Doodle Blessings

October 24, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

To keep learning is a blessing. This week, I signed up for a sketching workshop, with no idea what to expect. Turns out we were learning the art of meditative doodling, trademarked as Zentangle. The featured image I created in class. I thought it would be fun to do my granddaughter’s initial. This is where […]

Creativity Is A Blessing

July 18, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Ideas follow me around like little children tugging on my pant leg, begging attention. I’ve been brushing them aside, too unwell to give any them any energy, but with summer’s arrival and pending visits at Grandma’s camp, I push myself to get out the paints. Untrained myself, I watch videos to gain knowledge and inspiration. […]

Pink!

May 17, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Thanks to the creative suggestions on my Birthday Art post, I have created this series of watercolour images for my soon-to-be three-year-old granddaughter. Pink is my world, is her motto.

Birthday Art

May 2, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

I started the tradition – a challenge really – to create a painting for each of my family members’ birthdays. The challenge continues, as the birthdays keep coming. What to paint for my daughter-in-law, who has already claimed many of my art pieces? I wanted something personal and meaningful, so I decided to tackle an […]

Lens-Artists: Creativity

April 24, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I’m in awe of those whose imaginations create “big” – like the statues of these stage hands permanently lifting the curtain at Stratford, Ontario, Canada… Or this butterfly shaped garden at the Botanical Gardens in Corpus Christi, Texas. (For Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge: creativity.)

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #43: Rain

April 8, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Raindrops, not tears,blur my vision –the line of trees before mea glistening blur.The pounding in my templesis just the steady rhythmof watery drip, drip, drip,not the incessant roarof my blood pounding –discordant is this day. I wrote this piece while stranded in Mississippi, with eighteen hours of driving still ahead of us, and no idea […]

Arting People

March 21, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Faces and bodies intimidate me, when it comes to art. So I decided to start simply, with this computerized sketch (featured) made from an old photograph of one of my girls. I have found with my sketching that adhering to the original is not always necessary, as long as I get the general idea. This […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #39: Unanswerable

March 11, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“I always start with questions that I can’t answer. Otherwise you get bored halfway through if you already know the answers. If you’re asking what seem to be unanswerable questions, then you have to keep showing up.” – Barbara KingsolverFrom A Talk in the Woods, by Kevin LarimerFeatured in Poets & Writers, November/ December 2018 […]

Self-Portrait and Mountains

March 7, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Many moons ago, I won an award for my artistic talents and was immediately counselled to drop the art program. That same year, I wrote my first novel, and after it was graded, I burnt it. I wasn’t meant to be creative, I decided, and obediently signed up for advanced math and other academic subjects. […]

Shopping Saturday

March 2, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

I promised I wouldn’t inundate this site with our new adventure, however, the thrill of seeing my own designs on products merits sharing. Trouble is, I want to buy everything. So far, we’ve purchased a mug, a tote bag, a carry-all pouch, leggings and a t-shirt. We’re pleased with the quality of products, and can […]

I dream that I am teaching again, and having assigned the class independent work, I am spending time connecting with each student to see if they are grasping the material. It’s my favourite part of teaching, and I wake up wondering if I’ll ever have that feeling again. So rewarding. It is bittersweet, growing old. […]

Fatal Fury

Really wasn’t your faultthis fury that overcame –Words evoked onslaught,a raging river of pain. Didn’t mean to push you,miscalculated my aim,swimming in swamp watersnot a recommended game. You floundered, gurgled,cursed me by name –our love story, now viralbrought an alligator fame. (Image my own. Tale is totally fictional, I promise.)