Colour Me Happy

Dear Everyone:

I have just come across
a blog that is new to me.

The blog is the site of
Vancouver colour consultant
Maria Killam.

She seems to know her
stuff and anyone interested
in interior decorating will
really enjoy her postings.

For instance, she states
that the new "in" colour
is grape in a recent feature.

She describes herself
as a loner, an entrepreneur,
someone who is loyal and wears
her heart on her sleeve.

See "colourmehappyblog.
blogspot.com" to view
her expert work.


Helen.

Ponderance 2010

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Dear Everyone:

This young woman in this image

appears to be thinking or pondering.

I think the title "ponderance' is a new word.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have-an-ignore-the-winter-

blahs kind of day.

Helen.

Spontaneity

Dear Everyone:

Was struck by the freeing

style of this image.

Sort of spontaneous in

appearance. A bit like Spring.

It is from the

January, 2010 issue

of British Vogue (p.95).

Chiffon dress by

Ermanno Scervino.

Hope that you

enjoy this image.

Have a "clear up

overdue items"

kind of day.

Helen.

Origins: Here Comes the Sun

A dear friend wrote me and informed me
of the origins of the song I posted a
couple of days ago "Here Comes the Sun".

He says:

Origin-

The song, one of Harrison's best known
Beatle contributions alongside "Something",
originated from a song-writing collaboration
between Harrison and close friend Eric
Clapton called "Badge" (recorded by Clapton's
group Cream) which featured an arpeggiated
guitar riff that is similiar to the one that
forms the bridge of "Here comes the Sun".

The year 1969 was a difficult one for
Harrison : he was arrested for marijuana
possession, he had his tonsils removed , and
he quit the band temporarily. The song
was written while Harrison was away from all of
these troubles.

Harrison stated in The Beatle's Anthology:

"Here Comes the Sun" was written at the
time when Apple was getting like school,
where we had to go and be businessmen:
'Sign this' and 'sign that'. Anyway it
seems as if winter in England goes on
forever, by the time spring
comes you really deserve it. So one
day I decided I was going to sag
off Apple and I went over to
Eric Clapton's house. The relief
of not having to go see all those
dopey accountants was wonderful,
and I walked around the garden with
one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote
"Here Comes the Sun".

So that is the origins of this song
Quite a special story.

Helen.

Here Comes the Sun

I was struck by a theme song on a
web-site I recently visited.

The site belongs to Robert and Cortney
Novogratz of Sixx Design (www.sixxdesign.com).
A talented couple
they purchase dilapidated houses and lots
and build and refurbish these sites,
many in New York city.

The couple appear to have
fantastic taste. They are the parents
of 7 children all under 13 years old
with 2 sets of twins.

See their recent book from Rizzoli (2009)
called "Downtown Chic:Designing Your Dream
Home from Wreck to Ravishing". Filled
with tips and strategies and accounts of their
experiences I am just reading and re-reading
the book now.

Back to the song. Titled "Here comes the Sun"
it is sung on their web-site by Nina Simone.

The lyrics speak to me of hope after
a period of darkness or despair or fear.

See what you think:

"Here comes the sun
Little Darling
Here come the sun
I say it's alright
it's alright
Here comes the sun
Little Darling
Here comes the sun
I say it's alright
it's alright

Little Darling
it's been a long, cold
and lonely winter
Little Darling
it feels like years
since you've been here
Here comes the sun
Little Darling
Here comes the sun
I say, it's alright
it's alright

Little Darling
the smile will return
to the faces now
Little Darling
it seems like years
since youv'e been here
Little Darling
it's been a long, cold,
lonely winter

Little Darling
feels like years since
youv'e been here
Here comes the sun
aren't you glad to see it
I say, it's alright

Here comes the sun
Little Darling
I say, it's alright
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
I say
Little Darling
it seems like years since
youv'e been here
Little Darling
Here comes the sun
Baby, it's alright now
you can come out now
it's alright now
you can come out now

it's alright
Here comes the sun
it's alright
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun

Oh Baby,
it's alright now
you can come out now
it's alright now
you can come out now

it's alright
Here come the sun
it's alright
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun."

I myself am going to go
out and look for the CD.
Once again the singer
on the Novogratz web-site version
is Nina Simone.

The book is also worth
a look. Available through
Amazon or Chapters or
their web-site (www.sixxdesign.com).

Have a day filled-with-
moments-of hopefulness
and happiness.

Helen.

Some Valentine's 2010

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Dear Everyone:

Here are 6 of my favourite Valentine's

images from the last couple of years

for you to view.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Helen.

Valentine's Couple 2010

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This is a Valentine's couple.

Deeply in love they are connected

by a heart.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have an ignore-the-rain-kind-

of-day.

Helen.

Valentine's Angel 2010

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Dear Everyone:

Here is a folk art painting

of a Valentine's angel carrying

a heart.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a starting -off-the-week

on-the-right-foot kind of day.

Helen.

Valentine's Tree 2010

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Dear Everyone:

Will spend the next few days

developing Valentine's images.

Sketched 3 images today and

painted one of them.

This is a tree filled with

hearts for Valentine's. It

symbolizes long-lasting love

and growing together.

Hope that you enjoy this

image.

Have a contented-kind-of-

day today.

Helen.

Dreams 2010

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Dear Everyone:

This image of a pink wheelbarrow
filled with pink sea anemone/jellyfish
shapes came to me as a vision
from my muse yesterday morning.

To my eye, in the folk art painting
the wheelbarrow
looks like it is carying dreams.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a spark-a-dream kind of
day today.


Helen.

Model Portrait in Blue 2010

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A folk art painting of a model.

Not much to say on this.

Enjoyed the colour selection.

Hope you enjoy the image.



Have a winding-down-the-week-
kind of day.



Helen.

Modern Day Geisha (Vogue) 2010

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This image is from Vogue (American)-
Feb. 2010. p. 205



The model appears like a modern
day geisha to my eyes.
I find it interesting for the sake of
the artistry. The pose, the clothing,
the veil, make-up and hair all
strike me with their beauty.

I haunt the magazine aisles waiting for

Vogue -American, British, Australian

and Vogue India. I rarely feel

dissappointed. The images

work as fine art to my eyes.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a keep-your-eyes-open-
to-the-universe kind of day.

Helen.

The Magic of Trees Picture 2010

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Just a charming folk art painting

combining elements of

my magic of trees images.

Hope you enjoy this painting.

Have a calm-meditative-kind

of day.

Helen.

The Magic of Trees III 2010

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All around us the vine maples, the towering

hemlocks, the firs and spruces were draped

and bearded with moss. Great trunks rose above

us green and furry as far as we could see. Branches

spread over us shaggy with the primitive

spike moss, Selaginella. Under our feet the plush

of the forrest carpet grew so dense we sank at

times above our shoetops. In the misty light

we saw it roll on and on ,wave after wave,

over the moldering logs ,across the uneven

floor of the forrest...The green carpet that

covers the forrest floor is formed of many

species, many strands: it's warp and woof

are made up of a multitude of mosses.

Here and there along the path streams

of sunshine probed amongst the giant

trees. Drawn in glowing silver lines

they slanted down through the humid air.

And above each spot where they reached

the saturated carpet of the moss, mist curled

up like smoke from a fire being started

with a burning glass. And all the while

the long fingers of the spikemoss,

hanging from the branches like

gray-green stalacites forming under

the roof of a cavern, dripped

endlessly. As each drop fell

it entered the plush of the living

carpet without a sound. It was absorbed

without a trace. Moss is nature's great
silencer.

Edwin Way Teale,

from The American Seasons,

p.54, Ansel Adams "Trees".

Until there were trees, the newly

risen land was a place of rocks and

sand, scarred by the wind and rain,

seared by the unrelieved scorch of

the sun. Then there were forrests.

Trees clothed the hills,
cleansed the air, checked erosion,

shaped the continents, made the

land hospitable. And when man's

earliest ancestors achieved reason

and dreams they found the makings

of tomorrow on the forrest floor, saw

the future's shape in the long shadows

of the woodland...

Trees are the oldest living things we

know. Rooted in the earth and reaching

for the stars, they partake of

immortality, In spring, the trees

are life resurgent, bud and leaf and blossom.

In summer, they are a cooling canopy of

chlorophyll, more miraculous than all

the fractured atoms. In autumn, the

woodland is both beauty and bounty,

glory and replenishment beyond measure.

In winter, the trees are the elemental

shape of life and enduring growth.

Without the woodlands the earth
would be rocks and sand and desolation,
as it was in the beginning.

Hal Borland,

from Our Natural World

p.14, Ansel Adams "Trees"

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Trees conduct the eye from

the ground up to the heavens,

link the detailed temporariness

of life with the bulging blue abstraction
overhead...They alone seem to

unite the earth and the sky-

the known, invadable world

with everything that is beyond

our grasp and power.

Diane Ackerman,

from a Natural History

of the Senses

p.27, Ansel Adams "Trees"

Ansel Adams (2004)
"Trees".
New York: Little. Brown
and Company.

These poems and passages
speak for themselves.

Hope you enjoy them.

Have a settle-into-winter-
kind of day.

Helen.

Tree medley 2010

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As hoped I painted an abstract

from one of my "the magic of trees"

photographs.

The shapes and lines are quite

good. The colour works.

See what you think.

Have a generous-hearted day

today.

Helen.

The Magic of Trees II 2010

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Here are the second trio of pictures

of trees. Here trunks and branches

dominate.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Helen.

The Magic of Trees I 2010

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These photos are from a few days ago.

The images I include in today's

posting feature dogwood and branches

in a tangle. The 3rd image

almost looks like an abstract

painting and I may try to paint it.

Othe artists struck by trees include

Ansel Adams, and Georgia O'Keefe.

I hope that you enjoy these images.

Have an attend-to-details-kind

of day.

Helen.

Laura Hollick class 2010

Dear Everyone:

I enrolled at and listened
to a teleclass this evening
by soul artist Laura Hollick
of Soul Art studio
(http://www.soulartstudio.com/).
Laura is a guide and teacher of
creativity and spirituality,
working and living in Hamilton, Ontario.


In this teleclass she asked us
to identify or recognize our deepest
wants and desires, our dreams.
Then she directed us to identify
our obstacles and source of resistance.

Next she asked us to identify
the metaphor capturing the
role of spirit in our dreams.
Mine was self-expression and fear.

Last she directed us to bridge
between our wants - an expression
of spirit and the real outside world
she labelled earth expresion.
How to make our ideas become
physical reality.

As an immediate assignment she wanted us
to take one step of expressing
our spirit on earth and moving
towards actualizing our wants
and desires.

My dreams were exhibit my art,
develop a web-site, and have an
art gallery in a storefront in
a downtown area.

My fears and obstacles
were how to develop my skills,
lacking a large audience,
lack of money to launch
my dreams, health issues,
and wondering how to
develop ability at sales.

Bridging between the dreams
and real world included doing
larger pieces of art in a studio
space and learning to do
more abstract pieces with layers
of paint.

Laura labelled the teleclass
"shifting your shit'. It
was a bit of a preview of a 2 day workshop
she is holding Jan 30th -31st
at her Soul Art studio titled
"Launch". How to transform
yourself and start self-actualizing.

She appears to know what
she is doing!

For my immediate
homework I started playing
with layering paint and applying
paint more heavily to introduce
texture. See image below.

assign012010

I guess I am going to try

to re-arrange my home studio

to be able to work on larger pieces.

I highly reccommend Laura.

She seems knowledgeable and competent.

Have a self-actualizing-

kind of day today.

Helen.

Stream Medley Painting 2010

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Dear Everyone:

Here is a folk art painting of

the stream captured in

my photograph just posted

a few hours ago.

I did some colour mixing and

tailored my own colours including

the blue of the stream and the

yellow-green of the trees.

Hope you enjoy this image.

Have a take-a-few-risks

kind of day today.

Helen.

Stream medley 2010

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Saw this stream from a moving

vehicle and had to halt the car

backtrack and photograph it.

Pleased with the result.

Hope that you enjoy this

somewhat magical image.

Have a set-small-attainable-

goals kind of day today.

Helen.

Glass Medley 2010

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Dear Everyone:

Snapped this shot in a restaurant

in Peggy's Cove. Love the shapes

and the light illuminating the glass

ornaments.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a responsible-kind-of-day

-today.

Helen.

Palate Cleanser 2010

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Dear Everyone:

I took this image at a top

restaurant. I thought the tablescape

was very attractive and wanted

to record it.

I am very pleased with the result.

This posting is like a palate

cleanser at a fine meal of

several courses. Typically

sorbet a palate cleanser

prepares one for renewing

the taste buds for subsequent courses.

This image of a tablescape is refreshing

after pictures of nature and architecture

and heavenly images like angels

posted to this blog recently.

The image of a tablescape reminds me of

the work of Maria Alexandra Vettese and

Stephanie Congden Barnes in their

collaborative book "A Year of Mornings"(2008).

New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

These two women met once and live

several thousand miles apart in Portland,

Maine and Portland, Oregon.

They posted to a shared blog a year

of photographic images from their personal lives

each morning before 12 noon.

A charming result the book is

well worth a look.

The tablescape image is also

reminscent of the work of

fine art photographer Karen

Rowantree of Jo Beale gallery,

Peggy's Cove (www.jobealegallery.net).

Rowantree took photographic images

of partially eaten or completed

meals and recorded the result.

Hope that you enjoy this tablescape image.

Have a treat-yourself-kind-

of-Sunday today.

Helen.

Church Door 2010

Halifax Church 2010

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These photographs of a church door

and the accompanying painting were

driven by aesthetics. I was struck

by the beauty of the architecture.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a catch-a-breather-kind-

of-day.

Helen.

Play 2010

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Dear Everyone:

I have been playing the last day or two.

I received a new digital camera

as a hostess gift this week. The camera

is mini and is wallet-size. This makes

it very portable. A Nikon it is model

CoolpixS570. So far my impression

is that the richness of colour and fineness

of clarity are exemplary.

See some of my first shots.

abstract012010

Then I have been playing with different
brands, colours and viscosities of acrylic

paint in preparation for taking a course

next week. See abstract012010 for

a new piece with some of these paints.

I'm not taking these pieces

too seriously. So far, I favour

Pebeo brand extra fine artist's

colour from De Serres. It glided on

smoothly and seemed to have a

bit of a sheen to it.

Have a light-hearted day

today.

Helen.

Desert poem

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Dear Everyone:

I am enjoying my new book of
poetry titled "Grace" by Wanda Campbell
(2009).

This poem I am posting today
ends with the line -"To grow where
you're planted is an art. Only grace
can irrigate the arid heart."

I am interested in concepts of grace
and spirituality.

This is exemplified by the practice
of soul artist, Laura Hollick,
of Hamilton, Ontario (see
http://www.soulartstudio.com/).

See the poem:

"Teach me how to love the
difficult dry
to elegantly endure jade and tall
under a devouring dessert sky
even when the rain chooses not to fall

I want to be the common cactus that
treasures quench against
the sun's refining fire.
I want to be the cereus that
blooms only when the
stars and moon are shining

I don't want to be afraid of the dark
parched by worries and defeated by drought
What axe and adze will
build the living ark
that somehow keeps the water
in not out?

To grow where you're planted
is an art
Only grace can irrigate
the arid heart"

You have seen the image before
but I thought it illustrated
the poem beautifully.

Have a day full
of juxtapositions and
possibilities.

Helen.

Snowy Vista 2010

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A snowy vista from Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.

Have a day-full-of-possibilities kind of day.

Helen.

Dusk 2010

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This poem excerpt is from "Grace" by

Wanda Campbell:Blue Gramma Publications

Corp.. Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada 2009.

p.94

"muscular angels pry

open the dark

to release the most

exquisite dawn,

each bird that flies up

is a tiny spark that

does not extinguish

but goes on and on"

Have a day filled with hope.

Helen.

Winter Beach 2010

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Yesterday, toured Nova Scotia's South Shore.

Took some photos of a beach in winter

with a grey sky.

Plan to perhaps do folk art paintings

of these images tomorrow. Especially

love the curve of the water with the rocks

in the foregorund and the evergreens

to the right in Queensland022010jc.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a get-started-on-your

-resolutions-this-morning

kind of day.

Helen.