A Walk

As usual, we went home for Thanksgiving, which was last weekend for us Canadians. You can see my destination above: the house where I grew up & my parents still live, in the beautiful countryside of Northern Ontario. As you can also probably tell from the photo, the weather was amazing - a true Indian summer, with temperatures reaching the mid-20s. It felt like summer, except for the brilliant & near blinding arboreal display of gold, crimson, fire & rust.

To make the most of the weather, my mom & I went for a few walks. I carried along my camera, of course.

The maple trees in particular were strutting their stuff, pulling out every shade from the deepest blood red to a bright, spring yellow & everything in between. This tree in my brother's backyard is a perfect example, but my photography skills just do not do it justice.

I have many more pictures of leaves from our walks, but first I wanted to introduce you to our walking buddy & guard, Buster:

A big German Shepherd, Buster can be pretty intimidating... but he's really a big, spoiled suck. He accompanied us on our walk down the road:

That is... he tagged along until he heard my dad start up the 4-wheeler / ATV. Then he was off like a shot, bounding ahead excitedly. The only thing that quickens him more than the 4-wheeler is my brothers' snow machines. As soon as any of these vehicles start up, Buster starts dancing around, unleashing a characteristic, high-pitched bark.

"Yip, yip, yip!" (Let's go, let's go, let's go!)

But faithful he is, & he stayed by our side the entire time we were walking up the road & through the bush, as you'll see in a few photos later.

It was a dreamy weekend with surreal weather... I didn't want it to end.

Wordless Wednesday

Angie's Art Class

This Monday's Art Class was inspired by Gustav Klimt. The task was to pull out our sketchbooks & create a drawing using Klimt's recognizable style. Now if you've been following my blog for a bit, you'll know that Klimt is one of my favourite artists - he's already inspired a large body of my own work, including my Klimt Goddesses ACEO series & a number of art pieces & sketchbook pages.

Back in July, I created this Klimt-inspired sketchbook page. I chose warm colours, lots of zany patterns & a sensual theme - 3 elements I find in many Klimt pieces. It's also a partial nude, which is why I didn't post pictures earlier... so if you're offended, I apologize. Personally, I rather like how it turned out.

When I first read Angie's post on Monday, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. The sketchbook I've been showing you for the past few month is almost completely filled. I've been wanting to draw a woman figure for the last page, something to echo the first page:

So I browsed through Klimt's work & fell in love with Lady with Fan:

I've never seen this piece before. It's one of his later works & there is a certain maturity to it when compared to some of his wilder, earlier women. I love how she stands out against the bright background, stunning with her milky skin, somber clothing & elaborate hairdo.

Here's my interpretation, using ink & watercolour pencils:

It's hard to see, but her hair is intricately curled. I especially love how the shading on her face & her rosy flush turned out.

I omitted the fan & opted for a modern chevron printed shawl. The bright background & her proud stance make me smile.

Now I can almost call this sketchbook complete. There are just a few more pages that need some finishing touches... & then I'll have to get myself a new one!

Second Interview

I had my second interview / writing test today. I was told I might not hear back from them until next week, so when I got the call on Monday, I was beyond excited. I met with 2 different women & had a very similar interview to the last one. One of them was one of the 2 founding partners (I met the 2 junior partners last week) & she told me a great deal about the company & their goals. It went really well; another very comfortable interview I think. Then came the writing test, which was simpler than I though. It was 2 parts: reading comprehension (with a writing component - can you extract data from a study & present it in your own words?) and an editing part. Again, I think it went well. I love writing & editing, even though I never took an English course after high school (or before high school, for that matter, since my elementary school was in French... which means I never actually learned proper English grammar. But I read a lot. That counts, right?). About half way through my writing test, the other founding partner came in to say hi. Which was really nice of him... & probably wouldn't have happened if they weren't really considering me.... right?!?

When I left, they said I'd hear back in 2 weeks. That's what they said after the last interview, but called me 2 business days later, so........

My fingers are crossed! This would be a great opportunity for me. And how awesome would it be if I found a job before convocation (where I officially receive my diploma) and after only sending out 2 resumes!?!! Hoping... but trying not to get my hopes up too much!

So... I'm celebrating with a bottle of wine tonight. I hope you'll join me! And hopefully I'll have something else to celebrate very soon... and maybe sooner than 2 weeks time!

Crossed fingers & prayers are much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Mosaic Monday

It's Mosaic Monday! I hope you'll join us - it's really easy! Just make a photo mosaic - you can use whatever photo editing software you like, or a website such as the mosaic maker & photos from Flickr - & then post it on your blog. Go ahead & pick a theme if you want, but don't feel like you have to. Have fun with it!

Make sure to include a link back to my blog so that everyone can participate. Then come back here & submit a link to your blog post (using the "add your link" button at the bottom). I'll be looking at & commenting on each one!

Here's mine for this week: autumn reflections.

1. Autumn Reflection, 2. Autumn Colours Orange, 3. orange & blue 2, 4. Autumn Reflection

Here's the list of mosaics for this week. Once you've blogged, click the button below to add your blog post link.

Sunday Seven

Here's what I was thankful for this week:

1. Sunday: friends with babies
2. Monday: got a call for an interview after having sent in my resume Friday afternoon!
3. Tuesday: movie night with friends
4. Wednesday: thesis submitted, ready for convocation!
5. Thursday: successful interview
6. Friday: Swiss Chalet delivery
7. Saturday: spending the afternoon with a glass of wine & a good novel

Did you take time to appreciate the little things this week?

The Last Day of September

Just like that, it's the last day of September. Summer is officially over: the cool weather has set in, the leaves are starting to turn & darkness arrives much earlier in the evenings. The big bowl of apples on my table scents the air & I'm drawn to the kitchen to cook & bake all the hot comfort foods I haven't enjoyed in months.

This September has been particularly eventful for me. This month marks the end of an era & the beginning of a new one. The end of my school years & the beginning of adulthood. It's both exciting & terrifying! It will take some time to adjust - in my mind, I still feel like a student.

But I'm not. Not anymore. So as my responsibilities shift with my new role in life, I wanted to record the events of this month so that I might remember my last month as a student:

• I spent over a week alone while Pat was up North painting the car & saving my dad & brother from a sinking boat. It sucked. But I studied.
• I successfully defended my thesis. We celebrated with Mandarin. Yum!
• I successfully submitted my thesis & all the supporting forms.
• I signed up for convocation in November.
• I passed on my TA duties to a new TA. Reluctantly. I'm really going to miss teaching the new BioPharm students.
• I applied for a job at Cornerstone last Friday, as per Denis' referral (one of the partners at Cornerstone is a BioPharm graduate & contacts Denis regularly for recent grads to hire).
• I got called Monday for an interview at Cornerstone.
• I went for my interview at Cornerstone yesterday. It went really well. I felt really comfortable with all the questions. Now I just have to wait a week to hear if I go back for a second interview & writing test.
• We went apple picking at Puddincombe Farms & Winery. We tried some wine while there & picked up a delicious apple wine & an award-winning vidal ice wine.
• I acquired a taste for wine! Riesling is my favourite so far, whereas Pat has been all about the Chianti. Now I feel so much more convincing when pretending to be sophisticated!
• We went to London to watch football with our friends, Manny & Sara, & their adorable daughter, Semiah. I tried & failed to ignore my baby fever. Lucky Pat!
• I tried on an engagement ring (this one) I've been eyeing for a while now. It fit absolutely perfectly & looked amazing. Now if only someone could hire me so that we can start paying off some bills!
• Pat ordered 2 things from Amazon (using points he earned at work) & both went missing. The amp was delivered by UPS to our building & was signed for ... but not by us. The Resistance 3 pack was somehow not scanned properly by Canada Post & was sent back to Amazon. *sigh* At least Amazon was good about reshipping & the last box came in today.

See? Pretty eventful if you ask me! Now here's hoping October brings a job offer & a bit of down time!

Angie's Art Class

My friend Angie, from jellybeans, has been blogging a Monday Art Class for the last few weeks. Last week's class had us drawing our chairs, from all sorts of different perspectives. We then used our sketches this week to make a painting using complementary colours.

So.... here's my coursework:

First, my sketches. I used one of the chairs that goes with our kitchen table & drew it from a few different angles. Since I did this today instead of last week, I had an idea of where I was going with this. As soon as I started, I knew what cropped perspective I was going to paint.

So I got right on it. Sketched out the chair on canvas, mixed some paint & got started. Here it is with the background & chair blocked in:

I chose yellow & purple as my complementary duo & mixed a gorgeous plum for the background & bright gold for the chair.

I next used a darker, bluer purple to add some depth to the background. Finally, an orange-gold & yellow-tan were used to add in some details & shading:

I'm actually really happy & a little surprised at how well this turned out. I think this may be my first painting without any added collage elements... and I think it looks pretty darn good!

I like using these wrapped canvasses - I always stretch my paintings around the sides to give it an interesting depth on the wall. I have another one in the same size as this one; I'm tempted to paint another chair in blue-orange to go with this one!

I laid the paint on thickly for extra texture.

I typically "finish" my paintings with charcoal outlines, but I don't think I'll do that with this one. I'm loving the loose, abstract-y feel. I definitely think I'll be making a second one.

Thanks for the fun class Angie! Looking forward to next week!