Mural painting

Hi, thought i’d share some pictures of my latest project. For the past couple weeks i have been working on a mural project at my school. With the help of a dedicated group of grade 7 & 8 students, we began drawing the mural last week. I have to admit, i was just as excited to be drawing on the school walls with a sharpie as the students were. We felt quite rebellious!

The theme is the wonder and magic of books. Different worlds are opened up to us through reading and learning. I like the idea of things coming to life out of the books.

This week we started painting – yay colour! It’s been great hearing the students react every morning as they come into the school and see what what we’ve done.

Here are some pictures of my initial sketch:

The original mural was supposed to be done on a wall going up stairs. The black rectangles represent windows and a door.

Here are some pictures of the actual mural:

Very exciting! I’ll keep you posted as we go.

New York

Hi, here are 4 comissioned paintings of N.Y.C. I recently completed. Hope you like them!

Blog Awards

Hi! One of my blog followers has nominated my blog for a Versatile Blogger Award.  Yay!  Thanks to Sketches and Jottings for the nomination.  The idea is  to use the nomination to make others aware of great sites.  Take a look at the list below of the blogs I follow and have nominated.

1.  Little Wolf   -art/design

2.  Inward Facing Girl   -art/design/life/misc.

3.  Como Say What?    -travel/art/misc

4.  Sketches and Jottings   -art/design

5.  Avril Loreti   -art/design

6.  Breathe   -Buddhism

7.  Sprouted Kitchen  -healthy eating/cooking

8.  Design Dreams Japan  -DIY/art

9.  Down Dog Blog  -yoga/health

10.  S.P. Goodman  -art/painting

11.  Zen Habits

12.  Tokyobling’s Blog  -travel/art/photography/misc.

13-15  to follow…

7 Random Things About Myself

1.  I love Nutella on toast.

2.  My cousin and i once caught a frog we named Georgio. He spent the day hanging out with us (through his own free will)  as we toured around our lake on a windsurf board.

3.  I can’t get enough of Douglas Coupland  or Kurt Vonnegut novels.

4.  Love origami.

5.  Pansies are my favorite flower.

6.  I have random dreams about hanging out with famous musicians.  Ex) picnic with Bono, Eric Clapton bagging my groceries, playing cards with Dave Grohl

7. Love love love swimming.

These are the rules for the Versatile Blog Awards:

• Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.
• Inform the bloggers of their nomination.
• Share 7 random things about yourself.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you.
• Add the Versatile Blog Award picture on your blog post.

Saturday painting with music, coffee, and memories of Bermuda

Hi!  I’ve been away from my paints for a couple weeks now…but am happy to have a few hours to paint this morning.  Coffee, music, a little sunshine, and memories from my last adventure.

I am working on a small landscape based on one of my watercolour paintings from my trip to Bermuda.  As you can see, I’ve been working with a black ground.  I love how vibrant the colours are against the black.

Here are a couple other shots of the step by step.

It’s getting there…but still have more work to do.  Hope you’re having a great Saturday. B

20 Best Twenty

Great news… my artwork is being featured on 20 Best Twenty!  If you haven’t come across this website yet -take a look… it’s a wonderful site that features a variety of artists and handmade products.

Here’s the link:  http://www.20besttwenty.com/wall-space.php

Bermuda Paintings

Hi, I finally managed to scan all my watercolours from my trip.  Here they are:

This is a view of Warwick Beach, where the sand is pink from all the coral.  Large dark coloured rocks line the beach making it very dramatic.  It is a beautiful place.  I found the waves to be quite large and the undertow very strong.

This one is of John Smith’s Bay, one of my favorite spots.  The water was beautiful and the waves weren’t too strong.  I really liked this spot because you could see parrot fish swimming around.

Here’s a painting of my bike!  The beach is St-Catherines, just outside of the Town of St-George.  It was a lovely spot.

This one was painted from a place called Turtle Bay.  It’s a view of the houses and the lighthouse across the way.  I loved all the pastels and white roofs.

This view is of the cliffs along the South Shore by Spittal Pond.  As I painted, it got really stormy and I had to take shelter from thunder and lightning.  I sat on a stump under some trees for about an hour waiting for it to blow over.  Although it’s clearly not good to be under trees during a lightning storm…i figured it was better than being exposed on steep cliffs.  : )

Shelley Bay is a great little beach with very calm waters – perfect for floating on your back.  The weather was beautiful and the clouds were amazing.

This is a view of Flatt’s Village.  Lots of pastel coloured houses, boats, and people fishing off the docks.  I visited a wonderful aquarium there, where i was enthralled with a baby octopus and the young sea turtles.

That’s all folks, hope you like my paintings.  B

Back from Bermuda

Hi there, just back from an amazing adventure in Bermuda.  This was solo expedition #2 and I had a great time!  Arrived on a beautiful Wednesday morning, came off the plane onto the tarmac (love that!), and was hit by the humidity. Oh the humidity!!

Flowers, palm trees, and butterflies everywhere.  Chickens and roosters running around all over the place.  It was great!

Buses went on strike just after i had bought a bus pass and had gone to the beach.  I found myself stranded at a bus stop after spending a few hours swimming.  Luckily, a nice woman who had come to tell people waiting at the bus stop that the buses had gone on strike, offered to give me a ride back to my B&B.

The next day i was off to rent a moped.  Wasn’t sure I’d survive the week driving on the wrong side of the road- but somehow I did.

The water was amazing and i swam a few times daily.  Checked out a number of beaches all over the island and most of them were virtually empty!  It was paradise.

The people were warm and friendly, and i fell in love with all the brightly painted buildings.

I visited the Botanical Gardens, which were amazing.  Some of the trees and flowers blew me away.

I made friends with a local and had dinner with him a couple times.  Notice the tongue….it’s so hot and humid in Bermuda even the cats pant.

I ate some great food, managed to read 2 books, painted, meditated, and swam.  This was my view most days:

It was heaven.

One day I got caught in a downpour and was completely soaked.  Having nothing to loose i decided to go swimming in the rain.

After swimming for about an hour, i got out of the water and put on my wet clothes.  I headed to a little restaurant that was perched on a hill across the way.  I ordered a cup of coffee and tried to dry off.  The view was great so i pulled out my paints and got to work.  Here’s the painting:

The sun did eventually come out.  Below was my view which includes my bike.

I painted 7 or 8 paintings in total.  I will post them asap.  If you are thinking of going to Bermuda…go!!  It’s heaven on earth.

Hope you liked the pics.  Cheers, B