Going to the Big Smoke

This past weekend, I visited my sister and brother in Toronto. My sister had come to Toronto for a business meeting and my brother lives there. The three of us don't often get a chance to get together, so we decided it would be a good time for a mini family reunion. I flew to Toronto via Porter Airlines, landing at the Island Airport. Of course, I had to take the standard photo of the Toronto skyline as I was riding the ferry across to the mainland, just like all the tourists.  

My sister and I stayed in a hotel downtown near the Eaton Centre. One morning, as we were waiting for the elevator, I looked out a window and saw this bird's eye view of Trinity United Church. It looked like a toy model of a building from this angle.

Unfortunately, it was a rainy cool weekend. We decided to walk up "The Path", a series of underground passageways that starts at Union Station and goes for miles, up to the Eaton Centre. I took this photo inside one the buildings along the route. Such soaring architecture!

Here is a photograph of my sister Marilyn, in front of a poster of - appropriately enough - Marilyn!

Toronto is still a city that offers lots of possibilities. When I saw the "For Rent" sign in front of this building, my imagination went wild. Wouldn't this be a great place to rent? 

Thinking in Black and White

I bought a wonderful set of drawing pens several months ago and have been enjoying them ever since. For instance, I had them with me one evening when I was sitting in a cafe and decided to quickly sketch this scene as I was looking out the window.

I was sitting in a different cafe in another part of town when I drew this. There is a courtyard outside this cafe and people were walking by constantly. Mostly, I got caught up in trying to depict the building on the right side of the picture. 

This drawing is based on a photograph. I liked the way the woman was sitting in a corner between two windows and was interested in trying to capture the sense of space.

This is also from a photograph, one that is a real treasure for me because it captures a very happy period in my life. Once a month, a group of us had the chance to draw, paint, sculpt or whatever from the model. It was a very productive period for all of us and looking at the photograph and doing a drawing based on it brings back wonderful memories.

Nights in the City Look Pretty To Me

There are lots of great murals on the sides of buildings all over the Byward Market area of Ottawa. I saw this one while walking to a store this evening, taking a different route than usual. Not sure what it is all about, but I found the painting of the woman quite amazing.  

Later, I passed by a Giant Tiger store - the original store for the Giant Tiger chain (that's what they claim on the sign). It is in an old building on George Street, with three floors of Giant Tiger merchandise. I have shopped there many times in the past and always like how squeaky the floors are and how low tech everything feels - like an old Woolworth's Store.

I remembered that there are murals just inside the front doors of the Giant Tiger store. They were closing for the night, but I asked the guy at the front door if I could take pictures of the murals. The light wasn't great but you get the picture (ha ha).

This mural is across from the other one and shows the Byward Market back at the beginning of the 20th century.

On my way home, I saw this cute sign and had to stop and take a picture of it. Terrific graphic of the women in black dresses. Makes me want to try their ice cream some time.



It's Tulip Festival Time!

This week, the annual Tulip Festival in Ottawa is in full swing at Major's Hill Park, near the National Art Gallery and the Byward Market (my neighbourhood!). I wandered into the park today on my home from work, just to check it out. There are lots of large wooden tulips all over the place, like these red ones. For some reason, these were in a semi-circle around a wooden ladybug, which had flowers spilling out under her shell. Just part of the kitschy fun, I guess!

Of course, the main attraction is the masses of tulips in bloom in various places throughout the park. There were also dozens of people with cameras clicking away like mad. I was lucky to find a spot where I could take a picture of just the flowers and not all the other photographers who were, like me, trying to get a good shot!

Not far from the tulip beds, I saw this large brightly coloured tube. People were looking into it and so I just had to find out what it was.

It turned out to be a very large kaleidescope. This guy showed me how it worked. There are wheels on the side that you can turn to get different effects. I tried it. I have always loved kaleidescopes. This one was amazing!

Further up the hill, there was a cluster of tents for different exhibits. Dozens and dozens of painted and decorated wooden tulips lined the sidewalks or were scattered over the lawns.  

And what would a tulip festival be without some people sitting in or on a wooden shoe!?!

I like the face on this tulip. The words "peace" and "friendship" are painted on its leaves. Perfect for a festival celebrating spring.

In the Garden and In the Studio

One of my annual rites of spring involves taking out my old lawnmower and seeing if she will start up. When I say old, I mean OLD - this poor thing is about 20 years old. Every year, I wonder if this will be her finale - the year she doesn't start. But miraculously, she always does - as she did this year, on Saturday. I breathed a sigh of relief, told her she was a good lawnmower, and cut some grass.

After that, my garden demanded attention. Weeding, weeding, weeding. And I finally got around to planting some summer bulbs I foolishly bought a month ago. I had seen this wonderful display in a store back in April and, in a moment of temporary insanity, picked up a bag of gladiolus bulbs - 50 of them, to be exact. It took a long time to plant them all. But while I was doing that, I had time to appreciate the things that were blooming in my garden right now, like these daffodils and periwinkle and a mystery flower (?) - not sure what it is.

It was a great weekend for working in my studio. After the yardwork and gardening, I spent several hours working on a couple of paintings for a show coming up, Art Fayre. While I was in my studio, I found some old sketchbooks. There were several fast warm-up drawings in them - not keepers, just quick gesture drawings. I like the colour in this one.

And this was a very fast pencil sketch just to loosen up my hand and arm. The right leg and foot were fun.

The Angst of Store Window Mannequins

A long time ago, I saw a movie or an episode on a television show (perhaps the Twilight Zone) where a bunch of department store mannequins come alive at night. I can understand why someone would come up with such an idea. I am often impressed with how life-like some of the mannequins are in store window displays. For example, I saw this mannequin in a small boutique window in the Byward Market and I thought she looked like she was really, really angry about something. I wouldn't want to get into a fight with her! 

This one, on the other hand, just looks very haughty and aloof. Certainly not someone who could take a joke.

This mannequin looks like she's having a really bad hair day and is pointing it out to everyone else.

Here is the whole window display. I didn't bother with the guy in the white shirt because he just looks like an alien from another planet. No match for the women!

It is amazing how many mannequins look really menacing. I saw this one in the window of a store on Sussex Drive and was impressed with how muscular she looked. Also, she seems to be thrusting out her jaw in a determined way, as if daring someone to pick a fight with her. No thanks!

This window was in front of another store on Sussex. These three mannequins really do seem to be aware of each other, like they had been chatting then someone told them to stop and pose together.

The one in the middle had the most compelling expression, like she really was thinking about something. The other two were just pouting.

Finally, for a bit of relief from all that mannequin angst, I found this bright-coloured, fun pile of puppets in a toy store down the street. I like the way the guy on the top looks like he's warily trying to climb over the head of the puppet in front of him. No pouting or anger here!

My Royal Wedding Tea Towel

A friend of mine at work, Kristen, was in England last week for a visit to some friends of hers in London. It was just a coincidence that she was there during the royal wedding. Kristen has a great sense of humour. She presented me with this gift yesterday when she came back to work. A commemorative royal wedding tea towel!  Just what I always wanted. Love it!

Of course I had to show it to everyone else at work. They all appreciated the humour of Kristen's gift. Anyway, one colleague thought the picture of Kate made her look awful. I tend to agree. But hey! it's my tea towel and no criticism allowed!  Now I have to decide if I should use it to clean dirty dishes or frame it!