Wednesday, June 19, 2019

First Heat of Spring and Dreaming of the Dugout

 First Heat of Spring
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2019
sold at Darrell Bell Gallery

Dreaming of the Dugout
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2019
available at Darrell Bell Gallery

Yikes, that was an unexpected hiatus from my blog! I haven't posted for over a month which is quite unlike me. I find Instagram and Facebook to be more immediate and interactive and the blog is much more time consuming. Its purpose is changing for me. I'm trying to sort out how to make all the social media options work in the best possible way and how to rejig the way I've been doing things so that more time is spent painting than anything else.

At any rate, I popped in to Darrell Bell Gallery today and now feel up-to-date with what is available on the 8x8 grid. I will be firing off several blog posts of the available work in the next 48 hours to try to catch up with what has been posted on my Intsa and FB.

Aside from trying to figure these things out, at the end of May and beginning of June my sister and I were thrilled to host visitors from Australia! It was a really big deal and I am still glowing from the joyous reunion.

Years ago my younger sister and I took a Contiki bus tour through Europe visiting something like twelve countries in forty-two days. It was a bus full of young adults; a really great group of people from all over the world. There were a handful we connected with on a really special level and have stayed in close touch with ever since. Life-long friends, the stuff of wonderful stories. One of them has now been to see us in Canada FIVE times (after this most recent trip) and my sister and I visited him in Australia five years after the European adventure. Considering the distance between our countries, we have done a good job of remaining in each others' lives. His visit this time was made even more amazing by the fact that he brought his parents! He organized a trip of a lifetime for them starting in B.C. and ending in Saskatoon. It included a cruise to Alaska and riding the Rocky Mountaineer to Alberta. They were over the moon. Apparently it was a dream of theirs to come to Canada.

It was a special time for all of us. Our parents got to meet and really connected. I loved that they were able to spend time with my family - he could not believe how my kids had grown since the last time he was here. I loved laughing about old memories and that crazy trip through Europe. I loved listening to my friend talk... he is absolutely hilarious! It was five days that went way too fast.

Now I can't help but wonder when I will see him again, or his parents. It's so far away, but we have talked about meeting somewhere in-between and hopefully our other friends from the Contiki trip can meet us, too. It is a very special bond.  

Friends who are family.

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