This began with the idea of painting a white picket fence. To create the fence, I dipped a popsicle stick in white paint and set it carefully on the canvas and pulled downward.  First we had to eat a few Fudgesicles :o)

The background came next.  I wanted the painting to be balanced, so originally I had two small trees beside the house on the left side as well.  I wasn't happy with it, thinking I needed something closer to the fence.  Cherry trees were in bloom at the time . . . so there you go.

I thought of painting children playing on the grass.  A cartwheel?  A picnic?  Flying a kite? I wasn't sure. The idea of a girl and her dog came to me.  I wondered if it would "work" with a girl leaning on the fence, looking like she's waiting.  

The blue house was a red school house for a day - but the red was too strong - so it went back to a blue house.  Our first house in Melville, Saskatchewan, was blue with white trim.  I really loved that house!

The puppy was inspired by my son's teacher and her new puppy, Ruby.  It seemed fitting that this painting would become a year-end gift for Liam's teacher.  

It just seemed right :o)

Together we can do a little good

I believe we can do a little good.  When one in our community is down, we can rally around show we care.

I've donated The Knight's Gift to the $5000 fundraiser for Subha Gill.  Subha has a rare form of bone cancer.  Her younger brother is in my son's class.  Chemo isn't working.  Stupid cancer.




I used acrylics on a 10 x 10 wrapped canvas.  The black frame is digital - the painting appears as below:



Text around the outer frame reads:

Even after all these years the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens to a love like that.
It lights up the whole sky.
(Hafiz)

HOW TO ENTER A BID:   You can place bids via e-mail at  carolnaha@gmail.com - I will post the bids in the comment section here, as well as on facebook.

For further details of the fundraiser go to:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/270651553012125/  For more details about Subha Gill:  http://janislacouvee.com/subha-gills-5000-fundraiser/

Together we're better.

Carol N.

Finding time

When people see my paintings, they ask, "how do you find the time?"

My answer, "I don't do dishes."

Or, "I leave the dusting."

Or, "My respite worker, Elmo, takes over for a bit." (I'm a bad mom, aren't I?).




The truth is, I often have to snatch small moments. Five minutes for a tree trunk here. Three minutes to browse the books there. One minute to add some highlights.

You get the picture.

It's like the time I was trying to write a novel, and I took my notebook everywhere with me and jotted down little bits whenever I could. (Did you see the lady at the gym that day scribbling in her book, but not exercising much? That was me.) There's almost always a sense of "I've got a small window of opportunity and I must make the most of it."

That's how I do it.