This & That

Infinite Grace

Work in progress

16"x16"

I never thought I would enjoy Twitter as much as I have but guiltily, I must admit it is fun. Quick and to the point it lets me know what the people I've decided to follow are up to. That, for me has been the key word........."choose to follow". I made a conscious decision to only follow those I know or those who interest me. If you don 't, you can get totally bogged down and never do anything else all day long.

I've been in the studio on a regular basis this week and feel great with what I've accomplished. CBC as been keeping me company as has my ipod........ lots of old Elton John (Mad Man Across The Water) and of course The Doobie Brothers (The Captain and Me)........some dance music which I'll discuss at a later date as it has to do with my need to dance while I work. Also been listening to the unbelievable Adele who I first heard on Q about a month ago.

The above piece is my foray into working on a larger scale which frightened me for quite some time but a good friend of mine encouraged me to make the leap. I've enjoyed it so much I've got a few bigger canvases on order. I still enjoy the 6"x6" and my next week I'll have a few ready to put up for sale on my sales blog which has been sadly neglected. They'll each be framed in a black shadowbox frame and will probably sell for anywhere from $95.00 to $125.00. The smaller pieces for galleries just don't work as once they've taken their % there isn't a whole lot left for the artist. So I'll use the 6"x6"'s for exploring new ideas for larger works.

Still raining here...........

Jumping For Joy That Summer is Finally Here

Spent part of Sunday with Kelly who is possession of a new trampoline. She seems to be quite the expert while I just got on, jumped lightly and prayed I wouldn't fall off and no, I didn't take a picture of that. Afterward I was rewarded with a great salad and a cold drink. You gotta love Sundays and friends..............

Odds and Ends

As Promised

8"x10"

Acrylic on Canas

I finally managed to get myself in gear and spent most of yesterday checking out a few new galleries that may work well to represent my work. Thankfully all but two of them accept online submissions. So much easier. I've been working on a few 6"x6" that I'm pleased with. They are wonderful formats in which to explore new ideas for larger pieces. I may end up selling them from the blog, to friends or whoever else may show up at my studio door.

John's aunt is arriving from out of town for dinner tonight so the studio is not going to see much of me today. Cleaning awaits me as well as dinner planning. We've got some rhubarb out in the garden so I think dessert will end up being a crisp.

Have a great weekend ...............see ya next week

Feels Like Summer

The Light Seekers

16"x8"

These last few days have been absolutely gorgeous weather wise which feels like such a change from the erratic temperatures and rain we've experienced through most of April and into May.

John had the girls out on Monday working in the garden and you can only imagine the looks on their faces. You would think I'd asked them to pump out the septic system. To their credit I will say they put in a solid two hours with their hoodies pulled up over their faces as the black flies were relentless. We planted some lettuce, snow peas, cucumbers and were still eating the asparagus.

I've been pretty steady in the studio, the clean studio I might add. I feel really creative right now and am trying to get as much done as possible before I hit a wall.........it always happens at some point. I've also been researching a few new galleries so I need to get my butt in gear to make that happen.

I'm also on Twitter which makes no sense whatsoever but so be it. Facebook has rather fizzled out for me and I find myself checking in maybe once a week to see what others are up to. Twitter is kind of fun as I can follow some of my favourites artists as well as my guy Jian who happens to Tweet quite frequently. I follow Kevin Nealon who was an alumni of Saturday Night Live and now is on Weeds.........he never fails to crack me up. I imagine it's kind of like stalking but with participants who are willing. Anyway, just some other mindless activity to keep me amused.

Hope your having a great day wherever you are in the world.

Purging

I think I've mentioned the fact that my studio is housed in a teeny tiny space. In reality it's a small bedroom that I've taken over as a studio. At one time a few years ago we considered a renovation above the garage, which incidently would have been a gorgeous spot for me. Our house backs onto a a park and creek so the view would have been incredible, but alas, it didn't happen. So yesterday when I walked into my studio and saw what can only be described as a bunch of crap clogging up my space, I decided I seriously needed to purge.

This bulletin board above was making me crazy as nothing was organized and it made me feel uneasy everytime I looked at it. I also had a few paintings that were either completed or in progress which were hanging around so I took a hammer and a few nails and hung them instead. Much better and I like seeing them when I walk into the studio. John would have preferred that I use these do hickey things that don't leave holes in the wall but I went to three different stores looking for them and had no luck so nails it was.

The next thing to tackle was my desk which was housing everything from bills to a half finished painting and even an old beer bottle which was empty of course(no idea how that got there). So I spent the next half hour wearing my Martha Stewart hat trying to put things in their appropriate place.

After all was said and done things just felt better and when the room has a good vibe it makes me want to spend more time in it which in turn makes me want to work more. I'll post the cleaned up version in my next post.

Have a great weekend................

Keeping Myself Company

Lately I've been increasingly aware of the fact that I talk out loud to myself, you know like making comments on the differences of the price of pickles while I'm standing in the grocery aisle or debating whether that shampoo that promises to give me soft and silky hair is actually going to...........it never does. Sometimes I catch myself and look around to see if anyone looks frightened while I'm carrying on my conversation and other times I do catch someone standing near me with a confused look on their face. I think there is some sort of saying that makes reference to the fact that it's ok to talk to yourself as long as you don't answer. Guess what? I started answering. Don't have the slightest idea what that means and I frankly don't care. Once I hit my 40's all that trivial stuff ceased to concern me anymore especially what others think. I remember reading this line once and it has always stuck with me........"it's none of my business what other's think of me".....love that.


Back to the grocery store..............Now that's not to say when I'm in the grocery store I don't make conversation with others. If I see someone looking at a jar of olives, obviously debating whether it's worth it........I may put my two cents in if I myself have bought the same jar. I'm trying to be helpful but my daughters being the teenagers that they are, find this totally mortifying, roll their eyes and run to a different aisle.


Although to be completely honest with you, I enjoy my own company. Always have and I suspect I always will. That's the true gift.

The Bounty of Spring

Undecided....in progress

Acrylic on Canvas

6"x6"

I can't believe it's Monday already as it seems like the weekend has whipped by in a blur. For Mother's Day, the girls (I know it was John) surprised me with an IPOD docking station with speakers for my studio. As much as I love my CBC and my sweetie Jian, sometimes it's nice to listen to music cause you know you can't dance to CBC...... at least I can't.

The girls were pretty much out of commision on Sunday as my oldest had a large project due today and my youngest came down with a really bad cold. As John was working around the yard I decided to bike on over to my friend Kellys. We had a beer, laughed a lot and just caught up on the news in the village.

Dinner consisted of a fantastic Butter Chicken dish with basmatic rice and fresh asparagus John picked from our garden. You gotta love the coming of spring............

Note: The above piece will be a part of the Spring Show opening at the Silverbridge Gallery on Friday May 15th.

Recap

From Here

Acrylic on Canvas

6"x8"

As you may have noticed I have been throughly absent from the blogspere lately. Not a whole lot to say and I haven't been spending much time on the computer period. So here's a brief recap from last Friday on........cut me some slack I'm getting old and that's as far back as I can remember.

Friday: kids had P.D. day......if I survive teenagers the rest will be as easy as pie. Phone ringing off the hook (of course it's never for me) lots of texting even though they just talked to the person two minutes ago. I finally got my youngest to take the recycling bin to the garage and while she was out there I put the garbage on the stoop. She breezes right past it and walks in the front door.

Me: did you take the garbage out?

Her: what garbage?

Me: the garbage on the front stoop

Her: oh, did you want me too?

Me: no, I just left it there because I thought it made a bold decorating statement.

I then brought out the dreadeded line......."when I was young" and then promptly dug my nails into my wrist to stop myself from sounding like my parents.

Needless to say, by Friday night I needed a nice change so I headed to Midland. The Carriage House Gallery was opening Donald Pettit's new show Natural Paths. It was great to see Carol and Stu again. Here's a few photos

Saturday I spent a bit of time in the studio but most it was taken up by all the chauffeuring I did. Oldest child to job, youngest child to birthday party, oldest child picked up from job, oldest child to friend's house. Note: to self........oldest child must get driver's license this summer.

Sunday was a write off day. It was sunny so I spent most of my time outside.

Monday I drove to Midland to have lunch with my friend and amazing artist Carol Currie. Ended up spending four hours just talking about everything under the sun. Carol is one of those people I just feel blessed to know. Supportive, kind and a true mentor to me. Here is one of her newest pieces that is a commission. Wish I could take a better picture as this is stunning in person.

Tuesday I headed to Curry's art supply. Always a scary move as money runs through my fingers there and I don't seem to care. On the way home I stopped and picked up our taxes. This year I finally got a small amount back which of course I had just spent at Curry's earlier. I've always found accountants and bookkeepers so interesting. I think it may be due to the fact that I suck at math. Never been a strong subject for me and probably never will at this point in my life. All those numbers just make be dizzy. Let's put it this way, I would rather stick needles in my eyes than balance my checkbook. Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit but you get the point.

Hope everything is great in your part of the world.