Work in Progress - Flight Behaviour - Message Underwater

I am on my way to the studio where 2 paintings are calling me :

Still Life of Sins and One Morning 

IN PROGRESS - Still Life of Sins   36" x 36"  oil and cold wax

 A second painting in progress, One Morning, I like the textures that are already happening, think  I'll enrich that, maybe bring the yellow a few tones down to soften it. . . not sure. 

IN PROGRESS - One Morning   36" x 36"  oil and cold wax

One day this week, walking around Westwood lake, 

I noticed an interesting combination of stones at the bottom of the water.  

Instantly I had a smile on my face and a song in my head.  

Enjoy the week end, soon the month of May.  I love that month, there is a sweetness about it.
 

And thank you Brenda for leaving your copy of Barbara Kingsolver's last novel on my door step: Flight Behavior. I am loving it, and I am anticipating hours of pure bliss in the next few days.Yum!

Ancestor Project - Blues pour flirter

 For the last two weeks I have been happily immersed 

in the Ancestor Project at l'ecole Oceane where the children

have named the puppet Madame Pacifica.

 

So many interesting stories were shared by the students from kindergarten to grade 7

 We even had the pleasure of a visit with Kait Burgan who shot her local TV show GO! Island! at the school.  She interviewed children about their masks and received interesting facts about great great great great grand fathers' lives!

Kait Burgan and students from grade 1 and 2

The students painted a portrait of one of their ancestors or a scene from the many stories that came to life during this two week immersion in the past.  It became clear to me that by connecting with our family line we connect with a part of ourselves.

A big thank you to my friend Carole Reid - photograph extraordinaire 

for the beautiful pictures she took at different stages of the project.

Watch Go! Island video

The music of Toots Thielemans was perfect to relax at the end of the day.
Here's  Blues pour flirter - hope you like it too! Let me know:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7VmdDEBbfY 

Projet L'ANCETRE - Stinging Nettles - The air that I breathe

The Ancestor is up and running! And she has taken residency at the local primary francophone school for the next two weeks.  She is a nine foot tall puppet made of cotton and foam with a dove in a makeshift nest on her head.  Her message is peace and love, one can say she is an old hippie, for sure she is a wise lady.

 and here she is with children at the school, you can also see pictures of older members of the community chatting with the students about how things were when they were kids on the farm, in the  Alps, in Montreal.  Many heartwarming stories were divulged.  Big round surprised eyes met the breaking news: there were no such thing as t.v., internet, digital games when they were kids. This led to some fantastic exchanges. It was most interesting to hear the various reasons that brought french speaking people to live on an island off the west coast of B.C.

Tomorrow the nearly 100 students will paint an impression of their favorites stories on a square of cotton.  The squares will be assembled into a quilt next week.  Can't wait to share pictures of that beauty with you  :)

At home I am drinking tons of freshly brewed stinging nettle tea, 'tis the season to be healthy!
And again I am listening restlessly to k.d.lang 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=w6JmGsl3-TQ&feature=endscreen