Caught Red-Handed with a Blue Tongue!!!



"Just Before Beatrice Ate the Daisies" acrylic on canvas by Cara Kansala

In the gallery....

Lovely Lady has bought the original "Just Before Beatrice Ate the Daisies" painting.....(Sniffle, sniff, sniff....I will miss it!)

SHE is writing up the Visa.

Lovely Lady says" Why is your tongue blue?"

She morphs into a very bad 7 year old...."It's not blue."

Lovely Lady  "Haha! Sure it is! It is VERY blue. Why is it blue?"

She looks at me. Horrified. I wonder if She is going to make a run for it and I block the doorway.

She is horrified because She knows that She is in big trouble.

She is in BIG trouble because I know that She has eaten all of the blue Tootsie Pops from the gallery candy box.

I know that her shirt pockets are full of crumpled up candy wrappers.

I know that there is so much sugar coursing through her veins that She could drive to St. John's. Without the car.

I know that her jean pockets are full of sad, little, sticky-white sticks that used to be lovely lollipops. Decapitated.

I know that She was planning on pretending that there were never any blue ones to begin with. 

What I didn't know was that She was going to announce that She had been eating Smurfs.

I can only image what the excuse will be when some day a customer asks why Her tongue is green.



The BIGGEST LOBSTER since time began!!!

Yesterday, we did a whirlwindy trip to Twillingate for work and had the bestest of times! Thank you SO very much to the darlings at The Anchor Inn in Twillingate who were so kind to give us an amazing tour and a beautiful lunch. I am so excited about the painting and can't wait to go back.
P.S. They make the best fishcakes in the history of the universe!

Celebrating Life!

"Come Sail Away" Cara & Pam 2011
 The unexpected gift of love between two friends.



"In So Deep...." Cara & Pam 2011
A marriage that will be burdened with life’s hard work but will thrive on mutual love and admiration.



"Come Back to Me, My Love..." Cara & Pam 2011

A life shared between two fisherman who had chosen to spend their days together because it was easier than being apart.

The three sculptural pieces above are pieces that we have been working on for the past several months. In them, we are celebrating both traditional and non-traditional relationships, love, loss and the hard work of life.

Please join us for the opening reception of the Annual Members Exhibit for the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador. Works from dozens of amazing, talented craftspeople from around the province will be on display and for sale.

Annual Members Exhibit 20/20

Opens Saturday, June 25th 2-4pm

59 Duckworth Street, St. John's

Hey Daisy!!! Put Your Dukes up!!

My Grumpy Goat Garden is doing great! SHE calls it my "Darwinian" garden because it's a battle out there. Total carnage.
Gardening books? Blagh! Instructions on seed packets? Argh! Farmers Almanacs? HA! Zone Charts? Poopoo!
My shopping list for the gardening center looks like this....
Things I Need for the Garden 2011
Something Red
Something Pink
Something Orange
Something Yellow
Something Tallish
Something Lowish
Lovely Lady at gardening center says "Ahh, your Bellis Perennis might compete with your Pelargonium."  Bring it on, I say, I like a good fight and maybe with a few therapy sessions and some Miracle Grow, they'll work out their issues. No need for hostility in THIS garden...there's room for everyone. (Not exactly true, as the green, rubbery, lettuce-looking balls that sprout up each year are getting bigger and bigger and have started sitting on HER hosta's lap. SHE wants to separate them but I think it might be love and maybe next year they will have little, creepy hosta/lettuce babies!
We won't know how the saga ends until September, when the winners take it all, leaving the losers, standing small. Abba. Yes.


The Darwinian Garden. I am even growing something quite furry that appears to have a heartbeat. It eats an awful lot but avoids anything green or healthy, so for now, I am letting it stay even though it has crushed the Icelandic Poppies (I call them hairy lollipops)
Fat Aunt Sylvia - 5 points
Icelandic Poppies- 0

To all of you truly amazing, patient, studious gardener friends who take time to learn about your plants and care about their well-being and safety, good-luck this growing year. You are shining gardening stars. May the force be with you.

Ask Not For Whom the Horn Honks.......

Mister Lily Shows Off His Pearl Necklace
("NanaBear" by Cara *acrylic on wood)

A conversation I overheard outside our door this week.

Lovely husband and lovely wife...

Wife: HA! Honk the horn! YOU do it!

Husband in a whisperish: No, YOU do it!

Wife: YOU. What if we're not supposed to?

Husband: Well, it SAYS honk the horn, so HONK it!

Wife: YOU honk it!

Husband: No, YOU honk it!

Wife: How loud do you think it will be?

Husband: Horn-honking loud. Like a clown on a bicycle.

Wife: What? Just honk it! HONK it!!!

Husband: Fine! (and husband weakly squeezes horn resulting in a sad and wheezy "HHhhhoooooOOOooooNNK")

Wife: Honk it harder! HARDER! Just HONK it!

Husband: FINE!

Horn: HHHOOONNNNKKK! HONK! HONK! HONK! Honk!Honk!!!!!

Both erupt in fits of giggles.

My job here is done.

I Won't Knead Your Cat.....

This week in the gallery....

Lovely Lady holding the painted cat pictured above:

Lovely Lady :"Do you paint cats?"
Me: "Yes, I do."
Lovely Lady: "Did you paint THIS cat?"
Me: "Yes, I did."
Lovely Lady : "Oh! Could you paint MY cat?"
Me: "Yes, I'm sure I could."
Lovely Lady: "How long would you need him for?"
(Normally, I would say......." I'd knead him for about 10 minutes and then leave him to rise until he doubled in size", but this conversation had already taken a turn down the highway towards CrazyTown so I kept along the straight and narrow.
Me: "Oh, I wouldn't actually NEED the cat itself, you could just give me some photos to work from."
Lovely Lady: "Oh. So it doesn't matter if the cat is alive?"
Me: "Ah, no."
Lovely Lady: "That's very exciting. I would love to have my cat done. He died last year and he was such a friend to our family."
Me: "I'm so sorry to hear that...we are cat people, too."
Lovely Lady : "So, you just need a photo?"
Me: "Ah, yes. A photo will be fine."
....................................................................................
Yes, Yes, a photo is fine. Please do not drop off grandfathers, children, husbands or dogs for portrait sittings. If you DO, please make sure they are alive but please don't.  We don't have enough snacks!