Smile, breathe and go slowly

My house? Not all that clean today. And I’m cool with that (sort of). I’m trying very hard to be mindful in how I spend my time, and as always I’m in search for balance between Getting Things Done and just enjoying my life. Doing that, without feeling guilty for either having a messy house or potentially missing out on my kids' childhoods, has proven to be very challenging. I’m getting there.
Today was not an overly productive day. The cold I’ve been fighting stuck around and nagged me, the littlest seems to be teething and wanted to cry and/or sleep all day and I had to run into work to fill out some paperwork. Rather than get too overwhelmed by the lack of time I had to run around and do errands I just puttered around the house a bit and on a whim, brought out my acrylic paints and some panels I had lying around.
 
(Last Day In Nova Scotia & Wheat Kings and Pretty Things, both available in my shop)
Acrylics are fun for me because unlike my style using watercolors, I like to be free and impulsive. I just grabbed my palette knives and tried to use images in my mind from the past to inspire some paintings. Last Day In Nova Scotia comes from the day my roommates took me to the ocean on my last night before moving from Halifax back to Ontario. I’ll never forget the sky, the sea, the sand and the smells and I’ve carried them with me for the last 9 years. I miss Nova Scotia and my wonderful friends there, every day. Wheat Kings and Pretty Things is my mind’s image of the prairies. I was born in Edmonton and while I haven’t spent much time out west since we moved when I was a preschooler, the big sky and golden fields of the prairies has always been hauntingly beautiful to me.
 
(View from My Bedroom Window & Just Landed in Alberta)
I like using palette knives and the thick, rich texture of impasto technique when doing an acrylic painting. I like the challenge of giving the viewer a strong sense of my inspiration and subject matter while allowing them enough room to make their own interpretation, drawing on their own memories and experiences.  I was nervous about putting abstract acrylics up in the shop, but I decided to go for it. I’m having fun exploring this familiar medium and hopefully my customers will enjoy the results.

(Driving Up The 101 To The Valley)
So, while I didn’t Get Much Done in the domestic sense today, I did have a wonderful day playing around with paints during the littlest’s naptime, playing outside when he was awake and visiting with some coworkers. Good enough for me.

Ithaca Children’s Garden

On the recommendation of some friends, we decided to stay a few nights in Ithaca, NY on our way home from Boston last month. This town in the Finger Lakes area of NY state was like a little slice of heaven for us; we loved the rolling hills and beautiful vistas, the delicious food and craft beer, interesting little independent shops, friendly people and this wonderful permaculture children’s garden.
  
We took the boys to the garden on our first morning in Ithaca and had an amazing time enjoying the beautiful sunshine and exploring the area.  We are big fans of permaculture and our own garden is designed based on its principles, so it was wonderful to see a public space devoted to such a sustainable and beautiful way to grow food.

It’s a tasting garden, and our kids are well-acquainted with eating their way through our yard, so we enjoyed sampling what was ripe and ready. I so wish that we could have taken advantage of some of their children’s educational programs while we were there. It warms my heart to know that its so accessible for the youngest generation to learn about gardening, permaculture and why its so important to change our current practices in order to avoid complete environmental degradation.
 
We’ll definitely be back in Ithaca soon, hopefully next year, and I hope to spend some more time in this lovely garden. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.