I am now a member of the LA Public Library (neat card!). Seems they let anyone with address ID become a member. What a fabulous place...great architecture, paintings, murals and wonderful holdings (had ALL of Jim's books...need I say more...) While downtown we took in the Biltmore Hotel where the academy awards were held initially. Quite the old hotel and lots of interesting photos of various events in the past. Then to the Grand Central Market. Really neat to see the foodstalls of all the various mainly Latino stuff...the chili's alone could blow up the city I think! The El Salvadorian stall had the most unusual stuff including cow's heads for sale. Then had to wait a rather long time for the bus home close to Broadway (very down at heel, rather like Cordova and Hastings) and of course another fascinating bus ride home.

Back in LA and although it's sunny today we have had a spell of rather cool and rainy weather. Apparently they need the rain here so I guess that makes it better. The coast weather here is somewhat different than at home. We were at the Getty again yesterday...it is so amazing...it's just great to keep walking out of any door and find yourself with a wonderful view always a bit different than you've seen before, some wonderful aspect of the architecture and gardens and then to be lead back to the centre and reorient yourself again so easily. Given that the weather was somewhat rainy we figured we wouldn't be able to see the vistas (at home everything would be socked in) but we could see out to Santa Monica and the ocean and even as far as the Santa Ana mountains.

We had an interesting time the other day at Houle Books where the owner allowed Jim to view a couple of Huxley letters he was selling. Jim helped him out with some names and made some corrections in his transcription of them. Huxley's handwriting is rather cryptic. It does underline the importance of looking at the originals. Quite an amazing bookstore. It is by appointment only and no question of browsing through the mainly first editions and collectibles. The owner bought George Cukor's library. It became available because the estate got rather annoyed that the university he originally donated it to actually got rid of some important materials at a student booksale...seems the librarians weren't really with it. Then they sold a painting (for 6 million US) he had also donated only six months after he died in Switzerland to try to hide the fact they were selling it. Seemed a friend happened to notice it. Guess there are lots of stories in this town.

After the bookstore we had a coffee in this rather modern equivalent of an opium den (lots of sofas and overstuffed chairs) in a cafe called the "Insomnia Cafe" only instead of opium, all the clients were silently communing with their wireless notebooks or walkmans...conversation seemed a no-no.

We had a wonderful game of golf on an executive course with Tom and Claire....really cheap too....$10! There is lots of reasonable golf in the area. We started playing this course around 3:30 and there was no one else on it. Wonderful views of the mountains all around and absolutely a perfect temperature. It really is paradise around here. We should have taken their suggestion to have a quick bite before the Valentine Day crowds but since we had a late lunch we decided to take our chances. Really crazy with people waiting up to 1 -1 1 /2 hours everywhere so ended up back in our hotel suite with a couple of sandwiches from Borders, a bottle of wine, a cancle and a rose....quite fun really. Seemed to be lots of screaming kids in all the restaurants around here so probably better.

We've booked a place for January of next year! Our plan was to look around at places but Claire pointed out people often book a year in advance so seemed like a good idea since then we will have the pick of places and know what we're getting. We decided to locate within a few blocks walking of Palm Springs itself as we really liked the animation there and it means we won't have to be constantly driving. It was great having this Internet connection in our room so did the preliminary looking online then went to a booking agency in Palm Springs and narrowed it down. It's in a super looking complex called the Deauville, 3 pools, tennis courts, lots of lush vegetation and fountains. Our unit is an upper one bedroom (with California Kingsize...even bigger than normal, of course!), two bathroom, large balcony very elegantly furnished suite of about 750 sq ft. We talked to some owners and it's an older, quieter crowd so should be perfect for us. We were very pleased to get that all sorted out. Initially the search is rather overwhelming because there is so much choice but lots of places are rather deserted and not really suitable for what we want.

Saw Lost in Translation last night...very amusing and thoughtful.

Jim's going to play golf today (could hit 80 degrees apparently) and I'm going to stroll El Paseo in Palm Desert...lots of neat shops and art galleries but you don't want a man dragging around...

In the desert now and enjoying it immensely. The wonderful air and the mountains looming round with the sun creating alll sorts of affects at various times of the day make me feel very inspired to paint. I won't have time to do it now on this short trip but will take lots of pictures. The first night we had booked here ended up to be a major truck stop so was very noisy with all the rigs coming and going every night. Also ended up to be difficult to get a place since it's the President's Day weekend and Valentine's (seems to be almost a national holiday around here!). However we did get into a new place in Palm Desert, the Hilton Garden Inn, and have a lovely suite here which also has free ethernet connection so it will be easy to post to the blog, do email, and also check out places to rent for a longer period of time down here for future years.

We had dinner last night with one of my Victoria golfing buddies, Claire, and her husband, Tom. It was really fun to see them and we're all going to play a Par 3 course this afternoon. Lots of wonderful golf courses here but also reasonable golf. Claire and Tom do a lot of hiking and that looks pretty interesting as well.

The LACMA had lots of amazing stuff too including Magritte's "C'est n'est pas un pipe". Also had a great collection of muralists such as Diego Rivera and Sigueires (sp?)...anyway, the guy who did all those fantastic murals we saw in Guadalajara. Some very interesting American decorative arts and furniture and Arts and Craft stuff. Another amazing complex of various museum buildings with architecture that allows views of the city and surroundings while you're viewing the art. I believe it has the biggest collections of art west of Chicago.

There are an incredible number of restaurants in our area and we discovered a very cool French bistro type restaurant where the chef specialty is rack of lamb. So famous apparently we were asked if we had heard about it. We hadn't but it did live up to expectation...7 chops done very rare with a kind of escargot type sauce. Also, great potatoes with lots of gruyere...not as good as Monique's but getting close. I think we'll return there. Lots of rather interesting things on the menu even a hamburger with Roquefort called the "French Disaster".

Off to the desert tomorrow for a week so it will be good to get some swimming in and some real heat although it does continue to be in the mid 70's most of the time here and not a cloud in the sky. An unusual ridge of high pressure for the coastal area it seems.

Did I mention the Getty Centre had all the paintings in the top floors designed with special louvres that change and allow the paintings to be viewed with the natural light the painters would have used. We'll return there again when we do our next shift in LA.

So, what's going on in Victoria and B.C....any more scandals? Send me an email.

Now I know why we never bothered going to Hollywood. The Mann Chinese Theatre with the footprints, handprints, Betty Grable's leg, Bob Hope's nose etc. is rather fun but what a tacky strip for the most part. I don't think I've ever seen such a poor collection of kitch in the stores...some upscale stuff but mainly unbelievable junk. Always interesting to see various areas, though, and there was a station for their limited subway system.

It's been quite an experience on the buses...have encountered all sorts of very talkative (often talking in rhyming rap rhythmns) and partly crazy people...mostly harmless, but did have a rather unpleasant experience yesterday coming back from the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) when a black couple decided to have an argument and held the bus to ransom with their foolishness. I guess it's a power thing to do that...obviously street people who don't have much other power I guess. Seemed like both had been in prison from the "conversation".

The stone they used is amazing and it took 100 freighter loads from Italy to build it. Even though it is vast you can exit easily almost everywhere through doors (rather incredible in themselves and there are 3700 of them) and come across a vista of the gardens, the ocean, the mountains. Just a wonderful setting to view the art and you can't seem to get lost or feel you are in an immense place. Quite an architectual feat. Loads of welcoming volunteers and the people in the rooms are very knowledgable and helpful.

They have loads of stuff but very impressed with the decorative arts displays and furniture. Even had a whole process display of how a mid 18th century table would have been made. Wonderful stuff for kids as well.

Jim figures Getty was pretty much the richest man in the world and what a gift for people. Seems he was a bit of a skinflint and well known for penny pinching ideas like having payphones in his home for his guests!

Off to Hollywood later on today.

Had a fun weekend. Went to Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier. Venice Beach seems like a time warp what with all the palm readers and weird "spiritual" stuff on offer. Guess there's a market for it all. Just a gorgeous day in the mid 70's and really enjoyed walking the beaches. The big game on the beaches if Paddle Tennis...a much smaller court than regular tennis and kind of a cross between raquet ball and ping pong but looked like a lot of fun and wouldn't be as hard as tennis.

Went to the J. Paul Getty Center Sunday and we were both just blown away....absolutely amazing and free for all. It was completed in 1997 from the Getty Trust and cost a billion to build...that's not counting the many art treasure s worth billions that it houses. In the foothills of Santa Monica with the most amazing views from everywhere in the buildings and gardens. You go up in a tram designed specifically to give you a sense of going to a different space...and what a space to view fabulous works of art.

I continue to be amazed at some of these collections of art. Our hotel is very close to the Hammer Museum of Art (of Arm and Hammer...a few bucks obviously). It was free on Thurs so went there yesterday...quite an amazing collection of Impressionists and loads of other stuff like Titian, Goya, Reubens, Rembrandt...you name it. Planning on getting to the Santa Monica Pier area and the J. Paul Getty on the weekend. Jim's research is going well and he got the go ahead to publish the Graham Greene discovery so exciting news.

It's been sunny and warm since our arrival. We had a rather exciting time our first day as it appeared we were supposed to do the visa stuff in Vancouver not LA. Told we might have to return to Canada...ugh...
Anyhow, we ended up sorting it out by going down to the Federal building in downtown LA. Quite an experience waiting in line just to get into the building...lots of security and people yelling at all of us. Good thing I didn't take my camera as they only confiscate restricted items. When Jim mentioned we'll probably be treated like criminals when we do get in, the man behind us commented "you can be sure of that"! Sorted out fairly easily for us in the end but some people around us seemed to be getting quite a hassle.

That seemed to work. At the UCLA library computers that do seem to work better than the wonky one at our hotel. Our hotel is in a great location pretty much in Westwood Village and close to UCLA. Our first night here we ate in a restaurant that has lots of buzz, lights, action going on across from it...some opening night with "stars" appearing...we were too focused on our Jambalaya to notice but it was fun to have it all going around us.

Having problems posting so will try this short message now.

Repacking and planning for our next trips...LA and southern California for Feb., then New York and eastern seaboard for three weeks in April/May. Jim needs at least a week for his research in NY so we decided to rent an apartment. We're really pleased with what we ended up with and looking forward to taking advantage of the food markets that are in the Spring in our area and, of course, all the other wonderful things about NY.

Back home and in the midst of repacking already for LA. Had some aligator in a Houston airport restaurant. Very much like chicken. Also had some wonderful oysters with crab and hollandaise sauce...ymmm. Here are some pix of the Texas trip.


Our B & B in Austin


Downtown Austin...6th Street has some very nice heritage buildings


The Alamo in San Antonio


Waiter making an avocado salad at a restaurant on the SA riverwalk


Rather liked this "statue" in SA


Gulf of Mexico, Galveston beach area


Statue commenorating the victims in the big hurricane around 1900


The beautiful boulevard in Houston where nobody walks!


Houston's new fancy light transit...too bad there isn't more of this kind of thing.
Just thinking of all those cars and freeway loops makes me dizzy...

Huston is getting all ready for the Super Bowl...quite a bit of hype about it and everyone's hoping to make a killing. Saw a news report where someone was renting a house (more like a mansion) for $150,000 US for the week. Also, someone with a small bungalow was hoping to get $1300 a night for his house, plus charging $100 a song for playing the piano! Ah well, best of luck to them. Glad we're not going to be here.

Seems they''re very short of teachers in Texas and have a program to certify people without degrees and counting life experience. Read this as part of a course description for people thinking of becoming teachers. The course focuses on certification and also giving a balanced view of teaching and not just the horror stories. Any of my retired friends interesting in a new career in Texas? No takers....gee, what a surprise!

Well, that post seemed to work. I'll back up a bit to our time in Austin. We spent quite a lot of time at our B & B sipping tequila and Rebel Yell bourbon while on our loveseat swing on the veranda and listening to the rain. It was cosy though because it was warmer than usual so sitting outside was fine. Our hosts, Sandra and Herb, were just terrific. Jim had a very successful research time in Austin and made some important discoveries so it was really worth the trip.

We went to San Antonio after Austin for a night. At the B & B we met two young women who were training as linguists in the military (one for Chinese and the other Arabic) who mentioned we'd be seeing lots of blue uniforms in SA as all airforce basic training takes place there and a group was finishing. Most of the young men we saw didn't look more than 15 years old...hope they don't see action soon. We made quite a faux pas in a restaurant by referring to an empty bottle of wine as a "dead soldier". This is such a common idiom for us but insensitive here...we'll definitely make a point of not using that again! We hit the perfect day to do the River Walk and boat ride in SA...in the high 70's and sunny. Saw the Alamo too, of course.

Then on to Galveston as we wanted to see the Gulf of Mexico and our B & B hosts warned us off Corpus Christi. We enjoyed Galveston...beautiful beaches and seawall and we lucked into a reasonable room right on the ocean. The downtown has been nicely restored and there are a lot of restored Victorian homes, some right beside shacks...gives a rather raffish quality to the neighbourhoods.
Had the "Crab Feast" at Landry's on the waterfront.

Made quite a long post the other day and lost it...getting used to Jim's laptop. Nice to have high speed internet in our suite at the Hilton. Great apartment and wonderful location for the university, museum district, and on the brand new above ground light transit. Very spiffy trains that even have whistles like real trains. What a deal public transit is here...$2 for a 24 hr unlimited day pass for all buses and transit. Went downtown today but not an awful lot except office buildings, restaurants, a few stores. Guess everything is out in the burbs like most American cities. They seem to be wanting to revitalize downtown and developing a number of loft apartment places...at $475, 000 US for a two bedroom it seems pretty pricey for having street people as your neighbours.

Our room here looks out over the university playing fields and a beautiful residential area...very quiet. And we're very close to the big medical complex. Certainly a car culture, though. Yesterday I walked back from the Museum of Fine Arts (fabulous impressionist stuff among many other things) along this gorgeous treed boulevard. I was the only person walking except for two joggers and a team of 9 people picking up litter. Didn't seem to be doing a very effective job although there wasnt' much litter to begin with. Think I'll post this now before I lose it.

Back at the Deli and listening to someone trying to convince someone that they faked the moon landing. Generally a lot of support for Bush's plan for space. We continue to meet very friendly people. On the airplane coming down the pilot suggested we introduce ourselves to our neighbour...never heard that before. On the buses (many which are free and the rest only 50 cents) the students seem to always thank the driver when they leave. A rather neat custom.

At our B & B we've got quite a selection of people. A very nice family with a little boy of five from Grenada, Spain. He's in Math and has a year's appointment at the university for the year. The common language for us was French so that was good to be able to communicate. Also, a very nice family from Milwawki (How do you spell that...!) dropping off their daughter who is finishing off her degree this term. Very interesting family as they spent time in Guatamala. Got some good local knowledge...esp. that students are returning for term beginning next week and 6th street bars and restaurants will be loaded with drunken students. Think we'll go to an old heritage hotel called the Driskill here for dinner instead of doing that scene...has a piano bar apparently too. A little more our style, I think.

People waiting for the computer.

Hello from Austin, Texas. I'm on a complimentary computer terminal at Schlotzdky's Deli. Just had a terrific "original" sandwich...smoked meats, ham, cheese, olives, lettuce, tomatoes, onions on toasted sourdough...yummy! Browsing some restaurants on 6th Street for tonight. About 100 venues here have live music. Think I'll go to the Friday morning tour of the studios of Austin City Limits. Saw "pork shanks" done ossu buco style...also whole crayfish...so many choices so little time. BTW, Jim's sweating it out in the library.

We've been very favourably impressed with Texas. People are wonderfully friendly, especially that state trooper who pulled Jim over for speeding 15 minutes after we left the airport. He gave him a warning and almost apologized. Guess who's been doing the speed limit since! We ended up with this rather hot looking car (only one available when we went to pick up our rental...well, the other was a mini van) so I think the guy expected to see some kids when he pulled us over. I think he took pity on us when he saw we were a couple of jet lagged old fogeys.

Our B & B in Austen is terrific. Beautiful old house with porches all around. Our room enters onto our own little private part with a wooden swing for two. Seems almost all the houses around here have at least a small porch complete with wooden swing and often rocking chairs. The B & B is a rather grand house but there are lots of small bungalows that look like mini Arts & Craft houses. Seems some developer in the early 1900's made a point of making these lots available for the "working man or woman"...the advertising pitch was "Have a house for the price of two beers a day". People built their own for the most part so there's quite an interesting variety.

Weather's great...sunny and in the 70's.

Bye for now.

Off to Vancouver today then flying to Texas tomorrow! Really looking forward to all new tourist territory for me and Jim has lots of interesting research to do. Weather forecast in the 70's so should be pretty warm. Perhaps my next post will be from the Alamo....

I've really enjoyed reading the two books Jim gave me in the Virago Modern Classics series

One is two novellas by Vita Sackville-West "Seducers in Ecuador & The Heir". Both quite charming and amusing in their way. And currently enjoying discovering a completely new author to me, Catherine Carswell, a Scottish lady who published the book I'm reading in 1922. It's called "The Camomile" which is a novel of letters and journals somewhat autobiographical. Quite an interesting person in that she became a dramatic and literary critic for the Glasgow Herald...a very unusual thing for a woman to be doing in 1906! She was a friend of D. H. Lawrence who had admiration for her writing and she for his. After nine years of writing for the Herald she was fired for writing a favourable review of "The Rainbow"...very scandalous for the times. The review was only published because she managed to smuggle the piece to the printer without the editor's approval. Seems like she would have been an interesting person to know.

Looking forward to being introduced to more women writers from this press.

How delightful not to have to make our ways to work today! Very cosy looking out at the snow. Hearing a lot of rain now so I guess we'll soon see flowers blooming and the snow all gone.

Quite a dump of snow on Friday night. Very cold air front so not much melting. Don't see this kind of picture around here very much!

Happy New Year everyone!

Taking the day to clean out files before we begin our marathon travelling over the next six months. Came across this note on a telephoning session to parents about student absences...just in case I forgot why I retired!

Student 1: Father seemed surprised. Father has been sick. Felt son was reliable.
Student 2: Talked to Mom and Dad. Both seemed surprised.
Student 3: Guardian unaware of absences
Student 4: no answer
Student 5: Talked to mother. Has been sick the past 2 days but not before.
Student 6: Parents at wit's end. Refer to counsellor

I've made my first online sale! I was contacted by a fellow from Colorado who stumbled on my website and liked "Beach at Carqueiranne". This is even before my special new website that Richard is in the process of creating. He has a very cool design for it.

I thought it was interesting how the Colorado fellow ended up on my website so am posting his email to me:

Thanks Janice:
That sounds fine-I will send payment via Paypal this afternoon. I have really enjoyed your accounts of travels in France, etc. You obviously have a  splendid joie de vivre! In looking at some of your earlier postings, I discovered how I happened onto your site. I recently had a yen for a good espresso, and got on ebay to see what was available in stovetop espresso makers. Someone in Australia had an "Atomic" for sale, and I was intrigued by the design (though not by the price which started at US$225). I went to google and punched in "atomic espresso", and it linked into your citation, among others. Amazing tools, aren't they, these computers and coffee makers?

Best wishes for the New Year!

Regards,
David

A few notable gifts under our Christmas tree this year...


Our new cat "Fluffy" (named after a long succession of cats in Jim's family who were mostly short haired...) on Fern's cosy blanket!


Richard gave us a DVD of his Filmography


And also some DVD's of a lesser light....


My usual stack of books from Jim...he always finds some great titles I'm not familiar with.


My gift to Jim...a professional chef jacket to encourage him to start cooking...he's had it on a number of times already. Don figures it should say "Sacre Bleu" not Cordon Bleu...!


We all got a laugh out of Don and Elaine's gift to Richard...boxer shorts from Google with "I'm feeling lucky" written all over them!

A few pix from Christmas 2003. It was really great to have the Soles clan and Jean to join us this year. Kate and Jean spoiled us with Nigella's sticky toffee pudding and Eric Akis' lemon tarts for dessert...also brought wonderful gingerbread and Starbuck's Christmas Blend coffee...yum...(Richard and I had some gingerbread for breakfast!) Thanks, Derek and Mary, for the wine (Tinhorn Creek Pinot Gris...perfect with turkey) and accessories...and of course, what would Christmas be without the famous crackers! I got the best joke...What would the US be called if everyone had red cars?..."A red carnation"...Dad got the best "surprise"..."a game of jacks" and Richard got the most practical one..."nail clippers"...(I think the cracker makers were in a practical mood this year). And of course, all our hats were equally silly!


Most of us except Mary's hiding and Richard's taking the picture.


Dad with his new professional chef jacket faking it at the stove.


Kate and Jean.


Richard helping in the kitchen.

I got two more commissions for floorcloths! One, something with frogs, and another with a beagle. I'm working on the frog one now...it's been really quite fun designing it. Pretty much ready for Christmas. I've decided not to send any Christmas cards anymore. I'm in email contact with pretty much everyone and also our friends can keep up to date with this blog.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Great news...our very dear friend, Monique, is coming back to Victoria to live!
It will be great having her back...yipee!

I did this table of my painting "French Village" for my friend, Carole. I didn't post it before because I wanted it to be a surprise. It's been fun doing the furniture but it really is a tremendous amount of work and fiddling around and also very hard on my back so I won't be doing any more furniture. People scrounging the Oak Bay Dump Exchange area will have lots more to choose from!

I'm going to keep everything else I've done for myself since they are now "limited editions" except one small table I have in mind as a gift for a friend that I haven't given anything to yet. I will be doing one last thing, just the top of a beautiful old Victrola cabinet Don and Elaine are giving me that was Don's mother's. I'm thinking of something very special for this wonderful piece of furniture that will be my last piece of painted furniture...it is a perfect ending to what has been a lot of fun!

Got back yesterday from a fabulous couple of days up at Carole's cabin in Qualicum. Arrived to find black oystercatchers on their beach! Wow...none of us westcoasters and Gulf Island goers had ever seen them before. We had to look them up in a book. They are so attractive with their long orange beaks. They certainly seemed to be finding lots to eat along with hundreds of seagulls that were also hanging around until an eagle swooped in and chased everything away temporarily except the seals.
We had a super time painting, shopping, eating, drinking and baking. Qualicum and especially Ladysmith looked terrific with their Christmas decorations. We stopped on the way up and back at the Sunflower Cafe in Ladysmith and had the most yummy and imaginative soups...roasted red pepper pesto and carrot one day and chicken and hazlenuts the next. Thanks Fern and Carole...it was a great time!



Oystercatchers and seagulls on the beach




This is the "lonestone" in front after which the cabin is named




Beachfront with seagrass




Fern and Carole with our baking!

I got a commission to do a painting of something with sailboats by a fellow who has a new grandson. He wanted to give him something that would last. I thought this was such a charming idea (and it's my first commission!) that I thought I would throw in a second smaller painting that was similar so the grandfather would have a memento as well.


This is the one for the grandson.
The writing in the sand says "Je t'aime petit-fils"



This is the one for the grandfather.
The writing in the sand says "Je t'aime Grandpêre"

I'm posting pictures of some of the things I've been working on especially for the Oak Bay Studio Tour coming up this weekend. I've been really pleased with the canvas floorcloths...they've been great fun to do!

P.S. This is going to be my door prize for the show.



St. Tropez on lazy susan




CANVAS FLOORCLOTHS!

Walk on,
stamp your feet on,
muddy boots wiped on,
wet dogs shook on,
fluffy cats sat on (maybe...) art!

Canvas floorcloths are versatile small rugs that can be used in the kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom etc. They are particularly useful in front of entrances to take that last bit of dirt off shoes and in front of sinks. Each mat is handpainted based on paintings I’ve done and each one will have variations on the original painting. Designs can be chosen from the art portfolios, cards, or bookmarks.

Mats are given six coats of high gloss varnish and a coat of clear paste wax. They are very durable and are meant to be walked over! They do not need to be washed as dirt can be wiped off with a damp cloth. The back is sprayed with a rubber coating to avoid slippage. This rubber backing can be scrubbed with soap and water if desired.



Rockfish on provençale tablecloth - floorcloth
* SOLD



Lavender and poppies - floorcloth




Cassis Harbour - floorcloth
* SOLD





Pines in the sky - floorcloth





Peace on Earth - floorcloth



And here are some wood pieces I finally got round to doing....



Watersports on skateboard * From the Oak Bay Dump exchange area




Hotel Splendid on table * From the Oak Bay Dump exchange area





Carqueiranne Harbour on lazy susan




Pines in the sky on tray




Cassis Harbour on towel rack




Wrought iron bell towers on table

Hello everyone. I'm posting the information sheet that I will have available for people who come by on the studio tour. This is particularly for my friends at long distance who can't come. I hope a little bit of the spirit of my contribution comes through.

Welcome to my ocean!

My basement art began with wanting to transform our ugly old oil tank and voila the”yellow submarine” was launched. Some children visiting from England provided the fish. Then my attention turned to our rusty old freezer...an ice block with penguins and polars bears seemed the perfect solution. Now everything in the basement looked rather dull (even though I did have my album covers from the ‘60’s on the walls) so I came up with the idea of making an “ocean” and having myself, friends, and family all contribute paintings. We had a ball doing it!

I moved on to the guest room and created a "room with a view" from our favourite hotel in the south of France. Then on to scenes from my favourite city in the world (Paris, of course) in my studio. In my kitchen I’ve tried to recreate a little bit of the spirit of Provence with my tiles, floorcloth, and paintings.

Much of the furniture is from the Oak Bay Dump Exchange area (my neighbour, Chris, finds many treasures there for me), thrift stores, and throw aways from friends. It’s really satisfying to take something ugly that no one wants anymore and tranform it.

How it all began...

Since I never got beyond stick figures in school, doing anything artistic wasn’t on my list of around a thousand things I might do after I retired from teaching. It's unfortunate so many of us turn off this pleasure of creating art so early in our lives when we think that/or told that other kids actually have a natural talent for this and we don't. My friend, Carole, got me involved in doing mosaic tiles and I found I enjoyed playing around with colour and design so took the plunge to do some Absolute Beginner courses. Alesha and Jessica at Island Blue were such encouraging teachers that I haven’t stopped since.

And now

It’s given me tremendous pleasure to give my creations to my friends and family. These same friends and family have been urging me for quite a while to sell my work so this Studio Tour is my first foray into the commercial. Mary, who is helping today, was particulary persistent. I have had such joy out of this unexpected tangent that I am thinking of writing a book to encourage others to explore their creativity. My working title is “Have a ball creating art without talent, training or effort!”

Thank you for coming and I hope you have enjoyed your dip in my ocean and your petit voyage en Provence. And above all, think of buying some paints and having fun!


Janice S.

A few things I'm selling.



Beach at Carqueiranne
9 x 12 acrylic on paper - Painted in Carqueiranne, France, 2002
$35



Mimosas
8 x 11 acrylic on paper - Painted in Carqueiranne, France, 2002
$35



Tuscan Hills
11 x 14 acrylic on paper - 2002
$75



Campaniles on box - $195



Carqueiranne Harbour on chair - $195

I finally gave into pressure from friends to start selling my work. I figured I got such tremendous pleasure out of giving things to friends, why take a chance on spoiling that. However, I sold my first painting today and it is quite a charge as my friends have been telling me it would be!

I've been accepted into the Oak Bay Studio Tour which takes place Dec 6 & 7 from noon - 4:30. Brochures with addresses will be available at all the houses on the tour so drop by my house and get one if you're interested in seeing some of the studios. I went to the one in the Spring and thought it was quite fun and interesting.

I've got most of the thiings I'm going to sell priced and displayed and friends are welcome to have a pre Tour look and possibility to buy.



Olympic View, Victoria
11 x 14 acrylic on paper, 2002

SOLD to my very dear friend, Monique!

Today we met our friends from England for lunch. We suggested we go to the Victoria Estate Winery since I had an excellent meal there in the summer and was very impressed with the whole set up. We had chosen all this wonderful food from the menu and were going to have the "wine flights" (a tasting of various wines). Would you believe they are having problems with their liquor licence and couldn't serve us wine...! Surrounded by wine and not a drop to drink. Of course our British friends were flabbergasted...only in B.C.! We ended up at the Rumrunner. I know a number of people who enjoy going out there so you might want to phone before going to see if they have the problem sorted out.

We did our first batch of smoked and candied salmon on the weekend. Really quite fun and easy to do. Thanks to Don and Elaine for getting us started!

This is a really neat monkey puzzle tree that is outside the MacLarin Building at UVic. Going to my Group of Seven in Western Canada class I noticed this tree and thought it would be a good idea to paint for my friend, Mary, who loves Monkey Puzzle trees...then I thought, why not paint the tree she planted, then why not do that and their first house and do it in the original colours...the evolution of a painting! Used my new digital camera for this and am very pleased with the results.



Monkey Puzzle tree at UVic

I did this painting for my friends, Derek and Mary. This is their first house in Victoria only the current owners had white stucco put on it and blue trim...sort of a Greece villa look. We all liked the original barn look so I made it that way in the painting. Also, Mary had planted the monkey puzzle tree and was wishing she had it back so now she does in a small way.

Fern, Carole and I had a great time making canvas floormats. Thanks to Carole for all her expertise in helping us with this project!



"Harbour in Cassis"
Canvas floormat 21" x 27"

What I've been reading:

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark haddon. Told from the point of view of an autistic teenager. What an amazing book...excellent! I see it's on Bolen's best seller list at #1 this week.

"Elizabeth Costello" by J.M. Coetzee. I'm quite glad he won the Nobel prize for literature. He is always an interesting and intelligent writer. Not too sure how to respond to his latest...could be quite brilliant or just reworked previously written essays loosely put into novel form. Lots of intriguing ideas and somehow I was involved and interested with the "protagonist" who mainly goes round to various conferences and gives talks. The novel mainly consists of these talks.

Here's my latest painting overlooking Kits pool in Vancouver.



Kitsilano Pool, sulpher barge, English Bay slide