The gauntlet has been thrown, the challenge declared, the proposal accepted. And so with the first sentence written I will embark on a year- long journey of words and paint to illustrate my thoughts, dreams, and whims, be they boring or inspiring, colorful, dull, or insightful. Each Tuesday evening I will install a new painting accompanied with a commentary (which may or may not have anything connected to the art created).
First a little back story. Twenty-five years ago I was lucky to make the acquaintance of my neighbor, a brand new mom, Carol Kinnee, RN. We were living in a townhouse complex on Ozada Avenue in Coquitlam B.C. In a strange coincidence we both purchased our first homes and moved to Mission B.C. within weeks of each other. At that time, 1991, I had just completed my ECE degree and was teaching preschool in Coquitlam, but when we moved I decided to renovate the basement and open The PlayHouse Family Daycare. Carol and her infant daughter Chelsea were my first customers.
Now fast forward to Spring 2017. I had just started working as an LPN at ARH where Carol has been a long time PAR RN and I ran into her on my coffee break. We hadn't seen each other for about a decade. With a promise to get together for coffee we exchanged contact info and fell headlong back into our busy lives. Until this October.
We met at a quaint little bakery tea shop on first avenue in Mission ( fb English Tarts ), and passed 2 hours of non stop catch-up and discovery and of course cake. Carol had written a novel The Christmas Presence www.carolkinnee.com and I had taken up watercolors. We both acknowledged that we needed a kick in the ass to promote our arts and so sprouted the tenuous roots of "52 Over 50".
Working on our blogs and websites seemed to be a natural progression after a successful giant leap out of our comfort zones participating in the 15th Annual Chilliwack Christmas Craft Crawl ( www.chilliwackchristmascraftcrawl.com ).
In case you need it spelled out for you: 52 is the number of Tuesdays in a year, "Over 50" is a gentle reminder that we are middle aged. Between us we have over a century of experience. The title is Carol's gem; she's pretty great with words! Hers will be a weekly blog of literary wonder and mine will be a weekly blog (or blob) of paint. This week I'm posting a painting that I completed in August instead of this week, so that I can practice manipulating my website. I'm amazed that I figured it out!
See you next Tuesday!
Arbutus Point, Portland Island 2017
