Lantern Making Lantern Magic

I have learned to make lanterns with Public Dreams Society in Vancouver 20 years ago.  I have since been lucky enough to share the art of lantern making and the magical experience of lantern processions with the communities where I have lived.

It's pure joy to join neighbours and friends on Winter Solstice and celebrate the return of the light. There's magic and poetry in holding a paper lantern against the big darkness!

Recently, friends from the community came over to the studio and made some beautiful lanterns.

With bamboo slates and masking tape, we build the frame of the lantern.  After securing a wire candle holder at the base, the fun part begins, dressing it up in colour with tissue paper.

Thanks to Public Dreams Society 

for reviving the art of lantern making and the magic of lantern processions.

www.publicdreams.org

Citrons confits

 

I was given a jar of preserved lemons in Spring, special delivery from my younger brother in Quebec.  What a yummy culinary discovery! I fell in love! Everything tastes better with a touch of lemon and lemon flavoured oil. My favorite recipe is pasta with diced preserved lemons, a few drops of the oil and grated parmesan cheese. Delish! and so simple. I quickly ran out of those delicacies and started a search on the island where I live,  the ones I found were preserved in brine and lemon juice, nice but, I missed the flavoured lemon oil that adds a 'je ne sais quoi' to most recipes.  When that jar was empty, I decided to make my own 'citrons confits dans l'huile'.  Here they are:

Looking good hey? In two weeks, I'll be able to try them out, and shall report back on their success. 

Now for the art section of this blog, we'll travel back in time! Some thirty years ago  I did a whole show of pastel drawings on the theme of lemons.This one is titled: Backgammon in the Okanagan.
        
Have a good week, see you next Sunday!

Suburbs of Goa

It was a rainy week end, perfect time to be in the studio. I began a few new paintings for the blog Gallery, worked on others initiated earlier in the week, looked at them, made some decisions, took action and looked at them again and again.  Glad I’ve finished some, had to marvel once more at the creative process, each piece has its own story, own struggle and resolve, and its own timing. 

  The role intuition plays in painting is huge and, so is the willingness to trust the process.  It’s always a worthwhile exercise to work on many pieces at a time, the possibilities are endless, it becomes a form of play, like a dance.

  And the music was delicious, I was listening to Suburbs of Goa – an internet radio from San Francisco with cool sounds and beats from India and South East Asia like the melodic/gypsy sounds of Bombay Dub Orchestra. Yum!     suburbsofgoa.rad.io

My studio

Over the years, I’ve had studios in various settings, often on the kitchen table, in a back bedroom, outside under a tent.  I’ve rented a space on Richards Street in Vancouver, shared my friend Odile’s studio, most times I turned the living room into a work space.  For the last two years, I have a dream studio attached to my apartment in the back under the fig trees. It’s 12’ x 24’ with high ceilings and windows  for watching the figs grow and ripen under the sun.  Pure bliss!