all put back together and ready for the Season

Well The mural is complete and in place, so I have been as mentioned before house cleaning while I await my Elevator client's return from vacation and then when all is in place at the Cranberry addition to the Mariner King Inn ,King Street Lunenburg N.S and is ready to open we then will head back to Lunenburg to be blown away by what we hope to see upon arrival...and that would be to ride up in the Elevator to see the Mural and hopefully great effect as you ride up or down. I teased them and said how I hope to be able to ride up and down as much as I like, whether I am staying there or not. I am a dither with excitement waiting for that day to see it all ready for guests ,to see it in action so to speak. I put my heart and soul into this project and was very proud to be chosen to do it.

Now back to this morning , My Gallery as you can see in these pictures has been returned to looking just that instead of what it looked like during the painting of the 37 foot Mural in there.

Art is back up and I have been working on unfinished things getting ready for Summer. All the art on the Church Pew in the one picture is waiting for our Lighthouse gift shop to open for the Season ,these pieces will be taken there as well as anything else I can have ready by then.

Queens County is a treasure, I often find myself remembering back when we lived in what was then sleepy Lunenburg and opened a shop on Lincoln Street in 1978,we were the only craft Shop in lunenburg back then, can you imagine this ? seeing it now? We couldn't afford to buy what property we wanted back then in and around Lunenburg and start a family so choose to return to my hometown Liverpool area where we bought a 20 acre farm in Mill Village/Charleston outside of town and did just that for 23 years , raised ourselves, Kid's and critters and we have the stories to go with that move ,which stay tuned I will be back with these stories to share with you in hopes that you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed being there.
I have some pretty insane stories from that 23 years on the Medway River :-) never to be forgotten....always cherished!!!

Tourism Season

Today was pretty well filled with a Tourism meeting/workshop seeing there old and new faces all with excitement in the thought of a positive season filled again with familiar and new people to meet. For years we have had our returning costumers /friends from away, so many faces we enjoy seeing every Summer.

We have a wonderful town and surrounding areas full of fun ,adventure, heritage and friendly locals. It doesn't take long to be welcomed once you step foot in Queen's County.

This Season will see a new Tourist Bureau in Liverpool the other one being somewhat a small cabin type building this new one would make a great house sitting on the Mersey River with deck all around. A lovely building indeed. When can I move in :-)

We all were giving our suggestions at this meeting as to what our areas have to offer and we have a lot around us .I for one am thrilled when someone finds me here and visits, then I send them to all our little hot spots. The beaches in Queens County are simply the best with beautiful white sand, now the water yes is a bit on the cold side most Summers but i can tell you stories about body surfing at Summerville when the water was like bath water so make sure you always test her before jumping in and when there is a September storm on the horizon why that would be the time to jump in. Way back when my Mom got her cabin which now is owned by my Sister and her husband, Mom and I were sitting on our deck looking out to the Ocean eating an ice cream Sunday from the little canteen across the street which is now the Quarter Deck. A car full of young suffers stopped , they were so excited at the look of the waves and asked us if the Beach was private when we told them go right ahead enjoy that it was not private, well you should have seen them trying to get these surf boards quickly off the car as my my Mom is saying "Boys go feel the water first" now today we have surfers come from all over for our South Shore waves but they come with wet suits and are ready for their fun.

Growing up here before Summerville became a Provincial park my family and friends use to camp there every weekend I literally grew up on that beach. My Dad and friend use to dig a hole in the sand and put up a canvas outhouse and it would be there all Summer long. One year my Dad bought a tent trailer ,Mom and I loved it, to us it was home away from home and believe this, we would leave it out there all week long to return on the weekends to our tent trailer still there and not touched by anyone, those were the days.

Another special spot was up river on the Mersey, where now we have the Trestle Trail. There were train tracks and river crossing with log booms holding back pulp wood to be driven down river to the paper mill. The local boys, I say boy's because It was mostly boy's who would jump from the trestle bridge and run the pulp wood across the river to Pine Groove Park where as a very young child I would go to play "Cowboy's and Indian's " yes running around the woods doing just that.

One other special place I want to share with you and many out there know this great treasure ,it is beyond Summerville in Sable River " Bare Hole" I like to spell it Bare not Bear for just that reason I believe named because It is back in the woods and if looking for it without direction you may not find it ,being very secluded and private at most times and if people do come along you would hear them walking through the woods. The water is deep ,warm, brown and simply wonderful. The large rocks that surround it are warm and after a great swim are an inviting place to lounge . We would go there daily to wash the sand and surf off our bodies and your hair after swimming there was so soft .

There are many ,too many places to mention like this here in Queen's so I would suggest any of you out there looking for simple beauty come on and look us up, and when in town drop by here and say Hi.

Well tomorrow is another day and house cleaning might be what I may be forced to do...oh must I ? Then after I find everything I have lost over the Winter I need to get back to work. I love my job :-) Stay tuned ...

elevator pieces parts....

Here are a couple pictures of elevator parts...she actually may be on her way to being installed...I will contact someone by the end of the week to see just how things are going. Against the brick wall behind the white rectangle piece is the Glass window for the elevator and it is about that same size..all this other stuff is to do with the elevator.

The elevator pieces came with men who do this kind of thing all the time so it should not take them long.

I have been working on a few boat pieces preparing them for my client to look over ,we have to decide which two will work on the wall coming up the stairs.

These two paintings I will start very soon after doing a couple rough sketches first before getting the go ahead.

Happy belated St. Paddy's Day to you all, was that not the most wonderful!!!warm day. We drove our bikes over our local Trestle Trail and back across the Liverpool bridge ,around the loop you might say, good for us ,that is a pretty good ride for us out of shape people. When we got home we had company and ended up with four dogs playing in behind our fence, well 3 our Little Eddie has no idea what play is. What fun watching the two larger dogs race around the yard being chased by a tiny cute "Stella" Australian Terrier...she kills me she is so cute and funny, I swear I have never met a dog quite like "Stella" The whole time I am in her company I have a huge smile on my face...she does this to me . She is just a hoot!!!!

I got my yard and deck all ready for Spring and St .Patrick's Day was the first day for us to take our drums outside to play in the warm sun.

Today we hope to take another bike ride.

Soon I will be back to work painting and felting, I have been taking some what of a break since completing the mural, I believe I deserve a break :-)

March 15th on Location

It has been a few days since I have checked in and Thank you Lynn for keeping me on my toes....LOL

Monday morning the 15th of March we tied down the last panel in our little trailer anticipating rain and wind as promised but instead as soon as we headed for Lunenburg the sun thankfully came out.

We drove nervously worrying about bumps and anything else good ole "Murphy's Law " might want to throw our way in regards to getting this panel to Lunenburg in One piece.. We made it safe and sound. Once there I got the two young apprentice twin carpenters to carry it in for us and in no time at all they had it up, the last piece.

As soon as I entered in the Pelham Street entrance my first words were" O my God" if I must say so myself Chuck and I love it.

I arrived with paint and brushes in tow knowing that there were a few spots which needed touch up on location and a fish or so to be added where needed, my the boy's working there would have hated to have me do the whole thing on location, which my tired arthritic body would never allow me to do anyway, but I so enjoyed teasing these young lad's today while I was there...Chuck once said how nice it was to be at such an age where you can tease the youngins and they just laugh at you ,and not call the police or have you committed ,yet anyway... LOL

When the whole project is complete ,elevator in, I will be back with more photos but for now I have uploaded everything I could, to try and give you an idea of how it is going to be , you will not be able to see the whole thing all at once of course, you will have to ride the elevator to get the overall effect...and remember when looking at these photos and you see floor...there will be no floors "Elevator" remember?

I will try and explain the photos from left to right starting with,

#1-here is one of the portholes coming up the steps just outside the elevator, to have still a brass like ring around the porthole inside and out representing a ships porthole,so people can see folk's riding up inside the elevator through the porthole window and of course those inside can look out .
#2 inside the elevator shaft top floor ,Lunenburg Town . #3 Lunenburg town showing top of the Bluenose masts. #4 Bluenose above the whale .#5 the whale with another porthole, #6 My boy...the angry Octopus with the ship wreak masts and this is what you will first see when you come in the Pelham Street entrance where you then either go up three stories or down one story below street level. #7 the rest of the ship wreak and diver with treasure at the very bottom.

The last two photos are of me working on location doing touch ups and having some laughs with my twin carpenters . Now take another look and go from the last photo up and imagine going up in the elevator . The elevator is being installed starting tomorrow and when everything is done and cleaned up I will be back with my trusty camera in tow.

The Mural is done

Here is the last panel, I sat last evening and decided to make a few little changes today, once that was done...I can honestly say sadly I am done, then again, I am going for a bike ride with no thoughts of getting home to paint today.

So visit the Cranberry Inn on King Street Lunenburg Nova Scotia and take a ride up to your suite and have a look at my "Baby"

It is Done!!!and I am "Spent"

This is so mixed up ..lets see if you can figure it out... although basically done, Friday before I deliver the last piece on Saturday I have plans for panel 10, there will be some changes , this evening while sitting with bubbly and talking with Chuck, some changes are in motion for tomorrow with # 10... before delivery.

I had to upload these right away..it was like someone was taking my baby away....although when I returned to the inside of the house...yikes!!!now back to painting panel 10... more later..

the murel is 37 ft high by 6 ft. wide for the shaft of a glass windowed elevator.

some of it leaving today!!!!

where was I yesterday ,some of you may be asking...working my little brush being a very busy Bee. In about a half hour from now 9 of 10 panels will be leaving for their permanent home. The elevator is being installed on Friday and it will be easier to get the mural up before that.

Here on the bottom is panel 9 done. On the top is the beginning blocked in Panel 10 Lunenburg town. There is a lot of work to do on the top panel, not that the others were easy but this one has a lot of detail which Chuck will be lending a hand with today. I want this top panel to be a story board a collage of sorts, trying to get in as much of Lunenburg's unique and interesting attractions. Another couple days and this one will be done and we will get this last panel to Lunenburg to be installed with the others..whoppi!!! to see what she looks like up and I will share with you then.

I think I might be sad to see her leave but it will be nice to get my house back.

Panel 9 beginning

Good morning, As I said yesterday ,I wasn't sure if I would get anything started. I did enjoy the outdoors and sat with my face to the very bright sun, rejuvenated and ready to see the Winter leave us. Now I can wait patently because I see the end and feel the warm sun with dreams of days ahead. But...I did get a little bit of painting done.

I had to re sketch the original top piece again because here is where our extra feet are I believe, so things are a bit changed but not so different as to make any difference in the finished piece. Just adding a few more things to fill in space. As you can see this panel is the beginning of the second porthole on the top floor of the Cranberry Inn . The last panel # 10 has only a slight scoop in it being the top of the porthole and that will be panel 10 the last panel in the mural.

Here on panel 9 beginning we have the top of the masts from the Schooner ,then I will be making my way into Lunenburg Harbor and then into the town on panel 10.

Drop back tomorrow ,there should be a big difference. I will have company today..inspiring me as I work , we are puppy sitting the sweetest little happy puppy..."Stella" gotta Love her name...LOL so I will be running around the yard playing with her on my breaks...looking forward to that as well. She's here and she is a wiggle Bunny and runs and runs...she is an "Australian Terrier"

panel 8...she's done

Myself and Little drummer Girl ,Indigo Maraposa, so much fun!!! Indi with the Whale.

well it was a day, painting in the AM, drumming with a 5 year old in the afternoon..what fun.
This is panel 8 complete, I put it down before taking a picture so the shot is a bit off but you can see the detail ,rigging etc. Chuck saved me and helped me get all in the right places,if I would have rigged this ship, well the sails would have taken off by themselves...as the old saying goes...."ever been to Sea Billy?" "Nope"

Panel 9 is on the easel. Today it is going to be warm...or warmer ,so I may get outside and check out what the Winter has left for me in the back yard...dog mess :-( but I hope to get it primed and maybe if not today I will first thing in the AM tomorrow start it. I am obsessed so Heaven only knows what I will do. As my Dear follower Lynn said , what will I do when done? I have two more boat piece paintings to do for the steps coming up beside the elevator and when those are done, I may do a needle felting or two but then will get back to work doing small paintings for the tourist season. We don't do any shows anymore, got to be too much for us in our more Golden years, you know I laugh now when needle felting all these light in weight charters and think, now this stuff is great for shows, so easy to handle, not like all the heavy boat piece paintings we have lugged for years. So if interested in seeing any of my Art, please drop me a line and stop by to view. I am pretty well always here working on something.

at least another day

Well yesterday was a good day with a lot of picking of Chuckie's brain concerning rigging and what not, I have only been offshore fishing. He sailing above and below the surface of the Oceans around the World most of his life. Did I ever mention that is how I met him? He was working and living in Lunenburg .There to buy a sailing ship to hit the Seas. My friend introduced us to one another. We went on a date and on the way that evening he took me down to the shipyard to show me what I called a ship wreak of a Sail boat he was thinking of buying. I told him he was crazy right there and then that night. He fell in Love with me and stayed somewhat on dry land ever since then.

So we sat last evening with a glass of wine looking at this mural piece and today I have plans ,your question Lynn, Cross Island light in the background with some gulls of course and more tiny ship detail.

Another story, from just before we got married ,we thought, why not a bit of another adventure before we settle down and try and have a baby so we put in for the last lighthouse keeper position on Cross Island but as it turned out the Light went automatic before we got the job. So we then married and moved to Charleston Queens County to a 15 acre farm on the Medway River where we spent the next 23 years floating and tubing on the Medway, not Cross Island but just as nice.

So off I go, must get right to work today, our soon to be 6 year old great Niece "Indigo Maraposa "is dropping by this afternoon . Indi loves to play music , she likes Cat Stevens ,so we will play a few tunes with her and share some pizza and I know she is going to be tickled pink when she sees the mural. I am so excited , she is our special Little Blue butterfly and we can only wish to be her favorite Great Aunt and Uncle.

I am getting down to the last two panels....by Monday for sure.

panel 8 beginning "The Bluenose"

Yes panel 8, Holly Hanna , I am shocking myself!!! but I guess there is something to do with the old saying "loving what you do."

Today I will get a good half day in being Friday and all that happens here on Fridays..we drum...have to drum to revitalize ourselves for another week, it works you know....

So here on this panel we will have the Bluenose, I blocked it in yesterday ,got a feel for it and a good layout and ready today to work on sails and rigging with detail etc.

The sails will continue up into panel 9, take note they are running right off the panel, this is why.

So drop back over the weekend and check out how far I get.

Panel 7 complete

Here is panel 7, I must say I am very happy with the head of the Whale, I love her eye, it turned out just as I had hoped for, kind and intelligent and I believe she is a female Whale indeed.

Today I will be starting another full panel but there is one more porthole panel yet to come before the end and speaking of the end, there are only 3 panels left, I don't know if I want this project to end, I am loving it, what more can I say, plus ,Chuck doing all my housework well, maybe that has something to do with it as well, LOL ...I have been locking myself in my Gallery/studio these last how many days and this is all I have been doing, excited to even think of how it is going to look when installed on the Elevator shaft wall.

So off I go...a great day to be inside.

Here is a new shot of the whales tail, I was not happy with the original painting ..right Lynn and Chuck ? yesterday I made some changes and I am happier with this end result after a few strokes of paint. Don't be confused when looking at this picture for you can see the Octopus panel behind the whale tail panel.

I started the Whales head breaching yesterday and today have a lot of work with his eye as well plans are in motion for the left side of this panel which should be posted tomorrow.

It is amazing how many people think and remark at the fact that this large project is not taking me long to do, what they do not understand is the kind of person I am and how I work. I am not one to put things on the back burner. This is a full time job right now to me. When I am doing a project such as this I put my all in it, and if not working with paint and brush, I am researching while fortunately I have help with the everyday things around the house and Chuck feeds me most times way too well.

Funny , well to me, I had someone say ,"aren't you afraid of burning out?"...you can't burn out if you are doing what you were born to do and what you Love. Actually I dread the day when I am done with this , because I am dearly enjoying every moment and the only thing I worry about is getting this mural safely when done to it's new home , Cranberry addition to the Mariner King Inn on King Street in Lunenburg in their new glass windowed elevator.

When the truck comes for it, I believe I will be right behind it all the way, seeing my baby delivered safe and sound to her new home.

so off I go today. Back again soon.

panel 6 done

Well it was a whale of a tale...I messed and messed around yesterday with the tail ,wanting to give it as much interest as one could give a whale's tail. A lot of research was done considering I have never seen a whale up close and personal before ,only from a distance when we were inshore fishing that one Summer way back in Lunenburg days. But, I believe I have succeeded at getting all his lumps, bumps and crustaceans. This is panel 6 and panel 7 will be on the easel today . After preparing the panel for painting, I will first sketch the whales head and again will do a lot of work on getting again all his lumps and bumps ,what I am so looking forward to is painting his eye in, for as mean as the Octopus looks I want the Whale to be intelligent and with kindness in his eye. So you will have to check back to see if I capture what I am going for. Now that I said that , well I must produce...LOL. The Whale as you can see is going up around and above the porthole and will breach into a glorious sunset.

So off I go for another cup of "Joe" and get my day started...this is a full time job and I am late getting going today...LOL ...I am still in my PJ's.. Thank God I am working from home, for I am putting in long hours but am working at what I love to do.

panel 6, a whales tail

Well I know there are a couple of you who are following me on a regular basis...

maybe yesterday you checked in and thought" what happened to her ?" she who has been entering something daily for some time now...not to worry I am here.

As I mentioned a bit ago, panel 6 comes with some twists , not bad twists but we are getting into something very interesting with the mural. As you can see here there is a big scoop out of the panel 6. This is a porthole, with the top half in panel 7 .When mounted on the elevator shaft wall and while riding in the elevator you will be able to look out the portholes at the steps coming up beside it. There will be two portholes before we are done. Remember the elevator has a glass window.

Sunday morning panel 6 was on my easel but I had a bit of thinking and sketching to do before I could begin. Once I got things figured out I did get some blocking in done and ideas for today. I must add some back ground here on this panel to make it more interesting as well more Whale barnacle detail and then panel 7 will have the Whale broaching (breaching)the surface,which word is correct? with a beautiful sunset planned and with all the rain we have been having ,I look forward to a nice sunset even if I have to paint my own.

So check back, I am here doing you know what.