Dandelion Delight

Golden sunshine is springing up all over the back lawn, so let's make use of all those sunny dandelions. They may be considered weeds, but for me they have their own style of beauty.

I'm sure my neighbours were peeking out of their windows wondering what is that weird person doing on her hands and knees......

In French the lowly dandelion is named piss-en-lit. Rough translation.... wet the bed! So called because the leaves are diuretic. The whole plant is edible, and once I made some pretty strong dandelion wine from the blossoms.

After completing this piece of "performance art" and taking some photos, I dashed off to pick up my grandies from school as usual, and when I got home, the lawn mower had been by and my masterpiece was no more!

But there are plenty more dandelions to come.

The next day, my sweet grandie Emma was at my house for her scheduled "dinner date", and helped make this lovely dandelion sunburst.
Can you see the little violet in the centre?

Inspiration comes from the art of British artist Andy Goldsworthy. Make sure you scroll down to see some of his inspired work.

Early Morning Visitor

I peeked out of my front door this morning at 7:00am, and guess who was snuffling about on the grass, looking for a breakfast of tasty bugs and grubs?

She (or he?) eventually wandered off past the garage so I ventured down the front steps to see where she had gone. But she changed her mind and we met at the garage wall, almost nose to nose. Both of us hastily beat a retreat.
I had seen the same skunk the previous evening, investigating a neighbour's deck and looking in their door. I guess when you are armed with such a powerful aromatic defensive weapon, you can be as bold as you like, nobody wants to argue with you.

Young at Art

Each year the Gallery shows student art from all the elementary schools in the area.

This is the school where my grandies are students, but I don't know if any of the featured art is their work. There's some scary interesting stuff here!

New and Improved

Our local Leisure Centre has been getting a major facelift and expansion adding over 42,000 sq. ft. to the building over the past year. The town is growing fast and the original facility was just not big enough to provide the needs of the population.
The public library relocated to a rental space for a few months over the winter so the original library area could be expanded to twice it's original size and last week the new and improved library space opened to the public.

The shelf ends are still to be installed. Lots of convenient work spaces and glass cubicles for meetings and study. Electric points at every table. And there's even a coffee vending machine and an enclosed outdoor courtyard where you can sit and drink your cuppa java.

 A colourful lounge area for just sitting and reading. Computers for kids, and lots of children's literature on those lower shelves.

The new open seating viewing area for the swimming pool. The pool has been in use for a number of years but the area for parents to watch their children's swimming lessons was very small and cramped, this is so much nicer.

A peek through the window at the shiny floor of the new gymnasium. And the fitness and aerobics centre has been expanded with new equipment and exercise rooms.

During the summer, the final construction will be completed with the Art Gallery moving from it's current location into a larger space at the Leisure Centre.

My tax money well spent, I think!

"Art in the Dark" Update:

Update: Well, the 2018 Art Show and Sale is history, three days without power and having to haul in a generator in order to pump water to flush the toilets. One for the record books, definitely.
And of course, the electricity came on just as the door was being locked at the close of the final day! Oh well......
I sold two pieces of art and 10 greeting cards. A lot less than last year, but I'm happy that a lot of people said they liked my work, even though they didn't buy it.
The crowds were smaller this year, which is hardly surprising as many people were still without power after Friday's ferocious windstorm, or they were busy dealing with fallen trees, flattened fences or trying to contact the insurance companies about their lost roof shingles. So much damage done by those fierce winds.
Now on to the next show in 2019..... let's hope the weather is better.

Blown Away!

The opening night of the Annual Art Show and Sale..... and Southern Ontario encountered gusty 100km/hour winds knocking down trees and hydro poles, flattening fences and causing extensive power cuts.
I could hardly stand up in the wind.
And it's really hard to appreciate Art when you can't see what you're looking at.
I've heard of Art in the Park, but this was Art in the Dark!

We had a few hardy souls who made it to the Community Centre to look at the paintings, but not many wanted to brave the weather. Flashlights and cell phones were used to light our way. And I even sold a painting in the dark.... admittedly it was to a friend who had seen the work before I framed it.

Today the electricity is back on, so we are hoping for visits from lots of art lovers.

Art Show Update later: although the power has been restored at my house, we had another full day without power at the Art Show. At least it was daylight! But no water for flushing toilets so the town brought in a water tank and a generator.... I wonder what tomorrow holds.

Meanwhile, early this morning, I had a cute fluffy black and white visitor to my back yard. Flower, from the Bambi movie.

She (or he?) scuttled away through the hole under the fence to the right.
Update: I've since seen this same skunk many times, it's very bold and not at all frightened of people.

Annual Art Show and Sale, WooHoo!

I've been a non-blogger for a while mainly because I've been busy getting myself in gear for our local Annual Art Show and Sale which happens this weekend, Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 May. But that doesn't mean I haven't been doing other things.

• I went to see the Moscow Festival Ballet's production of "Giselle". Fabulous! My toes hurt just watching those ballerinas en pointe.
• I saw a junior production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in our local theatre, totally performed by young people 18 and under. Again, fabulous! So many words to remember.
• I saw the movie "Loving Vincent", an animated feature film created from thousands of fine art oil paintings in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. Impressive art and a fascinating story.
• One of the local churches staged a Murder Mystery play.... yes I know, sort of strange activity for a church. There were many twists and turn in the dialogue, and in the end the audience was asked to write down "whodunnit". Of course, I got it completely wrong.... but it was lots of fun trying to decide who the baddie was.
• And I went to a concert by The Ennis Sisters, three singing sisters from St Johns, Newfoundland, beautiful harmonies and witty commentary, loved the whole evening!

But back to the Art Show and Sale.....

I arranged most of my paintings on the bed as they all had to be tagged with the price card and my business card. I also have some matted lino prints for sale and some original watercolour greeting cards with envelopes. I hope to sell it all..... ha ha wishful thinking probably!!!!!!