While the world outside...

...is a wintry white, the studio is always filled with colour.

'Brat Cat' © Win Dinn 2019 

This painting was loosely based on a photo of our Opal, who was always to be found in places she was supposed to be staying away from.  

She had an affinity for bugs of all kinds, 

 and pretty much ruled the roost - hence the crown.

And given that it's Valentine's Day today, you know there had to be hearts somewhere!

The card-making has been hot and heavy for the past while, and most of them were mailed late - how did that happen?!

I've been playing in the journal as well, and I'm wondering what ghost got into this spread - so not my usual colour palette!

This is much more like it!  😃

I'll leave you today with my take on the Valentine's Day - it's one size fits all, whether single, in a relationship or married.  Happy Valentine's Day, my friends.

Where did it go?

I missed Tuesday's post, and here it is Friday already.  It's been a week, apparently. I've been working on some pieces for the Fernie show, and actually managed to finish a couple of them this week.

This very masculine bottle became an instant favourite of my son, Barry, who loved the masculine feel and the hand-crafted chain made and gifted to me by Eileen Gidman (I have the best friends).

I think it has a deep sea feel to it, and named it 'Sunken Treasure'.

A companion piece in the same antique gold tones is this chalice, entitled 'Antique Goblet'.  It sports some of Eileen's gifts as well!

This lovely sherry glass piece is called 'Abundance', and it was Laura Leeder who donated the glass and many of the coins.  The first version of this can be found here, and now belongs to Laura and her husband Ivor.

The other glass that's been completed is 'Pot of Gold', and just feels so rich to me.

There are so many embellishments on this it's quite top heavy.

 It's chock-a-block full of Eileen's buttons, too,  What a gift that was!

On a sadder note, it's been a week of loss.  Our studio cat, Opal, has left us to go mousing around St. Peter's chair.  I'll miss her extraordinary presence in the midst of my creative chaos, and her assistance with everything I've ever done.  You can see her handiwork here and here.  

RIP, Opal, and happy mousing.

It's chaos here...

...and fun to boot.

With Rochelle coming to stay with us for the summer as she joins the staff at Creston Veterinary Hospital, our household has doubled in size, if not in humans, as of yesterday.

Rochelle's two female dogs, JoJo and Daisy, are making themselves at home while Opal the Wonder Cat (can you see her in the photo?) struggles against all odds to train the additional staff.  She's a trooper!

Being of sound mind and body myself, I immediately got out of town to join Laura and Eileen a good way up the mountainside for tea and the beauty of nature.  The company was outstanding,

and the view was amazing.  A favourite hiking spot of Eileen's, it was a terrific vantage point to see valley bottom from a different angle.

A lovely break, it was a welcome re-connection with Mother Nature's glory.

Always it's a treat to come home and do the same in the back yard.  Today was a harbinger of hot summer days, and the garden was a great 'Ta Da' of anticipation.

Some of the tulips are in full bloom,

others are pregnant with possibility.

The forsythia is paying homage to the sky,

 and who says that pansies are quiet and retiring?  These ones look blatantly showy!

 Even the lowly dandelion echoes the sun on a day like this!

Oh, and somewhere in there I managed to sneak in some time for fun foam plate construction,

and even finish some.

So welcome home, Rochelle, thanks for the respite Eileen and Laura, and blessings on you, Mother Nature, for always showing your truly extraordinary colours!

It's a little damp...

in Creston right now.  Some  heavy snowfall (for our area) followed by much warmer weather has created 'just a little' flooding in our yard.

 While I am fascinated by the patterns created by the water itself,

 as well as by the reflections therein,

the resultant flood in the garage is less to my liking.  As most of the water-logged boxes belong to our daughter, Rochelle, she'll be even less enthusiastic.  Her CD covers sit drying on the studio floor,

the workshop tables are piled with her books, interspersed with paper towels to soak up the moisture,

and boxes are securely tucked under the tables until we can relocate them to a safer space.

Meanwhile, Opal the Studio Cat toasts her warm, dry body beside the gas furnace, staying well away from all that excess of water, perhaps dreaming of the sunshine we all crave.

How's your creative week going?  I do hope it's dryer than ours!

The studio cat strikes...

and nearly dies.

I've been remiss in blogging, no doubt due to trauma created by Opal, the studio cat.  In September, I mixed a large glob (very technical term) of a dark colour with a luscious phathalo green and cadmium red, preparatory to creating a grey for a background.

 I painted a 3' x 4' wooden panel with the resulting grey, affixed plastic wrap, and waited for it to dry.  Alice Saltiel-Marshall was visiting at the time and took this photo of the process, thanks!

During the night, Opal the studio cat happily pounced on a wet painting of Alice's, a lovely piece which was predominantly peach/tangerine, and then into a wet start of mine, a very bright phathlo blue, and then meandered over my wood panel...

 and the floor, and up the stairs on to the laminate, and, and, and.

You have to know that Opal was grounded for a week as a result of this, which is just as simple to accomplish as the proverbial herding of cats.  

© Garden Patterns II  mixed media by Win Dinn  3' x 4' on wood panel

Some judicious sanding, three more layers of plastic wrap technique, some under-the-breath cursing, and I finally finished a piece this week that was as traumatic as any I'd ever done.  And there were no thanks going to Opal the studio cat for her help with this one.

And while I'm at it, I just want to let you the know the major news in town here over the past month.  Two of my favourite people here in town are Susan and Gary Snow,  owners of Tabletree.  Tabletree produces exceptional black cherry juice, and has recently won the FoodNews World Juice 12 award in Barcelona, Spain for Best Pure Juice Product, an award that is VERY well-deserved.  If you're somewhere near an available distributor, you're very lucky.  If not, make sure you lobby to have it brought into your area.  Your taste buds will do a happy dance in delight if you do!