A short hike above the town of Canmore, Alberta are twin jewels; Grassi Lakes. There, in September 1991, I painted my first ever plein air painting. Nowadays the trail is heavily traveled and the lakes are always crowded but in the summer of 1993, when I made a daily practice of meditating there early every morning, I had the lakes all to myself. A part of me will always be there just as the beauty and peace of this sacred place is always in my heart.   FIREWEED AT GRASSI LAKES   1994 watercolour 7" x 10"  Collection of Mary Shillabeer and Tom Matier Pa ..read more

Avery is of an age now that she can request the imagery for her birthday paintings. I'm challenged by the topics she selects but because I can paint whatever is asked of me I honour her wishes. I maintain that any artist can paint anything, they just have to want to! Avery turned 10 on October 16th. The painting presentation happened December 22nd, the day the family arrived for Christmas Rather than a traditional landscape background, I thought an abstracted, fun, turquoise and copper backdrop would create more magical sensation. The shinny textured bits were made using ..read more

I'm often late with delivery of these paintings but in the case of Amira's painting I was a few days early this year. Her birthday is December 9th, when she turned seven. I just happened to have started and finished her painting first. It was at the Pinto Museum, in Manila earlier this year, where I witnessed Amira seeing her first peacock. She was mesmerized by the male strutting with his tail feather spread out in an enormous fan. The start.  I used a commercial stencil for the half moon, the texture on the right was created through a metal ribbon with holes The half m ..read more

I was home from Lake O'Hara only a couple of days before we set out on our B.C. road trip. To celebrate my 70th birthday and our 49th wedding anniversary our first stop was Island Lake Lodge for two nights. We arrived September 12th, right on time for me to go directly to the 2.5 hour spa treatment/massage I'd booked. The clouds were down to the ground and it rained for most of our time there. On the heels of the O'Hara hikes (which I will never regret) I confess to not being up for the steep trails at Island Lake. I ma ..read more

Canmore, Flora and Fauna, 12" x 24" cradled panel with images painted in oil on a vintage topographical map from 1980 Canmore's Mountain Avens Gallery, as The Avens Gallery was initially called, represented my art from the time Arlene Curry opened it in June 1986, through two subsequent owners, for twenty-four years. Almost a decade after leaving the gallery, when we returned, last year,  to Canmore (from Claresholm) it was both an honour and a terrific boost to my ego when the current gallery manager, Betti Irwin, invited me back. December 16th, 2017, Th ..read more

For the week of August 13th to 17th we had our granddaughter, Avery, stay with us. With her parents, we arranged that Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park was where we would return Avery to them. As we live in Canmore and they in Saskatoon, Cypress certainly isn't halfway for either party but it's a great place to meet for a weekend of camping. Avery waiting for her parents to arrive.  That didn't happen until nearly midnight and we three were fast asleep! That first night Avery slept in the trailer with us. Her parents pitched their tent in the dark. It was ador ..read more

In my last medial blogpost (June 4th) I left you blog readers hanging. In surgery that day Dr. Jenken was only able to repair the fistula from my small intestine to my vagina and he removed 30.7cm of small intestine where the blockage was. Once again, I awoke with the colostomy bag in place. He says that I may have the reconnection later, but at this point in time I want no more surgeries.  It took a few days to transition from IV feeding to a regular diet. More antibiotics were given for internal inflammation and infection. On Sunday, June 10th, I snapped. Eighteen nights ..read more

My window seat in room 8302 at RockyView General Hospital overlooked the Glenmore Reservoir  I'd like to believe that my body has opted to have any complications before this operation rather than after. The scheduled date for reconnecting my colon to my rectum (and closing the stoma) was scheduled for June 4th. That date is still fixed but the surgery focus has changed to deal with the surprise bowel problem. It won't be known until colorectal surgeon, Dr. Jenken, operates if he will be able to do what was originally planned as well.   After not eating for three da ..read more

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