fun in the sun and death.

Hello folks!

It's been cloudy & rainy here for the past few days.

Perfect weather for art & reading. :)

When the weather is beautiful,

I wanna be outside.

I took these about a week ago...
a place nearby called the Bouctouche Dunes.

You'd think nothing would grow in sand,
but beach grass does. 
This place is sort of an Eco-Center
and bird sanctuary,
so they keep it as green as possible.

A lovely boardwalk...

Part of it was demolished by a rough winter storm one year.

They repaired part of it, but it's not quite as long as it used to be.

Granddad & his little girl...

having fun with the rocks.

how precious is that...

 Beach bums... :)

 A quick little sketch of my bathroom counter.

It was Ernest Hemmingway's birthday this week,
so a painting on paper in honour of the man & his stories.

I chose blue, because like Van Gogh & other artists,
writers also have blue periods.

I think Hemmingway's blue period lasted a lifetime.

I've discovered that the only way i can paint looser,

is to use a really crappy, bigger brush.

This shot was taken at daylight.
A lovely difference...
When I'm doing a painting quickly
(this one took about 30 minutes),
I want to avoid too much detail.
If I start getting caught up in details,
the painting is gonna take 3 hours 
instead of 30 minutes,
and sometimes, just like you,
I don't have 3 hours. :)

 These were mom's glasses.

Watercolor on paper.
I've been working on her portrait this week too.
I think i'm finished, so i'll be sharing that with you soon.
I usually like to leave it for a few days,
just to make sure i feel ok with it.

It's true what they say about grief coming in waves.
Life goes on, but sometimes, 
something as small as a piece of clothing,
or seeing mom's handwriting
makes me miss her all over again.

Of course I miss her everyday,
but sometimes, the grief catches me off guard.

Death is a strange thing.
I'm grateful that mom enjoyed her life to the fullest.
She may not have been happy all the time
but she was honest
and she made the most of each day.
Too many of us lose sight of that during our lives.
We get caught up in the 'busy-ness'
and the buying
and the doing
and the accomplishing
and we forget about the BEing.
We forget that we could not wake up tomorrow.

Once in a while
I read the top 5 regrets of the dying, just to remind myself:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to 

    myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

I'm sure most of us can relate to many of these.

I know I certainly can.

There are so many lessons we can learn
from those who have gone before us.
My mom worked in nursing homes,
with old people who sometimes died in the night,
with her by their bedside.
Maybe this is why she had deep gratitude for life.
Because she understood how fragile it was.
Mom was deeply compassionate & caring.
Maybe this is why I have deep gratitude for life...
:)