NEW WORK IN PASTEL

pastel beginnings

It has been the busiest two and a half weeks that I can remember in a long, long time. My daughter and her family have left us after 2 years of living here. That was a bitter-sweet moment for us all. They have relocated to another city while waiting for visas to work in Spain so that my husband and I could prepare and list our property for sale. Yes - we are going to attempt to sell our acreage in order to move to another beautiful place which has captured our hearts - Vancouver Island. We shall see if there are any buyers for our place, and if not, we will just continue to visit the Island, and be content to stay here which is not a hardship by any stretch of the imagination!


So, we have worked like crazy to clean, paint, and pack/remove all the things we don't need so that the house is perfect and simplified. And, because of the time of year it is, I have planted our vegetable garden and weeded all the flower beds as well. Then our lawnmower died...*sigh*...you get the picture! 


Now that the house is actually on the market, I have been able to begin a commission of a beautiful dog - in pastels. Because the photo here was taken under warm lighting, the background paper looks more toned than it actually is.  But this is the beginning of the process. The person who commissioned the painting was able to leave me a whole photo album of times with this dog, so I have been able to get to know his personality a bit. It always amazes me how intuitive and intelligent dogs can be - and how very attached we become to them. Such wonderful companions! And what a huge gap they leave in our lives when they are gone. We still miss our Meg, whom we lost just a couple of months ago...


I will continue to show you this work as it progresses. With showings of the house, gardening, and getting out for hikes and bike rides, I know the summer will fly by. I can't believe we are almost at the longest day of the year already! We need to get outside and enjoy the summer since it is so short here in Calgary!!! I just want it to stop raining and get warm. Okay - done the rant. Now back to work. :-)