Hi!  It is mid summer now.  Lovely!  It is great to be living on a lake.  I can just take a dip in the lake when it gets too hot.  But the nice weather makes it hard to stay indoors and paint.

I was recently commissioned to paint an old two-handed saw to be raffled off for charity.  This was a challenge for me as I had never done anything like this before.  But it was fun!  I might try more metal tole painting in the future.

I think it turned out well!  I hope you agree! And I hope they get a good amount for the North Hastings Public Library (Bancroft) fund.

Well, I think it is finally spring!  Most of the snow and ice is gone.  Our lake is all clear now.  This is such an exciting time of year!  It is so good to be able to get out into the garden and start some clean up.

I wanted to post a photo of the other commission I completed for my step-son and his wife.  This one is a scene from Japan.  This photo just struck me and I wanted to paint it.  I may end up doing another scene from Japan.  We will see.  But first I want to work on paintings I can hang in our community cooperative gallery, A Place for the Arts.  With the summer season coming, it is our busy time in the gallery.  Lots of visitors and cottagers!

Japanese Laneway

Today I am watching the shop at A Place for the Arts.  It's been snowing off and on and we are supposed to get much more snow in the next couple of days. We have so much snow already, maybe 2 feet on the ground (?).  I am ready for summer!  I think I've had enough winter now!

I have done the commission of a scene from the Swiss alps for my step-daughter and her husband to-be.  Now I will start on another commission for my step-son and his wife.  They lived in Japan for a year and wanted a painting from one of their photos to remind them of  their time there.  Hopefully, this one turns out as well as the Swiss painting.  My children are such world travelers!

I have been doing some small paintings recently, ones that have come together quite fast.  This is great for my motivation.  Here are my two most recent ones.  These are both from outside our window at the bird-feeder. The first one of our resident squirrel, Red, and the other of two purple finches that arrived one day.  Nice to see wildlife out our window!

Today is a beautiful cold day in L'Amable (Bancroft). Minus 10 Celsius and blue skies and sunshine!
But for now I am sitting inside, nice and warm updating my blog with my latest painting.  This painting was commissioned by my step-daughter who is getting married in the spring in Switzerland.  Her and her fiance visited there the summer before last and loved it so much that they opted to have a destination wedding there.  This view was off one of the hiking trails that they took. I loved the view which included not only the mountains but also one of the mountain chalets.  I was amazed at how quickly this painting came together for me.  It just shows what a difference it makes when you are painting something you love and are inspired by.