Monday, January 12, 2015

Another Grey Morning - Sketch at Tap and Barrel


























This is one of the million beautiful viewpoints on our daily dog walks.  As I sat and sketched this I found myself signing 'Another Grey Morning' by James Taylor.  It ain't exactly a tropical beach scene, but Vancouver has its own kind of beauty this time of year.  Plus it's good practice capturing a full range of greys.  The tiles in the foreground were fun.  I didn't relish the idea of slavishly trying to capture the pattern, so I grabbed one of those red plastic netted bags that you buy oranges in.  I twisted it into a formation I thought might work, anchored it with random objects and pounced a loaded brush on top of it.  Voila, one million tiles in 20 seconds. Works for me :-)

My show at the Cultch came down today.  It was a great experience all around.  Many thanks to those of you who came out.   I'll keep you posted for the next one.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Invitro

Went out and bought all the ingredients to make butternut squash ravioli last night. Was dreaming about it all aft, picturing myself all covered in flour, laying sheets of freshly made pasta onto my new ravioli mold. Then somehow, when hunger struck and I hadn't even made the dough, going out to try the new restaurant in our hood became an obviously better alternative. Invitro is the latest incarnation in the heritage house around the corner from our place. The place is great, the food inspired (I had the pasta wth leeks and cream and we shared a bococcini salad) but chef/proprietress Sarah was definitely the best part of the experience. She's a creative soul (music, art, food), and she's pouring all her passion into this lovely little nest of a restaurant. I foresee many more cooking plans shelved in favourite of a walk around the block for whatever's on the menu.  Welcome to the neighbourhood.