Occasional Play...

Autumn is always such a busy time of the year, as we bring the garden inside, put away food for the winter like proverbial squirrels, finish up reno projects and prepare for the workshop season.

In between, I do get a chance to play in the studio, mostly in fits and starts.  Some of the pieces I've been creating over the past couple of months started as part of sessions with visitors (see here), and some have been percolating in my mind for some time.

Sweet Summer Sun  mixed media on mat board  6" x 8"

One of the former, Sweet Summer Sun got started (and finished - most unusual for me) at a Claresholm play session on my way home from a holiday in Ottawa.  A group of my students and I had a mixed media afternoon at the home of Judy Dahl, just outside of town, and we all went at it like fiends.

Golden Girls  mixed media 10" x 8" on wood panel

Another visitor session came about when Alice Saltiel-Marshall and her husband Bill were here in September.  Alice gave me a stamp bearing (or baring) these three beauties, and we both used it in a painting while she was here.  You can see her version, in progress, on her Flickr page here.

Opening  mixed media  10 x 10 on wood panel

The Opening had been incubating for some time, and sold as the paint was drying, which is always a fun thing to have happen.

Still in the process of working on larger paintings for the Key City Theatre Gallery show in April of 2013, I've been picking away at two pieces, each 2' x 3' in the floral vein.  Barring any further studio cat issues, I hope to post at least one this month!  In the meantime, I'm basking in the long autumn sun in the studio, wishing you colour, colour, colour in your life.

I'm leaving...

...but in a good way.  In the fall, the two maple trees in the front yard keep us 'leaving' until well into November.

  They are each well over a thousand feet tall (or at least drop leaves as though they are) 

They cover the lawn,

 

and the car,

and require constant raking

and bagging.

It's one of our major signals that fall has fully arrived.

They fill our yard with colour and richness, provide pressed leaves for mixed media fodder, and are a strong antidote to the thought of cooler weather to follow.

What is your major autumn signal?  How does your colour grow?

Party of three...

It was a painting party, to be sure, but a party nonetheless!  Alice Saltiel-Marshall and husband Bill arrived here last weekend for a flying autumn trip, and we had our usual wonderful time, in spite of John being away.

We painted,

enjoyed lunch on the deck at Skimmerhorn Winery ,

spent some lovely hours at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area viewing dragonflies, wooly caterpillars and birds,

and caught some of the local sights.

Our time together is always one of viewing the studio and world through a veil of colour and laughter.  For this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I'm wishing you the same! 

It's a mystery...

...to me how a scant few seeds can go from this,

One of John's heritage tomato patches

to this,

Running from the imminent frost

 to this,

Snuck out from the pantry

in just a few months.  This planet is an amazing place, and I'm sure we live in one of the best spots here in the Creston Valley, if only for the colour!

Looking for more colour in your life?  Check out the upcoming Colour Boot Camp at College of the Rockies in Cranbrook - registration closes Tuesday, October 9, so now is the time to do it.