A Tip of the Hat to St. Paddy

A few days ago it was St. Patrick's Day. It dawned beautifully with the hot sun streaming in the east facing windows of our bedroom. Saturdays can be lazy days here after a week of work in the studio or in Deb's case, her current job search. The smell of spring and the face warming sun was a heady, almost overwhelming load on my senses as we enjoyed the start of the day from our balcony overlooking our yard.
The back of our place faces towards open fields behind the yards on the side street beside us. The field, recently abandoned as a subdivision, is overgrown with bush, sumach, swamp grass and some medium sized trees. It is a haven for birds and it is so pleasurable to sit on the balcony and listen or watch the birds doing what birds do with scant attention to our important human work or CNN playing in the background. This is where I start most of my days now that decent weather is here.
We went for a ride yesterday, just getting to know our new neighbourhood and to see the lakeside before the summer gets here and the sand is populated with people and their dogs playing in the sun. It is so warm this spring the shorebirds with their chaise lounges were already out on the sand flipping Frisbees and taking in the vitamin D.
The 2011 Road Glide is running perfectly and Debra got her first ride on this bike. Wow!!! No comparison to the 2004 in terms of ride or raw horsepower. The amenities including the TourPak and passenger backrest with built-in speakers were a real hit.
Later, we drove into Niagara-on-the-Lake to take in the St. Patrick's Day festivities at the Irish Harp pub. We met up with my good biker friends Lee and Linda, Stan and Danuta, Dave and Mary Ann and Mary Ann's mother, and Nancy. The place was packed and hopping with a Celtic Band and lots of good beer on hand. Debra got to meet my friends who have been a big part of my life since retirement and I got to re-connect after many, many months. What a wonderful time!
We called it a night after a few hours of fun wit friends and made the drive back to Lake Erie. The day ended with a quiet beer on the balcony listening to the tree frogs and crickets singing their way into a wonderful, warm spring night. Life is good!!!

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St. Patrick's Day in Niagara

Springing Forward on this New Path

I spent some time last night out on the balcony that overlooks the back yard.  The birds are migrating north through the fields and the small bush lots that surround our home.  In the morning I could hear the killdeers and just before dawn I heard a Great Horned owl in the pines east of our place.  In the softening evening light, the red winged blackbirds and some  warblers were flitting through the sumach beside the house doing whatever it is birds do on a spring evening.

I got out for a ride today along the upper Niagara River and the shore road that follows the north shore of Lake Erie.  The lake is still cold and the wind coming in off the lake was piercing and chilled me to the bone.  I guess I should have worn my heated vest but it was home hanging in the garage.

Today is a bit of a laid back day.  I'm retired after all!  My sleep was restless with all the thoughts running through my head about work that needs to get done around the house, reno projects, problems with my website (now resolved), and the painting work in progress.

Unlike writing poetry or blog, there is no instant gratification with a large oil painting project.  There are "Aha"moments as I work on some portion of the painting but not the immediate feedback like posting a blog and getting a flood of comments and emails.  With four paintings in the g, it is easy to get overwhelmed so I have to continuously keep those fires dampened and keep my focus on the work on the easel and the immediate tasks to be done.

Today's session will be to incorporate the detail into the sky on the Sacred Circle North painting.  I know in concept what I want to do but the exact approach will be a bit of a trial.  It should work but if it doesn't there will be house of restorative work to be done before I can try another approach. (Gulp!!!)

Over-arching all these thoughts is the one that is hard to speak aloud "Will anyone give a flying burrito about what I am putting to canvas and will the final result compel someone to reach into their pocket to add the work to their collection?".  Time will tell,,,,,

It is time to grab a granola bar and some water and hunker down while the light is good and get this very tricky part of this painting done.  I will post some pictures on the From the Studio page if I get a result that feels good.

A New Journey Begins

It has been many months since I last wrote a blog post.  In the time since I last wrote life has been very busy, complicated and full of ups and downs; I met my fiancee Debra, I recovered from injuries suffered in a bike crash last May, we found a house after months of looking and moved in October 21st, we had my 2011 Road Glide delivered to Canada by my friend Tudor, we renovated the house (ongoing like, forever), we went to San Diego and Baja California, and I set up a new art/music/photography studio.

I have been retired now since 2008 but Debra is still working and will be for a while yet.  While she earns our daily bread, I work on projects around the house.  One thing that remained an incomplete chapter in my book of life was my art.  I got side-tracked by my career and had asthma issues so I drifted away from something I love to do.  Creative pursuits energize me in a way that turns everything around me into a positive experience.  Working on my writing, painting, or working in the field with my camera elevates my sense of well-being and that infuses every aspect of my life.

After talking with Debra about it on many occasions, I decided to take the plunge and get back to my art with the intention of selling my work.  This winter I dove back into the world of art and managed to keep the home repair/reno list under control.  At this moment, I have 4 works underway and a new website to showcase my work and in the near future, I will add an e-commerce function to sell original works and limited edition prints.  Yes, I built the website myself and launched it tonight.

My regular readers will remember that I was working on a book.  That project has been on hold for a while but I hope to pick that up again and do the final editing.  There is not a huge market out there interested in eclectic beat-style poetry so I will sell my wiring as e-books through the website to make it an affordable venture rather than the tradition find-a-publisher route.

Did I mention I went for a ride today?  Well I did.  The 2011 Road Glide fired right up and away I went this afternoon for a 2 hour ride around Niagara.  It sure felt great!  My 2004 Road Glide is for sale to make some room in the garage.

I have moved my blog to the new website so I hope you will bookmark my site and subscribe.

It's great to be back!!!

My new site