Category: Blog

Peacock With Seeing Eyes

Peacocks Guard The Castle Of Prince Rupert of Fantasy Land

 These peacocks guard the castle of Price Rupert, the Prince of Fantasy Land.  They are blessed with iridescent blue-green plumage.  They strut around the castle displaying their shimmering fans to onlookers.  The ladies of the Court love them and feed them sweet treats.  Being fearless they can do Price Albert’s biddings to keep the palace safe.  Their eye spots are enticing and they mesmerize their prey so if you don’t want to get caught in “their land of a 1000 eyes, look away.

Popcorn Magical Mystery Forest

It’s night and you notice the sparkle on the trees in the moonlight and then you see popcorn balls in colours of gold, yellow, black and cyan.  Up until now you would have been frightened walking in this dark forest but now that your childhood fear of visiting ghostly forests  has vanished, you see popcorn balls.  Perhaps you see nature this way because you have a sweet tooth!  You look up to see the wonderful forest for what it really is – “treats”.  Some popcorn has fallen and you are going to take a taste and that is when you discover butterscotch, licorice, maple syrup and other flavours of popcorn balls.  You invite your friends to come along too and your party starts here.

***********************************

“Hi, this is really neat; you are very creative and I appreciate that as I am totally not.”
Marg Holroyd

“I liked your picture.”
Heather Smith

“Gail …. I truly like this.  I feel peaceful and this is art I like to just stare at and think good quiet thoughts.”
Betty

Truffles

Truffles is 7 months old as of December 2nd but my photos say December 1 as that was when they were taken.  Enjoy our little “Sugar Bear” Truffles.  She has the freedom of the house as she jumps over the baby gates..  Her hair is about 6 inches long and crinkly. We are back into lessons once again at PetSmart and I am having private lessons because nobody else signed up for the class.  She walks very well on the street with me but she dashes out the door if she gets a chance and runs wild all over the neighbourhood.  She chases the other three cats around the house when she gets a chance.  She is sleeping on our bed sometimes and other times she is in her crate (her den).  I feel much joy having pets and wanted to share Truffles with you.  Her favourite thing is to lay down beside me with my hand in her mouth – something I’ve done with her right from when I brought her home.  Norma gave me a grooming arm and I got a noose for it so I have an art table that it is attached to so this is where I groom her sometimes but our favourite time is when I get out of the shower and my brush becomes a play toy.  When you brush her out the curls disappear but when you dampen her, the curls come back.  Needles to say she was a wet mop after dashing down the street in the rain and rolling on the grass.  Her hair remains crinkly until it gets brushed out.  Right now Norma put a Christmas scarf around her neck and yesterday I tied purple bows on her hair including one on her head.  She is just like a big teddy bear but at 45 lbs. I can pick her up.  She and I dance in the kitchen and she can go backwards with much precision which has impressed me.

Truffles 7 months old December 1, 2012
Truffles 7 months old December 1, 2012

 

Bob Holding Truffles 7 months old 2012
Bob Holding Truffles 7 months old 2012

 

People don’t understand why I doodle…

People don’t understand why I doodle and place so much importance on it. It is a passion. It is how I express myself. Being intuitive you work with the universe in many ways and this is one of the greatest ways for me of expressing myself in mind, body and soul. When I doodle I am focused and when everything comes together, my artwork is done very quickly. This is also how I write poetry. A couple of my books were done in marathon time and then were complete. I never devalue what I am meant to do even if others don’t think that it is important. It is valuable and important to me or I wouldn’t spend time and energy on it and wake up passionate to draw once again. I delight in waiting for a flow of energy to engulf me to draw. I hope that something this powerful becomes a part of your life and perhaps provides you with a career or a hobby or just excites you enough to get your out of bed every morning. Art Therapy is used as a tool to help those in grief and those going through life threatening situations. Artists aren’t sick – they have found their true calling…..Gail

Watermelon & Birds Rug Hooking

I belong to a group of Rug Hookers, Memories In Wool and I worked on this rug hooking and finished it in the summer. We often sit and hook in Pinafore Park or at the Elgin County Museum where our group is attached to. A kind lady donated wool and some patterns to our group. As I have a watermelon collection I picked the one of the watermelon. In my own style I redesigned the pattern adding birds, flowers and a border and pulled out the wool that had already been hooked as it would be difficult to match it. Here is the finished product and it hangs up north at the cottage with my extensive watermelon collection.

“They wouldn’t let your father out of Heaven to visit you”, so says Millie.

“THEY WOULDN’T LET YOUR FATHER OUT OF HEAVEN TO VISIT YOU”, SO SAYS MILLIE.

By Gail McNaughton, February 12, 2007

“They wouldn’t let your father out of Heaven to visit you”, so says Millie.

But he did come,

With a puff of cigarette smoke,

To the kitchen,

Where I am at home,

In the middle of household congestion.

He was hungry for company,

And knew,

That I’d smell his presence,

For I was used to spices and scents.

When I am one with the universe,

I am calm,

And our vibrational levels,

Almost collide,

But my dense emotions,

Are stirred in the soup pot,

With the potatoes and carrots,

And Dad only identifies with,

The steam essence of,

Who I am,

And not my shape and form,

Only my spirit.

It is enough for me,

Because my Dad’s presence,

In cigarette smoke,

Is all that I’ve ever known,

Since his death,

And it comforts me.

One day our two worlds,

Will mesh,

And I’ll see my Father,

Face to face.

He can always leave from Heaven,

For God makes all things possible,

For believers.

One day my Mother,

Will know the truth,

That God wants us to be one,

In spirit and form,

And to always be present,

With our loved ones.

Scary Sally – Happy Halloween

Scary Sally Doodle Art
Good Morning To All and Happy Halloween. The story below has nothing to do with the Doodle Art. Please pass my Halloween contribution on to your friends and family. I don’t usually draw Scary Sally but felt inspired to have a few laughs and see what I could come up with. I think that she is having a bad makeup and hair day and someone needs to help her dress but isn’t that what Halloween is all about – trick or treat, scary things and candy?
Cheers,
Gail

The Great Pumpkin Angel
Heavenly angels give these children a Halloween treat.
By Joan Sanchez, Norwalk, California

October is usually a happy time for me—my grandchildren, Daniel and Carly, get all excited about Halloween. They spend weeks beforehand discussing their costumes and dreaming of all that candy.
More than anything else, though, they love pumpkins. And not just any pumpkins. They wanted the ones grown by their great-aunt Margaret. What would my grandkids do this first Hallloween after she died?
I liked to joke that my sister Margaret had a soft spot for those kids—the compost pile in her backyard. That’s where the pumpkins grew. And she and the kids tended to them, slipping an upside-down pie pan under each one so it wouldn’t rot sitting on the ground.
Whenever I picked up my grandchildren and took them to visit Margaret, they’d barely say hello before bursting out into the yard to see what was going on in their “pumpkin patch.” They harvested them and used the big ones for carving into jack-o’-lanterns.
I didn’t know why or how pumpkins grew in a compost heap, of all places. Margaret never planted seeds. Maybe she’d thrown an old pumpkin out there one year. She had a green thumb, though. She could have dug a hole, dropped in a worm and ended up growing a rose bush. I envied her gardening skills. If only I had inherited Margaret’s abilities after she passed away.
Next day I went to visit the kids. I can help them with their costumes, I thought. That’ll be something, at least. “Hi!” I said, opening the door.
As soon as I walked in they said the quickest hello before shouting, “Grandma! Grandma! Come and see!”
“See what?”
“Just come!” they said, grabbing my hands and dragging me with them. We went outside. There, right on the side of the house, were half-a-dozen pumpkins. All plump and orange, with vines trailing everywhere. Growing in a spot where nothing had ever been planted.
I said, “You know what Aunt Margaret would do if she were here…” We all raced to the kitchen to get some pie pans. The biggest and best got turned into jack-o’-lanterns. The rest decorated the front porch. And they lasted for months, an autumn-long reminder for my two little pumpkin patch kids.

Surprise It’s Me Doodle Art

Surprise It’s Me

This sunflower is flourishing with Mommy Millie Bear in disguise, even at the end of the season when most are fading away and their heads are drooping and their seeds falling out, Mommy Millie Bear is steadfast, perhaps because Halloween is approaching.  With the rain the sunflowers begin to get mushy and their large stocks have to be dug out with a shovel with some muscle attached.  My Mom, Millie, was a real prankster so this is dedicated to her as she is personified as a doodle character.  She is so happy pretending to be a flower and thinks that she is pulling the wool over our eyes.  My Mom hated plants in the house and flowers that she had to tend to but she has manifested herself in the garden of her followers playing a trick and that’s just like her.

 

EBWN at The Business Sample Show on October 17, 2012

Linda Crawford, Aurora Rodrigues and Gail McNaughton at the EBWN table (The Business Sample Show)

The Business Sample Show was a huge success on October 17, 2012. The display at the EBWN sparkled with originality provided by Aurora Rodrigues, A+ Display and Gail McNaughton, Silpada Designs Jewellery. Linda Crawford, Belcrawf and Membership Co-ordinatoar, St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce looks on and gives us a “thumbs up” for creativity. Karen Moffatt, Better Than Flowers had her staff decorate the two draw baskets, one supplied by Karen and the other donated by Aniko Varpalotai & Cecilia Preyra, Lavender Lane Farms. Together they were worth from $350.00 to $400.00! Gifts were supplied by the EBWN membership for the baskets. Linda Stevenson, volunteer with Elgin Employment and Elgin Housing, Valerie Marchand, Curves, and Sharon Lechner, Reach For The Stars Empowerment, were volunteers at the booth. They talked up a storm to women interested in joining the EBWN. Thanks to all for their contributions.

The Flower Girl

I was thinking about all The Flower Girls in life – those that stand by others and support them.  They are a breath of fresh air of encouragement to others.  They support our efforts.  They brighten up our lives.  They stand in for us and remind us who we are when we forget.  My flower girls are my friends and you are one of them.

Love Gail

****************************************

“Good morning to you!!  I love the picture. ”
~ Frances Kana

****************************************

“Ahhh! That’s so nice.  You made me smile…and I needed that.”

~ Kathy

****************************************

“Thanks Gail for once again bringing a smile to my lips and a hug to my heart.  Your creative talent inspires me.”

~ Pamela Andersen
************************************

“Thanks Gail.
Well you are one of the rays of hope in my life.
Some day you might do a piece of art that symbolizes rays of hope and dedicate it to yourself as a committed advocate.”

~ Cathy Grondin
************************************

“This is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!  You are soo talented, and an angel in disguise!!!!!”

~ Sue
************************************