Looking things over!

What a busy day!  Lots to see and do.  Surprise; the art gallery allowed photos, no flash, but with cell phones and ipads.  :O   I just had my small digital.  :(  But I can maybe show what I learned with cut and paste from online sources.

The WAG, Winnipeg Art Gallery is right downtown.  It sits on a triangle shaped lot and the building reflects that.  The exhibit is called, Only in Canada, which is a nod to the old but popular Red Rose tea commercial.
 

Our heads were definitely on swivels!  The exhibit is popular and there were lots of people.  There were eight galleries starting with the old masters, 1500 -1700.  That included the guy with his finger in the skull's nose.  Symbolism, apparently!  And no, not that old biddy who is sticking her own nose out for a look.  lol  It finished up in 2010.  We had audio devices to listen to as we looked.   I wished they had talked more about technique instead of whose relative was used and what the current mistress was.  lol   There were also sculptures, mobiles, metal work, pottery  and 'floor' art for lack of a better name.

We also should have read the pamphlet as we got off the beaten path so didn't follow the time line and found the last gallery after lunch when we were poking around in the permanent gallery. ;)

Gallery 1
This is 16th and 17th century old masters with portraits and landscapes being the emphasis. I learned that I am not drawn to portraits, bucolic landscapes, religious interpretations nor mythical musings. ;)

Gallery 2
This was an era of grand tours to copy masters and architecture figured more. I learned that oil is not just dark, thick and shiny but can be light, thin and matte. 

Gallery 3
This is the era of formal art education.  You could go to school.  I learned I like things stylized/representational rather than 'snapshots'. This kinda reminds me of yearly school pictures.  lol

Gallery 4
The Impressionists. I do like a soft palette as opposed to bold but this is almost too soft.  Makes me feel like I have a mouthful of warm milk and soggy bread.  :O  I think I like art with an edge to it.  I also learned that the pointillist technique takes a long time to produce as it is pretty much dab by dab.

Gallery 5
The Group of Seven.  I spent some time on the Canadians before I went.  They really focused on the Canadian landscape and I do like this style, especially with the lighter and smoother brush stroke.  I also noticed that I like some sense of mankind represented as opposed to 'only' nature.

Gallery 6
This is kinda my era as it goes from 1950 - 1980.  It focuses on abstraction and on up to pop art.  I'm not really into pop art but maybe some abstraction.    I like things a bit modern but not just big canvases with 'in your face'  focal points or worse yet, hard to find focal points.

Gallery 7
Same time frame but called realism and narrative.  This is called Mums but it was huge, almost-life size and the dresser was what stuck out to me.  It reminded me of a large photo except the rug was very painterly. I learned when I want real, I'll use my camera. But big does have its own appeal.

Gallery 8
Pathways and Politics!  This was mixed media, huge and I totally got it!  There was a lot more interactive art in this gallery.  I like mixed media, whether it be mixing mediums like acrylic and ink, or whether it be paint,  paper, and seedpods on a wood substrate.  I wonder when canvas first became popular?  This gallery also had a piece of felted fibre art.  :)  I liked!

 

The penthouse houses the restaurant and the rooftop gallery.  The children's art school had just left and all was quiet.  Time for me to pause and reflect on what I will share tomorrow about 'my style' and all I learned! 

Behind, before

I caught a summer cold this last week which left me less than impressed because I had a spring cold as well as a winter cold.  I don't usually get colds so I am wondering if my immune system needs a bit of tweaking.  My DD is suggesting a 'cleanse'!  :o
 

 I, (we) have been concentrating on the yard.  The whole fam damily worked on it with time out for a few diversions.

Bike riding.

Kitten cuddling.

Ball playing.

Bird watching.

And counting our blessings.

The perimeter of the yard is just needing more compost.  The path through the bush has been reclaimed. It has one end at this arbor which needs some attention.  This week I shall work from this end and back around the house.  I need to keep my nose to the ground and my hands off the riding lawn mower as I seem to have fried the steering apparatus.  Hopefully the Rooster can fix it while the hot weather suppresses grass growth. oops!

There is a robin who has made himself quite at home.  He doesn't seem to feel alarmed by people and is rather a noisy fellow.  lol

Tomorrow I am taking one of my girls and we are off on a field trip to the Winnipeg Art Gallery where there is an exhibition.  100 Masters: Only in Canada, a truly historic assembly of one hundred works of art from twenty-eight museums in Canada and two in the United States, along with ten pieces from the WAG’s permanent collection.  The selection of the artwork is divided evenly between Canadian and non-Canadian works; among the loans there are fifty Canadian works and a combination of fifty European and American works spanning six centuries, from 1500 to 2010.   I know nothing about artwork nor these famous artists but I've been trying to study up on them so I can better appreciate what we will be seeing. ;)

This is the last week for the yard as I need to turn my attention to redecorating.  I've been experimenting with the kitchen design program from Ikea and it is also past time to get the front room back together again!

So, looking behind I definitely see bare ground and progress.  Looking ahead I see opportunities before me!

Race ya to Friday!!!

Where is the joy?

I have said it before but I must say it again.  I like blogging!

I like writing.  I like taking photos, arranging vignettes, and inserting them creatively/appropriately in my blog posts.  I like learning new things.  I like coming up with themes, ideas, and plans.  I like to dream BIG!

I am an optimist by nature.  I hope for the best.

I should leave it right there but then I have this organizing gene that feeds the optimism but kills the joy.  oops!

Then I am faced with this.

 And this.  And we all know that there are etceteras!

 I want to do it all and  prove I can keep all my shiny balls bouncing high in the air.  When the pile is high I wave my finger in my own face and "I'll show you!" rears up and hope faints and joy awaits the final burial!  lol   But maybe not so lol.

It is no longer fun! So what is more important?  I hope it is joy.  (I hear my friend, Les, shouting Amen!)

Hoarding for a rainy day!  My stash is 'hoarding for a rainy day'?  vbsigh  Why would I want to postpone joy?  Why do I waste the sunshine waiting for a rainy day?

Right now the sun is shining and the Rooster and I are up to our ankles in manure (composted) and we are talking about his 'real' retirement and how we need to get things under control, simplified and have some enJOYment in those golden years that are in this current stack of calendar pages.   I don't want to hoard but this week is gardening. A rainy day will be coming.  Sewing and beading, and mixed media art and even perfect journals will have to wait for the rainy day.  The blog can't wag the tail of this happy puppy!  The blog was always meant to be a diary of what I'm doing, a few dreams, and some lessons.  But then the unexpected happened and somebody read it and another and whoa, I have a following?  Not much, but now I don't want to disappoint.  The blog was never meant to be a robber of joy nor a prize for bigger, better, mostest.  :O

I've been singing,"where is the luv..."  but I'm really thinking, "Where is the joy...".  I think it is found in just moving ahead in the things that you luv doing!  And for me that isn't switching things constantly to keep all the balls in the air.  One ball in the air is JOY,  two is joy, but three is not so much joy when I have to begin chasing dropped ones.  For this set of calendar pages I'm luving the changes I'm seeing in the yard.  I'm taking joy in bouncing one big ball in the simple summer sunshine.  Really?  Really.  And sometimes the Rooster and I even play some catch! 


Do you want to follow joy?

Scattering petals as I may!

The beginning of a heat wave and I decide to work on my landscape plan!  LOL

Pavers will cover the area in front of the bench.  I brought the tower from a far corner and hopefully the Rooster can replace all the missing screws and firm it up.  This is a second weeding for this corner.  We shall put down a thick mulch of composted manure and cross out dirty fingers and cramped toes! :(

I was out early yesterday and while I tweaked things I arrived at a plan.  ;)  At high noon I did what any creative gal would do to cool off.  I went to the garden centre.  I had three things on my wish list.  A rose,  a tall backdrop for the bench and a clematis for the tower.  I was over budget, what else is new!   I only got the three plants.  vbsigh  It was dicey though and I'm not saying I'm done.  ;)  I have learned my lesson.  I smelt and admired the hydrangeas but I turned firmly away. I now only buy what survives my brand of TLC.  I picked the tallest, hardiest and blowziest rose for the Rooster.  I am hoping to bamboozle him from noticing that it is now where the peony was.  oops!   And I wanted a colourful clematis.  Roses, peonies, and clematis seem to survive my management style.

It is and it is casting winks at a very red rose from beneath clashing wine petals.  hmmmm    It does match the rosebud!  lol

This hollyhock should really be over in that corner as well. It somehow arrived in my pastel pink bed which enjoys a close proximity to the garden hose.  It likes it dry which is what that bench corner is.  Go figure!   I may have to sneak it over there while the Rooster has his head buried in a pile of tenacious thistles.

Update:  Turns out the Rooster has also been making a plan.  The flowerbeds for the house yard originally form a figured eight with the house situated near the crossing at mid point.   Works well for grass cutting but I came to the conclusion that the bottom of the 8 had to go a few years ago.  And now even with the Rooster joining the work detail we are not keeping  up.   So the mosquito section, the top of the 8 will revert to grass. I had already moved the bench, tower and bird bath so I guess we think alike and he just took it the step further.  ;)  This means that I must move a few more plants to expand the grass edge.  He'll never notice these in the switch.  Besides I have a lovely young flowering shrub from last year who will like their spot in the sun much better!

Hmm, I have rescued a number of plants that I thought were dead and gone or I just plain forgot about.  I have one peony to donate to my DD.  There is a  yellow flowered plant that will go out back as I am thinking it is gearing up for world domination. lol  But I managed to give each one a new and better home.

So we have one bed all done.  Mulch is in place.  The fence boards have to go on and the far end of the bed will have a lattice for the two clematis from the potting shed.  It'll be a nice end for the yard before going further to the clothesline, gardens, and chicken coop.  I seem to have persuaded Manny, that big dog, to sleep in the cool of the old potting shed.  shhh!  I don't want to jinx that!  ;^)

This section is at right angles and runs to the gate and that curve I am working on.  I did move that hollyhock and two others I found.  They are a tad droopy so I shall be posting when we get the mulching done and the hollyhocks are perkier!   Now it is time to hit the shower and put my feet up.  Hopefully I don't lose too many petals in all the shuffling about.  ;)

Too much fun!

Totally Fun!

 It was quite hot in the playroom but we did get our projects done.  I passed out water and the fan didn't blow too much stuff around but it was good we weren't working with scraps of paper.  ;)

One gal's project was a single strand and pretty sparkly.

The size is about right with this one and now to figure the second strand so the dangle hangs the lowest.

 It worked out swell and hangs nicely.

I went for three stands and decided to intertwine the strands .  There is an art to keeping everything from tangling, that is for sure.  :O

Working all in one colour family helps also.   I can't seem to stick to the laid out plan and I almost wish I had a bigger wrist so I could add more beads.  lol

Who would have thought that I could wear so much bling!  Too much fun!

Tuesday's try

On Tuesdays I have one girl and we did a basic colour wheel using three primaries in acrylic paint.  We 'used up' the leftovers.  Hmm, It is blurry but that is how it kinda looks.  Sometimes I wonder if I try too hard.  lol This was just a vague 'use up the paint' picture.  I won't be framing it but...  I am encouraged!

A new tradition

Our son in law became a citizen of Canada a month ago so we are adding a new family tradition - Canada Day!  This year we visited the Steinbach Mennonite Museum.

Happy Birthday, Canada!  This is a two fisted kind of day!

I had kept all three grand kiddies Sunday night so mama and papa could get the new barbecue all ready for the celebration.

It is also the youngest's birthday this week and big brother was all about demonstrating how the present works. lol

We spent the morning on rides and touring the heritage village.  

It was the above photo that made me remember that I want to explore doors and windows. I quickly changed to my sepia colour setting and tried to make up for the lost time but the party members were already anticipating the food and waiting to try the new barbeque. A great day, a tasty day!