All the best...

 ...of everything is what I wish for you this holiday season.

May every colour of the rainbow delight your eyes, and each moment be filled with the love, laughter, compassion and kindness that is the meaning of the season.

I'll be taking a hiatus from the blog at least until March, and perhaps longer.  That doesn't mean, however, that I won't be thinking of you and cheering you along - may your creativity know no bounds and your creations be off the charts!  See you down the road, my friends.

The Christmas crazies...

...have me by the tail, so this will be short and only slightly sweetened by cookie dough (no photos available, though).

I've been out in the sunshine (we had an hour or so of it this week) and caught this lovely leaf-bare mountain ash berry fest against that blue sky.  What a gift!

I've been working on a large card (14" x 11" when folded) for the Swan Valley Lodge staff in the Adult Day Program.

They are such wonderful caregivers, and John so much enjoys his time there.

We'd be hard-pressed to manage this terrible disease without their heartful service.

And I promise that the box of chocolates will be full when this is all packaged up, but the temptation is massive, may I say?

Sending Christmas vibes your way as I speed over to your posts to see what's happening on your end.  

You'll never guess...

...what I've been up to this week, will you?  Christmas cards?  How did you know?? 

I finished all the tops of the cards, printed the front tags, glued them down,

and did the same for the inserts as well.  

Everytime I did some glueing, I stashed the piece under this book, and giggled at the title - somehow Heavy Equipment Repair seemed the perfect book for the task.

I had a good collection of cards when finished, even though I'd sent some out of the country already.

I do have some more cards to make (less urgent), but I took a break to add some words to the travel journal of collages.  It was great fun to be glueing something different for a change. 

Hope you've had an entertaining and creative week, whatever you were up to.  I'm going to pop over to check on you soon!!

The Christmas card....

...scramble continues, with deadlines whizzing past like rockets.  

Working on layer four, they seem to be taking some shape now.

If I can finish the overseas ones this week, they should arrive sometime in January!  😉 Breath-holding is not a great idea, though.

I sure hope your week has gone exceptionally well, so I'll just pop over and take a look.  Happy creating in your land!!  

While it may feel like a month...

...I was actually only away for eight days, but have been playing catch-up since I got back on November 11 in the midst of Remembrance Day here in Canada.  That was apt, given I was attending the memorial service for my dear sister-in-law, Judith Dunlop, in Penticton. These events always remind me of the drawing together of family and friends and how vitally important that is when one is saying the final goodbye.  I was glad to see a favourite painting of mine called Community Ties for that very reason.

Retreiving John from his respite at Swan Valley Lodge and settling us back into our routine seems to have been more of a challenge this time, as his condition has declined more deeply than before.  There's been little time for studio play, but I did manage to get a messy start on Christmas cards.  I do know, however, that my late start and the pending-yet-again/still-postal-strike means not only the overseas cards will be late, but the in-country ones will likely be as well.

While away with my brother, his ragdoll cat, Milo, kept us well entertained.  He's a handsome boy, and very aware of the fact.

When he naps on his top perch, though, he's so like Daniel Boone's coonskin cap that it has me laughing out loud.

As I settled back into our routine here in town, I restored my soul with daily walks through town and enjoyed the last beauty of autumn.

I'll be looking forward to catching up on your posts over the next while.  In the meantime, I'm sending a gentle reminder to cherish those you love while they are here.  

After being away...

...the studio play was great fun.  I gathered some bottles of high flow acrylics and a long stretch of watercolour paper.  After protecting the already-splattered floors (why did I bother?), I had a good splash-and-throw time.  

Snippets follow:

Of course, the whole sheet will get more layers of play, so one never knows what will emerge.  Given the size of the paper, I suspect it may be time to start another large panel.  Go big, or go home!

I did manage, as well, to finish my oldest grandson's birthday painting.  He turns 8 this coming month, and is now well and truly into his drumming lessons.  

I suspect that his real-life drums are a bit quieter in colour.  😉

Edit:  I'll be away from my blog for some time (2-4 weeks or as needed), so try to remain majorly creative until I get back, so I can get my fix!!

Happy Halloween to you if you're celebrating that this year...may your spooks send shivers up and down your back and the sweets be perfectly ghoulish!  🐈‍⬛🧟‍♀️🍬👻🎃

I missed it...

...last week, that is.  Somehow I got caught up in the 'loving the fall' and spent a lot of time outdoors and not much in the studio.   I love this photo I took in town.  It feels like autumn is cuddling up to winter growth, don't you think?

I'm making up for the lack of studio time this week, though, and have managed to create some more vegetation on the 'small vases' piece.  

as well as additional playing on the first large vase painting.  I'm pretty sure this one has already named itself 'The Great Escape'.  I'm wondering where those colourful bubbles are heading.

You've asked where the books currently reside, and here's my answer.  The shelves are jam-packed and higgedly-piggedly.  You're quite correct that Something Must Be Done. 

To that end, I've pulled out the smallest of the books and an idea from the creative hat, and intend to make a mini nest/rest for them.  These four little crates are the perfect size to show them off, but I can already see it will take a miracle to make them look like anything akin to a bespoke shelf.  Wish me luck!!

And with Canadian Thanksgiving just passed this last weekend, my creativity also involved cooking, baking, and a glass of something (can wine be creative if one is just drinking it?).  The only photo I have, though, is our colourful cranberries-in-the-making.  

That's it for this week, my friends, and I may be away next week as well.  If the weather permits it, I'm heading to Penticton and Kelowna over five snow-covered passes to visit family.  I've not yet trained the house sitter to do a blog post, so I'll put that on my mental list.  😉  In the meantime, I'm wishing you wonderful weather, magic in your studio and autumn happy days .  

How can it be. . .

. . . October, already? And yet, here we are.  The days are cooling, we've had some rain, and the flower baskets are waning.  It means, of course, that there's likely to be a whole lot more studio time before too long!

I've got all six signatures in the mini travel journal (5" H x 3 1/4" W and 3 1/4" D), after doing the first layers of collage on each of the six of the signatures. With 8 pages in each signature, that's 48 itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny collages.

The journal is my usual quiet palette (🤣) and by the time I add more layers to each collage, I'm sure they will be, as well.

I enjoyed working on these last collages,

and I expect adding more layers to the others

will be just as much fun.

I also managed to pull out some older experiments, and audition some full-size vase shapes on them.  They'll be fun to get at in the next week or two.

Here's to a playful and creative month for you as we anticipate the cooler weather and a bountiful Thanksgiving (in Canada, that's October 13th).  Happy week to you!