Can-Am Weekend

It's the weekend when both countries in North America which straddle the 49th parallel celebrate their national holidays - Canada Day is July 1st and the U.S. has 'The Glorious Fourth" of July. Having had one parent who was originally from the U.S., and because I am travelling south of the border tomorrow, I feel that I am covering both sides this year - and fireworks are among my favorite delights!

perfect remedy

for having overdosed on press coverage of the violence and vandalism on my city's streets on Saturday and Sunday (indeed, is it over?) the answer was spending peaceful hours in my studio in the company of Naples yellow, Zinc white, Alizarin crimson, burnt umber, French ultramarine blue and others on Sunday - turned out to be a creative and restorative day...this painting is almost finished, don't tell Team Parent...onwards!

Toronto - in the limelight - protests abound

Our city is currently hosting the G-20 Summit - media attention is being paid to the deterioration of peaceful demonstrations today...predictably some protesters are violent and destructive. Police cars on fire, storefront windows broken - negative images to be sure. As it continues I can only wish that the next several hours will not see more and worse consequences of these actions.

One thing really puzzles me: people who purposefully go down to view the "action" - I guess they are fearless (read: misguided) or is it just that I certainly am too much of a wimp to deliberately place myself in the line of fire?

Peace and love,

Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativity 2010 in Toronto

Today I visited a couple of the art installations - part of this year's Luminato Festival; beautiful and thought-provoking offerings, I am attaching a photo of one: an art/fashion installation in a breathtaking venue, the Galleria space of a downtown office building, this space was designed by the well-known architect, Santiago Calatrava; the piece is entitled "The Ascension of Beauty" by Mark Fast a UK based knitwear designer (hails originally from Canada), the dress on the mannequin is knitted on a machine and the white ropes are its train, also, I believe, made on the knitting machine, the train goes on for a great distance reaching into the top of the Galleria and swings down and up, quite lovely. The other installation was film and really too esoteric to try to describe herein - especially after two glasses of Australian chardonnay...a la prochaine, mes amis,

I'm Back! by popular demand and unrelenting requests

hello, gentle readers, after a prolonged absence from the blogosphere I have returned; I am technologically challenged and have changed my e-mail address since I last wrote, now I can see if you leave me a comment - which you can do if you are yourself logged in as a blog user - but I will not get your e-mails as it seems impossible to change that...but if I find out how, you will be the first to know. You can still gain access to my website, please visit.

Lots of changes since I last wrote, I have moved house and job locations (same job, just moved locations) now working from home base and I love it - no commuting problems, yea! Each morning I walk around the block then I enter my home office and plug away at the tasks which require my undivided attention...

April Sunday 2009

On a beautiful, sunny day by Lake Ontario - the first sighting of a sailboat for this season! Although the photo is taken at quite some distance - there it is! yea!

Soon the inner harbour will be the water way for enthusiastic sailors - the season here is short compared to other areas - it is well appreciated by the locals.

Today was a stunning shiny day for a walk by the water, citizens all aglow - shedding winter coats, hats, boots - traded in for sunblock - still feel the need for a jacket, we are not in full blown spring yet but we remain ever hopeful.

b-r-r-r it's a chilly new year

In most of Canada, January has been very cold and snow covered, even in some areas that are not accustomed to being covered in the white, fluffy crystals...I am based in Toronto, Ontario but I spent the month of January '09 in Beautiful British Columbia. While there, I was based in Port Moody (the City of The Arts). It has a charming old downtown 'hood with a creative and small town vibe, as well as a newer, hip area called Newport Village with high-rise condos and trendy stores and boutiques to match. The irresistible attraction is the most photographed resident, my grand-baby-boy! Naturally, I spent as much time with him and Team Parent as possible. This trip was a welcome break from the bleak winter and sub-zero temperatures which occurred in the East that month.