Thursday Doors – A Whole Community of Painted Gingerbread Houses

thanks to Dan for hosting Thursday Doors https://nofacilities.com/2021/04/29/glastonbury-doors/

Grimsby Beach Village is well known for it’s Painted Ladies or Gingerbread Houses. The community was originally a Methodist Bible Camp in the 1800s and when the tents came down they were replaced with modest cottages. In 1909 the camp went bankrupt. It was purchased by a developer who converted the area into an amusement park.

In the 1920s 30 of the cottages burned down and tourists went elsewhere. It was taken over by a Cottagers’ Association but over the years the remaining cottages suffered from disrepair. Fast forward to 1986 when a handyman Ed Giernat, purchased one of the 150-year old homes and decided to add gingerbread and other decorative trim moulding and paint his house orange, green, blue and white. Now dozens of “painted ladies” houses adorn the streets of Grimsby Beach because of Ed’s vision and his willingness to help others fix-up their homes.  ( data re history came from Everyday Tourist https://everydaytourist.ca/wandering-canada/southern-ontario-road-trip-grimsby-beachs-painted-ladies)

E0-C1-AB70-26-EB-4856-BB3-D-286-CD7-B322-B6
2-E4323-C4-A548-49-FD-9247-9-A42-BACC8-AC0
D33-D9435-130-D-423-B-B413-0692-C15-ADE86
BDB143-F5-D91-D-40-FF-8-C61-965540865-EB0
4-C2-C968-F-0-A31-44-D3-8-A8-B-3-EC7-F1227-EBC
9-D42-C9-AC-0182-4332-BFE8-108-B7-A10427-E
14-CC641-F-5990-4-F45-B897-54-C653053-DFD
985-F48-B5-DAF0-4-A6-F-A7-EF-ED5916-FE8899
7-F48-C8-D9-B81-F-49-B0-8944-F379-D900-F765
A6-BF8452-2741-4911-A1-A1-2-CF153-A9-C6-C8

Bright Paints

thanks to Becky B for hosting BrightSquare for the month of April https://beckybofwinchester.com/2021/04/29/brightly-shone-the-moon/

For my latest art project (courtesy of Carla Sonheim’s Year Long Class 2021) I had to paint the back of discarded art projects with colours that I wouldn’t normally put together. After these dried they were reassembled into little art journal books. I’ll post those very soon.

899-E01-BE-5-B57-462-A-9-CE6-B6291-E2018-B6-1-201-a

I Immediately Saw a Pig

….after laying down random splashes of watercolour

Once I saw the pig I couldn’t get him out of my mind so I knew that I had to include him in my next intuitive art piece. After I drew the pig I started to see other animals and of course more flowers appeared.

9-DA995-A4-F2-DD-4913-8-D7-B-6-FE05416-B9-EA-1-201-a

Looking for Shapes in Splashes of Colour

Pam Garrison was a guest artist recently on Carla Sonheim’s Year Long Class and treated us to a lesson using random splashes of watercolour to create an art piece. Once the paint dried we had to look for shapes and bring them out with outlines of black ink.

In this piece I saw mostly flowers and some birds.

9-BF6-C98-C-71-A8-4805-B758-29-DB00-E4-DF05
3-EF944-F9-C2-F1-4-A27-8-ABC-67-AE1-CA2-ACDE-1-201-a

Meditative Art Practice

it’s been too long since I last posted my art

I’ve always enjoyed sharing my art on this blog but several weeks ago I had a very upsetting and unfortunate experience with an internet troll. For a few posts I was getting long and horrible comments from an unknown person. I was told that my work was crap, that I shouldn’t call myself an artist and that I should give up on art. I blocked this person but they came back under a different name and started to insult my husband’s art as well. In both cases I blocked the comment and reported it as spam but the damage to my ego was profound.

Many friends told me to let it go and I did continue to make art. For awhile I only posted on group sites on Facebook and on Instagram. One of the first pieces that I posted after the negative comments was a very simple mediative exercise where I was instructed to make small circles all over my paper with watercolour. When I was done I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the outcome so I started to add details with black ink.

After posting it on the art group page that I belonged to I was shocked by the positive comments and the number of likes. The last time I looked on the page I had 714 likes and 60 positive comments. This was certainly a boost to my ego and inspired me to continue making art.

Here is the piece that brought me back from the doldrums.

F00-E2-AAB-86-C3-4567-9-E73-1-AB470-EBB859
B05282-A9-431-E-4472-A136-C78522-ACC500