a little bit of art and lots of everything else

hello friends...

I hope you've all been well

and adjusting to whatever season it is

in your corner of the world. 

It's fall here, so the colours are beautiful,

although it's been windy lately

and the leaves are quickly

falling from the trees. 

I did this pastel years ago... of my son, Alexandre,
sitting in a big pile of leaves in our yard.
He was much smaller then, compared to now. :)
He'll be 20 in February.
I've been feeling stuck in a rut lately,
so I've been looking through some of my old art.

I'm doing a few little things
here and there...

I was sketching this the other night
when my son came in and said
it reminded him of one of the men
in the movie CAPTAIN PHILLIPS,
about the 2009 hijacking of a US ship
by Somali pirates.

I wasn't thinking of that while I was doing it.
Just in the mood to sketch something quirky
and not too serious.

Went to the bookstore the other day
and found these 2 gems.
I guess I may have been feeling a little blue. :)
The Joan Didion book was $2...
and the other one, $6.99.
Yes, thank you.
I've always wanted to learn more
about the history of the color Indigo.
Now I'll know (hopefully)
after reading this. 
I absolutely love the cover
of the Indigo book.

And I recently got this on Amazon.
A visual feast of a book,
filled with wonderful treasures like this

 ...and this.

So much truth here.

Why do so many of us

still think that creativity

is only reserved for children?

We are ALL creative

in our own personal

magical

individual ways.

And this one (below)...

my favorite in the book.

So many of us live our lives

focused on attaining these things

when in the end,

they matter very little (if at all).

What matters in the end

is LOVE.

Knowing that you gave love

and received it

as much as you could,

the best way you knew how,

with the time you were given.

Our colouring book project is almost done!

The cover is being finalized

and I'm told that the inside pages

are beautiful.

As soon as I have the link

where you can purchase

COLOR FOR CLARITY

I'll share it with all of you here.

In the meantime,

hang tight!

I've been watching some good documentaries lately.

Here are a few of the trailers,

for anyone who likes watching them. :)

I watched this one last night

called HAPPY.

(all of these were on Netflix).

A wonderful documentary

about the misconceptions we have

about money

and how it actually takes very little

to be happy in life.

A good art documentary I recently watched,

AI WEIWEI - NEVER SORRY.

A reminder that there are still

too many places in this world

where 'freedom' is nothing but a word.

I admire anyone who is courageous enough

to stand up and say 'this is wrong'.

Especially those who stand alone.

I watched this one lately - and loved it.

Lots of wisdom hiding behind

the dreadlocks & skull rings & smoke. ;) 

Plus, the guy is like 130 years old...

how can you NOT be impressed?

KEITH RICHARDS - Under the influence

Another art documentary

I found on Netflix.

This couple just made me smile.

Heartwarming, adorable,

profoundly sad and happy all rolled into one.

CUTIE AND THE BOXER.

This  music documentary that brought back

many fond memories for me.

Funny how hearing a certain song

brings me right back to where I was at the time,

doing whatever I was doing.

(usually up to no good - which basically means,

having fun). ;)

HISTORY OF THE EAGLES

A movie about loss,

and courage,

and conquering fears

and facing your demons

and redemption

and finding your way through the darkness.

WILD.

Along the same lines as one of my favorite movies,

Into the Wild,

only with a lighter ending. :)

And last but not least -

a documentary about the author,

SALINGER.

Like millions of others,

when I was in high school,

I read Catcher in the Rye

and my friends and I talked about it

for months after.

So yeah, there's lots of mystery

around J.D.Salinger

and what happened to him

after Catcher in the Rye...

Thanks for stopping by.

xox

colouring books, little birds and big skies

Hello everyone!

I'm finally back!

I hesitate to say 

I have some wonderful news

because maybe it's just wonderful for ME,

but hell, 

i'm sure at least ONE of you

will benefit from this as well.

At least I hope so.

That's the whole point.

Some of you already know this,

but for those who don't,

I'm working on an adult colouring book!!

Along with 5 other fabulous artists,

the book, called COLOR FOR CLARITY,

should be out in the world this November!

You can click here

to find out more

and don't forget to sign up

so you can get updates on where 

and when the book will be available.

We all have different styles,

so it's gonna be a great variety.

Every page has a quote or a question,

to encourage self discovery

and hopefully help you realize

that you have the potential

within yourself

to become who you want.

We tend to forget this, don't we?

We rely too much on outsiders

to teach us about our own worthiness.

I certainly hope that those who buy the book

have as much fun colouring the drawings

as I had in making them.

Such a fun project to work on.

Basically, it all happened very fast,

but sometimes, 

those are the best kinds of projects.

The kind that are unplanned.

No time to worry.

Right after I said YES

I knew it was the right decision.

We all had to develop several drawings

in a short amount of time,

but it's all coming together

and the work is amazing.

I cannot wait to color in it myself.

The wonderful Kristal Norton

is driving the bus on this one.

You can find her here.

Thanks to her genius organizational skills,

we are working together on a common goal,

from different parts of the world,

and she makes it feel easy. 

So besides that,
I've been painting here & there
whenever I get the chance.

When we went to New York last year in September,
I took a quick pic of these beautiful orchids 
we had in our hotel room,
with a card that said WELCOME!

I was really having problems

with the leaves & the pot on this one...

so what do you do when

there's part of the painting

that just doesn't seem to be working?

You remove it!
:)
Some will say *that's cheating*!
But i don't listen to those people,
and you shouldn't either.
Do what you gotta do
to feel good about the painting.
Or at least not to hate it.
I hated it with the leaves & pot.

I don't hate it so much anymore,
although i don't know why i added the words...
looks like something you could buy
at Walmart. Not good. ;)

Far from my greatest work,
but hey - win some, lose some.
The colours are off in the 1st few pics,
but you can see the actual color here.
i'm liking the teal these days. :)  

I drew this the other day
when we lost power for a few hours...
with no lights, no TV, no computer...
What a better time
than to draw something
by the light of the window?

Coloured pencils on paper.

This little bird urn holds my mom's ashes...

She loved birds. :)

A quick painting (acrylic on paper)...

I ordered these prints from Vistaprint the other day.
They had a sale on posters.
Something like $30 for 10 posters (11 x 14 or 28 x 35.5cm)
Next time, I'll order thicker paper
but other than that, quality is good.

It's a water-colour i did of Steve Jobs a while back...

and i love his 'here's to the crazy ones' quote.

These will be for sale in my Etsy shop

within the next week or so.

The ring around the sun, a day before
the torrential downpour we had the other day.

And of course,
you know I can't end a post
without sharing a few pics
of the sand and the sea... :)

 seagulls in a row

 ...and a more daring seagull. 
Maybe he thought I had fries. :)

wide open space... and sky. 

Warmer than usual for this time of the year for us. 

(like 75 F)

And skies like this
always make me feel
like i'm part of something grand
and that the real miracle of life
is the fact that I am here AT ALL.
If it all ends when I die
I'm ok with this
because I get to see
skies like this while I am here.
xx