artistry--february 9

bethany made sure i was up before nine. "we don't want to waste the day." was her oft repeated mantra. i rolled over and turned on cknw. lately this is the way i like to wake up. laying in bed listening to news radio. there was a guy doing an editorial about fuel made from corn and how it is worse than using oil. it was interesting and i would have listened longer but bethany was right. it was time to start the day. so i went to the bathroom. then i went back to bed and read my scriptures.

later i introduced bethany to the mcgriddle sandwiches at mcdonald's. as luck would have it, we each had a two for one coupon. she tried one bacon and one sausage just as was right. i got both sausage because those are my favourite. bethany agreed that they were best although both good.

i forgot my coat. i know, how does one forget their coat? but i did. and we were thirsty. so we decided to go back home and get my coat, and some water bottles. archie and izzy were so sure i was going to feed them and it wasn't even lunch time. nice try kitties.

we went to granville island. i told bethany it wass her job to look out for parking but i didn't hold out for long. as soon as i saw the lot with the huge puddle in it that sarah and i parked in before, i pulled in there. the pay box ate my five dollars. makes me mad. i don't want to talk about it. i whacked it one. we let other people go in front of us and pooled our change together for another five stupid dollars. grrr.

we decided to go wherever interest led us.





that's when bethany saw opus and suggested we get our painting supplies there. she scoffed at their tag line "where artists perfer to shop". we joked about it as we entered. on the wall were rows of painted hearts painted in different palettes and styles. we stopped to look at them. a girl who worked there and had just arrived behind us. said "it's harder than it looks in the poo colours." "in the master's palette." corrected the girl at the info desk. "poo colours." she insisted over her shoulder as she made her way through the store.

bethany and i went about choosing some paint brushes and paints and then began our search for paper. we found these drawers with single sheets of what looked like hand made water colour paper. we didn't get those. we settled on a pad 12 of 18x20's. there was some talk about stretching out your paper so it didn't warp. this was talk that we knew nothing of, so we asked a girl. i thin she turned out to be the poo colours girl. she gave us some info and we basically decided not to worry much about it.
the next place we stopped at was per's. he's a jewelry maestro. that's what it says on his awning. we had to go up some stairs. per came out and talked to us. he's very nice. he showed us his pieces and told us about making them and the inspiration for each one. he noted our opus bag and asked if we were artists. thinking of myself i blurted out "no, we just pretend." bethany's quiet protest of "i'm an artist!" at my side reminded me that i had spoken for both of us. of course she is. "i mean she's an artist. i pretend." i corrected. "i thin she's an artist." said bethany loyally. per looked at us and said something about abilities and developing our gifts. per is from denmark so we talke a bit about denmark and sweden. he said he liked the sound of swedish better and that danish is hard to speak. he said it hurt his throat. per had paintings by all his works that had something to do with them. we learned his wife was the painter and that she had just received this big international award. mom called as we were leaving. she wanted to talk to bethany about the missing weddding ring. this is bethany describing it.



we walked a little ways further and encoutered these hopping dancing two personed dragons. they were retreiving the cabbages that the businesses left hanging for them. they were accompanied by drum playing long haired and goateed individuals. we stopped to take it in.


















if you look closely you'll see the cabbage in his mouth.



























i showed bethany the textiles art place. the loom lady was on the phone so we got no questioning. bethany liked the hand woven scarves and picked out two favourites. we also discovered a felted vulture with a boney head sticking out. "how can they make that look cute?!" exclaimed bethany poking its soft belly.




bethany was getting impatient. she wanted to get to the market. she had her heart set on stewart's bakery, i knew.








so we went in but i then i saw these pussy willows and charged back out the door.



















pussy willows are so perfect. fuzzy, soft, and wonderous. i like the hint of pink in these ones.

















bethany gracefully caresses the small buds of fluff. note the raised pinky.



then she left me. i was still taking pictures and she just up and left. the nerve. abandoned in such a cruel way, i wandered inside wondering how i would find her in the maze of stands and throngs of people. but then there she was looking pleased but also guilty.






we found stewart's bakery and bethany was rightly impressed by all the perfection confections. after some difficutl decision making we decided to get the profiterole cup. we needed to know what the enticing blob of creamy white stuff was. profiteroles turned out to be cream puffs with chocolate and creamcheesy whipped creamy stuff.
















haha. ahhh.

we ate our profiterole cup outside by the birds. there were no where near the flocks of birds that sarah, adriel and i played with on that sunny day in november. there was a man at a table in front of us reading the paper. his cute little sheltie sat beside him on a chair people watching.

we didn't stay out there long. bethany wanted to go somewhere warm. we went back in, but then out and started walking back to our car.







bethany started taking pictures of me. she pointed out that all i ever have is self portraits. true.












































we were attempting a together self pic when a fast talking spanish speaker with his friends stopped mid latinlanguage streak and said business like in english that he would take our picture. ok, i said. so he did, handed pinklet back to us and continued on his way and on his latinlanguage streak.


we went home curled up under blankets and started watching bleak house. then we had a break and painted. bethany used my stout seagul picture as inspiration. her painting was won'erful as usual. i enjoyed getting to know water colour. it's fun to paint with. i still don't know how i feel about the painting i did. i keep looking at it trying to decide. it's ok. it's a first watercolour and i had no idea what i was doing. and both bethany and elicia assured me that no they didn't look like drops of blood as was my worry. you'll see when you see the painting.

we bought stuff to make personal pizzas. simple ingredients i told bethany. our pizzas were made on a naan crust, with tomato sauce with added oregano and basil. we carmalized some onions, cut up some fresh basil (and is there anyone out there that thinks fresh basil has a slightly licorice taste/smell? am i alone in that?), sliced some mushrooms, grated some extra old aged white cheddar and added some blobs of goat cheese. yum! we started watching bleak house again and i left them in a bit too long. the bottoms were slightly burnt. i take full blame but i still liked them. my second one was even better though. no burnt bottom. while making the pizzas bethany peppered me with questions about what would happen in the movie. she was especially concerned about rick. i was careful not to let any hint escape my lips. she was also concerned with the motives of one mr. john jahndyce. i led her astray on that point. hehe. we both dozed during different parts but were awake for the ending at one in the morning. what a good movie that is! sigh.