July Art Show - Red

For the month of July my Sidebar Art Gallery featured a collection called Red, inspired by the color featured at my wedding eighteen July's ago.



















Surfacing by Wayne Boucher

















Spirit of the Sockeye by Blaine Billman

















Black Mountain: B.C. by Emily Carr













Highbrush Cranberries - Cardinal by Robert Bateman



















Montreal 1852 by Cornelius Krieghoff



















Toll If You Please by Paul Peel











Jelly Shelf by Mary Pratt

















Lacing Up by Ken Danby
























June 1979 by Alex Colville

Shelley Munro says What a great selection, Julia. I like the Sockeye one and Lacing Up.

Akelamalu says Great pictures Julia I particularly like 'Spirit of the Sockeye' :)

To Blave

One of the things that marks a long-lasting relationship, be it a friendship or a romantic partnership, is the inside joke.

My husband and I have our share. One of them comes from The Princess Bride, when Westley is brought to Miracle Max to be revived after he's mostly dead.
















When he uses the bellows to find out what Westley considers worth living for, Westley says "True love."

But Miracle Max insists he said, "To blave."

For nearly 25 years now, Brad and I use that line to our unending delight. A two-word line in a film has provided us with an amazing amount of mileage.

Do you have a favorite in-joke with your honey or best buddy?

Courage to Climb Higher

It's probably hard to imagine that orchestra conductors don't emerge fully-formed from the womb in white tie and tails.

However, these elite artists have to train like anyone else in order to harness the potential of a live performance.

While I was rooting around on You Tube some time ago for pieces from Stravinsky's Apollo, I came across this clip of a young conductor learning his craft. He takes the orchestra through the second Apollo variation, one of my favorite pieces of music, during a masterclass with Russian conductor Yuri Simonov.

Artists are forever fine-tuning their techniques. Learning and growing should never end for those of us who create. The key is to never confuse instruction with a message of not-good-enough. Embrace refinement of your craft. Find the courage to climb higher.