Tales from the East Coast

Wowza, is it mid September already?! I owe this blog some drawings! The drawing wasn't stopped, but the blogging was because I took a trip all the way to Newfoundland and back. You can read about my adventure's on Lindsey's blog here at omycanada.blogspot.ca/. Basically we drove and drove and drove and drove from the mid-way point of Canada all the way as far east as we could go. We had a lot of hijinks along the way, and it will definitely go down as my best camping trip ever (at least to this date). We made our way from Winnipeg, drove down through the states through to Detroit and then traveled back through Canada over to Niagara Falls. After Niagara it was off to Toronto where we did the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and actually saw, touched, and climbed into the inside of Mr. Dress-ups tree house. As unimaginable as it is, it actually happened, and I will save that story for another day. This set the bar pretty high on our travels because fulfilling that childhood dream happened within only a few days of leaving Manitoba. Canada's provinces didn't disappoint me however, there was a never ending supply of activities and sights to see if only we had another 3, 4, 5, or 6 weeks to spend touring.
From Toronto we traveled onward to Quebec City, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Then we made our way back stopping in Halifax, PEI(where I did see the Anne of Green Gables house!), the Bay of Fundy, Quebec City, Montreal, and then onto our last stop to cap off the trip with a Light show on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Then it was a long drive all the way back through the Canadian shield stopping only briefly in Sudbury, and Thunder Bay. Ah, what a trip, but now it's back to teaching, back to life, and planning that big life-changing event that's coming up quickly which is my wedding.
Drawings from the trip will be posted soon, I'm still catching up on everything...

Art in the Park

I will be participating in this year's Art in the Park hosted by the Portage Avenue Church at Omand's Creek Park this Sunday the 22nd. Several artists will be participating, and there will be several local bands playing. Start time is at 6:30. Come by for some music, some art and a general good time. Art in the park is always an enjoyable evening. I will have some items for sale along with the other artists. Omand's Creek Park is located at the end of Wolseley's west side, just before the portage street underpass if you are heading west.

Folk Fest Art

The 39th annual Winnipeg Folk Fest has just finished, and I am so happy with the piece that was included as a part of the Prairie Outdoor Exhibition. My dad and I worked on it together this year. he built the structure and I painted it. It actually turned out even better and bigger than I imagined. Now we have to figure out what to do with it now that the festival is over...

Introducing Sherlock

In January I got a tiny little dog from the pet shelter Hull's Haven. Despite specializing in Border Collies this rescue shelter takes in small dogs as well and I found Sherlock while in foster care. He is part chihuahua, and probably part miniature pincher. Most of the time he is a little sweetheart because he loves to cuddle, and fits perfectly on my lap, which is where he is resting right now as I write this. Sometimes he can be a little monkey, and show some neediness and co-dependency, but overall he is a fantastic little dog, and I can barely remember how boring and bland my house was before I got him.

This one is a self-portrait.

When Pride rears its ugly head...

A drawing inspired by a sermon at Riverwood Church by Wayne Seimens.

Illustration Friday-Sight

Ink and acrylic on paper.

Chair Lair

Able wholesale is this somewhat eccentric used goods and Liquidation store on Notre Dame Avenue in Winnipeg, except it's not the cool kind of eccentric like Ragpickers, or that antique store in Osborne Village. It's more like the eccentric-eerie kind of store. I drive past it everyday, and one day in summer I couldn't suppress my curiosity anymore: I entered this three story building mish-mash of furniture, housewares, industrial kitchen supplies and other miscellaneous products. As I was walking through this place it just kept on going and I didn't know what I was going to find next. There was at least one flickering florescent light, and in the back part of the industrial kitchen gear there were some guys moving furniture around. To be honest I felt a lot like I shouldn't be in there, like this is the kind of place that isn't so great for a 20-something to be by herself (no-one in there was creepy or acted weird, it was just the general vibe my intuition was giving me). Nevertheless, I love a good bargain, and can't resist the idea of turning something ugly or almost-good into something fabulous. I happened to find an old vintage desk chair that looks a lot like something that Ikea would mimic nowadays. I got the chair for the fair price of 20 dollars, took it home and refinished it. Here are my visuals from that experience.