As I've experimented with smaller setups for travel, I realized that my Jane Davenport INKredible pen and Brights watercolour palette work extremely well together. I've been using Ferris Wheel ink which comes in the tiniest bottle and don't mind the ink mixing with the watercolour as I work. I just ask for a napkin and glass of water wherever I am (usually a cafe) and I'm ready to go. I have two collapsible brushes in the watercolour kit...one is very tiny by Winsor & Newton for details while the other is a size 8 travel brush by Princeton. It holds quite a bit of water and I love how it feels when I use it. Now to find a smaller sketchbook and I should be ready for longer trips...or even shorter ones nearby. I'd like something with a little heavier white pages as I do love working on mixed media paper. Guess I have some research to do. :) 

​"What an awesome project – this is me and mine and while I’m not sure that we are worthy of anything our story is special needs mom, artist, mom of special needs artist and Covid ICU nurse. The picture of me and my mom 30 years ago was my nursing school graduation when I was green and fresh and the masked LSU hat shot was just last week. My girl likes to see pictures of me every day I work. She is also a very accomplished young artist and joy abides in her work. Thanks for this moment."~ Love, Andi and Celia.

After a little trial and error, I've come to the conclusion that a very mini art kit is the way to go. Easy to pack and take with me anywhere. I fill my pen (this one's by Lamy) with ink, take a sketchbook, a small watercolour palette with 12 half pans, a water brush and a sketchbook. This works for short trips but may need to be adjusted for a bit longer (I'll probably need more ink) but I really like the simplicity of it so far as it encourages me to create on the go a bit more. I may have to include a smaller sketchbook and a small bottle of ink so that it fits into a smaller pack (like my waist pack) for a longer trip.

Last month my husband & I had a great trip to Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park. Though this isn't very far from our home we have never stayed here...it was wonderful. Refreshing. And I'm so grateful for our vintage Boler camper as it is so comfortable and low maintenance...I can't ask for more. Plus taking a very small art kit to work with was perfect as it fit into my purse. Easy. :)

"​I am a User Experience Designer in IT for WestJet (not sure if you want that much detail).  Six months into my job (March 2020), I was put on LOA due to the pandemic.  I love to DIY and build things and I completely gutted our butler pantry and was able to keep my creative juices flowing by doing projects around the house. Fortunately, I was called back 6 months (September 2020) later and returned expecting our rainbow baby.  We experienced a miscarriage in early 2019 and then secondary infertility.  I found out I was being called back to work the day before we found out we were expecting.  It was a relief on all fronts.  The pandemic has been extremely hard being from the USA and missing family.  I missed out sharing my pregnancy with my family and friends, but I wouldn't change anything to have our daughter.  My job for the last 11 months has been Mom and it has been so great.  I return to work March 2022, anxious, but hopeful to be able to take on my two roles together.  Both require empathy, organization, and work and I think both my roles play off of each other well with shared skill sets." ~ Anna Rosine

"Born Barbara Mary Harvey in Plymouth, England in 1909, Barbara and her family moved to Alberta when she was three years old. At twenty, Barbara enrolled in art classes at Alberta’s Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, which is where she would meet A.C. Leighton. 

In 1930 A.C. met Barbara, who was a student in one of his classes. They were married in the early morning on Sunday, May 31, 1931 and their honeymoon was spent packing into the Kananaskis area to paint. In 1931 A.C. Leighton formed the Alberta Society of Artists and was the first president. This was also the year a joint exhibition of the works of A.C. Leighton and W.J. Phillips was held at the Edmonton Museum of Art.

A.C.’s health was rapidly deteriorating and he made has last trip to England in 1962. He was admitted to the General Hospital in Calgary in May of 1965, and soon passed away. He is buried at Millarville, Alberta, not too far from Ballyhamage. In 1971 the Glenbow Institute organized a tribute through an exhibition of a survey of Leighton’s work.

Not wanting to sit around and feel sorry for herself, Barbara Leighton enrolled at ACAD, where she received a diploma in fiber and metal crafts and for two years won scholarships in Visual Arts. Barbara Leighton was already an artist in her own right as she was well known for her wood block prints rendered from A.C.’s paintings, which she signed as “Barleigh,” a combination of her christian and married surname. In 1941 she had also been elected as a member of the Canadian Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and belonged to the Alberta Society of Artists).

At ACAD she found the support of young artists who were attracted to the Leighton history and the artistic and natural wealth of their home and property. In 1970 Barbara sold half of her quarter-section to invest in the purchase for $1,000 of the abandoned 1919 Ballyhamage one-room schoolhouse. Her friends pitched in to help restore the old schoolhouse and convert it to an art studio. A few years later, a weaving studio and pottery studio were added, but the red one-room schoolhouse remains to this day the heart of the Centre’s children’s programs. 
​
In 1974 with the support of her friends, Barbara officially opened the Leighton Centre. The Centre had quickly become a gathering place for budding and professional artists and children. Many had come to discover their artistic talents by exploring the beauty found in the Leightons’ home and surrounding fields. Barbara turned her home into a gallery and museum so that she could exhibit A.C.’s paintings, as well as works by other prominent Alberta artists such as Stan Perrott, Barbara Ballachey, Jim and Marion Nicoll, Rick Grandmaison, Janet Mitchell, Roland Gissing, lllingworth Kerr, and sculptor Richard Roenisch. 

Read a 1979 Western Living Magazine article about Barbara Leighton and the history of Leighton Art Centre." ~ The Leighton Art Centre

"​Sandra Sutter is Cree Métis, tracing her lineage back to the 1800s. Her family of origin is from the Red River area in Manitoba and settled in Île-à-la-Crosse, Big River and Muskeg Lake in Saskatchewan, as well as various points across the Prairies.
 
Raised in a loving non-Indigenous family, Sandra discovered and embraced her ancestral and cultural roots later in life. Like many displaced Indigenous people, honouring her proud heritage is important to a woman whose birth heritage was lost through time and circumstance. Her culture now influences her every step through life and she has grown into an active and passionate advocate for Indigenous culture and rights. Her life journey in both the non-Indigenous and Indigenous worlds has given her a unique perspective and opportunity to bring people together through her songs of reconciliation.
 
In Calgary, Sandra is a well-known singer-songwriter and has performed at many different venues across western Canada. She sings, writes and plays in a variety of styles including folk, country, jazz and rock. Sandra is inspired by her Indigenous heritage and has been active in the arts, particularly music, for many years. This love of culture was expressed several years ago in the release of an EP of original songs entitled “Peaceful Nation”.
 
Sandra is the Aboriginal Partnerships Manager for PTW Energy and CGT Industrial and the President of the Board of Directors for the Circle for Aboriginal Relations Society. She sits on several Indigenous serving board and committees across Canada. She lives and breathes the concepts that she thinks, speaks and sings about every day.
 
In 2017, Sandra was awarded an Indigenous Arts production grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to record a full-length studio album with producers and JUNO-winners Vince Fontaine (Eagle & Hawk/Indian City) and Chris Burke-Gaffney (Orphan, The Pumps, Harlequin). This year, with another grant from AFA, they completed Sandra's second full length album, Aurora 12!
 
Her album Cluster Stars is part of a vision to help bring an understanding of the Indigenous culture to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, with the overall objective of understanding leading to acceptance and acceptance leading to peace and well being. The belief in the fundamental strength of the Inuit, Métis and First Nation cultures as expressed through art and particularly in this case through music, provides the material and drive for this project." ~ www.sandrasutter.com

​
Recently after one of the spring storms in our neighborhood, I found this robin's (?) nest on the ground with a hole in the bottom so I chose to bring it into my studio. Since the theme of my current altered book is titled 'To Be Where You Are' I thought a drawing of it would be perfect as I am a long-time collector of things from nature...feathers, stones, pinecones, branches, flowers & abandoned hornet's nests. This nest is the perfect addition to my bookcases. There is something so incredible about being able to look so closely at something created by wildlife.

With this painting of my husband I have finally painted my immediate family. My daughters and I have been painted several times but I don't often paint men so this has taken awhile. I have to say, though, this is the face that still makes me so happy since we met in 1986. In fact, I met my best friends that year, too, and designed the logos for the Alberta Winter Games...it was a good year. :)