Letting go....

My gorgeous girl leaves next week to fly away with her man Tommy to go and live in Europe for a few years...I will really miss her...she and I are wonderful friends and that makes me really happy and grateful but of course sad too as I'm not sure when I will see her again. Don and I plan to go over and visit them in Holland next year so hopefully that will come about. Trudes is coming up here for a few days before she goes and we will go to Brissie for their farewell party on the weekend...so its not happening quite yet. I do get teary every now and then though and need to remind myself of what a good thing they are doing for themselves and what a great adventure they are about to embark upon...

I have been following lots of art blogs lately finding so much to inspire me with my art. I was really brave this week and entered a piece in an exhibition at a small and beautiful art gallery where I took a few classes recently. It is called Rosebed St Gallery in Eudlo and the link to their website is on my favourites list of blogs here. I had decided that I would not pre-judge my piece but had to enter it as I've never done this before. So I sent it off on Monday then realized that I was actually a day late but they accepted it anyway...all the artists will be notified next week of acceptance or not. For me it is the fact that I'm having a go and if it is accepted that will be another matter. I don't expect anything. The photo above is a detail...I made 2 hearts of barbed wire..rusted..with a recycled fabric vine and embroidered details and ribbon roses wrapping them...the theme was 'Resilience' and mine was surrounding the inner strength of the human heart and nature...Don helped me with the name which is 'Wounded Heart'.

This is a photo Trudy took in our place a few months ago...a couple of old jars with flowers sitting on my red cedar table...which I will be selling hopefully soon...I have decided my furniture needs to go as storing it while we are in Canada doesn't make much sense..I have let go of these things emotionally now and know it is a good thing. And Canada is full of cute old furniture which I am going to buy...not all of it maybe but something!!

Family weekend...

I'm sitting in bed coffee in hand and laptop where its meant to be, on my lap, perusing facebook and my daughter's blog and her friend Laura's blog and other inspiring and gorgeous blogs and facebook pages.

One of the facebook pages is from Rosebed St Gallery & Studio in Eudlo where I took part in a workshop on Friday morning. We worked out in the garden under a canopy and the day was gorgeous. The workshop is about letting go of preconceived ideas and attitudes we may have about our art and becoming more self-expressive. I feel that this is great for all of life not just my art. There were 6 of us in the class and we worked collaboratively which was different for me. I think what I got from it was a feeling of play and fun and loosening up. Which is probably exactly what I am after as I find my art can be very tight and too 'worked'.

Today my gorgeous girl, Trudy and her partner Tom, are coming for an overnite visit and I'm very happy about that.In a couple of months they will be heading off overseas to Europe for 2 or 3 years and I'm beginning to realize how close it is getting. I will be going back to Canada next April and so we will be closer but I don't know how long we will be apart for in the next few years.

So....the thing is to live in the moment and enjoy our time together now. If there is no rain this afternoon we might go to the golfing range and hit some balls and just hang out and have fun. Tomorrow morning we'll head up to Peregian and have brunch with her brother Al and his partner Zoe...I really appreciate it when I have my 4 kids together...(I call Tom and Zoe mine too...)

These photos are for Nikki....this is part of an antique dinner set given to me by my mum. The original set had enough plate settings for 12 people and there were 6 tureens with china ladles and 8 platters in different sizes. Mum halved the set and my sister and I were each given a dinner set for 6 people. Some of the plates have somehow found their way to Trudy's house...

The green plates were also some of mum's. I love the cabbage leaf plates. She had a pile of them and I now have a few. I try to use them every day.

Well I hadn't been able to access my blog....I've been having trouble with my hotmail and my new gmail and I'm not sure if it is me or the computer or the internet baddies..stuff I don't understand. Luckily I have some brainiac family members who know what computers are about...I rang my son-in-law, Tom, the other day for internet help and he was very patient and helpful. I realized though that maybe I need to persevere sometimes and so I did and got back on here. This blog is really nice to have for me to post photos for friends who are not okay with facebook. Living between the 2 countries means that I am often thinking about friends and family on the other side from whichever country I happen to be in at the time. So now of course I think of my Canadians....especially Nikki and Don's children, Melanie and David.

Playing with watercolour.

When we are in Canada I draw the buildings as we drive through the countryside..just quick sketches from the car...Canada is full of gorgeous old buildings. So I played with some of the drawings and painted them with a bit of poetry.