Another rainy evening !

A beautiful Cellist from the last night

I wish I had more time for my feeble attempt at this oil sketch of this beautiful Cellist last night. When she started to play time seems to have stood still : her music seems to have suddenly extract us from our mortal shells elevating  our souls heaven- bound closer and closer to something divine. I hold my breath as well as my paint brush while listening to her beautiful play fumbling my way through the painting just as the British poet Wordsworth remarked,

 "I listen’d, motionless and still;

And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
 Long after it was heard no more."

A heritage house on 11th Street and Louise Avenue in Brandon after the rain stops today

The Heritage house on 11^th Street and Louise Avenue in Brandon after the rain stopped this morning.

I just came back from my daily outdoor painting excursion. O, What a morning today! When you are painting on the street, you attract people’s attention and they tend to stop and chat with you! I am very used to it and actually quite enjoy painting and chatting simultaneously! However, today is exceptional; I have had so many interesting encounters and it is quite something that I finished my painting within two hours despite of so many chats with people whom I had never met!  First, a native teacher from the north came to chat with me talking about creativity and art education, second, I met an artist who had just moved here from Gimli, and I shared with him my painting trip to Gimli two summers before, third, I met a gentleman who recognized me from face book telling me that his wife had the same last name Zhao as mine!, wondering if by any chance his wife and I were related. I told him that Zhao is a very popular Chinese last name just like Smith in English, and the chance of us being related is zero. I then, asked him where in China his wife was from. He could not tell me right away, but gave me a hint about using melted snow for underground irrigation system from mountains. I told him it was Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far western China, and to his surprise I told him that was where I was born and grew up!Then , came a university graduate from Ontario who was originally from India and proudly showed me on his smart phone a picture of a magnificent looking new architecture of a Sikh Temple. And after that, a familiar face came on bike to stop and chat with me. A straight A student from Crocus Plains high school who came from China without any knowledge of English , and now after just a few years , not only did he finished all major high school courses with close to 100 percent but also finished all Advanced Placement courses with close to 100 percent!!! He is also outstanding in fine art painting brilliantly. He is ready for medical school now, and he is eager to share with me about painting and about how to get ready academically for medical school. While chatting, while painting, deep in me like a wedge which refused to dislodge itself is the beautiful first few notes from Schubert’s piano sonata in A major D664 which I heard from CBC Radio 2 at 10:40 am while driving to my painting spot.

In case you have not heard yet , please enjoy Kempff's interpretation here on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGg5dVoNB6c

A glimmer of light on a rainy evening

It was raining non stop towards evening, and looking out of the window, I did this quick oil sketch to mark the end of the gloomy day.

A stormy prairie sky at 6 p.m today

A quick oil sketch looking up at the sky from my backyard at 6 p.m today

Our house on Balmoral Bay with a more empty front yard now

After the July 6 storm which destroyed so many big trees in the neighborhood , we had to cut down our ash tree which was badly damaged and dig up the dying juniper shrubs, the front yard landscape has changed now without them. A quick oil sketch this afternoon to mark the changed landscape.

Rain started to fall outside

Just a few hours later, it started to rain and did not stop for the remaining of the day.

As the sun rises early in the morning

A quick oil sketch looking out of the window early in the morning

In the receding sunlight

A quick oil sketch from our front yard. Notice how much the landscape has changed in our neighborhood of Balmoral Bay. Most of the trees that used to stand across the street are all gone revealing much more of the sky now.

Clean up across the street after cutting down the trees

The three big trees across the street which had appeared in so many of my oil sketches over the past 11 years were cut down yesterday due to the damage inflicted on by the summer storm in early July. Today the crew was here again to clean up. I set up my easel on our bare front yard and did this quick oil sketch.

In the morning light

A glimpse out of our window this morning at 8.

Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Winnipeg Assiniboine Park

A quiet spot from Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Winnipeg today

In the last light from our patio

The old MTS building then, and the Brandon General Museum and Archives building now

Stopped at Downtown Brandon to paint again on the corner of 9th Street and Rosser Ave looking north. Heard a guy asking another fellow who is about to get into his car to spare a quarter :" Hay, cowboy! Do you have a quarter to spare?" To my surprise that he did and handed it over to him. I brushed in the interaction at the bottom of my canvas. That is the joy of painting on site: there is no lack of interesting thing unfolding right  in front of you.

The ginger bread house on 15th Street in Brandon

The ginger bread house on 15th Street--- Stopped by Stanley Park this morning and noticed this house is on the market for sale. This is the first neighborhood I found myself in when I moved to Brandon from China 23 years ago where this unique house was located. Spent an hour painting there noticing some Chinese grandparents keeping eyes on their grand kids who were playing there. How much Brandon's demographic landscape has changed!

A house on 15th Street in Brandon

Painted around 11 a.m on  location today not far from where I first stayed when I first moved to Brandon 23 years ago.

Manitoba Provincal Exhibit Building --- A Brandon heritage building

Came to Keystone Grounds to paint towards noon hour where I found a shelter from scorching sunlight under a big tree at the edge of the parking lot. There must be some kind of big event going on there as there are so many vehicles parked there and occasional appearance of young ladies  on horse back.

My super moon night

A quick oil sketch using flash light lighting at midnight on Sunday

The old Brandon Raiway Station on Pacific Avenue

The old Brandon Railway Station then and the Westman Immigrant Services now on Pacific Avenue of Brandon------ How fitting it is to convert the old railway station of Brandon into an immigrant services center. Standing on Pacific Avenue and painting for two hours under the expansive prairie sky on this quiet Sunday afternoon , I could almost feel the pulse of the distant pioneers and the beating hearts of new immigrants as they make their very first steps on their life changing journey. Chatted with a lady who works for Immigrant Service Center and I put her figure their as she walked towards the doorway.

Another corner of our patio in late afternoon sun

a corner of our patio in the morning light

A glimpse of a backyard in the last light

From Stephen Street of the town of Morden upon my first visit

After lunch break at a local Subway, I came to the main street  in town to paint this landmark building which used to be a post office and is now a gift store and art gallery.

A charming house on Stephen Street in Morden upon my first ever visit to the town today

The sun came out briefly to give me some visual  reference to what I feel about this unique house in Morden and how I would like to paint it upon our first ever visit to the town today.

Downtown Brandon from Rossa Avenue and 9th Street

 A glimpse of busy Dowtown Brandon at noon hour today

a glimpse of Downtown Brandon from 10th Street and Pacific Ave

Downtown Brandon on a quiet Monday morning

a pot of mini rose from our patio embracing the late afternoon sun

A quick half an hour  oil sketch from our patio late in the afternoon yesterday.

On a hot summer afternoon - a window view from Crocus Cresent in Brandon

Brandon Lions Manor on Saturday morning

Stopped this morning at the intersection of Vitoria Ave and first Street and spent two hours painting this view.

First Presbyterian Church of Brandon

Brandon First Presbyterian Church in the morning sunlight
Stopped right in front of Colin Corneau's house and spent two hours painting this view with his two lovely cats keeping my company