Playa Madera, Zihuatanejo

The boardwalk here is very cool, gently undulating along the edge of the beach.  There are hand painted signs everywhere reminding people in spanish not to tire their basura, and to keep their playa clean.  I sat and sketched while the boys went looking for some speakers for our music at the house and a basketball (there's a bball court in our front yard).  When they came back we walked from here pretty much right through this sketch, and then up the hill.  At the top is a restaurant called Espuma.  The views from there are absolutely stunning.  We're heading back there for dinner tonight.  If you continue along the hilly road from there you'll come to Club Intrawest where Rob is working.  It is lovely, which I will attempt to demonstrate with a sketch a little later in the week. 

Airborn Otra Vez

Yahoo!  We're in Zihuatanejo.  We're visiting my brother Rob who comes down here to work 5 months a year.  We arrived at 7pm last night.  I had a good laugh leaving the airport.  In Canada, we choose to to put a big grizzly in a mountie suit at the airport.  In Zihuat, just outside the airport, there's a giant bottle of Corona, and standing right beside is an enormous sand sculpture of a bucket of Coronas.  Interesante.

We decompressed for a bit, inspired by the airport art, having a few cervezas, then saddled up and walked into town for some dinner.  We went to Hija del Capitan for some amazing camarones coco.  We met some of Rob's local friends and I got to torture some locals with my rusty spanish.  Zihat has such a cool feel.  I'm in love with it already.

Text says: March 5th.  Took the skytrain early this morning to meet jGreg at YVR and catch a flight to Zihautanejo/.  I cannot wait to get my winter white toes in some sand/.  We're early, thanks to Greg's 6 am flight in from Penticton/  I had planned to use the time to sketch the magnificent Bill Reid sculpture here in International Departures, but for some reason settled here instead/.  Interesting choice, the bear in the mountie suit/.  I wonder what the designers were trying to say.  "Thanks for visiting our country.  Come back soon/  We have grizzlies, and they're helpful and friendly!"

A Life (Changing) Sentence!?

My new scanner is very blurry, so here's the text..

My model buddy lisa invited me out to a runway show for Vancouver's Eco-Fashion Week.  "It's fashion-y" she said. "Wear heels."  I wore this great little wool strapless Kenzie dress and vintage choker from my sister's closet.  The dress has an empire waist, front pleat and pockets.  I love pockets!  Then for the shoes.  I was deciding between these fantastic 4 1/2" slingbacks and my comfy stack-heeled everyday boots.

And then, from seemingly nowhere, the little voice in my head piped up and said "It's February, and you're forty-seven".  I zipped up the boots.  The show was great.  I loved Nicole Bridger (www.niclolebridger.com).

Still not talking to the voice in my head though.

New Hood

Braved the February chill this morning and sat at the end of our block to capture this view.  I've been in Vancouver pretty much full time since November.  We took a townhouse in Yaletown, which is about equidistant between our two stores down here.  Life has been a circuit of work, dog-walk, sleep.  I keep walking past all these great sketching sites every morning, afternoon and night when I take Yogi out to the puppy park and 'poopy island' (the giant grassy median one block over from here).  Every day I walk past something and think "this'd be a good place to sketch", and somehow three months have rolled by without taking the time.  We just planned a trip to Zihuatanejo, so I thought it was time to get out my bag and get the sketch brain going.

This spot is a busy one.  I'm sitting at the T intersection of Beatty and Nelson.  There are bikes, dogs, one million cars and busses, several passers-by, and one lady asking directions to Expo Boulevard.  Traffic is racing past my toes, headed onto the Cambie Street Bridge via Nelson.  Our townhouse is on the left here, obscured by the cars and trees, and that's the lovely Sun Tower Building at the far end of Beatty, on the right.

Art Show Opening Tonight!

If you happen to be in the Penticton area come by and check out our show!  This is such a fun group, and quite varied.  I was at the Leir House last night while Glenn, George and Paul were hanging the show, and it's a really interesting range of work.  I submitted three lino cuts done from my plein aire sketches into the show.  A bit of a stretch on the plein air theme, but I'm happy with them.  I did them at Laura Widmer's studio.  Laura is a wonderful print maker I met in Wells this summer.  Check out her work here.  She has a beautiful old press in her garage.  I took seven lino plates up with me, and we bundled up and spent a chilly day pulling prints.  Thanks for the help Laura!  The ones in the show are all images of Apex.  I'll post some photos after the show.

  

Sketching Hibernation Over

Somehow a month has passed without me sketching or blogging.  I went into a little hibernation when my dad died, doing nothing but hanging out with my mom and zoning out playing my new mandolin for about 25 hours a day (yes, I have blisters on my fingers).  Funny, sometimes sketching is the only therapy that works for me, and this time it was the last thing I felt like doing.   It took having to go in to the art gallery to lead a workshop to get me to get my brush wet again.

I'm SO grateful that they invite me to do that!  Thanks Glenn.  Sharing my love for watercolour sketchbook journaling is always an honour, and always feels good, but especially this time when I needed the nudge to get going myself.

We had a great group.  Small (only three people plus me), but fun, enthusiastic and talented.  Thanks ladies for coming out!  The class was supposed to be en plein aire, but it was a blustery, gloomy day.  We hit the tearoom at the art gallery instead and, as usual, I used feet to demonstrate perspective and same-sized drawing.

It's thanksgiving weekend here in Canada.  We're heading up to our ski place and I'm cooking a big turkey dinner tomorrow.  Mom is coming, along with my brother and his family, and of course our boys.  And Yogi, the giant lap puppy.  I'm looking forward to it all, and to kicking off the season up at Apex with a good family feast.

Thanks to those of you who left messages and sent emails, popped in to my blog, and ordered books this month, in spite of my disappearance.  I'll try not to go dark for so long next time.
xo

My Beautiful Dad

Sunday was my birthday, and I got to spend it holding the hand of my beautiful dad.  The following day, yesterday, he slipped peacefully away surrounded by people who love him.  He was larger than life, with a voice that was warm and rich and full of magic.  He lived 86 adventure-packed years, the last 58 of them married to my mom.  He was a pro ball player (a 'Roughie'), a ski racer, a coach of almost everything, but above all a family man.  He was always there for all of us; would quit a job if it created a conflict with some event we wanted him at, would drive across the country to pick us up at the drop of a hat if we needed him to (not theoretic, factual).   He loved his wife, his kids and his grandkids to a fault, and we loved him back with the same ferocity.

It's hard saying good-bye, but what I think makes it easier is the fact that he left nothing on the table.  There's no void he forgot to fill for us, no question about how he felt, no lingering need to resolve something or have him acknowledge or offer support.  He was there for us full stop.  He thought we could do anything, and he'd tell anyone who stopped long enough to listen.  He kept his dignity in his illness, and even on his very last day, after a panicked ambulance ride back to the hospital, he took the time to give a warm sympathetic smile to the nurse trying to take a blood sample from his failing veins.

He was a great man, and the best dad ever.

I did this sketch of him during the 'every day in may' challenge.  I thought many times of sketching him in this past month as he lay in his hospital bed (he was still beautiful even then), but that would have involved letting go of his hand, which I was not prepared to do.