Gunnal View

It’s the last week of July and typically this is the premier vacation time for most of us here in the North Country. However, this is a unique year, month, week and with the increase of COVID cases in this area, we’ve decided to stay close to home this summer. But we have much to be thankful for: our daughter and her family have successfully transitioned to a new job and settled in a new place in a relatively short time! Last Sunday, we celebrated the dedication of our youngest granddaughter, Lyndie Ida. She is such a happy baby and a wonderful blessing to her parents, Dan and Krista, and her older brother, Brecken. And after several years of absence, we’ve had the incredible opportunity to reconnect with our now-grown twin sons! We are indeed thankful!

This week’s painting continues my love-of-water series! Gunnal View is a 7” x 12” watercolor painting and features the wonderful perspective along the top edge (gunnal) of a canoe and on to the beautiful scenery ahead.  

Dog Days!

It’s been a week or two of intense heat, high humidity, loads of rain and storms, but yesterday, we woke up to cooler temps and reasonable humidity. It makes all the difference in being able to be outside, and it’s so fun to find ripe tomatoes in the garden! Yay!

This week’s painting features one of my favorite dog breeds and takes me right back to the peat bog regions of Ireland. Where are the Sheep?, a 9” x 9” watercolor, captures a faithful friend ready to spring into action at the command from her owner.

Dancing Water

It was one year ago this weekend that a devastating storm hit our area with straight-line winds and a tornado. We were remembering that late last night when another big storm rolled in and took out the electricity for about 6 hours. We are so thankful that we didn’t get the terrible winds. 

It’s been a busy week. Last Thursday, we moved our daughter and her two young children into our house. While we have plenty of room, it was a bit cozy, but she was planning that it would just be temporary. But you know that God usually has other plans and that very afternoon she found out she had a new job! She is so enjoying her work and has now found a new place to live. So, this week, we’ll be helping her move again. It has been a whirlwind of activity, but we are so grateful that she and her kidsies seem excited and ready to move into this next phase of life. In the midst of all the uncertainty in this season, we are trying to daily move forward with hope and nurture a sense of lightness in our spirit.   

I’m so enjoying painting kayaks, and this week’s painting is titled, Dancing Water – 9” x 12” on 300 lb. watercolor paper – and features a wonderful green kayak being navigated along a stone-edged river bank.

Summertime!

And the living is easy – well, not so much. The experts say we’re in the second part of the first wave of the COVID-19, and the pandemic is continuing to surge across America. Currently our borders are closed – all of Europe, Canada and Mexico have now banned Americans from traveling. And the frustration is that the information has been confusing and sporadic: wear the masks/don’t bother; stay at home/take that dream vacation; avoid large groups/let’s pack the bar! Now with cases surging across southern states, the governors are finally yelling: WEAR THE MASKS!

Ah well. What can I control today? Not much! Our family is staying healthy and we are indeed thankful. And in spite of it all, the gardens are thriving in these hot days and we’ve started collecting rainwater to make the dry times a bit easier.

Last week, we got up early and took a “social distancing” roadtrip with Maddie (our cocker spaniel) exploring the backroads of mid-central Wisconsin. Man, we live in a beautiful state! We took pictures of aging barns, silos and windmills, lazy rivers, and the ever-rolling landscape. We drifted along narrow, country roads through towns named Woodville, Elmwood, El Paso, Downsville and Arkansaw, visited a wonderful gallery in Spring Valley, and stopped for a picnic in a quiet park in Ellsworth. On our way to Menomonie, we discovered the Caddie Woodlawn Historic site. We were the only ones there and had a lovely time walking around the farmstead with its majestic white pines and beautifully restored Woodhouse family home, log cabin and smoke house.

I’m working to prepare work for a new gallery near the river, and am enjoying painting boats and water! This week’s painting, “A Good Day,” 8” x 10” watercolor, features a brightly colored kayak navigating a back channel in a blue-water river.

Heifers!

During the past month or so, I’ve been totally consumed with gardening – digging up new spaces, getting the plants in, hauling rocks, putting up new birdhouses and garden fences – and it’s a joy to see everything growing so well. But now I’m ready to get back to painting! As we move into July, we are still under the influence of COVID-19 so we're staying fairly close to home and only taking day-long road trips. On one of our recent drives, we came around the corner in the road to see this splendid sight – a field of young heifers enjoying the afternoon sunshine in knee-deep grass! And the group included one of my favorites – a Belted Galloways/Oreo cow! Double Trouble is a 9” x 13” watercolor painting. As a rule of good composition, you should only include groups of 3 or 5 in a painting, but the photobombing heifer in the front corner was just too good to pass by! See more art at www.wildriverarts.com

April Sunshine

The temperatures don’t indicate that spring is here, but the sunshine and length of days certainly do! As an avid gardener, I’m so grateful for the increasing light and the slightly warmer days. While I can’t plant anything for about another month (and will the garden centers be open then?!), I’m happy to be out cleaning up the yard, burning brush, fixing the stone wall damaged in last year’s storm, and moving spring-blooming plants to a new garden in the front yard. It is so energizing to be out in the fresh air!

This week’s painting reminds me of the rush of spring – Foggy Hollow, 9” x 12” celebrates the lifting of morning fog over blue-shadowed hills and the sounds of a rushing river along an ancient stone wall.

Reflecting Grace

It’s Easter weekend, and we are so missing gathering and celebrating this special time of the year with our family. As the weeks of “lockdown” continue, it seems to be harder for me to stay focused and on track. I’m finding it’s critical to build structure into my day. Otherwise, it’s gets easier to sleep late, wander around the house for a few hours, and finally get going on a project about noon! But Paul is a great partner and we are doing well at working to find purpose in our lives each day as well as tackling spring jobs - getting the yard cleaned up, the fun garden art out of the shed and today, while I was painting, he even cleaned out the garage! Yay!

I’m continuing to think about of the incredible gift of grace. This week’s painting is inspired by a photo taken by professional photographer, Jan Swart. She is dedicated to getting up early each day and taking a new picture of some beautiful sight on the North Shore of Minnesota. Reflecting Grace, is a 9” x 12” watercolor painting, and for me, this seems a fitting title. In spite of the uncertainty of our world, we are blessed by the deep, deep grace inherent in God’s creation with the daily ritual of a spectacular sunrise and sunset.