Summer Goals

This summer is starting off with a bang, that's for sure. Busy! It's been so busy over here. I can't get into too much detail as most of it is work related, but my job will be changing substantially in the next few weeks. Most notably, my shift will be changing from 1-9 to 9-5... so I'll no longer have leisurely mornings to slowly get ready, craft and blog (but I will have relaxed evenings where I can cook supper with Pat).

I have a whole new routine to ease into, and it'll take me a while to fit blogging into that. Especially since I haven't been consistent this last month (dang I was going to say "few weeks", but it's been pretty much a month since I was blogging regularly... time sure does fly!). But I really do want to keep up with it - I love this little space way too much!

Anyway, to follow along with my last post, I thought I would make myself a list of goals for this summer. Not only do I want to get some reading done, I want to accomplish a few things while setting my new routine. It's so easy to let the entire summer slip by, lazily, like a bead of sweat sliding down a cold glass of lemonade.

Summer 2013 Goals:

1. establish a new daily blogging and crafting routine
2. catch up on the 2013 woodland sampler
3. keep up with the summer sampler
4. complete my two in-progress girls (both need a quote added to the background canvas)
5. work on two in-progress canvases (green/black and small bouquet)
6. try 3 new summer recipes and grill as often as possible
7. put on sunscreen every day and wear my hat outside
8. make a batch (or two) of vanilla lemonade
9. find new hiking trails and a relatively quiet beach where we can actually go swimming
10. actually start using the green bin (no excuse!)
11. explore the city around us (find: a small bookstore, a gallery, a farmer's market, an unknown park)
12. catch up with old friends (both online and off)

I want to make this a summer to remember!

What do you have planned this summer?

Summer Reading List

Now that I'm working ("now" like I haven't been working for over seven months! Still feels new some days..), I have lots of reading time at my disposal. I spend about 40 minutes on the subway each way, plus take an hour for lunch/supper, usually by myself. So that gives me lots of time, making me confident I'll be able to reach my goal of reading at least 50 books again this year.

In order to reach that goal, I have to read just over four books a month. That means I have twelve books to read this summer (June - August):

1. finish The Housemaid's Daughter by Barbara Mutch
2. finish Darwin's The Origin of Species
3. The Rise of Ransom City - Felix Gilman
4. What Darwin Got Wrong - Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini
5. The Emperor's Tomb - Steve Berry
6. Who Has Seen the Wind - W.O. Mitchell
7. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
8. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
9. Waging Heavy Peace - Neil Young
10. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
11. Under the Dome or 11/22/63 - Stephen King
12. Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak

All these titles were pulled from my bookshelves. Since I've already finished two books in June (excellent books I brought back from out West: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan), I have a little leeway, but I really would like to tackle most of these. Unless I happen to pick up a new book or two... then I'm sure to read those first. I'll try to restrain myself though; I really do want to put a dent in my own-but-haven't-read list!

What are you reading this summer?

My Creative Space: Cross-stitching

This last week, I've been steadily stitching on my 2013 Woodland Sampler. I've only been able to find small snatches of time to work on my cross-stitches, but I really do want to try to catch up on this one this month. The June square is going to be adorable!

(Sorry about the crappy cell phone photos - my camera's memory card is still full of photos from out West!)

I really want to catch up because I've signed up for the Summer Sampler. I haven't made much progress on the spring one, but I figured these (along with the fall and winter ones) would be a project to work on for a couple years. I love being able to pick them up on a whim and watch them unfold.

More creative spaces.

Sketchbook Pages: Playing with Patterns

I was trying to decide what to blog about this morning - the thing about getting back into the routine is just to do it - so I started browsing through my May 2013 folder of pictures. I found quite a few sketchbook pages in progress that I have yet to finish. Perhaps tomorrow I will blog about projects I want to finish this summer...

Anyway, I found a few patterns among my pages, so I thought I'd share. These are from my experiments with Neocolors II.

A few quick pages in my "travel" sketchbook. I just noticed the date on the first page isn't the same as the other three... I definitely drew these all at the same time... Oops! I doodled the patterns and then coloured them in with Neocolors II. I decided to keep the waxy look instead of getting them wet.

Chevron in my long watercolour sketchbook. These were spritzed and dripped to see how well they would run... I just haven't taken a photo of the results yet.

Looking at these pages really makes me want to get back to my desk and pull out the paints, sprays and papers... let's see if I can find a few minutes before I need to head out to work! 

Bow River

Today I finally found a minute to go through some of my photos from out West. While there, we drove around quite a bit - from Calgary to Canmore to Invermere, BC and back - and along the way, we often found ourselves sidling the Bow River. The rivers I grew up with are fairly murky and brownish, so the clear blue-green waters of the Bow are simply astonishing.

These photos were taken in Banff, along the Bow River and really don't do the river justice. The sun was bright that day and you could see straight to the bottom - making things look a little brown - but you could see straight to the bottom. I just think that's pretty cool. 

Busy

Things have been busy around here. We returned from our trip out West last Tuesday, had the day off Wednesday and then worked Thursday-Friday. My two lab co-workers were off that week (vacation and sick), so the office staff and new trainees were trying to cope to our regular frantic schedule. Needless to say, I really felt the love when I returned ("thank goodness you're back!!!")... but there was a lot of catching up to do. A lot of samples to sort through, organize and ship. It was BUSY.

Then, we had house guests the whole weekend. Friday night, Pat's youngest sister made it in late. His other sister and her fiance arrived by train on Saturday. Sunday, we all went to Wonderland for the entire day. I had almost forgotten just how much I LOVE roller-coasters! The new Leviathan is extra tall, fast and long - but such a smooth ride. So so so much fun!

The last of our guests left this morning and I have to say - I'm tired! What a whirlwind couple of weeks it has been. And by the weekend it'll be June! I know I say this a lot - and more and more often as I get older - but the days are just flying by. Hard to believe we're almost half-way through 2013.

Anyway, I have loads to catch up on so it may continue to be quiet over here for a few more days. I will try to get back into my regular blogging schedule soon though. I have tons of pictures from out West to show still... so here's one:

*sigh* Dreaming of the mountains....

Back From Our Travels

Well, sadly, we are back from our trip to the mountains. We had such a wonderful time! It was just beautiful and so relaxing. The weather was perfect the entire time, all our hotel rooms were lovely and my friend's wedding was a huge success.

It was over before we knew it... too soon!

I have lots of photos to go through, but I picked a few favourites to show today because I know my mom is anxious to see them. Many more to come!

the Bow River, taken in Banff

the Bow River, from the TransCanada Highway running West of Banff

Marble Canyon, Kootenay Park, BC

the Wetlands in Invermere, taken on the way to Wilmer

Olive Lake, just outside of Radium

the Badlands, taken at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller

Garden Girl (She Girl #3)

Saturday evening I was in the mood for painting. I wanted to paint my next She Girl. And I wanted her on this background:

Of course, I had doodled with white Sharpies and a red Prismacolor a few days before I got started on my girl, but I had my "must-paint" blinders on, so I didn't think to take a photo before starting - or any in process. Still, with this red-orange background, I knew I wanted to go green for my girl. I was tempted to go with green hair, but leaves sounded a bit more appealing (and a bit more me). Definitely inspired by the seasonal changes going on outside!

I ripped a piece of dark green patterned paper before getting starting, knowing I would use it in part of my collage. Then I looked at my canvas and immediately "saw" my girl, sketching her out with watercolour pencils. And wouldn't you know it! The piece of green paper I had torn would be perfect for her bodice!

I mixed all my paint with lots of glazing medium to achieve a nice transparency. I wanted layers to show through. I started with titan buff, raw sienna and gesso for her face then mixed in a bit of burnt umber light for the hair and shading and sap green for the dress. Finally, I glued down her dress and a bunch of "leaves" after ripping leaf shapes from various patterned green papers. A glaze of sap green and raw sienna completed my first painting session:

Next, I added quite a bit of shading, mostly with FC Pitt pens in skin tones and Neocolor II and some gelatos. A bit of doodling around the outlines and some rub-ons here and there brought her here:

Now I think all I have left to do is add a bit more shading and a quote to the blank space at the right. Something in green to balance that colour a bit. I'm really, really happy with how she turned out though - almost exactly as a first "saw" her!

Anyway, it may be quiet over here for the next few days - we're off on our trip! I'll definitely have a TON of photos when I get back! Have a great week everyone!