The other one

This was the other painting from Roots & Blues,

a completely different fun style!

Ishoumar

Bombino, from a nomadic camp of Tuaregs in Niger, performed at this year's Roots & Blues. 

His musical style is known as "Ishoumar", a term that has become synonymous with the Tuareg rebel movement. 

The clothing of his group inspired this painting that is on exhibition at the Art Gallery until the end of August. 

Grass and gas!

Who knew that grass could grow so high?! Marylou and I took a walk through the grasses at Connor Park this morning before we left Moose Jaw. Being almost 6 feet tall, she could see over the top! At my height, I was spitting out grass seed as we travelled along. Fortunately, the morning dew had caused a lot of the grass to fall over. Unfortunately, we were dew-soaked by the end!

Leaving Moose Jaw, we decided to fill the gas tank "later". After 2 1/2 hours on the road, with nothing in sight but endless highway and farm fields, we were running on air as we pulled into a little 2 pump station in the middle of nowhere. Because we were still in Saskatchewan, where gas is more expensive than in Alberta, we only put $30 into the tank. Once again, 2 1/2 hours later, we were running on air as we pulled into Strathmore. The car was almost gasping after two close calls in one day!!

Moose Jaw

We enjoyed a leisurely two day drive to Moose Jaw for a visit with John's sister and family. 

On a tour of the downtown area, we discovered John's Music Store ..... 

.... and hints of the prohibition when Al Capone would make regular visits to the area. 

We haven't ventured into The Tunnels under town yet. Maybe later today.

The town has many walkways and treed paths for walking so we set out early this morning 

to wander through one of the wooded parklands.

The city defies all preconceptions of prairie land. 

Streets are tree lined (the elm trees are protected...no cutting, trimming or chopping allowed) 

and host a display of heritage homes. Parklands are expansive. 

The Art Gallery and Museum are state of the art. 

This morning we toured the Western Development Museum 

for a glimpse into the history of transportation. 

What an amazing collection of trains, planes, trucks and cars.

The LINN 816 carried workers to God's Lake Gold Mines.

2012 R&B artists

It was a blistering, hot weekend with music in the air and artists on the ground. Twelve of us attempted to translate our impressions of the 20th Annual Roots & Blues Festival with paints, metal and yarn. I was very happy to secure a shaded spot on both days. Our creations will be exhibited at the Art Gallery for the next two weeks as part of a fund raising silent auction.

Asha worked on her hands and knees!

Eric's piece makes music!

Jean is knitting music into the yarn!

Jeremy's body is also a canvas!

Lori captured Shade Stage performers!

Patti's oils kept sliding off her palette!

Tracey painted the blues!

A musical week

It's a musical week in Salmon Arm!

Willy Gow performs with Gadjology at Barley Station

On Thursday night we visited several venues downtown for the pre-festival Music Crawl. Starting at Java Jive, we enjoyed Don Clarke with his guitar and simple lyrics. From there we tried to get into The Hideaway for the Salmon Armenians but the place was rocking and all seats were taken. Back to Barley Station, we waited in line for a table to hear the first set of Gadjology. Dick Owings on fiddle, Bill Lockie on bass, Willy Gow and Jake Verburg on guitars. Awesome! A quick run down the street at 10:30pm in time to catch the last song from Otterstrom, a young group performing at  Superb Donair.

Main stage around 8pm. The Boogie Bar-n Stage was hopping all night too!

Last night we wandered the Festival grounds listening to tunes from Alex Cuba, Hazmat Modine, Bombino, Cherine and Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks. I'm not sure what I enjoyed most, the music or the people watching. 

Today and tomorrow I will be trying to create an impression of the festival on canvas, along with eleven other artists. Hopefully the SAGA tents will provide shelter for all of us.

House concert at Sunnybrae

What a wonderful evening. Under a blanket of stars, we laughed, smiled and clapped along with Mitch Vinet and Twin Peaks(Lindsay & Naomi from Fort St. John) at an outdoor house concert last night. The lyrics were sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious. The harmonies were seamless and uplifting. The guitar riffs were amazing and the occasional fingering on ukelele added a touch of bliss. Our hostess added a delicious sweet finale with fruit pizza and coffee before we headed home!

On exhibit

The current exhibition at the Art Gallery includes 533 pieces.

They are all 7"x5" and priced at $75.00.

Along with my three collage pieces, these three acrylics are on display.

It was fun to use different styles in a small format.

Sunrise

Sunset

Eight lost souls

Adventures with August in August

What a great way to celebrate the arrival of August 2012 with a visit from August, our grandson! 

A snuggle with Papa after our swim and picnic dinner at Herald Park.

The Waterpark is a great place to cool off and have fun!

The tractors at Demilles provide great adventures for novice drivers.

Messy

Looking around today, I couldn't help but think that we are a messy lot, especially in the summer. It seems that everyone is competing in the "ugliest summer clothing" Olympics. Young men wear shorts with crotches meeting their ankles. Old men wear ketchup stained t-shirts that refuse to cover their bellies. Young women wear tops that expose more than they cover. Older women still think that wearing shorts is cute. I agree. They are cute on young women, not on saggy legged older women.

Then there is the whole tattooed clan that take full advantage of the opportunity to flash their flesh at the rest of us. Shoulders, chests, backs and ankles are bared in a bodily display of ink. Young women with tattoos fanned out above the crack of their ass don't hesitate to treat passersby to a view of female plumbers' butt! When did this become fashionable?

What happened to tucking in a shirt, to wearing pants that fit at the waist, to leaving something to the imagination? I must be getting old!!