Wells Community Garden Panorama

These ten images all link together to create one 7.5 inch by 112.5 inch scene.  I did two of these panoramic scenes during my stay here; one here at the Wells Community Gardens, and the other at the intersection of Sanders and Pooley Street.  They're each a full 360 degree view.  If you took the last panel and moved it over, it'd line up with the first.  It was a real challenge, dealing with changing light and perspective, dogs, kids, mosquitos and moving cars (although in Wells they really don't move that often).  I always seem to be a little bit invisible when I'm sketching on location, sitting there overhearing all the goings-on in the neighbourhood, children playing in the playground, people gardening, strolling, enjoying life on their street.  It was kind of funny how the locals had all been stepping around me for days, but when they came in to view our work at the end of the project they were surprised to see their homes and all their familiar buildings around town captured here.  Their delight at having their homes captured made me very happy!

I had a couple of real challenges while doing this piece.  The first was, after laying it all out and doing most of the initial sketching, I discovered the paper I though was watercolour friendly was not at all.  The first drop of water made it puff up like one of those compressed sponges getting it's first dose of moisture!  Normally I would have panicked, but here in Wells everything is so laid back I just sort of stared at it and thought, 'hmmm'.  Good thing I happened to grab a box of pencil crayons just before I left Penticton.  It was much slower than it would have been in watercolour, but I think it was a good exercise.  Next 'argh!' moment was after I discovered this cool sepia pen and ink on a side trip to historic Barkerville.  I was having great fun with it, had sketched maybe a house or two in this lovely ink, when I dropped the pen and bent the nib.  No more pen.  Again, I could have freaked, but instead decided to  head back to Barkerville to buy another one.  It meant packing up my camper in order to get mobile, something I hadn't banked on doing during my stay here.  On my way back to where I was parked, I popped in to one of the little galleries on Pooley Street.  I told my tale to the woman working there, an artist I met up here last year at a workshop.  She walked in the back of the gallery and came out with a fist full of pen nibs for me to use.  How nice is that!   I just seemed to meet so many generous people here.  I can see how people come here and decide to stay.

  

Ice Cream Shop Chalkboard Sign

I finished the board for the Ice Cream Shop boys last night.  This puppy is about 5' wide and almost 4' high.  It'll go over their ice cream cake fridge.  If you are EVER in Penticton, you must go there.  The shop is called Ogo's (like Ogopogo, our parasailing lake monster here).  It's on Main Street, in the first block from the beach.  Not only do they have great ice cream and the best cones ever, but the shop itself is a wonder.  You just have to see it for yourself.

I'm excited to have this finished.  We'll drop it off this morning.  I can't wait to see Mike and Brian's reaction.  I hope they like it.  It's the reason I ordered the chalk ink markers, and hopefully it'll be the first of many boards I can do for businesses around town.  I'm lovin' these chalk markers.

For my favourite triathlete - A Tri-Training Calendar

My friend M.E. is such an inspiration.  She does nothing half-way.  When she wanted to donate her long red locks for cancer, she had me shave her head down to the wood and invited the media to raise awareness.  When she got in to triathlons, she made the commitment to do ironman, and did it well.

I made this chalkboard triathlon training calendar for her birthday.  It's 2 ft square, and each square is over 2".  Should be enough room to schedule a workout or two.  How she juggles Ironman training, mommying, her business interests, volunteering and having time for friends and family is a wonder.  But, she does it all, and does it well.

That's her on her bike, and us yelling 'go red racer!' from the sidelines.  Now that she's gone from red to platinum, do we have to chant something different?  She'll always be Red Racer to me.

Happy Birthday M.E.  Sorry it was late.  Was waiting for paint to dry. xo

Chalkboard Calendars!

Over the past week or so my dining room has been a chalkboard making factory.  I'm doing a chalkboard for the local ice cream shop, and I thought I'd try to make something else while I had the blackboard paint/chalk markers et al.

These boards are 2x2 ft squares.  I did up four of them, and once I realized that the two cans of chalkboard paint I had were so different, I decided to use them to make calendars.  I like that there's no month or days in here; I can use it as a regular calendar, or if I'm doing some kind of challenge (like the yoga binge I'm currently on) I can use it to track progress.

The scene is the view from our living room last night.  I really wanted to try the chalk markers so I could get the ice cream project done, and the view was so pretty I just started doodling.  These markers are FUN!!  They're called Chalk Ink, and you can get them here.  They took about a week to arrive from Texas.  I know I missed the second friday with the darker paint.  Oh well, this one is just for me, so no biggie.  I've got another one done, but it's a birthday gift, so it's not going up here until after I drop it off tonight, just in case a certain someone is surfing the net on a friday afternoon instead of working (Yes, I mean you.  Back to work!).  It's fun.  I'll post it tomorrow.

I have so many ideas for these.  More to come.