a note for Zsuzsi

There is something so promising and inspiring about a young person launching out into the world. Watching our Zsuzsi these past weeks has reminded me how exciting and pivotal certain times in our lives really are.

With her final exams just around the corner, Zsuzsi is planning for her new adventure as a young woman of the world. First stop - Germany - where Zsuzsi will work as an Au Pere and improve her German. December has her marked for a month-long visit to Canada and she's been warned she better not show up without her paint brush. Over lunch last week she casually showed us a photo of a William Turner reproduction she had recently painted that had us floored. Is there anything this girl can't do?
This was her first and only.

So as she embarks on her adventure of many 'firsts' we want to send her off with only two pieces of advice:

make your mark,...

...and remember who you are.

Sok szerenchét Zsuzsi!

Laci's Metapmorphosis

They say there is an artist in all of us. Laci's inner artist manifests itself in a number of unexpected ways. Recently, he has taken to the art of canoe restoration. We found two free canoes that we could either pay to dump or bring to life. Laci has never been in a canoe before, but this didn't stop him from learning how to raise one from the dead.

So he scrubbed and sanded, scrubbed and sanded...

...fiberglass and epoxied, scrubbed and sanded.

Every now and then he took a break for coffee and chill time with Gypsy.

Three days passed...

And Laci's metamorphosis was complete. 

Meet Ruby.

Laci decided to try to sell Ruby. It took all of two hours for the calls to come pouring in. Before he even had a chance to give her a paddle, Ruby was strapped to a roof and driven away. 

It was obvious that Laci was feeling a little bit of seller's remorse. After twelve long hours, his inner artist grew restless... 

Meet Ruby's much older sister. She doesn't look like a gem yet, but I think she's in good hands ;)

Laci's metamorphosis inspired me to imagine Ruby floating down a Group of Seven river somewhere in Algonquin. Maybe in the same way that money makes money, art makes art.