It's All A Bit of a Blur To Me Now

photo courtesy of Ruth Fletcher

Yesterday was a bit of a blur:

Dropped Holly off at school at 7:45 a.m.

 I had a physio appointment at 8 am. (chronic neck stuff and a bit of TMJ  ... that's what you get for standing over a sewing machine for 12 years)

Headed out to drop off work at The Woodside Gallery  for the show on Saturday.  I thought the gallery was open at 10:00 a.m. (silly me, they don't open until 10:30) but when no one had arrived by 10:20  I had to run.

Met my good friend Diane at  Starbucks ... love the Tazo Chais.  Always a guaranteed good time

Off to Currys Art Supply for some varnish, on my way home heard from Robin at the gallery,  felt like a big idiot

Back to the gallery and ended up meeting up with Janet Donaghey who is the other artist in the show on Saturday

Finally home but spent hours finishing up paintings for a drop off at The Village Gallery on Tuesday

Crashed early but not before John told me he would  come with me to the opening on Saturday .... 

YAY!!!

Rooted

30"x10"

Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Fun At Blue & New Gallery Representation

The last few years we've been doing a mini getaway with the girls to Blue Mountain.  I, who am not a downhill skier, love blue Mountain as not only do they have a great Starbucks for my favourite chai latte but there are also a variety of shops and galleries in the area for those of us who are terrified of careening down a snow packed hill at 60 km/hr.

I spent quite some time here

And even though I didn't buy anything I loved walking around the quaint village and checking out all the shops.

The girls had a blast skiing....

On Saturday I took off for a visit with The Matilda Swanson Gallery.  I had meant to meet with them months ago but life got in the way and this seemed the opportune time being in Blue Mountain and all.  So I took in a few of my mixed media on cotton pieces and headed up the road to meet with Sue.  She loved the work but was concerned about the size.  The gallery mostly sells large works as that's what works best for them and that's what they move.   So for the time being they are going to keep the work I gave them but would like me to head back in April with larger works on canvas.  Nice gallery, nice people.

So this is a bare bones start of new piece....not a whole lot to show at the moment but it will eventually take shape when I figure out what I'm doing with it.  I always start with a basic sketch and work from there but it's almost guaranteed to never end up resembling  the original sketch which somehow appeals to me in a big way .... like a happy surprise.

New Art Connections............

Love, love, love this tree.  It sits just down the road from my kids old elementary school and everytime I drive by I always wish I'd had my camera.  I've been playing around with ideas for how I'm going to put it into a piece so I think come tomorrow I'll have things cleaned up enough in the studio to begin.


Saturday I was checking out one of my fav sites which is Art Interiors, a gallery in Toronto that I simply love, when I came across an artist's work that really resonated with me.  Found her website and then her blog and dropped her an email.  If I come across an artist's work that I really like I always email them. Maybe I'll get an email back or maybe I won't but that's not the important part..... I personally feel that I want to express my appreciation and enjoyment of their work... just another quirkly little thing with me.  Her name is Rita Vindedzis and she did send me back a great email after reading some of my blog and we couldn't get over how much we have in common....both have teenagers, both in the arts, both are cat people, like Starbucks, live in Toronto (she does, my hometown) and strangely enough...have both had our work on Cityline.  Weird how things sometimes sync up like that.  Check out her blog..it's a good one.

Simple Things Make Up A Great Day

Just Beyond

Work in Progress..................

16"x16"

Yesterday did not go altogether according to plan..............

John and I both needed to renew our passports and since he is headed to Colorado for a fly fishing trip in July we figured we should visit the passport office in Toronto in person. My passport photo is probably the worst photo I have ever had taken.....yuck.......I look like I just returned home from the asylum.... and no, I can guarantee you it will never be posted here.

So other than I fright I gave the passport clerk when I pulled out my photo, all went smoothly. $165.00 poorer.

John had an appointment so I dropped into Chapters........books and a chai latte... deliriously happy.

Lunch ended up being a fantastic little Indian restaurant just north of the city. We were planning on eating at the King Eddie but it was getting late and we decided not to drive downtown. So as were sitting there, across from each other, the only promise we made was to not talk about the kids. This was our time to discuss our stuff. We talked about how well things were going lately with my work , his work, a bit about politics but mostly about us.........

Note to self: Need more romantic lunchs with the man.

We we arrived home there was an email from Michelle at the Silverbridge Gallery letting me know she had sold two of my paintings today. Good news!

So here I sit ......... happy in this moment.

Back to School

Red Tree

Work in Paint & Thread

Sold

Wednesday we headed off for the (yikes) mall. As you can probably tell by the previous sentence, I'm not that into the "mall" thing but the girls did need a few back to school items so off we went. My saving grace was the fact that my friend Judy came along with her daughters so while they ran around looking for deals, Judy and I were able to sit and have a chai latte. I must admit I've never had a chai latte in my life but I will say it was delicious and I'm sure very calorie laden. Glad I do not live near a Starbucks.

We arrived at the mall around 9:30 and left around 3:00. I have no idea how they can spend that much time walking around looking at clothes. I was awe struck by the amount of teenagers that were carrying in one hand, shopping bags full of clothing from American Eagle, Aeropostal and Gap and in the other hand they were busy texting their friends. When I was a teenager (I swore I would never say "when I was a teenager" and now I'm saying it....how very sad) I got excited when my older cousins passed along their hand me downs. Times sure have changed!