 The Naked Leaf tea shop in Kensington has new tea tins available and I'm so happy to have two more of my images included. Their tea tins are highly collectable since they feature the work of local artists. Not only is it a fun neighborhood to visit, but the tea shop has the friendliest staff and the best teas. I highly recommend the Earl Grey Cream.
 So many great things happening over the next few months...
I am so grateful to be presented with incredible opportunities to share what I love. Plus, a huge bonus for me is to meet so many incredible people. So, now I need to get back to work!  I look back to last year at this time and how I was struggling with this 52 WEEKS::Heroes project. I hadn't worked on portraiture in such a long time and worried about my depictions of those women who have meant so much to me and my girls. As the year progressed the project came alive for me and I began to be less concerned about what others might think of my portraits and connected to the very reason I was doing this...to improve my skills and to honour women.
When I was asked to be involved in this year's Amazing Airdrie Women photo shoot I didn't hesitate to say "YES!"...what a wonderful culmination to an amazing experience. These are just a few of the beautiful women who have been nominated for this year's awards and I am so very glad I had the privilege to chat with them and am so looking forward to the luncheon in May. A few of my favorite women were also involved in this project...visionary and airdrielife magazine publisher/editor Sherry Shaw-Froggatt, photographer Kristy Reimer, make-up artist Sarika Mehta and journalist/filmmaker Lori Kuffner. To vote and to purchase tickets visit here. 
I had the great privilege of visiting ArcheLoft with my daughter, an amazing makerspace in downtown Calgary. My daughter Kate, who recently received the Airdrie Mayor's Night of the Arts Youth Artist Award for fibre arts, is working on an upcoming fashion show on April 1 with MakeFashion and is so fortunate to learn alongside incredibly talented designers and engineers. The space is beautiful and the creators and equipment (such as a 3D printer and lazer cutters) are incredible. To view some of Kate's work, visit her website at The Modiste.
Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist who is impressed and infatuated by Dorian's beauty and believes that his beauty is responsible for the new mode in his art as a painter. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, and he soon is enthralled by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfillment are the only things worth pursuing in life.
Newly understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied and amoral experiences, while staying young and beautiful; all the while his portrait ages and records every sin. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity.  I can't believe that in 3 weeks I will be 1/4 of the way through this year's 52 WEEKS project. I also can't believe that I'm still struggling with this one. As much as I fought last year's project, working on the women really touched something inside me. I have always had a heart for women, especially as the mother of daughters, so it really resonated. As much as I love books and am loving the act of translating sentences from amazing writing, I just haven't been as confident in my work. I know I always feel this way, until I'm about 1/3 of the way through, but I was really, really, really hoping that it wouldn't happen again. I guess that speaks to one of the challenges an artist faces...self-doubt. Even after all these years. And yet, I'm not sorry that I'm doing this, which is a wonderful thing.
 I have mentioned previously how I began working on this altered book quite some time ago but abandoned it because I just wasn't connecting with the process. One day, I pulled it down from a shelf and decided to throw paint on it as I had small containers of colourful craft paint that I've been wanting to utilize and, wouldn't you know it, now I'm loving this little piece of reclaimed art. Whenever I try to do things in a muted fashion the process just doesn't capture my attention so I don't know why I keep trying to push myself in that direction. The title of this project is 'The Art of Simplicity' and really, what is more simple than utilizing the materials I have and the methods that I like to work. It still has a long way to go but every day I'm finally excited by the process.
 The 52 WEEKS::Heroes series will be officially unveiled at the airdrielife Amazing Women Awards on May 12.
This work of my heart feels so much more important to me these days and I want to share them by celebrating International Women's Day and to offer a pre-sale on each piece at a discount of only $150 each. They will be delivered after the exhibit. To view the images, to see which pieces are available and to read about each woman visit my portfolio here. Hover over the image to view the name and to see if it is available, click on the image to read more about the hero. And for those who have asked, the 52 WEEKS::Heroes book that features all of the women and their inspiration is available online here. Finally I want to THANK YOU for your amazing support throughout this project.
  
Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive.
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