The landscape

So it's Thursday, which means it's watercolour night! It was week two of painting our first landscape. Ted (the instructor) provided us with a photograph of a winter scene. Which, we proceeded to enlarge and transfer to watercolour paper... and paint!

Now obviously we are all still learning how to handle the brushes etc. Some of the major challenges with this piece were keeping the whites white and getting the dark colours dark. (Sometimes less water is a good thing!)

What is really interesting to me is that everyone in the class has the same picture, and yet each painting was so different one from the other. You can really learn a lot just from checking out everyone's different styles and perspectives. There were different tones of trees, different textures, and all kinds of barns.

I'm declaring mine done because I kind of feel that if I keep touching it I'm just going to screw it up. I did try all kinds of different techniques though. That being said, I don't think I'm going to frame it!

Alright... they say a picture is worth a thousand words...

Kids!

This weekend I got to have quality time with two little cuties:

My friend Lynn has a 1 month old baby boy who has totally got me wrapped around his little finger. Ben is soooo alert and soft and adorable! I got lots of snuggle time with him - it was great! And, I also got to spend time with little Leela - my friend Sherry's beautiful daughter. She turns 1 year old in a few weeks. It's remarkable to notice how much kids change in a short 11 months. From being a small little determined bundle to being an almost walking curious and outgoing personality.

Lessons that were reinforced for me during this experience:

1. I definitely want kids of my own. (No surprise to anyone who knows me.)
2. Babies are adorable.
3. Babies don't sleep as much as you'd like, but it's all worth it when they smile.
4. My friends are awesome parents. I'm very proud of them.
5. Toddlers and cats seem to be mutually fascinated with each other. I think it's a size thing.


6. The BOB stroller is awesome and can go off-roading on poorly plowed Crystal Beach roads.
7. My house, while baby proof, is not completely toddler proof :-)

The Crow

I do yoga classes Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch... and today I had a yoga breakthrough! After a year of trying... I finally did the crow pose!


Note - this is most definitely not me in the picture! :-)

The apple...

So I tried painting the apple. The assignment was to paint a fruit (I figured an apple would do), on a white cloth - I chose a tea towel. I think that's because whites are soooo hard to paint in watercolour - you don't add white to leave the paper showing.

Now, I only gave it about an hour, so it is a bit of a rush job. But, I think it's okay for a first attempt. What do you think?



Here's the model (of course the photo is much more lifelike!) :-)The shadows are still too light, especially on the apple. But, you have to let the paint dry before you layer it on to deepen the colour or else the colour lifts off. This is an exercise in patience for me. Which isn't a bad thing, but is a challenge :-)

Hockey night in Ottawa

Last night I went to my first ever NHL game! My friend Kim had some tickets, so we had a girl's night out of dinner and the game. It was fun! It was a full house, with 19,000 some people - so there was lots of energy and enthusiasm.

The Sens played the Habs... and those Montreal fans are loud and numerous! But, the Ottawa fans were louder and more numerous and we totally won (4-1 Ottawa) so it was all good. :-)



To sound like a geek for a minute: I'm always impressed by the skating skills. Watching the game it's easy to forget that the players are on blades. If I was out there I'd be wobbling all over the place and falling down a lot. Unassisted. You wouldn't have to check me; I'd do it to myself!

I get a kick out of the hard core fans. They're soooo involved. You'd think they were the ones skating and taking the hits! There's a sociology experiment there somewhere (and it's been done already I'm sure)... I enjoy the game and will cheer the players on, but I don't believe that my being there and yelling is making them win, you know?

Kim tells me that the new pink sweaters are to appeal to the female fans. Hmmmm... I like pink, but if a team's colours are red, white, gold and black, why would pink be better?! Besides, we both agreed that if you wanted to appeal more to the female fans, the uniforms should be modified in the way of the football players' pants... and the teeth should stop getting knocked out. :-)

Well, I'm going to go and finish my extra large coffee now - I am a bit sleepy after the night out!

Look out painting here I come!

So, I'm going to try my hand at watercolour painting... again.

It all started... 4 years ago when I went on a yoga retreat. There was an afternoon workshop on watercolour painting and I was hooked! Of course, I have little to no artistic talent, but watching all the colours swirl together was addictive.

I took a class offered through the city of Ottawa in 2003, but the instructor was a bit harsh - he expected us all to be the next professionals. Trying to teach a group of very beginners with condescending tones and group critiques of their first tries is not going to inspire anyone to continue. Anyways, what I took home from that class was that I should learn how to draw (because he insisted that you had to draw to paint). So, 2 drawing classes later, I'm back to learn watercolour.

(I have to give credit to my drawing instructor for that. If she hadn't been so patient and encouraging, it probably would've turned me off any kind of artistic venture.)

I don't know if watercolour is my favourite medium, I haven't really tried anything else. I think I'd like acrylics - they seem to be a bit more forgiving. But I have the paints and everything, so I figure I'll start with watercolour and if I do have some inner artist I can try other types of painting.

The instructor for this class is Ted Duncan. He's a bit hard to follow sometimes, but I think it is because he is very knowledgeable and all the information kind of comes tumbling out all at once. Our first class where we actually painted was fun - it's a good group of people. This week we're painting a simple still life of one fruit, which the focus being on composition. I'm not going to be at that class, so I'm going to have to paint it on my own. I'll let you know how it goes!

I'm thinking a pear... or an apple...

Working at home

So, yesterday was my first Telework day. Also known by the government acronym "WAH" (Work at Home). I'm going to be doing this on Wednesdays from now on. So far this is what I've discovered:

Advantages:

1. You save 2 hours of commuting, which makes for a shorter workday. (That's a biggie!)
2. You get to have a yummy homemade lunch (and watch Law & Order if it's 1 pm).
3. You get to snuggle with kitty cat when she's willing (or have her attack your toes while you're trying to work and she's trying to play).
4. You get to wear jeans and comfy clothes.
5. You get more work done because of the lack of interruptions.
6. It splits up the work week so things feel less monotonous.

Disadvantages:

1. You're alone in the house all day. (Probably the biggest one for me.)
2. Your workspace is not ergonomically correct which makes for stiffness by the end of the day. (I really wonder what all this computer work is doing to us...)
3. No matter how many programs you have on your computer, you'll still be missing the internal work database you need.
4. You have to be really disciplined to do the work and not nap or do other fun things.
5. You have to carry files back and forth.

So far I'm finding that the advantages are greater than the disadvantages. I do need to get my home office cleaned up though - I was working on the dining room table yesterday which is really non-ergonomic. My new laptop is the hero - it's great! I wish my work computer worked as well :-)

a curious incident

So I recently finished reading the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Hadden.

Now, don't let the subject matter of the murdered dog do you in - that's what kept the book sitting unread on my shelf for so long. It kind of turned me off the idea of reading it, but it doesn't overwhelm the book.

It is a story written from the perspective of a 15 year old autistic boy. Needless to say, it isn't like any other book I've read. It was a quick read, and yet thought provoking and touching. It provides a unique glimpse into the mind of someone who is cut off from the world by that same mind. I found it a bit stressful to read sometimes - the character is easily overwhelmed by the details of the world, and of course all this is translated into the novel. However, I find this is what makes the book so great: you realize that there is no "right" way of being, just many different ways of experiencing the world around us.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a great book. It really makes you realize that even though everyone is different, we all have much to contribute.

Note: This is the first "book report" of any kind I've written in over 12 years...

My First Post

Hello!

Well, I've decided that I'm going to try my hand at blogging. My mother was surprised to learn that I didn't have a blog, and after thinking about it for a bit, I figured why not give it a try?! Hopefully it'll be sometimes funny, often interesting and at least entertaining!

The name of my blog comes from my wonderful roomie, Maliika. She's a crazy little calico cat that amuses me with her endless antics. She loves to snuggle and to tag me when I come around the corner. But her favourite thing EVER is her window. She spends endless hours keeping track of the neighbourhood. And probably plotting world domination, but I like to think she's just enjoying the view. :-)

So, I'll do my best to keep things going. Famous last words, I know, but you never know if you don't try!