Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Old

….thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/02/11/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-old/

Getting old is not just a number but it’s a state of mind and declining physical abilities. We need to work at staying in shape and it becomes harder as we get older but the benefits outweigh the aches and pains that may come with it. Not caring how you look is not embracing old age or aging gracefully. Even though my husband is suffering with pain and discomfort he would never think about going out, even to a doctor’s appointment without showering first and putting on clean clothes.

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Knight’s Armour
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Kevin’s 70th birthday
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My 70th birthday with friends and our grandkids

As plants get older they wither and dry up. Our pets get grey around the muzzle and they slow down and sleep more. My grandmother was very wrinkled but she stayed active right up to her last three years of her life. She walked everywhere, rode her bike and travelled. My father was the same. He was less wrinkled but he walked every day, worked on his crosswords and at 90 he made one last trip overseas to visit his younger brother. He wasn’t without his faults and as he got older he said things that could be hurtful but in his mind he was just being ‘honest’. He passed at 94.

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Frances at 14 1/2 years old
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Dad doing this civic duty right to the end
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Dad on his 93rd birthday

Furniture and paintings fade as they get older if they aren’t properly cared for. Books and papers yellow and can get musty and brittle. Old things in museums are stored in carefully crafted atmospheres to slow down the aging process and skilled hands can bring masterpieces back to life for future generations to experience and enjoy.

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Degas’s Ballerina
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The Mona Lisa
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A Cathedral in Paris
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The Medieval section of Tours, France
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The Cathedral in Tours, France
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The Chateau Amboise in France
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Furniture in the Chateau

Black and White Photo Challenge – Carvings, Sculptures and Statues

….thanks to Leanne for hosting Monochrome Madness https://leannecole.com.au/monochrome-madness-capturing-dragons/ and Cee for hosting the Black and White Photo Challenge https://ceenphotography.com/2023/02/09/cbwc-carvings-sculptures-and-statues/

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Weekly Prompts Colour Challenge – Valentine Red

thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/02/04/weekly-prompts-colour-challenge-valentine-red/

Red has always been my favourite colour.

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My favourite colour
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Collage art
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Winnie’s painting job
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Bookmaking and Botanical Lines in Ink

results of yesterday’s free on-line class

I’m always getting offers for free on-line classes to make art. Some of them are good and some have way too much talking and not enough ‘making’. Yesterday’s class was one of the good ones. It was hosted by two artists, Amy Maricle and Ali Manning. I’ve taken classes with Amy before called Inchies but this was my first class with Ali. Ali instructed us on how to make books. I’ve done this before but it was a good refresher and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I may make more books over the weekend.

After the books were made, Amy took us through a process of using India ink and a bamboo brush to make botanical marks in our new books. It was a way to experiment with ink and diluted ink. In the past I’ve used Micron Pens in her classes, which is much more controlled. I enjoyed learning from both artists. Here are the results of the hour spent with these two lovely ladies.

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Baby Steps – Clearing My Art Board

….I haven’t posted any of my art in recent months

…the reason for that was because I couldn’t find a space to make my art. Yes I have a studio space dedicated for my art making but in recent months it had become a dumping ground for my bills, Christmas cards, craft supplies and more. All my supplies were unorganized and I didn’t know what worked and what needed to be thrown away. A lot or reasons excuses to not make art.

Last week I finally put aside time to start organizing my space. I cleared the art board and the extra table I had for my sewing machine and making my mono prints. I went through all my pens, pencils, crayons, paints and brushes and threw away those that were dried up and cleaned and repaired those that were worth saving.

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During the cleaning process I came across a pile of small ink line drawings of mugs. I made them years ago and two years ago I took one of them and added colour and more line detail. I found that one in one of my sketchbooks and I decided to take another one and do the same. The one above has a bird perched on the rim of the mug. I made him before Christmas out of a strip of paper that I folded and cut into the shape that you see. I added some line detail to the mug and then some watercolour to the coffee in the mug. Like I said earlier, I’m taking baby steps to get back into making art.

To inspire me I’ve enrolled in another year long on-line art class with Carla Sonheim called Year of the Rabbit….how appropriate. I’ve already made a few sketches of ‘rabbits’ that I will share later in the week.

RDP Saturday – Burst

thanks to Ragtag Daily Prompts for today’s word https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2023/01/28/rdp-saturday-burst/

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Bursting Milkweed pod
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These spider mums look like a burst of fireworks
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Bursting cattails

I’m a Fan of…..Denyse Thomasos

….thanks to Jez for hosting I’m a fan of….. https://jezbraithwaite.blog/2023/01/23/mallards-fan-of-192/

Denyse Thomasos was a Trinidadian-Canadian painter known for her abstract-style wall murals that conveyed themes of slavery, confinement and the story of African and Asian Diaspora. Sadly she died tragically in 2012. The first time I saw her work was at the McMichael Collection of Canadian Art, an art museum in Kleinburg, Ontario. I instantly liked her work and looked forward to seeing her show at the AGO.

The show is title: Denyse Thomasos, just beyond. It brings together more than 70 paintings and works on paper that she produced spanning the last 15 years of her short life. The first thing I noticed at this showing was the size of her canvases. They were large and some of them went from the floor to the ceiling.

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This is a life size photo of Denyse working on one of her huge pieces that greets you as you enter the show
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Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Bend

thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting the Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/01/21/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-bend/

Bending implies that you or something is flexible, either physically or mentally. When a person bends mentally they are able to see both sides of an opinion or argument and can ‘bend’ or change their own way of thinking. Bending physically is easier to demonstrate in photographs.

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A bend in the path
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Bending over to pick up a stool
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Bending over to get in the picture
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Bends in the wooden stairway at the AGO
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Bending beams at the AGO
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Gargoyles bending over at the castle in France
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Bending in for a kiss
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Bend and stretch
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Bending her body coming down the bend in the slide
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Bending over to bowl