It has been a very long time since my last update! In the years since my last post... (Yes, years!), so much has happened. My son, mentioned previously, has come back to live in Canada, bringing with him an Australian wife and new baby son! He was gone for four long years. It wasn't easy, but I did survive through that time!
He and his new family moved home and lived with us for a year, and are now on their own in Montreal.
Soon afterwards, our youngest son and daughter in law and two grandsons moved in with us for a year, and they too are now in their own place. Talk about a very full couple of years!

During that time, I had packed away my art room to make room for extra people in the house, and I didn't do any art during that two years. I did, however, do a couple of quick demonstrations of some art techniques to both my daughters in law, and discovered that both of them have amazing talent! One produced wonderful graphite portraits and gorgeous abstract paintings, the other produced very beautiful scratch board art, coloured pencil and graphite drawings, and fell in love with soft pastels.

Having family live with you does require some adjustments, but it was worth every minute for the time I was able to spend with my 3 delightful grandsons!

Now that I have my studio back and much more free time, I am painting again. (Ok, time will tell just how much free time, seeing my dear hubby just recently retired!)
It has been a bit of a struggle after such a long hiatus from painting to get my bearings again, not to mention trying to take my art in a whole new direction! I am learning more now than I ever have and am hopefully growing with each new painting.

It was a joy to set up my studio once again. The pictures below show my new space, although since the photos were taken, it has become considerably messier!