Tuesday 29 July 2014

Welcome guests

Summer in this beautiful valley means we can welcome guests from near and far, and this past week was no exception.

Alice Saltiel-Marshall and husband Bill arrived here on Wednesday evening, just in time for an appetizer-filled happy hour on the deck.

Alice, Rochelle, Bill, John
No tomfoolery took place, as usual.

Alice, Rochelle and I tore off at 5:50 to play with Brandy Hunt at Creative Fix .  Alice took this photo at the stencil workshop. 


The next day we spent up to twelve hours playing with the techniques and products we learned.  Alice looks pretty chipper early in the game!


Here I'm working on a joint Alice/Win project - Rochelle fell in love with it, and is now the proud owner of the only (first?) joint Daltiel (or is that Sinn?) mixed media painting.

By day's end, the studio was a riot of colour, starts and stenciled everything!


The following couple of days were a blur of markets, shopping in Nelson, lunch at Skimmerhorn winery,

Bill and Alice on the Skimmerhorn Winery deck
more eating,

and crazy photo ops.



I must say, we live a charmed life here in the valley, and never more so when we can welcome such good friends.



Sunday 27 July 2014

Sublime Sorbet

This time of  year, when the raspberries lie thick on the bushes, we anticipate every possible confection, from whole raspberries (easy to pick, wash and inhale) to the labour-intensive raspberry sorbet.

This takes a huge number of raspberries (because at a minimum I must double the recipe), bashed to a pulp in a food processor,


and then mashed with a spoon through a sieve to remove all those pesky seeds.



It makes a glorious puree, doesn't it?  Once you have about five cups,


you can add a simple syrup.


The combination is finished in an ice cream maker (or if you foolishly sold yours in the garage sale - in the freezer, beating every 15-30 minutes until solid).


Served on the back deck in 30° weather to appreciative visitors, in exquisite sorbet glasses they gifted to us after scouring seventeen states, it's a thing of beauty!


It's hard to describe the incredible flavour of this sorbet.  You'll just have to make it yourself to experience it.

Tuesday 22 July 2014

It's time to get it clean...

...don't you think?  The studio is chockablock full of projects on the go, and with Bill and Alice arriving here on Wednesday for a visit, it's time to get at it.

There are projects in process everywhere.  A stack of partially completed panels and canvasses sits on a chair beside the students' tables,


 a nearly done dryer sheet for a video demo waits on its own sheet of butcher paper,


 an alcohol-spritzed palette paper is itching to be transferred to a canvas,


and a house-wrap stencil lies partially sketched (when will that get done, I wonder?).


There's a stack of Gelli prints available for use at a moment's notice (I'm eyeing that top one for a pear painting that's 'gelling' in the back of my mind)


and some other Gelli plate experiments using watercolour paint wait near by (so far unsuccessful, but I'll keep at it, Laura!),


 while a mat board painting from the Victorian series awaits another layer of paint.


This Gelli print is getting some additional colour with gel pens during spare moments when I need a break from standing,


and a 3" x 3" mini canvas hangs around on the easel in hopes of some paper additions.  The lovely variegated paper is actually a sheet of clean-up paper from the last of a Gelli session...gorgeous, no?


My texture box for Gelli printing works as a support for a Gelli printed hand mandala...lots of work to go on that,

and a folded book start glares at me, figuratively tapping its toes as it kills time. ' When will the folding part happen?', it asks.


Even my gratitude journal is pending, as the full-on summer chores of garden produce care, deck-crew feeding (that's right - we have a new one in progress) and summer basking takes precedence.


May your summer be as full of colour and anticipation as is ours.  We have fabulous weather, wonderful produce and paint, paint, paint.  What more could I need?



Friday 18 July 2014

Inside or out...

these heritage tomatoes are j.u.i.c.y.

Not only do they taste fabulous, but they are the most stunning mandalas imaginable, and each one is unique.


Whether a green batman centre,


pink and green flesh,


or a red rectangular centre,


 they are intricate and glowing.


 Dripping with juice, they're each picture perfect.


Some contain beautiful butterflies,


 and others are meandering maps.


 And if you're lucky, you'll find a heart-shaped one, pumping through the whole body.


I'm fortunate to live in this wonderful valley, where the climate is so suited to gardening.  Even more fortunate am I to have a husband, John, who loves to do. It means that I get a new colour fix every day.

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Tomato Time...

...has hit the back garden, and they're b. e. a. u. t. i. f. u. l.



John's heritage tomatoes range through every possible combination of colours from yellow


to orange



to red


 and from stripes


 in every combination


 to subtle blends from one colour to another.


They're not only candy for my colour pig eye, they're beautiful mandalas when cut open for eating, and the taste is beyond incredible.

This week the first deliveries will go out to Skimmerhorn Winery for their bistro, and soon more will follow to the Real Food Cafe.   Make sure you get to both places for a taste test!

How are you getting your colour fix for the summer?  Hope it's an amazing one.





Friday 11 July 2014

I turned my back for a moment...

...and summer HIT!

With the honeysuckle flowering finished,


the day lilies in profusion,


 and these little cuties ( maximum 1" across) in flower,


 the sunflowers decided it was time!


The strawberries are near done,


and the raspberries

 and currents are just starting (sorbet on the way, Alice!).


Heaven help us - are those tomatoes ripe already?  You know what we'll be doing for the next while!


All this glorious colour brought to you courtesy of John W. Dinn, gardener extraordinaire, who is now deck-building with my brother Neal,  master reno-man!  Bless their hearts.  

How's your summer going?  How are you getting your colour fix?
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