just about there.

Reflection in a Granite Wall/ Bratislava, Slovakia

Yesterday morning, R and I went to the Rememberance Day ceremonies. We always go together and it matters greatly that we do. I could capture the experience with film, but I really can't put it into complete sentences. Perhaps, I could relate it to you like this: We walk in the front door of the legion hall and there are two older male veterans in grey slacks and navy jackets with a poppy each on their lapel, they are wearing berets. An older female veteran with a cane is walking arm in arm, with perhaps her daughter. The two gentlemen are looking back at them to make sure they are not moving too quickly. In this scene, our world that spins along at great speed...slows down... it slows down long enough, for us all to gather. On this day, we stand together under partly cloudy skys and we share in the rememberance of an enormous human tragedy. And we don't forget the soldiers, we don't forget the civilians and we don't forget the six million Jews.

Crumbling Beauty/ Bratislava, Slovakia

After the ceremonies, R and I go to Tim Hortons to get a coffee, my first one after coming home from Europe... and I choke and sputter...oh, it tastes horrible. The nastiness...watery, flavourless and yucky! But it does have caffeine, so I gulp it down... but, for the very last time! We spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the car to have snow tires put on. So, I took the opportunity to talk with a man in a local photo shop and learned some tips about editing and printing photos. We had a lively discussion about digital versus traditional photography and we both agree that film offers more of a tonal range than digital. That tonal range, to me, is so very important. Digital captures way way way too much noise. That is my thinking, but I do want to keep on exploring digital, particularly for the wonderful possibilities for editing.

Viennese Golden Girl/ Vienna, Austria

The man in the photoshop mentioned that I might try printing some of these photos at an 8" x 10" size, to check for sharpness. So, currently I'm editing for the purpose of printing at high resolution.

Golden in Vienna/ Vienna, Austria

I played around with the clarity of details in many of these photos. I thought some of them needed a softer touch than others. I think it worked beautifully. So pleased with them all! Oh I forgot to mention, you should click on the picture to see them in an enlarged format, you will see the softening of the details.

Vienna Statue/ Vienna Austria

Two Men with a Heavy Load/ Vienna Austria

Franz Josef Vienna Statue with Pigeons/ Vienna Austria

Viennese Beauty/ Vienna Austria

It is time for this busy Canadian to move from computer to kitchen and begin this evenings dinner. Seafood Chowder. Yum! A lovely dish for a cool November evening. Homemade gluten free pumpkin pie for dessert. Double Yum!! More pictures to come very soon, now that I've got some of the kinks ironed out.

Freakin Awesome Budapest, Let Us Start Here

What a trip. It has left me wanting more. My best friend Holly left 34 comments on my pictures on facebook and she worried that this was going overboard. Oh, the poor girl, she hasn't even come face to face with overboard. Just put on a life vest and get yourself ready for the ride! Such daily exhileration as we experienced on this trip has left me unprepared for a return to the real world. My poor man has yet to have a decent meal cooked for him since I got home. He turned sideways the other day I called out to him "hey where did you go?" But he has had lots of chocolate as Mum and I stocked up at the duty free on the way home. A person can live on chocolate right? I think it is an excellent diet!

The train tracks was the first photo I shot in Europe.





Looking from Buda over to Pest with the River Danube in between.

I fell in love with this green roof and while most other tourists in Budapest were photographing the Revolutionary Square, I was off marveling over this roof. It would be the first in a long list of forays into other

things. Like Graffiti, smokestacks, piles of rusty scrap metal and containers on barges etc. Everything in Europe in beautiful and interesting and so worth taking a photo off, especially all that is unusual and off the beaten path! Below are two boats very much like the one Mum and I and 150 of our fellow passengers cruised up the River Danube on. We also sailed the Main and the River Rhine.

As we sailed out of Budapest with the sunsetting we past this beautiful palace. At least I think it was a palace. Forgive me my attention span is quite narrow and I am prone to severe attacks of complete distraction and quite proud of it. LOL!

Below is a captive hooded falcon which was so freaky to see. After taking these next two photos I really got into the spirit of the trip. I knew it would be beyond amazing! It was! Where we going next ?

Can we leave tomorrow for the next trip? More to come in next post, I've got up to the end of Bamberg edited. That was day 10. What an editing machine I've been. Sadly my staff of cooks did not fly home with me. I did jump on the scales and lost 5 or 6 pounds on the cruise. Likely the only human in the history of cruises to loose weight! I'm sure the Captain was thankful for that while trying to sail through low water conditions of the River Danube. Man there was a lot of whipped cream on board that cruise!!!!!!!!!!!! Luv luv Jacie

Jeanette and David, where we going next? Ey, ya better get on that!

Do all Herring Chokers love Seaweed?

Darn!, originally uploaded by jwiggs.

As someone born in New Brunswick, I am referred to as a Herring Choker, just like anyone born in Nova Scotia is called a Blue Noser. I'm not sure how this all started, would make an interesting research project, don't ya think. Do I have time for that? Perhaps I should make the time.

Well as a Herring Choker, I do love seaweed or dulse. Where I come from people pick it and dry it on their front lawns and sell it in big brown paper bags. One just walks up to a house, with a sign on the front lawn 'Dulse for Sale' and ring the door bell and viola, a yummy afternoon snack! Now I have to tell you, it is very stinky stuff, at times it smells like dirty socks. But we Herring Chokers are a hearty sort, so we sure don't mind the stink. We do however, love the taste! When it is fresh, it is soft and melts in ones mouth, as it gets older it gets crispier.

A few years back, here in Ottawa, I grabbed my mail box key and went out to see what indeed had arrived for us that day. There was a bubble wrap envelope addressed to me from my Mum and Dad, inside was a brown paper bag of stinky wonderful dulse. On the outside of the bag written in black marker, it read $2.00. On postage paid on the package was $9.21. I laughed and laughed! Beautiful beautiful treasured memories!

This photo was taken on a beach in Port Townsend, Washington.

The Gawwwdds Must Be Crazy!

to grant me this painting


This painting is presently red on the bottom, but when I was editing this in photoshop I came across this color combo in the next photo. I love how the foreground recedes, perhaps that might be the better option. Love the honey color as well!








R and I got a new digital camera the other day ( a smaller one ) and I was playing around with the self timer Hamming it up!


This photo was taken at a beach in Port Townsend, Washington this summer. Some sweet soul had spent considerable time making this fabulous beach fort and I was thrilled beyond belief! Isn't it the greatest? Would make a lovely place to watch the sun set, curled up in a blanket. It gets a might chilly there at night! More Washington photos to come in the next post.


Getting ready to buy some Euros for my trip overseas with my sweet sweet Mum. We are going on the trip that her and Dad had booked for their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Dad had been so looking forward to it, but he died just 2 weeks before they were to depart. I have mixed feelings about the trip, I'm thrilled for the adventure with Mum, but I'm ever so sad that Dad isn't here to enjoy life with us. Ever so sad that my Mum has lost the love of her life. That is the hardest part for me, my Mum's loss. But oh boy, are we ever going to do this trip up in style!!!!!!

Finished Painting, gwe-duk

Finished Painting

*gwe duk

36 " x 36 "

Acrylic on Canvas

gwe duk is a Nisqually word, meaning " dig-deep"

This might surprise you

The Distance Between the Orange Blob and the Chimacum Cafe (WIP)

36 " x 36 ", Acrylic on Canvas

Having so much fun with this painting! I had thought about putting many more objects in this 'scape' of sorts, but the size of the painting ( a small one) could not take it. However, I quite liked the sparseness and with the color sceme I thought it even looked a bit desolate. Desolate is what I went with. I like it! Having friends over for dinner- Pina Colodas, Strawberry Daqueri's and a barbecue. It is a hot sunny day on this long weekend. Love that I got a little painting in!

Update, Back from Seattle

The Distance Between the Orange Blob and the Chimacum Cafe (WIP)

Acrylic on Canvas 36 " x 36 "

My two year painting slump is over, bahbye! Hooray! We returned from a three week vacation to British Columbia and Washington, just this past Friday. The Washington part of the trip was totally amazing and it revived me like I never thought I could be revived! Love love love the Olympic Peninsula and the friends we stayed with in Port Townsend. They welcomed us with open arms and open hearts and I really really needed that !!!!!!!!! Immediately, after returning, I got right back into painting. I have worked steady all week, with horrible results. You know that yuck feeling when nothing is working the way you want it to and you just can't get there from here. Story for two years now... ya all have heard about it endlessly! Poor you. LOL

Well yesterday in the very late afternoon, after a slight internal combustion, I put all my small brushes aside (done that before, just one of my many tricks) and used only very large brushes. I began painting large areas of solid color, color field painting I guess it would be. I was amazed at how free it felt to not fuss with tiny details, the way I do with small brushes. This morning, I started in again, not expecting anything worthwhile to come of it (ya get that way after 2 years of yuck), and then it came and I started incorporating my previous ink draw material. The very work I have been wanting to deal with, but hadn't got there yet. I still have a few kinks to work out with color and composition, but other than that I am very pleased with how it is working. I may get some different sized canvases as I would rather work these in a rectangular format. So what do you think?

In the next few posts, I'll tell you all about our trip to Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula. I've got some beautiful pictures to go with. You'll love them!

Well I'm off to get my hair cut.

luv luv Jacie

Oh and the first week in October I am off to Europe for two weeks. Yehhhh!!!!

Tourists in Our Own City, Beautiful Ottawa

Ducklings and Momma near the Byward Market

Me after seeing Philip Guston's 'Bombardment', tears are from the bright sunlight!

R under the Spider at the National Gallery of Canada. We had a wonderful day.

Our city is full of flags in the summer time. This is near Parliament, bridge over the Rideau Canal. We skate here in the winter.

Back view of the Chateau Laurier Hotel from a park beside the Rideau Canal.

The Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec, just over the Ottawa River.

The Rideau lockes that move boats to the Ottawa River.

Boats in the lockes

Sculpture on the Sparks Street pedestrian mall.

Yehhhhhhh!!! Geoducks ! And so Wonderfully Abstract!

Thrilled! The best part, I love it, love it! It took some time, to get to know my bivalves, almost gave up on them, I did. Then I got an idea flash to paint a diagonal line across the top and poke some Geoduck necks out the top. It worked and then some became inverted and that worked too. I had considerable trouble with composition, as I absolutely decided I could not stand to have a horizon line. However, eventually the horizon line blended and then dropped off, this really agreed with me. It only needs a bit more finishing work.

A keeper!

We Met in the Middle and We both Win!

36" x 36" (WIP)

This painting has been a battle from the beginning between the figurative and the purely abstract. Currently that is my battle. I really want the mystery of the abstract but the emotional attachment of painting 'things' that inspire me. So that is where I'm at.

This started out very representational, which began to bore me very quickly. This led to me slapping on paint with big brushes and going crazy with color, while still keeping a certain amount of dark around the objects. It will amaze me until the end of time how I can carefully paint away for days and then in a fit of madness (inspired by my complete frustration with a painting not working) start slapping on paint, with abandon ...and then the bloody thing works! Why is that?

Really, the way I paint reminds me of the battle between Golum and Smeagle from the Lord of the Rings. It goes like this, "no Master isn't going to win this one, I will destroy it when Master isn't paying attention, Smeagle hates Master's painting..."Ha! LOL Honestly the battle is fierce!!!!

R and I went to see an exhibit at the National Gallery on the weekend called ' The 1930's, The Making of the New Man ' (Ehhhemmmmm!!!!) Sigh! Why? Why? Why? Well we had a great day, left early in the morning from our little aboad and ventured into the city for the whole day. I took a tonne of pictures of sites around the city and of the National Gallery. We were not permitted to take our cameras into the exhibit, otherwise I would have gotten a shot of Philip Guston's 'Bombardment'. Yes, Yes and oh what a surprise this was for me. I had no idea it was in the exhibit and I nearly dropped to the ground when I happened upon it. Then the tears welled up in my eyes and I began to go over it with a fine tooth comb. I had only every seen it in black and white in a photo. There on the left hand side on a pink, red and black brick wall, is a single nail with lines coming out from it's entry point in a slightly cartoon style. Below is a mass of muddy pink, cadmium red middle, white, grey's and blacks that make up a small portion of the ground below the brick wall. It is this very portion of the painting that would become Guston's work later on. I was so thrilled to see it! Next post I'll load pictures I took of our adventure, like a couple of tourists. Ha!

Jacie's First Sketchbook, Age 12. Ha!

I've just received a new batch of paint I ordered from Edmonton. Found a new place to order it from and it's less expensive than ordering from Toronto. Isn't that crazy! They said it would take four days to get here and it did, now how's that for reliability? Rare these days! I unpacked it and checked that the order was right, and discovered I made a mistake when checking of the size of cadmium red middle I wanted. So I got a 470ml tube instead of a 1 litre. Rats! A difference of $75!!!! So I will have to make do and order the litre size, next time I order. Maybe it will force me to lay off the 'Philip Guston' pink. I actually have a squeaze bottle of pink acrylic labeled 'PGPink', I do. Also one labeled 'Gooey Duck Grey'! Ha!

A few days ago, I was going through some old sketchbooks and came across my very first sketchbook from when I was 12 years old. It made me giggle! Dad bought me my very first sketchbook, one Christmas when we were in Victoria B.C. He also gave me his old book on how to draw cartoons along with a new book on how to draw cartoon animals. This was my very first introduction to drawing cartoon characters. Seriously, I think it stuck with me!

At first I copied the cartoon figures in the books. It was too easy and I got bored. I also started drawing from life. Dad, he was my first model. Ha! So funny. I really got his hair, ever so perfect. Oh and that ear, looks like a stuck on ear from Mr Potato head. I just loved looking back at these drawings, look I even signed them.

After this Canada Day long weekend I will be anxious to get back to painting. Can hardly wait! Oh good lord, I think I've become addicted to facebook! Starting to even get reaquainted with my B.C. cousins which is just thrilling. There is nothing like old friends and family, who knew you when. Love it!

Had to Let Loose!

I've taken a break from my small studies, they get so tedious! I needed to just let loose! So last night, I began working on this 36" x 36" painting and have struggled to keep it open. I've never painted like this before. I don't know where I all of sudden picked up this impasto technique. Like it floated down from heaven as a gift, I'll gladly accept it, Thank you!

Yes, this is like one of my early drawings and also quite like my wacoms. I think night time painting agrees with me. Last night, it was just me and Jeff Healey ( love his blues and jazz) painting into the wee hours. Until about 4:30 am.

In between thunder storms I've been trying to get some landscaping done around the yard. It is looking good, fence is almost finished. Lots more work to be done, but I will take pictures when I get a chance.
Today is the first coolish day we have had in a few weeks, just lovely. Well back to painting, the night is still young!

Life Rolls Along...But slowly in this Heat!

Yes, I'm still working on these studies, they just keep on changing. I want the colors to be light enough and open enough that I can really use the space as a drawing board. I have it in my mind that the environment these things are in is non specific.

It is extremely hot here now! The past few days we have been in a heat wave with temperatures up in the high 30's with the humidex. The top floor of our house gets up into the 90's and makes it very unpleasant for sleeping. But hey, it could be winter, so whose complaining!

Lately, I've been chatting like crazy with an old friend from my highschool in Edmonton. We were out of of touch for a very longtime. Of course, I've missed her terribly all these years! We were once inseparable. Funny, now to chat with her, we haven't lost a beat!

Rainbow

Beautiful! We've been having a lot of thunder showers lately. I shot this last night just after dinner.

Today has been the most remarkable day! Great things are happening in my life!

Color Study Reworking

This study was once extraterrestrial green. I've been reworking it for several days now, and learning lots. What works, what doesn't . It, is teaching me!



I've been listening to CBC morning programing while I work. Friday was the last day for the program 'Sounds Like Canada' with Shelagh Rogers. Booooo, I do believe I got all teary eyed in the last 10 minutes of the show. I have so enjoyed listening, whether I am here in Ottawa or when visiting my Mom. We would often do a puzzle together while listening to Shelagh's program. She has long been a part of my day. CBC has been a part of the family for as long as I can remember. The radio went on in the morning and went off at bed time.

On Thursday, Shelagh spoke to two women who are cookbook authors and the discussion centered around a last meal. What would they eat, who would they eat with, and where would it be? Very interesting. It really got me thinking. I absolutely know the last meal would be lobster, no question there! The meal would take place in front of my grandparents beach house in Parksville, on a sunny morning at low tide. There would be no tables and chairs, just the lawn, the beach wall and steps leading down to the beach to sit on and eat. I would sit on the lawn near the Arbutus tree with R, so I could look out and see all the family. I would be barefoot and wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I would call back my Dad, my Uncle Jack and both sets of grandparents to be there. Then there would be my R (although I couldn't bare to say goodbye to him) my Mom, my brother, my neice, my Aunt and Uncle, and my friend Holly. Oh and Holly and I would go shopping first to buy cute shorts and t-shirt. Baaaa! She would get such a kick! After the meal, we would all go stepping on gooey ducks! A Perfect day!

Must get back to painting and then break to go out and enjoy the sunny day. Today will be the first day with a humidex.

A Touching Love Story, Make That Two Love Stories!

I have followed this Alaskan blog, The Tundra PA, off and on, for almost two years now. This person can really write! I was so thrilled to read about her recent post Married in a Kuspuk .
I teared up many times reading her story of how she and Dutch met more than fifty years ago in Heidelberg, Germany and lost track of each other for thirty years. Now all these years later, getting married in a Kuspuk in Bethel, Alaska. Writing the post on her wedding day, just an hour before the ceremony, the Tundra PA writes " [Dutch] he is one of the finest men I have ever known..." Just beautiful! You will enjoy reading her story. To have known your husband since before you can even remember! It is remarkable really!

My R, grew up partly in Germany, Canada and the United States as his father was a fighter pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces. I grew up in Canada and we moved only once, when my Dad went on sabbatical to Edmonton. I was the type of kid who liked change and was disappointed to live in the same place. However, every summer we traveled west to British Columbia to visit our grandparents. I grew to love the West Coast and when R and I met seven years ago we discovered this in common. I immediately educated him about my beloved gooey ducks on the coastal beaches of Vancouver Island and how I grew up stepping on them for entertainment. He thought this was very weird and had never heard of them. Now he is sick of hearing about them! Ha! We still love the West Coast and spend two weeks every summer visiting his family there. I took him to my grandparents beach house in Parksville and was very disappointed that the tide was in. I so wanted to show him my gooey ducks! We plan to retire to BC as well.

We've been through a one year tour of duty separation, R's cancer, and then the death of my father and so much more. To have a very best friend to hold you when your father dies is the greatest gift. To watch him chop wood for my mother that very first winter without my Dad. He was right there to help out in any way he could. To watch R, take his first few steps after his operation and feel such joy in seeing how proud he was of those first few steps, a great moment! I can't imagine a day without him in my life. He is gentle, kind and very honest and extremely reliable. I say to him often ' You and I, we are two peas in a pod.' The other night, he turned to me and smiled and said, out of the blue, " two peas in pod " . Sweet! I just love him!

P'inking, That is Drawing With Paint, Color Study 4 of Big Badda Boom

Painting began this morning with great gusto. Then hit a low point mid afternoon, when I felt very discouraged, but then a bit of magic happened and I did this. I think I just might be improving! I quite like the body of this creature in white. Yes, yes I do! I shot this in our backyard under full sun. It was a beautiful day and tomorrow is going to be sunny and warm as well. Yehhhh! I layed out for a bit on my back deck. We are having our fence redone around our property, so our backyard now is also the neighbors backyard. All one. Kinda of nice really to chat with the neighbors without a fence between us.

I feel very encouraged after today. I look forward to reworking some of these other studies and then moving on to painting some groupings of these guys. Getting them to interact, that should be a hoot and a pain in the neck at the same time. Ha! Yes, it isn't all fun and games. Mostly just long hours and hard work.

You know, not to long ago I was moaning about not having children and what on earth would I do in this life without them. Well I think I have just gotten over that officially! I knew in my heart and soul, I couldn't do both successfully. I would have chosen my kids over my art. They would have gotten my full attention. Life is pretty good, this is my time to give it my all! So thankful, I can spend all my time painting. It is what I love to do. Oh happy day!

La lala la lalala.... I love New York in June, how bout you, I love a Gershwin tune, how bout you?

P'inking Study 3 of Big Badda Boom

Gosh darn, no wonder why all those male painters, like Philip Guston had such prolific painting careers! Wives! They had wives! I'd like sandwhiches delivered to the door of my studio!

Off to finish all the things I need to do!

More, Big Big Badda Boom, P'inking All Morning!

Going for a ride on my zoom zoom before it decides to rain again.

Not so sure I like this in Thalo green! More Extraterrestrial than I was going for!

Big Badda Boom!

The skies are getting very dark now and I think we are about to have a thunder storm. Brilliant! Nothing like a big boomer. Love thunder storms!

We are having a new fence put in around our property and now we have post holes full of water. OHHHH Ohhhhhh, I have to go and draw those holes. They are part of my painting language. I need to be able to paint them and understand how their shapes change with distance.

There goes the first clap of thunder. Woooo Weeeee!

I worked for several hours on this study today. I started out with a different color scheme, but I always find myself coming back to pinks and reds. I understand pinks and reds and nothing makes the red pop, quite like blue. Yes I am loving working on these studies. To draw with paint, well it has been my goal for so long. The big challenge will present itself when I do some larger pieces. I think the swooshy lines and squiggles will be beautiful on a large canvas. Especially with some impasto. Love impasto! Just started working with impasto in December, but I've barely explored its possibilities. Mind you, since 2005, I've barely explored the possibilities with acrylic. It has all just begun!

KABOOM! BIG BADDA BOOM!

Toodles, have a great evening! Time to go wash some kale for salads.

Inked and Wacomed, P' inking - A Study from Canvas to Digital Manipulation

This morning I'm working on bringing color into my ink drawings on canvas. Working with wacom, introduces me to mark making possibilites with color and the ranges of color I might like to work with.

Since, I often feel color muddled when I go straight to canvas. Especially if, I'm 'idea empty' at the time. Wacoming acts as a great warmup! Now I can go and work on translating what I've learned in this study, onto canvas. I've got four of these studies in black ink on canvas. They worked out very well. Much better than I expected.

Now I must go eat breakfast. Left over Teff Banana pancakes, which I froze yesterday. What a recipe! From my new Gluten Free Resource book. Compliments to the chef from R, came in this form, " can I have a third ?" and " I think I like these better than your regular recipe. "( my old family favorite, whole wheat with oatmeal )

Would totally love it, if it warmed up today. So chilly! Last May, during the tulip festival, when my Mom came to visit, it was 35 celcius with the humidex. Brrrrr, not so warm this year.

Shots From Our Fun Day!

I love this picture of Leya, so beautiful. Look at that Gawwwwwgeous jaw line. Isn't she stunning! So sassy, all dewey and glossied! Thats right...wooooooo work it girl!


On Friday, I met Leya and Aaron for lunch downtown. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. Aaron, like Leya, was instantly likeable and very easy to talk to. Full of fun and mischief, I'd say! The day was great for walking, which is what we did. Past the parliament buildings and over to a gallery on Sussex.


Then we went to Holt Renfrew's for a Clinique makeover, by the very talented and kind Jessie Lee. Well Leya and I had a ball! It was such fun, I can't even tell you! The sad thing was, the day went so fast! It was so boooo hooey to say goodbye to Leya. Booooo, I always hate goodbyes. However, we were very lucky to have run out of time at Holt Renfrew, had we gone up stairs to the women's section. I may be in the poor house. Spotted some lovely hand bags, and am lusting after one beautiful green one. But I would have to give up food and lodging for the month, so I will have to just have fond memories of it.

Dirt Digger!

Yesterday, I finally got into the spirit of gardening. We bought some plants in the morning and some grass seed , and away I went until dinner time.

Got the planter boxes all ready and put in a new perenial in one (deer snatched it away early last summer). Planted some pansies and some pretty fushia something err ahh ruther. I never remember the names of the unfamiliar ones.


I had to laugh while planting this little garden in the front of our house. It looks like many of my drawings and paintings, improvised, ful of color and somewhat busy. I had fun! Mixed up some topsoil with some mushroom compost and spead it out over the the thinning areas of our lawn and put down some grass sead. Never done that before, but it worked great. As I worked, a little ditty by Arlo Guthrie ran through my head, an old family favorite, "Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow, please bless these seeds I sow, till the rain comes tumbling down..."


This is me, several pounds lighter, than a month ago and full of energy. I've been careful to not speak so much about pounds lost, because there are a lot of vulnerable young people out there who may get the wrong idea. I cannot stress enough how important nutrition is, taking care of ones body, healthy balanced meals.Nutrition will make your life as great as you want it to be! Okay I step down from my platform!


Yes I did promise to post that bread recipe. I set up a Gluten Free Blog, called 'Green Eggs and Ham, Hold the Wheat' and I will be posting all of my GF recipes to date. It was getting hard to find and read my recipes amongst all the story telling and my drawings. I'm working on an illustration for the blog title header, got it underway this morning.


Been busy having fun with my friend Leya. You can read here, how we spent our wonderful day together. We had a ball! Yes, makeovers at Holt Renfrew, walking and talking all highlights of the day. Leya is sending me the pictures she took. Moments to remember!

Drawing on Canvas, I Call it P-inking, Ahhh Yes Painting with Ink!

Today I am listen to Jeff Healey and The Jazz Wizards, awesome CD! I bought his new CD on the weekend, which is also very good, but I am more taken with his jazz. Which was his great passion!

Studies for my next set of paintings. Although it isn't ink. Acrylic, you guessed it! I hadn't expected for this to work so well. I mean to translate into paint so well. You mean, I could have been doing this all along! Shhhheeesh! I ordered all these 36" x36" canvases, so I might as well use them for doing studies, just divide them up. The actual paintings will likely, not be square, so what the hey.

I took a break around 11 and went for a ride on my motorcycle. What fun! No nerves this year! It was my first time out. Many people have had their bike out for over a month now. But I waited and waited...with me it is all about timing, when I'm ready, I know, and off I go! Just like these studies on canvas.

Made some delicious Gluten Free Yeast Free bread last night, Sorghum Teff Molasses bread with ground flax. Oh boy... best bread yet, no more tweaking for that recipe. I'll post recipe tomorrow. The crust is thick with a beautiful dark brown color and crunchy too! Had two slices with Kraft's Gluten Free Natural Peanut Butter, for a treat. Yum. I really appreciate treats now! Last night we had chicken thighs again (mine were plain) and I said to R, these taste better than a Big Mac, and they did! My Mom would say, of course they taste better than a Big Mac, they are revolting. Ha! Right you are Mum! Oh Mum told me today that you would have to eat a whole cup of almonds to get the amount of calcium you get drinking a glass of milk. And a lot more of broccoli, kale etc. So drink milk and eat lots of dark green veggies, that is my plan!

Going downtown on Friday for lunch with my friend Leya and her son Aaron. So excited to see Leya and to meet Aaron!

Bye for now, off to bug my sweetie!

Raisins Are Not Friendlies! Kale is the New Lettuce! Food Cravings Have Vanished!

Yesterday, after finding a small bag of Bob's Red Mill Sweet White Sorghum Flour at at local store, I decided to make the Gluten Free scone recipe on the back of the package. I haven't been able to find any local sources for Sorghum flour yet. I've been wanting to try it.

Since my sweetie loves anything with raisins and lemon I added both. About 1 to 1 - 1/2 Tb. of lemon zest and 1/3 cup of raisins. I washed the raisins first. My oh my those scones are so delicious! I had half of one, with perhaps 3 or 4 raisins in it. Well I paid for it for the rest of the night and into this morning. I've been very careful about what I've been eating, and have not had any bad reactions so far. Since everything seemed to give me problems pre- GF, I didn't know that raisins were also on the list. I do now! I saw somewhere on line this morning that dried fruit is often dusted with flour. R can have the rest of the batch, he will be pleased with that, loves them! I'll make myself a new batch with just the lemon and add some ground flax.


I was reading in a GF blog this morning that said GF flours are "notoriously" low in fibre. Huh? Everything I've read has talked about whole grain flours being higher in fibre. My GI system concers with this. Maybe I should check again, maybe she said GF baked goods, which would mean store bought. Or perhaps it is the difference between soluble and insoluble fibre and how much of each, whole grain flours contain. I read recently that flax sead is high in both sol and insol fibre. I've read that Teff flour is high in fiber, protein, iron and calcium. Plus is has all 8 amino acids. I think it makes delicious bread, with a nice texture. Certainly goes well with molasses! I am new at all this Gluten Free stuff, so I don't consider myself an authority by any means, but I do research flours to find out where they come from, what is in them, what is their nutritional value. Right, I'm mean we need to know this.

I decided that Kale is the new lettuce. Hunted for it yesterday and finally found some in the third store. You'd think we lived on an Island or something! Anywho, I've been picking off all the leaves, washing and straining and laying it on a bed of papertowel in a container, paper towel on top too and in the fridge it goes for the week. Yesterday I prepared a batch mixture of Kale, Spinach, and Green leaf Lettuce. We have Kale Salads most days. I've really taken to it, so yummy! Really yummy with tinny grape tomatos and yellow peppers.

Back to drawing, I'll have something to post soon.

Oh and...Food cravings have disappeared. I fought this very hard throughout the years, sometimes giving in, often though not giving in. I guess it had a lot to do with my upbringing, my Mom was always very balanced with food and encouraged us to maintain a balanced diet. I have not given into cravings the way I might have, had I not had my Mom's voice on one shoulder saying ' not good for you'. R has been real encouraging in that department too. So I stayed quite small for many years. Still am. But there have been many an evening sitting watching hockey, or what have you, when my mind has been thinking about what treat is waiting in the cuboard or in the freezer!!!! I noticed this had disappeared, just this past Saturday. We were sitting in the food court at the mall and I was surrounded by the smells of fast food. Everyone around me had a plate of something gooey (quite revolting, now that I think of it). I had no interest in any of it. Not even the slightest craving. I actually tried thinking about eating ice cream... no nothing, nada! Strange isn't it. I could walk into a bakery full of cakes and have no desire to eat anything. I just eat healthy meals at meals times. I'm hungry then. I get full very quickly. What kind of world have I entered? Like a wonderful dream!

Look what I Found, Pictures From the 1973 Fredericton Flood!

Wow! I was so happy to find these pictures.

I can't believe how high the water is!

This is the trainbridge overpass (connects Waterloo Row with University Avenue, Queen Street and Brunswick Street), which is now a walking bridge and connects up with the local walking trails.

The house where my Dad went to help out Mrs. Pritchard is just down the road from here ( see last post).

Wow, I was only five years old, so I barely remember what everything looked like, if I ever did see all this. So neat!


The next picture was taken just metres from this train bridge, I believe it is on Queen Street, the stretch just before The Beaverbrook Art Gallery. The last one looks like it is the Beaverbrook Art Gallery surrounded on all sides by water or maybe is what used to be the Beaverbrook Hotel. Ya, I think that is the old Beaverbrook Hotel. If you want to see more, I found these pictures here. (Second search result, gnb) Thank you to whomever took these pictures. I am ever so grateful to see them! Just about brought me to tears, me, I'm the really, really sentimental one in the family. My Dad, he was just the same!

My Beautiful Hometown Of Fredericton Has Flooding Once Again...Makes Me Terribly Homesick!

I got this photo off the CBC website. It is a picture of downtown Fredericton, along the St. John River (or Freddy Beach as we locals call it), just behind Officer's Square, where I went to a Jazz and Blues concert this past summer. The water has since risen quite a bit and this morning they are closing streets in the downtown area and shutting off the power. It will be a mess!

There has been a lot of coverage on our national news channels, which is unusual I think for Fredericton floods. Flooding happens every year and sometimes it is worse than in other years. This year is going to be as bad as the flood of 1973. Sigh!!! It all makes me terribly homesick! I was five years old in 1973, and I remember the flood. People were canoeing down University Avenue. It was something else! I went with my Dad , as he was helping out a widow who lived near Waterloo Row. Her basement was under water. She was a lovely kind woman, and I remember her thanking my Dad over and over for his help. My Dad, however, was not the kind of person to want or need credit for helping someone out. He really was that kind of person! Never hesitating to be helpful. I really miss him terribly!

I wish he was with us, he would be helping out his very good friends who live on University Avenue and are going to be flooded. Friends for fourty years! Lovely kind people, who were such a support when my Dad died and just as upset as we were. People in Fredericton have a strong sense of community. I wish I was there to help out. I surely would!

Hope you enjoy our Canadian band 'The Tragically Hip', along with this video. At the end of the video, you can click on other videos of the flooding in Fredericton. The video of driving around Fredericton is obviously not of the flood, but it shows the on and off ramps to the Westmorland Street Bridge which are now under water. My friend Sherry who works downtown, won't be going to work today or for several days, as she likely can't get across the river, except by boat maybe!