Travels with Lucky Fernie, BC

We stopped in Fernie for a few days. I realized I was really tired of travelling and Lucky stopped eating and began to chew on his feet. Its kind of a nervous thing he does when he's not happy   We are on our third day here and he is eating again and sitting happily under a tree. I am a little discouraged, my paintings are not up to par. That's why I haven't posted any. I don't like any of them, I just have to keep painting until I get over this. I am having trouble with values, they are so important to show distances especially between all these mountain ranges!
Here is a photo of me painting

Painting Outside of Hope

outside of Hope.
 I believe these are the Selkirk Mountains. I am now back in the Rockies. Fernie is the nicest town! It reminds me of Banff when I was growing up, before it got so commercialized.

Fernie, BC

I am still working on a watercolor of the rain forest. I have to add a photo or two here to show you what it looks like. It is quite spectacular in a kind of creepy way.

Coastal Rain forest

Sunlight in the forest

It is so hard to get good photos I need my friend Mario to come and take some photos here, or Sarah!

Travels with Lucky - Vancouver

June 15th
 I just had the most wonderful day painting! I was a Stanley Park in Vancouver. I could paint the sea and mountains as well as the coastal rain forest. Lucky and I are staying with good friends in Vancouver. They are spoiling us both! It was wonderful to go out and paint all day and come back to a lovely dinner. Great hospitality!  Here are some photos,

Travels with Lucky - British Columbia

June 11 - 15th
 Lucky and I joined my sister Sandi in Kelowna and we drove over to Hope, I was glad I wasn't driving a motor home it was so windy going over those passes. I discovered I can't paint if I don't know where I am staying that night. I just can't relax, constantly watching the time. It was great to stay with Sandy in the motor home. Lucky didn't really like it in there, no room to turn around. He ended up sleeping outside. He was tied up and didn't make a sound,

Travels with Lucky - Banff National Park

June 10th, 2015

       Lucky and I spent a great night in the Red Carpet Inn then went on to join my sister Sandy in her motor home in Kelowna. We spent half a day in Banff before leaving, Lucky went for an accidental swim in the Bow River; he was used to our shallow beach at Constance Bay and waded in for a drink and was over his head.  We went to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake before heading up the highway to the Roger's Pass. Here's a few photos of that day;

Moraine Lake

Lake Louise

Banff from Mt. Norquay

Wild Horses and Grizzly Bears

On a trip into the Ya ha Tinda Range, Mountain View County, we encountered a herd of wild horses. You can see the mares with their foals and the stallion was a few yards away keeping his eye on them.

Further into the area we encountered a mother Grizzlie with 3 cubs! She was amazingly unperturbed by us!

Travels with Lucky Part Four

Lucky and I ran into some rain when we got to Saskatchewan so I stayed long enough to get some photos at the bird sanctuary but bird watching is hampered when you have a dog along....

We decided to continue to Terra and Darcy's in Olds. They live in the country with their dog, cat and 3 horses. The country is beautiful, rolling hills, fields and cattle amid oil wells and iron horses.
They have given me the most beautiful 5th wheel trailer to stay in. I  am feeling so pampered. This trailer has a garage in the end section that is now Lucky's dog house. There is a new family of foxes beside an old granary. Darcy put a camera on a tree close by and it has been taking pictures of the little ones, Yesterday as I walked past it I was able to get a picture with my cell phone,  Because of the foxes, Lucky and Bear (Terra and Darcy's dog) have to be tired up

Baby Fox

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 My sister Sandy arrived with her mini Winnebago towing a little car behind, Yesterday we went to Ram River Falls,  Getting there involved a long drive on gravel roads into the mountains by Ya-Ha-Tinda (the government ranch) then a short hike up the river to the falls, A great place to sketch!

Terra on her way to the Falls

Ram River Falls

 This morning we left the dogs behind and went to the Red River Guest Ranch for brunch. Need to find some time to paint and draw... Having a great visit here,

Travels with Lucky Part Two

I left Huntsville on May 28th, stopped to visit my friends Peter, Karen and Mikala closer to Massey. Had a great supper with them and Lucky left piles of black hair on their spotless kitchen floor. They were so hospitable to both of us! We stayed in Sault St. Marie and then went on to Lake Superior Provincial Park. In order to come back and paint without any worries about where to spend the night, I went on to Wawa and rented a room at the Wawa Moror Inn. Wow! We had a back door and a front door. The back door opened onto the woods, it was spacious, bright and really modern and clean. I highly recemmend it. Their lobby has a dining room with a double fireplace opening into the lounge on the other side as well. I painted at a spectacular falls called Upper Magpie falls. The spray from the falls soaked my feet, I was wearing a rain coat and gloves but got too cold to finish it.

Then We went down to Silver Falls, on the same river, hiked up the trail and found more falls!

Travels with Lucky Part one

I left the Ottawa area on May 22nd. I promised I would blog but somehow did not get not get organized with my photos, wifi etc. until now. It was late afternoon before I did all the last minute things, picking up repaired eye glasses, buying a new bed for Lucky etc,  I was so exhausted after moving all my stuff into storage, that Lucky and I made it as far as Renfrew and I booked into a hotel and had a long sleep. We then went on to Algonquin Park where I stopped to paint at  ( I forget which lake) I wrote it on the back of the canvas, I hope. It was very buggy, I was eaten alive by black flies so put on my bug screen hat. Then the wind came up so fiercly it took my hat right off my head, bug screen and all. Also took the bugs but that was enough for me so we packed up and went to Huntsville to stay with my friends Carla and Joel. They made us feel so welcome we stayed for days! About 5. Here is a picture of me with Tom Thompson.

Leaving the Ottawa Region

I'm getting ready to leave.  I'm purging my home of all the clutter I don't need. I've given my landlady ( the best I've ever had) my notice and she has put the house up for sale.  Everyone is asking me why I am leaving and where I am going. I didn't plan this and the plan has and is evolving. Originally I planned to meet my sister in Nakusp B.C. in mid May to clean up my late uncle's house and put it on the market for sale. We thought it might take a couple of months, then we planned a memorial service in Banff where we all grew up and where there is a 'Beattie' family graveyard plot. I have not seen nearly enough of my daughter Terra, who lives near Olds, Alberta and planned to spend some time with her. It's time I met her horse. I'm also really looking forward to spending some time with my sister, Sandy. Then in August my oldest daughter Michelle is having her second baby. Michelle and her family are living in Pennsylvania (she married an American). Madeline was born last summer so they will be 13 months apart. So I told her I would help her out for a month or so. So since I would be away around 5 months, it didn't make sense to be paying rent, plus I needed the $ for travelling. I needed the car to get around once I got to B.C. So I planned to drive out with my dog .

A lot has changed since then. The neighbors in Nakusp  have made an offer on my uncle's house so my sister has gone to take care of all that. I am organizing the memorial service so just have to get to Banff for June 20th or so. I really feel the need of another adventure, so since I don't need to get there right away, I'm taking my tent and my art supplies  and will stop and paint my way across the country. I really don't enjoy camping anymore but just in case I can't find a dog friendly motel. If I start to run out of money I will have to get to Terra's faster.
    The other thing that has changed is that Michelle, her husband Troy, baby Madeline and the new baby (Penny) are planning on leaving for Africa as soon as they can get a passport for the new baby! They did this last summer, Madeline went to Africa when she was a week old! Troy works in Uganda.
  So I will not spend as long as I planned in Pennsylvania. My paintings are hanging at the Greystone Grill in Constance Bay  and the the Herb Garden outside of Almonte so I must come back to deal with them at the end of the summer. My daughter Nicky and my grand daughter Charleaze are here in Constance Bay so I will definitely be back. I just don't know where I will live. Kanata? Ottawa? Constance Bay? B. C.? Alberta? Who knows, I'm sure things will unfold as they should. It is so freeing not to own a house!
  There is also a feeling of insecurity to be homeless. I am leaving behind so many good friends and wonderful people! And I have worked hard to find a place in the art community in this area, I just might have to come back to this area....
  I will try to blog now and then on my journey so watch for my posts if you are interested.

Videos about Painting Trees with Watercolor

Trees are such an important part of landscapes that I decided to do a series of tree videos;

3 Common Mistakes Beginners make painting trees

How to Paint Trees - Deciduous Trees

How To paint Trees - Evergreen Trees

Next I plan on painting a group of trees then trees in snow.

Latest video, How to Paint a Stormy sky

How to paint a stormy sky
Click the link to watch the video.
This video was created at home a couple of weeks ago and I published in while in San Francisco.
I brought my paints along for this trip but am only finding a half hour here and there while looking after my 6 month old grand daughter, Madeline May. My daughter Michelle is here for a conference so I came along to look after the baby.
 San Francisco is a crazy hilly place. I knew it was but until you actually see cars climbing these steep steep hills you don't really get it.
   I picked up some postcards which were reproductions of paintings by an artist name ThIbault. lovely!

Happy New Yeatr

Happy New Year Everyone! I wish you many blessings and a creative New Year filled with Joy!

I will be away most of January so my classes will resume in February. I will post them here as soon as I get more organized. In the meantime you can check out my videos.
I created 3 video about painting your own Christmas Cards and 2 videos about making miniature paintings for Christmas ornaments. I am now starting a landscape series. The first one is about painting Cumulus clouds, the next will be stormy skies. Right now i am just creating video about watercolor painting, but who knows perhaps I will branch out into acrylics in the new year as well.

My YouTube Channel

If you subscribe to the channel you will be notified when I publish another video.

 I will I am sure have to paint snow soon as well. Happy Painting!