CLOUD 9

CLOUD 9 - WIP

Pudding Cake Cove: a place of my dreams.
When I paint, I most often find myself on cloud 9. Usually, while my husband cooks, I paint."Where's your mind, Anna"? When he continues talking, I often reply with the phrase, "I'm on cloud 9", having no clue what he said following his inquiry.
Painting allows me to create the places I dream of. The sea is one place I love and love to paint. I suppose it is because I was born by the sea. One can never forget their first home.
I'm not sure what to call my art style. I guess it is naive, along with the style of Maud Lewis.


So, here is my current happy place.

- "Cloud 9" 2024 WIP acrylic on oval canvas 20 x 14

Maybe add a Seastar on the beach and lighten the sea cave entrance.

Oh, of course listening to CLOUD 9 BY GEORGE HARRISON 

The Lord is my Shepherd

I painted this pastoral seascape with sheep because I always had a secret wish as a young girl to be a Shepherdess and live in the countryside surrounded by nature.

" The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

"A Psalm of David. A 3000 year-old -POEM PRAYER I love so very much. 

What does it mean that the Lord is my Shepherd 

( Psalm 23) ?

STORMY WEATHER

I love, love, love the rain. The " pitterin', patterin', beatin', spatterin' " sound of rain against my window comforts me.


And when I watch a spooky, scary, ghostly movie, stormy weather makes the perfect companion.








STORMY WEATHER ~ 2024 ACRYLIC ON ARTIST'S CONK






STORMY WEATHER ~ ETHEL WATERS 1933





Stormy Weather


Don't know whyThere's no sun up in the sky Stormy weather Since my man and I ain't together Keeps rainin' all the time Life is bare Gloom and misery everywhere Stormy weather Just can't get my poor self together I'm weary all the time, the time So weary all the time When he went away, the blues walked in and met me If he stays away, old rocking chair will get me All I do is pray the Lord above will let me Walk in the sun once more Can't go on All I have in life is gone Stormy weather Since my man and I ain't together Keeps rainin' all the time Keeps rainin' all the time I walk around, heavy-hearted and sad Night comes around, I'm still feelin' bad Rain pourin' down, blindin' every hope I had This pitterin', patterin', beatin' and spatterin' drives me mad Love, love, love, love This misery is just too much for me Can't go on Everything I had is gone Stormy weather Since my man and I ain't together Keeps rainin' all the time Keeps rainin' all the time

AH, NOTHING IS TOO LATE! — WIP OF SEASCAPE

Wip of Seascape -

' JULY 5TH, 1868: Today I have completed sixty-four Springtimes...and now here I am, a very old woman, embarked on my-sixty-fifth year. By one of those strange oddities in my destiny, I am now in much better health, much stronger, much more active, than I ever was in my youth... I am troubled by no hankering after the days my youth: I am no longer ambitious for fame: I desire no money except in so far as I should like to be able to leave something to my children and grandchildren...This astonishing old age... has brought me neither infirmity nor lowered vitality.

Can I still make myself useful? That one may legitimately ask, and I think that I can answer 'yes'. I feel that I may be useful in a more personal, more direct way than ever before. I have, though how I do not know, acquired much wisdom. I am better equipped to bring up children... It is quite wrong to think of old age as a downward slope. One climbs higher and higher with the advancing years, and that, too, with surprising strides. How good life is when all that one loves is as warm with life! '

Letter from George Sand to a friend

George Sand

I have completed sixty- six Springtimes... and now here I am, embarked on my sixty-seventh year. Although far from great health like George Sand ... I desire no fame only maybe more hair : ) and enough money to move into the country or a larger older home and have that to leave behind to my children. Age has given me much wisdom and lessons learned. It's never too late - I Love painting ♥️, creating, learning. 

MUSIC 

Mariage D'amour by Paul de Senneville

It is too late! Ah, nothing is too late—

Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles 
Wrote his grand “Oedipus,” and Simonides
Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers
When each had numbered more than fourscore years;
And Theophrastus, at fourscore and ten,
Had begun his “Characters of Men.”
Chaucer, at Woodstock, with his nightingales,
At sixty wrote the “Canterbury Tales.”
Goethe, at Weimar, toiling to the last,
Completed “Faust” when eighty years were past.
What then? Shall we sit idly down and say,
“The night has come; it is no longer day”?
For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress.
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
It is never too late to start doing what is right.
Never.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Secret of The Sea

 

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams, come back to me

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

The Secret of the Sea - 2024 

The Secret of the Sea 

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me

As I gaze upon the sea!

All the old romantic legends,

All my dreams, come back 

to me. 

 

Till my soul is full of longing

For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

LISTEN 

 Secrets of The Sea ~ by Greg Maroney

'Ah! What pleasant visions haunt me As I gaze upon the sea!' - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I'm haunted and bewitched by the beautiful celestial image I witnessed with my family on April 8th, 2024, of the solar eclipse. I find myself painting white suns these days. Even after bringing an unwanted hitchhiker home from the event, the tick : ) He, as well, was curious and wanted to see. I suppose he had an excellent place to watch from : )

The cliff and water need more work. Maybe add something else to the painting as well.

WIP ACRYLIC PAINTING 10 X 8 CANVAS

April Snow

April Snow

April Snow  6 x 6 Acrylic Anna 2024

April snow turned spring into a wintry scene. 
Winter - just catching up with some lost time.

🎵 A BEAUTIFUL MUSICAL COVER OF YANNI  BY WHITE KNIGHT INSTRUMENTAL 

HEART'S DESIRE ~ A WOOD OF MY OWN

I always like to change things in my paintings as I paint and return to them often. Looking at the painting in a different light of day helps me see things I might have missed the day before. I wasn't sure about leaving the trunks without their leaves needles. When I finally decided to add the needles to the trees, I was happy I did.

A pine stand in the woods is always fragrant and delightful. 

HEART'S DESIRE ~ A WOOD OF MY OWN 

~Anna 2024

March 

by William Cullen Bryant




The stormy March is come at last,

With wind, and cloud, and changing skies;

I hear the rushing of the blast,

That through the snowy valley flies.




Ah, passing few are they who speak,

Wild stormy month! in praise of thee;

Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak,

Thou art a welcome month to me.

NIGHT DREAM SERIES ~ HEART'S DESIRE ~ A WOOD OF MY OWN

There is nothing wrong with dreaming a wish your heart makes. 

My heart's desire ~ own a woodland.

Heart's Desire ~ A Wood of My Own ~ Anna 2024

Inspired by the book I was reading, 'The Hidden Life of Trees', and my dreamscape, I wanted to paint another woodland. 

I began the painting with tall trees and a path. A hidden spring rushed from behind the tall branchless trees down to a velvet green meadow where violets secretly were beginning to bloom in early March. Hearts followed me with every brush stroke, popping up in the most unexpected places. Even when I took my blood sugar this morning, one flowed out of my finger in a heart. And the angel #4, well, that too magically appeared only I extended the cross line.

Illuminated by a starry night sky, the woods show their secret hearts in Spring.

"Haunted? Yes, but by the wrong ghost!"

Currently reading 'The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World' by Peter Wohlleben
I borrowed this book yesterday from my local library. From the rave reviews it received, it will be one to add to my library. But, for now, I'm happily reading the borrowed book. 

The other day, I described the woodland landscape I was painting as a ghostly place. The faint chirp of a single bird echoes in the lonely grove. "Haunted? Yes, but by the wrong ghost!" N.E.GENGE

You see, there are no ghosts to see, only the woods.

From the look on Maggie's face, she might have heard something coming out of the canvas, so quiet only a cat could perceive the sound.
Were the trees talking?

"But if you hear a light crackling the next time you take a walk in the forest, perhaps it won't be just the wind...pg#13 'The Hidden Life of Trees'.

STILL A WIP

Vintage Wood

“If you have never had a garden you cannot understand, and if you have had a garden you will know that it would take a whole book to describe all that came to pass there.”
We saw a deer yesterday; I think she brought us good luck
Poor thing couldn't find a way out of the maze. I sure hope she found a way to her home.

I miss the trees, the birds, and the wildlife. 

WIP 20 X 14 OVAL

 

“Perhaps it is the key to the garden!” 

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

HEART'S EASE

HEART'S EASE

HEART'S EASE

I dream of a house in the country surrounded by a wildflower field and a forest beyond. The quietness and tranquility of the countryside, the absence of mental stress and anxiety, is my happy pill.

Heart's Ease is such a place I seek.

My Joy Within.




Florence has lived at Heart's Ease with his cats for a long time.

The outside world is far and away.

Make a tiny ghost for Halloween:

SPOOKY AND CUTE:HOW TO MAKE TINY SHEET GHOSTS FOR HALLOWEEN

A GHOST'S GARDEN @ MIDNIGHT

A GHOST'S GARDEN @ MIDNIGHT

PRINTS AVAILABLE ON ETSY 

ANNABELLE AND M

A Ghost's garden at midnight: unkept, purposely, for a garden planted by human, supernatural, the birds and the bees was the best garden to have. Its wild beauty was unmatched by any other properly maintained garden specimen. Florence loved it that way, and so did his visitors who came.

On hot summer nights, Florence's favorite thing to do was to stroll barefoot in the garden and breathe in the flower's sweet perfume. Every once in a while, clover magically appears between his toes. Florence was amused by how the clover always wanted to dress his feet.

FLORENCE BLUME THE GHOST , BAT AND MAGGIE, OSGOODE AND PUDDING

"I look around me, and, lo! On every visage, a black veil! Pleasant is a rainy winter's day, within doors! The best study for such a day, or the best amusement,---call it which you will,--- is a book... "

TWICE TOLD TALES

FLORENCE BLUME THE GHOST

A night enjoying Perry Mason and studying my painting

The pitter-pattering of the rain on the window pane had made Florence fall asleep. It only had been a minute, although it felt like hours to Florence.
Waking in a clouded daze, he found all four cats still in the Spirit room. Osgoode was climbing up his lap while Pudding snuggled under his chin. They had come for a sleepover with Bat and Maggie. Florence had promised them some spooky stories before bedtime. Unfortunately, the little kittens had given Florence such a workout he fell asleep during Perry Mason in The Case of The Wary Wildcatter" and missed the ending. Now Florence was awake, he couldn't wait to read them the stories. Bedtime would follow and Florence could catch the ending he missed.

CLOUDY DAZE 2023

NIGHT GALLERY

NIGHT GALLERY on Etsy Original Painting

Rod Serling's Night Gallery, The Art of Darkness. Back in the late 1960s, one of my favorite shows I loved watching was Night Gallery. Rod Serling would start the show by presenting each horror tale in a painting he had in an Art Gallery. Artist Thomas J. Wright was the artist behind all of the spooky artwork. Rod Serling would introduce each story of every episode with one of Wright's eerie paintings. The Cemetery was one of my very favorites. I painted over a painting I did some time ago inspired by Night Gallery's The Cemetery. Adding Florence the Ghost and Bat to The Cemetery just seemed perfectly haunting. This Original Painting, Night Gallery will soon be available on Etsy. Mixed Media ORIGINAL PAINTING "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost ♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️ © 2023
a Mixed Media ORIGINAL PAINTING
"Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost
♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️
© 2023 @batandmaggie

VISITING THE ANCESTORS

 Florence and Bat went on a little trip to Genova, Italy, to visit Florence's family at Cimitero di Staglieno: one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. 

When I was little, my aunt Virgina brought me to a beautiful garden. I remember the air being hot, dry, and infused with the smell of pine. We wandered through a maze of mysterious sculptured figures and monuments so elaborate in intricate detail, so life-like, I was sure the people were alive under the dusty marble facades. We were visiting our ancestors. The garden was a cemetery, and it was gorgeous. Ghosts of the past are here in their final resting place. And what a beautiful place to be in death. Cimitero Monumental di Staglieno; haunting and so beautiful. I was never to forget it. 

Below is an excerpt of what the American writer Mark Twain said after visiting Staglieno :

 “Our last sight was the cemetery (a burial place intended to accommodate 60,000 bodies), and we shall continue to remember it after we shall have forgotten the palaces. It is a vast marble colonnaded corridor extending around a great unoccupied square of ground; its broad floor is marble, and on every slab is an inscription - for every slab covers a corpse. On either side, as one walks down the middle of the passage, are monuments, tombs, and sculptured figures that are exquisitely wrought and are full of grace and beauty. They are new and snowy; every outline is perfect, every feature guiltless of mutilation, flaw, or blemish; and therefore, to us these far-reaching ranks of bewitching forms are a hundred fold more lovely than the damaged and dingy statuary they have saved from the wreck of ancient art and set up in the galleries of Paris for the worship of the world." 

"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." 

GENOA: Stunning sculptures 🏛️, Monumental Cemetery (Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno)

@batandmaggie @hauntedwalk @rideau_walkingtours @harpercollinsch@ottawabloggers #art #artgallery#ghost #bookstagram #book #booklover #catart #story #instagram #instagood#instadaily #insta #cimiteromonumentale#cimitero#cemetery #halloween #grave #beautiful #haunting

HAPPY EASTER 🐣🐇

HAPPY EASTER 🐣🐇

Well, I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.

SWEPT AWAY TO ANOTHER WORLD - IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?

Florence and Bat went to the seaside for the day.


FLORENCE : The crashing waves on a hot summer's day playfully mix with the crescendos of Life on Mars that's playing inside my head. Dreaming under a shy sun, we have been swept away: to another world. Is there life on Mars?


WIP Inspired by David Bowie and Edward Gorey

★ LEFT SIDE OF PAINTING IN THE SAND SPELLS BOWIE ★

LIFE ON MARS


It's a God-awful small affairTo the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?



It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns

But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on



Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?


- DAVID BOWIE **** "HE IS NOT DEAD HE IS LIVING ON MARS" @niallooo

 

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK - FLORENCE BLUME - 👀🖤

Florence didn't have a wife keeping count of his ever-growing collection of old things. However, it did come at a cost. He had successfully filled his house to the rafters, in the attic, in the basement, in the garage, and in the small cottage at the back of the property.

The other day, Florence found an old book at the thrift store someone had painted inside of.

One of the paintings was of a woman sitting with a cat on her lap: I wonder who she was, Florence uttered out loud, no one there to hear him.




Excerpt from the book - FLORENCE BLUME👀🖤




*ALL OUR VISITORS BRING HAPPINESS

SOME BY COMING AND OTHERS BY GOING *




"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." - Happy April 1st

And A Happy Caturday🐾🐾🐾🐾


A mother/daughter Ghostly Adventure, writing together for the first time about their favorite subject, the supernatural.

♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️ © 2023

BAT TUB

Bat, bathing in the moonlight, at midnight, in the dark, in the woods, alone. 

My daughter hijacked my painting; no stars, no flowers, no more cats, and no ghosts. Maybe, Halloween? She named it Bat Tub.




“The moon can never breathe, but it can take our breath away with the beauty of its cold, arid orb.”

― Munia Khan




"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see."