Happy Mother's Day

I hope you had a great day, whether
you're a mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, friend. I had a lovely day and even worked on a small painting. (Not ready yet).

I'm a mother of two young men, and
couldn't be prouder. They have always been and continue to be two
of the kindest, warmest, funniest,
most intelligent people in the world.
Art matters to me, there's no question about it. But on a day like this I realize that my biggest dream as a little girl came true when I held my oldest son, Christopher in my arms for the first time,
and I felt my family was complete when Sam was born.

As a little girl I hauled around a baby doll wherever I went.
Of course it was societal indoctrination, but for me it
was much more than that. I knew I loved babies. What
I didn't know until I started raising my sons, was that
I would love every age of my children, and they would
be a huge part of why I am so happy with my life.
Thank you boys, and thank you Steven for making my
dreams come true.

Love the people of the world today.

Growing up in paint

Some of my favorite models throughout the years have been my family.
My children and husband frolicking at our favorite beach in Nova
Scotia were often featured in my watercolours. Since I switched
to acrylic my son Sam has been a kind model for me, especially
when I teach private acrylic classes. This quick sketch of him is
one of my favorite paintings. Looking at it closely, which I rarely
do, I can see some areas I'd work on if I wanted to spend the time
on it, but I like the rough quality. What I like most of all is the
mood -- the eyes are amusing to an artist mother who has seen
that look so often, and the huge hands, a sign of just how tall
this boy would be. I think he's 6'3" now.

I am immensely grateful to my family for their cooperation. My
own father was a pretty great photographer, so for a certain
period in my life my brother and I, who like Sam, were the
youngest and most available are beautifully captured in all
our moods in black and white 8 x10 prints that my Dad
created in his little darkroom in our basement. Those photos
now are an amazingly vivid record of our young lives,
and strong works of art.

Have a resourceful evening.

Salad days

I often think that I've been extremely lucky in my life. I love my family and friends. Our animals are funny and strange. We get a lot of entertainment just from watching them.


I live in a vibrant international city, and teach in the
country just north of town.

I also think that noticing what works in your life is a
choice every day. So why the salad? My son Christopher
has Timbah the cat perched on his shoulder. Timbah
is even stranger since we got the Siamese cat, Fiona.
There's Sam carrying the flowers he bought for his
girlfriend's birthday. The lady in the flower store arranged
them to perfection for him. And the salad? Why the salad?
That's been part of dinner for the past two years, and delicious.
My friend Flora puts great food shots on her blog, and Lina's
blog is about food -- so here's a variant on
Nanny Muir's salad.
4 tbsp. good olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, pressed
Salt -- a shake or two
Pepper, a grind or two
A baby fingernail size pinch of Keen's dry mustard
A shot of Worchestershire sauce
Blend together in a large bowl.
Add -- two cups of grape tomatoes (ripe)
A tomato or two if you have some
One large red pepper, sliced (throw out the seeds and core)
One avocado (ripe) cut into pieces (throw out the peel)
Any other salad vegetable you like
A large colander's worth of salad greens, rinsed and spun

Toss -- Eat -- Yum.

So -- two fine sons, a sweet husband, two lovely insane cats, a
faithful dog, a warm extended family, good friends, great work,
wonderful bosses, engaging work friends, super students, a car
that runs, a warm house, wonderful chances to produce
and sell art, great art clients, and a super community,
and salad. That is the good life my friends!

School of recovery

I was back at school today. Getting out of the driveway
between the high, high, high snowbanks was problematic.
Sam came out in his favorite white, slip-on, fake leather
sneakers and bare feet to dig me out of a deep bank when I
got stuck. Back home now after a very long, but fulfilling day,
I'm going to put the painting aside for the night, to give
my family some attention and mark some papers. This is me trying to snuggle Fiona and Steven at the same time. The photo is so bizarre that it's almost art. With all that snow you might get
tempted to drown yourself in fries. If you need another cooking blog to keep the munchies in the realm of the virtual(other than the fabulous one listed at the bottom of my blog) try this one: http://smittenkitchen.com/

Have an affectionate day.