Three Sisters Awakening-Canadian Rockies

The mountains are an amazing place to exist. The energy between earth and sky is palpable, something that heightens the senses.

In Three Sisters Awakening I wanted to capture the changing colors of the sky, from the deep red alizarin crimson to the softness of new gamboge. The mountains went from ultramarine blue to Antwerp and cobalt blue, giving a strong, cool feeling. As the rock of the mountains flowed down to the earth and trees I used sepia, burnt umber and burnt sienna. The final colors were olive and turquoise green to represent the trees.

Like us the mountain and the earth have bones underneath their mantle. The black outlines represent the bones and structure that support this lofty landscape that flows down to the valley bottom and beyond.

Three Sisters Awakening-Mixed Watercolour and ink on canvas
10" x 8"
$100 SOLD

Three Sisters Awakening-Canadian Rockies

I have been on a personal journey the past couple of months. I met with a friend who is an accomplished artist but who is also training to be a Shaman. The time spent with him out on a hillside above a lake opened my eyes to the beauty around us. He helped me truly see how everything is all connected. The sky, mountains, trees, earth and water all form an amazing, intricate landscape of energy and life.

I have also been meditating more and have connected with my spirit guide. The energy, clarity and calmness I have experienced has been life changing.
My trainer/guide on this earth has been encouraging me to paint.....really paint . She has also encouraged my to let my spirit guide be a part of the journey with my painting.

Three Sisters Awakening is the beginning of the new path I am on. In the next while I will let the energy around me decide how this painting will form and evolve.

Thanksgiving-Canadian Rockies

Thanksgiving in the mountains.
It's Oct. 8th, Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is upon us. The temperature has been falling, we had new snow this week......it is a special time of year.

I spent the day organizing the wood pile in the light rain, moving dry wood to the front of the stack and getting new rounds ready to be split. We have company for dinner tomorrow, so I just finished making 2 pumpkin pies and put them in the oven.

I have a lot to be thankful for. 18 years this September I have been married to my best friend........I have a 14 year old son who brightens up my day...........I am now 14 years a graduate of cancer and I have great friends who add to my life with their friendship and their adventures.

On this weekend may you spend time with family and friends and enjoy the moment. Thank those around you that have helped to make your world special. And if you have a bit extra please give to those who are not as fortunate.

And thank you for following my blog. Enjoy the journey.
Bob

The Red Barn

The daughter of good friends of ours got married in the city this weekend. The reception was in a residential area at the community associations "Red Barn". As she and her partner are living off the land in Nova Scotia they wanted a rural family gathering feeling to their wedding and celebration. The table settings for dinner had old china plates with tea cups and saucers. Mason jars were filled with flowers and hand made soap was given to each person as a gift. It was a very special day with everyone pitching in to help create an awesome potluck celebration.
I'm not a big fan of store bought wrapping paper so I wrapped their gift from us in brown craft paper and created my rendition of "The Red Barn".

End of Summer-Canadian Rockies

We spent the weekend in the Invermere Valley SW of Banff helping some friends celebrate their birthdays. Weather was variable but we had lots of fun. One afternoon while everyone was out boating I decided to hang back and do some painting. The flowers were starting to fade as they prepare for the arrival of Fall. A group of color caught my eye and I decided to capture the flowers in watercolour as well with my Ipad paint program. Interesting to see how different the two images are while also being the same. It's the end of summer in many ways, need to capture the moments before Fall knocks on the door.

Burano, Italy-Canal

As I mentioned in an earlier post we were in Europe a few weeks ago. Our journey took us to Venice, one of the most amazing cities in the World!
While in Venice we took a 4 hour boat trip on the lagoon to the islands of Murano and Burano, the two most famous islands of Venice. Murano is noted for its lume glass working with its many glass factories. We stopped at one factory and watched a master create a glass plate and then a stallion from  red hot balls of molten glass.

On Burano we were intrigued by the many colours of the coloured houses that are reflected into the green waters of the channels. With lacemaking being the main craftmanship attraction, there are shops everywhere with elderly ladies embroidering lace pillows, shawls and curtains. The laughter of children, fisherman working from their traditional boats and the many outdoor patios gave the whole scene a holiday flavour.

The sketch above was created on my Ipad. I wanted to capture the colour and spirit of the island, a special destination of our trip.

Samoens, France-Haute-Savoie

We just returned from two weeks in Europe. The first week we spent in Samoens, France. We have friends from Banff who are living there for a year and they asked us to come and visit. The second week we spent in Verona, Italy and Venice, Italy. It is hard to express overall the magic that we experienced in Europe....it was a very special trip for all of us. In the next while I will post paintings I created along the journey as well as new ones created from the 600 photos I took.
This painting is just out of the town centre of Samoens, with Les Criou mountain towering over the town.

We had an incredible time here.......high alpine hiking, via ferrata, parapenting, wine, cheese, it was a great week. With our friends having lived here for almost a year they knew all the great spots to go to. We would bike to the boulangerie in the morning to get fresh croissants and bread, then later in the day go to the local butcher to get our evening meal and then to the fromagerie to pick up cheese. Its a good thing we were fairly active so we could work off all the great food we had.