Happy Valentines Day

I know I've been AWOL for a while. I've gone back to work and it takes up all of my time. I did manage to get a few days off and spent a day full of solace, painting the large canvas I had gessoed recently.

I had no intentions for the canvas. I just grabbed a bunch of colours, a few brushes and went for it. I find painting a good way to process events & feelings in my life. Things are so good now I can hardly believe it, yet there is a lot of pain and uncertainty in other areas.

So I got out my paints in the chipper colours and painted out my pain. Holding the brush, I dipped into my paints and felt the texture of the much used canvas becoming something new.

Starting Fresh

Hanging the Art Show #2

The art hanging part of the day went well, thanks to a friend who came and helped. We were a serious frame hanging team as we calculated the height, placement and width between each picture. She has a great eye and I was so glad I could trust her opinion about all the details. She's hold a painting up so I could go and look if the placement was right, then we'd switch places. The end result was a fantastic looking space!

This was the box filled with the glass framed drawings.


And below is what behind the scenes looks like. My pantings ready to vacate the house amidst piles of my sons shoes, longboards and bikes.


Below is a photo I snapped when my son happened to walk by the gallery and pop in. I caught the moment of horror as he saw what mom's been up to with the photography. It's the same photo that won 1st prize at the Monday Magazine photography competition. Methinks he may be difficult to get to the opening now.


There was only one casualty when I accidentally knocked this piece over. It had only been framed for about an hour but at least I was the one that broke it. No worries new glass is waiting for it as I type this. When I snapped this shot it caught the reflection of the light in my kitchen which made it look like there is a sun in the picture.


We barely managed to get everything up with a few seconds to spare. The building was being locked up and so we took a couple of really fast shots before we left. We never even had any time to do in progress shots.




Later in the evening when I was postering I saw a woman inside the gallery quietly standing and contemplating the paintings. She looked ever so thoughtful and mesmerized at the same time. That's the best compliment I could ever have asked for.

Another Day

I'm starting to get a bit burnt out. I miss seeing people or actually having time to visit but I must plod on until these art shows are up. I can't believe how much work this all is but it will be very worth it in the end as long as I don't end up in the fetal postion in the corner of the gallery.


Doing all this has been much more than just work, it's been a great opportunity to stretch out my art and organizational skills.

It's not the first time I've done any of this but it has been a long time. I've had one show post cancer but it's been a couple or so years since then. All my energy has been absorbed in keeping my little family together and getting better. My health is an ongoing puzzle but I feel like I'm at point of being refreshed.

First my mind and then my body.

this photo is me being a little snap happy with one of my paintings

Wakeful Slumber

Newest Painting

I'm still working away like a busy bee. It's hard to believe the amount of work that goes into putting on an art show. Since yesterday was Valentines Day I went to get my hair done to do something nice for myself. That and I didn't want to show up at my art openings looking like someone who's been wearing sweatpants for the last 2 months.

I had also committed myself to making a painting for a local gallery's fund raiser. This economic crisis has lead to our arts funds being chopped. Galleries that previously had funding are really struggling now. It was a little crazy to offer to do it considering the amount of work I have to do with these looming deadlines. It didn't help either that I had a blinding headache all day.

I woke up to find all the tea gone and started drawing and painting on the LP cover I had prepped the night before. There's nothing like leaving something to the last minute. I decided to draw my super power socks and I didn't title it but it did get handed in.

It will be sold (hopefully) at an event on Friday.

Another Sketch Book Page

I scribble quotes that mean something to me, all through my sketch books.


Sometimes I even put them on my blog! This sketch book page ended up drawn on, painted, collaged, painted again and then a quote scratched on top in sharpie. When I put things in my sketch book, they are never for show. My sketchbook is private and strictly for myself to capture ideas for a later date.

I feel it's also written in a personal language that's all my own, no one else would ever be able to decipher it anyway. Every mark I make is connected to larger, well developed ideas and concepts that reside in my mind. I guess the sketchbook is more like an index page. The real content is within me.

Painting in Progress

I paint very slowly and carefully. It's still not quite done but his is how the bear has transformed since I last posted an in progress photo. It's gone from a bear wandering the arctic to a bear quietly lumbering through a frozen forest.


I don't sleep since I had my stem cell transplant so I know how this bear feels, being awake when perhaps you shouldn't be.

Flipping Tired

but I keep on painting.


I feel like I'm in a game of Frogger where I keep jumping, dodging and narrowly missing catastrophe at every turn but I'm not letting it stop me from painting. If I believed in fate I'd think something was trying to test me and keep me from getting the work done for my arts shows. Anything and everything has been happening and I keep thinking I'm getting to the end just for something else to start.

Having 3 sons is a lot to do with that right now. Teenagers are a handfull and not in any of the ways you'd expect.

It's just life. Life is happening and I need to keep up lest be run over.

Art & Fear

I feel the heat from the impending double art shows. I can't believe the first time I try and show my work for several years, I end up with two shows in the same month.

Some would call that crazy.

I call it extra crazy because I'm such a slow and methodic painter.

Two art shows at the same time means two entire bodies of work that need to be completed ASAP. Working over Christmas was out because so many other things need to get done and of course being a mom zaps tons of time. Now I'm trying to catch up which means painting 24/7.

Here's a page from my sketchbook which contains my scribbling thought processes in creating my final paintings.


When I'm not wringing my hands and pacing for fear of not meeting my deadlines, I'll be posting more pages.

Neighborhood Art Walk

I've been suffering some serious cabin fever since the H1N1 reared it's pinhead and was well enough today to go for a walk. Since I haven't actually bonded with my 10 month or so new neighborhood I decided to take in the sights that are all around my home. Since I've been here I've realized this place is like no other I've seen before. Out of necessity I've traded the woods and wildlife I crossed paths with everyday for... other things.


In this new place I seem to be surrounded by oddities of human nature. Expressions of self on this man made terrain.


Philosophers wax poetic on concrete, anarchists speak with paint, sharpies author introspection, politics are pictorial and wool replaces words.


Kind of wild.

























The one above is very political against the Olympics and a slew of other things all wrapped up into one mural. Very creative message to the people.







My neighborhood reminds me that art doesn't need canvas or university degrees. It's our very breath.

May Paintings

I made a couple of paintings in May on found objects, ie.clipboards. I often get inspired by things I find in thrift stores, garage sales or for free. It just seems like there is always something that can be done with something that's about to be tossed out.

These are hanging on my wall by my dining table. They remind me not to despair, even the clouds that block out the sunshine are beautiful.

Tripping

I'm in my studio. I am sore and feel somewhat violated even though the surgery was for the greater good. I've just come down here to get away from my bed. I've spent too much time in my bed these last two years. Even though I hurt, I feel so physically relieved.

I've just tidied up the space on my studio floor where I sat the last three months crippled in pain and painting in what I called my nest. I was in too much pain to even sit in a chair at my easel. I had a show scheduled, so I painted. I've always seemed to keep going no matter how harsh my circumstances. But now as I sit here looking at my newly clear floor that was so recently my nest, I see how ridiculous I must be.

Keeper

Quick post today. I'm preparing for a show of my work in May. Despite my anxieties about accomplishing things these days, I now have one painting done!

It was all kicked off by an online collage Flikr group I joined. I didn't really collage but I did make little paintings.



This led to grabbing some nearby canvas' and base coating them in bright colours. (I always start bright and add the dark).



Most days I spend a little time with them in the studio, layering colours.



Today I was brave enough to finish off this one. Now I want to keep it.

This Post Makes Me Look Productive

So, I may not be spending exactly 2 hours a day in my studio but I have been in there. My stupid drunk night turned out to be not so bad because it broke the ice with my studio. I'm not so afraid of going in there anymore.

I finished the painting for my mom's new house. She wanted red and pears.


This painting is quite large at 3'x4'. I'm not sure what it is in metric and I'm too freak'n tired to go check.

I haven't been mobile since my Vancouver trip. They said, "You should start feeling better soon," but I guess they didn't mean today.

I also jumped when MagicJelly suggested on Etsy that we do a collage a day group. It's been 4 days and I've made 2 things. I might get another one done today if my legs will drag me downstairs.




These are postcard size with rounded corners. The corners show up as white here because of the background behind the paintings.

I've Got It!

My New Years Resolution is to spend 2 hours a day in my studio! It doesn't matter what I do, I can sit there and stare at the wall if I want to.

Which reminds me of this work by....(I guess I forget the originator. Damned Chemo Brain) Blankety Blank Blank. materials- stare on paper.

Nice! I will be making artworks to rival this one soon. (maybe I'll even paint something on it).

I'm so excited for tomorrow now! WooHooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helicopter Ride

Okay. I was happily finishing my art degree in the honours program. I had a couple of weeks left to prepare for my grad show and was working in a large studio on 7' tall paintings. I had worked my ass off for years to get to this glorious point, where all my work would come to fruitation. Slowly I was crashing but kept pushing myself harder. I became sicker and sicker until I literally laid down my paintbrush and went home to my couch. A friend found me and took me to the emergency.

Next thing you know I hear "Leukemia", am placed in isolation, and am then thrown on a helicopter to Vancouver. What an amazing ride! Unfortunately I was strapped to a stretcher with an oxygen mask on and IV's among gorgeous paramedics. I had tubes coming out of me every which way. It turns out helicopter paramedics are even better looking than regular ones! Try looking good in THAT situation.

Anyway, I was plugged into a small room overloooking the city. Amazing!