You’ve seen Under the Tuscan Sun, right? You know, the one where a North American woman finds herself visiting Tuscany and decides to buy a property, then the hilarity of house fixing in a foreign land ensues. Yeah, that’s me right now, but in Lagos, Nigeria.
A few of the beautiful pieces of art and artifacts we have added to our Ibezimako Villa so far. Many were found at the Lekki Arts & Crafts Market, but we also found lots of goodies from artisans at Eleko beach and from our travels in Tanzania.
Way back in 2018 — oh, remember those glory days before corona — I meant to share a bit about our adventure along the Atlantic Coast while we were road tripping through Newfoundland. I had posted about our trip then, but I mostly left out our journey to the ruggedly beautiful Witless Bay Ecological Reserve … [Read more]
My watercolour painting career? It’s been a minute. (Five years of minutes to be exact.) But with the time I’ve had over the past year, I started it back up. I mainly painted florals and landscapes in the past, but lately, I’ve been having fun with pop-culture-y things/moments. Here are a few of the completed … [Read more]
Remember when you were a kid and you got a new colouring book and immediately grabbed your crayons and had at it? Yeah, good memories, right? It didn’t matter if you stayed in the lines or not — not is always better anyways — you just got your creative groove on and it felt good. Like, think … [Read more]
The Lion is my latest watercolour painting and I’m really happy with how it turned out. It didn’t take a long time to complete, but I did have a few hairy moments (no pun intended) while working on it — the eyes and nose are usually a make or break for animal artwork (at least for me). … [Read more]
When painting with watercolour, my biggest challenge is never the detail, it’s those simple washes! I can’t quite get ’em right — always going a few brush strokes too far. But give me pictures with craggy rocks and weathered wood, and I get giddy! The more detail in a picture, the more light and shadow, … [Read more]
While in Montreal, le Chuck and I spent an afternoon walking through the Botanical Garden and looking up, way way up, at the larger-than-life masterpieces of Mosaïcultures Internationales. We were enthralled. Definitely a huge highlight to a vacation that had so many. The Mosaïcultures exhibit brings together horticulture artists from around the world to create living … [Read more]
Whenever I see orchids I think of Georgia O’Keeffe and her sensual orchid paintings (and, of course, lady parts). Her work has always wowed me for it’s smooth lines and gorgeous use of colour.
So who knew there was lots of learning to be had at the Red River Ex? Last night we spent the evening at Winnipeg’s mega fair touring mobile homes (yep, we actually did that), learning about farm animals, touching reptiles, checking out military action, viewing interesting art, eating crazy carny food and enjoying the overall … [Read more]
Sometimes you get to do something cool in your job, and for the last couple of weeks I did just that. I designed my very first infographic for Travel Manitoba and the CFDC. It’s for a fun contest to name a gigantic Xiphactinus fossil fish that was discovered around Morden in 2009.
This spring, I had the privilege to tour the new 100 Masters: Only in Canada exhibit at the WAG before any of the public. And what an exhibit it is! I’ve seen many collections at the gallery, but this is by far the greatest one. So many amazing masterpieces in one place. There’s pieces by Monet, Van … [Read more]
This week, my coworker and I got drenched in art as we drove through a downpour to attend the “Mug Shot” media event put on by the wonderful and welcoming artists that participate in the WAVE Artist’s Studio Tour. The event was at Alan Lacovetsky’s rustic and well-loved pottery studio near Stonewall, Manitoba.
Autumn, that wonderful time of year when everything looks burnt, cracked, weathered and aged. Here’s one of my favourite paintings that always makes me think of the sweetness of fall. You can buy a print of this on Society6. There’s iPhone and iPad covers too!
After a night of imbibing too much sangria with some good friends, I lazed in bed this morning and finished my first art portfolio book. This was the simplest Blurb book so far—not much text or layout styles required. Easy peasy. One thing that stood out while I was creating the book was the huge … [Read more]
