FORGET-ME-NOT - COTTAGE BY THE SEA

TWO DOVES, A CAT, AND MY SON, LOL.
"OUR HOUSE, THEY SAY; AND MINE, THE CAT DECLARES" AND MINE, SAID; MY SON THIS MORNING WHEN I SENT HIM A PICTURE OF THE COMPLETED OIL PAINTING OF THE COTTAGE BY THE SEA - FORGET-ME-NOT.

I finally decided to place the two doves on the cottage roof and a little white cat in the garden. 
On to my next painting. I'm practicing "Hygge; bringing in a little bit of Danish culture into my life and sharing with people that seek that same dreamy place in their life.

MY HOUSE, I SAY 


~ ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 1850-1894


"My house, I say. But hark to the sunny doves 
That make my roof the arena of their loves, 
That gyre about the gable all day long 
And fill the chimneys with their murmurous song: 
Our house, they say; and mine, the cat declares 
And spreads his golden fleece upon the chairs; 
And mine the dog, and rises stiff with wrath 
If any alien foot profane the path. 
So, too, the buck that trimmed my terraces, 
Our whilom gardener, called the garden his;
Who now, deposed, surveys my plain abode 
And his late kingdom, only from the road."

ONE MOSTLY GHOSTLY NIGHT

If I could travel back in time, I would choose Ghostly Victorian England and live in a cottage by the sea, much like "Gull Cottage" from the movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir."

A haunting, lonely cottage by the sea, the house I've lived in all my life in my dreams. It was the lonely, ghostly mood of the place and a house sitting silently alone, its only view the romantic sea that I wanted to capture in this painting of three spooky cute ghost cats by the names of Ghost, Spooks, and Boo sitting by the seashore on "One Mostly, Ghostly Night."

As I was painting the ghost cats sitting on the driftwood posts, I got a flashback to the scene of Lucy and her daughter, Anna, on the beach and how the old fisherman carved Anna's name on the driftwood.

I could sign my work with my name, Anna on one of the ghost cat's driftwood posts. How fitting to pay homage to one of my all-time favorite ghost movies. 


Oh, and by the way, Annabelle is my nickname given to me by my husband when we first met because I love the poem, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. Oh, and one more thing, look at the cloud to the right of the moon.

Lucy Muir: "I want Gull Cottage".

Lucy Muir: "I want Gull Cottage".


If interested in the ghost tale, here is a link to its trailer.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, Natalie Wood

L-O-V-E 🐾♥️🐱🐱🐱♥️🐾 Happy Caturday! For the Theme - Love is touch

Happy Caturday! For the Theme - Love is touch 

L-O-V-E 🐾♥️🐱🐱🐱♥️🐾

L is for the way you look at me

O is for the only one I see V is very, very extraordinary E is even more than anyone that you adore can Love is all that I can give to you Love is more than just a game for two Two in love can make it Take my heart and please don't break it Love was made for me and you L is for the way you look at me O is for the only one I see V is very, very extraordinary E is even more than anyone that you adore can Love is all that I can give to you Love is more than just a game for two Two in love can make it Take my heart and please don't break it Love was made for me and you Love was made for me and you Love was made for me and you 

NAT KING COLE - L-O-V-E 

"What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?"💡 HAPPY CATURDAY!🐱‰🐾

Happy Caturday Theme for October 17th /2020 

~ "CATPHABET ~Your cat's name & persuade your cat to pose for a photo with an object that starts with the same letter."

"This year I'm going to be Batman, said Bat"! 

And I'm going to be The Cat of Monte Cristo, said Maggie! 

“Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another,” 
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

"Oh, how I wish I could fly like the Bats on the Clock, said Bat!"

Combine the two, cats and a pandemic and, what have you got? Infinite time to think! 

Ah, captivity, house arrest, hours spent in barred boundaries between four walls, and if you are lucky, a garden to soak in the sun while the weather is still warm although now a little too chilly. Nothing like being an outdoor cat! I miss having no boundaries, so what do we do?

Well, we join groups, cat lovers group, art group, writing group, music group, garden group, you find yourself pretty much forget you're living in a pandemic, almost. I still miss visiting family, thrifting, shopping, movies, and eating out. So for the time being this will help some.


THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

“What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?"

"Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced — from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination.” 

― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Until life returns to normal keep focus on the treasures at hand. Stay safe♥️

DORMIR SOUS UN CYPRES

"Dormir sous un cyprès, or “to sleep under a cypress” means to be dead."

I left it for dead.

When I was inspired to paint The Quiet Garden, it was after I had come upon a beautiful garden behind The Saint John the Baptist Anglican Church in Richmond, Ontario, next to the church graveyard. But, I failed in capturing the serene landscape of The Quiet Garden and tossed the painting into the woodpile.

Sometimes, what I have in mind does not always turn out the way I conceive it in my mind. Now, I have arrived where the road leads to though not so sure how to go on. I will need to give it some thought before I make my next brush stroke.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


~Robert Frost

SEPTEMBER WOODS

SEPTEMBER WOODS

A glory of gold
And russet and grey,
The tree-tops old
Glow in the day;
And, one by one,
The dry leaves fall,
And the Autumn sun
Smiles on them all.


Where all is still
The rabbits play,
And pheasants fill
Each woodland way;
And, one by one,
The dry leaves fall,
While the Autumn sun
Smiles on them all.

 ~ Sunlight and Shade

Bat's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw~ Happy Caturday!

After retiring to bed late last night, my cell phone kept going off with text messages. My husband, annoyed by the numerous tinkling spells, asked me to hand him my phone and turned it off. Still drowned in sleep, it didn't occur to me until a few minutes later that it probably was my daughter, Emma texting me photos of Bat she had just taken earlier in the evening. I looked at the screen, sure enough, Bat was looking back at me.

So I got up and joined Emma in the living room, had some good laughs at all of the funny poses, picked a few we liked and went back to bed.

Of course, what came to mind looking at Bat hiding inside the old flowerpot was T.S. Eliot's story of 

'Macavity - The Mystery Cat.'

Used the filter here and made it a bit spookier

Original

PHOTO BY EMMA ( M )

"For he's the master criminal who can defy the law.

Bat, Bat, there's no one like Bat, There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity. He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare: And whatever time the deed took place - BAT WASN'T THERE!"

Only this time we caught you, Bat!

The Little Sunflower's Wish 🌱🌻🧡🌻🌱🧡🌻🧡🌱

The Little Sunflower's Wish  🌱🌻🧡🌻🌱🧡🌻🧡🌱

Magic in a Tangled Garden

I glanced up to look at the sunny heads looking down from the towering stalks of the giant sunflowers. A little sunflower was looking up too. This tangled garden of ours keeps creating magic.

Nature tells us many things, and this little guy, I believe, is telling us where there is love life grows.

Ah! Sun-Flower
By William Blake

Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveler's journey is done.

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:

Arise from their graves and aspire,

Where my Sunflower wishes to go.