I think I'm finally over my creative block with the 'Women of the West' series. I had struggled with pushing past my fear of making a mistake and decided to paint the backgrounds a mottled solid colour...this way when they're exhibited, it might look like a quilt. I also decided to add their names to their portraits as I want people to know who they are without reading anything else. Names are important. I had considered using different fonts and different colours, but, in the end, chose to use my own handwriting along with a dip pen and Dr. PH Martin Pen White Ink and I'm so happy with the results. I've tried so many different whites and different pens, but I am so pleased with this as it looks vintage and contemporary all at the same time. Once these have cured well, I will protect them with a coat of Dorlands Wax. Can't wait to start painting more inspiring women.

When my husband & I travelled to England to visit our daughter last summer, I brought her some cotton fabric by a designer in Edmonton, Alberta (just north of us) as she has worked with Brett Lewis fabrics before and we both just love the prints. I had selected this one from his last collection titled 'Water's Edge' because of the herons (and frogs and turtles) as herons visit our creek regularly. I hadn't purchased quite enough so we picked up some navy eyelet lace and she, as she does, altered the pattern to accommodate that shift. Even though she has been sewing everything by hand using French seams (double sewing each) while completing her Master's Degree in Holocaust Studies and beginning employment at the Wiener Holocaust Library & Archives, she managed to create a beautiful dress. Northcott Fabrics, who represent Brett, has again offered to send her fabric from his latest collection titled 'Ornithology'...so exciting! There are images of her previous makes below:

Recently, my husband asked if I could help him rearrange his office to make it more functional but also more attractive. I love decorating and organizing so this made me happy...plus, we went for a nice lunch, did some shopping and visited a gallery. Win-Win. His desk has always sat too close to the windows, which is cold in winter and hot summer; he wasn't able to access some of the drawers unless he moved things; and he always felt hemmed in. So we moved things around a bit which left another blanks space for artwork...something I'm always happy to share. It's nice when a group of smaller pieces can emulate a larger one. Larger pieces are on the left wall and I'm so glad that he likes to hang my work in his space and occasionally switches pieces out. :)

During the pandemic, I had created a body of work titled 'Extraordinary Women' which featured Canadian women who were inspiring...one of them was NDP MLA Janis Irwin. She was a teacher/vice-principal in her previous life and stands up for vulnerable communities, public education & healthcare, all things that are so important to me. So I was very happy when she tagged me in a photo taken with my newest work at Bluerock Gallery recently. Thanks Janis!

With the way things are going in North America right now, and with how I feel about using locally sourced, environmentally friendly materials while supporting women-owned businesses, I have really begun to delve into my Beam paints. As with anything I do, I realized that the only way I can become comfortable with my tools and materials is by immersing myself in them which begins with swatching and continues with painting. These days I've been trying out different skin tone mixes and playing with shimmer in my work using the palette I have. This is where my sketchbooks come in very handily.

I still prefer the Handbook Journal Co. sketchbooks in 3.5" x 5.5" in landscape & portrait format or the 5.5" x 5.5" square. There are several reasons I prefer them...I like the smooth, cream paper; the fact that they have many more pages than a watercolour sketchbook so they dry faster when I'm on the go; the hard covers so that I can paint while standing, if required; the inside back pocket which fits an Art Toolkit Demi or Pocket palette; and the elastic band to keep everything safe and secure. I also don't mind if the acid free pages buckle a bit if I add more water...in fact, I think it gives the sketchbook character. I only wish I could find a Canadian sketchbook just like this.

I've been shifting further and further away from plastics in my work and wanting to support Canadian female businesses owners, which led me to experimenting with Beam Paints which is an Indigenous owned business located on Manitoulin Island in Ontario. They harvest minerals and local Maple tree sap and package everything in waxed canvas or recycled paper. I'm getting one more paint stone to complete my collection (Mars Violet), which is a combination of watercolour and gouache paints.. It's also ben fun to incorporate some sparkle into my work so the ethical mica that's been added to some of the colours is wonderful.

My current palette in a Kaweco tin:

• Butter
• Poplar
• Wild Salmon
• Beach Rose
• Cherry Magenta
• Dreamers' Gold
• Fireweed
• Turtle Belly
• Strawberry
• Lilac
• Ice
• Robin's Egg
• Milkweed
• Rainforest
• Salish Sea
• Prussian Blue

This week was the unveiling of 'Community' at TC Energy in Airdrie and it was lovely. People are always so encouraging and it's fun to hear their responses. Everyone couldn't wait to take a close look to see if they could find their contribution to the original layer. I always enjoy beginning a project with the contribution of others, particularly in something like this which will live in the workplace of all of the employees who contributed.

​Though I'm not usually a big fan of commissions, there are some which are a real privilege and pleasure...this was one of them. During my Artist Residency at Sparrow Artspace in Calgary almost 2 years ago, I had incorporated embroidery in one of my pieces and got to re-visit that in this work. Handwork was my earliest introduction to the arts and an extremely important part of my South American family history. I've been incorporating that into my work more and more and I am loving it. It's so fun to document the process, especially when things change quite a bit throughout it.

​SYMBOLS:
Background colours: Predominately blue and green to represent TC Energy and nature with images of leaves and sparrows using stencils. All of the colours are incorporated throughout and certain marks/patterns are repeated in some respect
Border: PRIDE colours with the triangle representing POC, HIV, Trans and Non-Binary people is represented at the bottom.
Top Left: Medicine Wheel to represent the Debwewin Indigenous Group.
Top Right & Center Left: Poppies to represent the Veteran’s Group.
Top Right (under poppy): Inspired by Black History Month on the TC Energy website to include the colours orange, red, green & black along with the stitching marks to represent the Ujima Black Employee Group
Bottom Left: the goddess Athena to represent TCE Women
Bottom Right: Embroidery to represent Unidos Latin & Hispanic Group – I incorporated a few embroidery patterns from family who was born in South America 

I created my first tiny travel palette by using a mini Altoids tin that my husband gave me and retrofiting 3 full pans so that I could bring lots of paint in primary colours on travels. I've also tried several different water brushes so I thought I'd share why these are my favourites.

PALETTES:
Both are small, light and  take up very little space which makes them easy to travel with in my shoulder pack. Both palettes are similar in size and I love the Altoids tin as it holds so much colour which lasts for such a long time while the Art Toolkit Demi pans only hold the equivalent of 1/4 pan. Unfortunately, the Altoids tin is also thicker which means it does take up more valuable space in my small bag. The Demi allows me to bring 6 different colours, which is very nice though they don't last as long (I could potentially place 6-1/2 pans in the Altoids tin but I prefer a longer pan in order to have lots of room to swipe my brush). The Demi is also fantastic to attach to my sketchbook with a small butterfly clip (I can't do that with the Altoids tin). A challenge with the Demi is that the mixing pan has no edges so I can't mix a lot of watery colour as it runs off the edge whereas the Altoids tin has a nice, deep mixing well. All-in-all, both are fabulous for different reasons though I tend to bring the Demi on shorter trips and the Altoids tin on longer ones (more than 1 week). 

WATER BRUSHES:
I love using water brushes when I'm out and about...they're tidier, no water dish to lug and fill and to find a space for, and I don't have to worry about disposing of paint water when I'm out and about, which is so much better for the environment. I use both of these brushes at different times as they are approximately the same length when capped or posted (cap on the end). They are both easy to fill under a tap or with a water bottle. The brush on the left is the Pentel Aquash Mini, which holds a little more water and has a finer tip and is a bit easier to control water flow. The brush on the right is by Sakura (Koi) and is narrower for easier transportation and the brush is a bit larger for ease of applying larger washes of colour (ie. sky and sea).

All-in-all, I like both of these kits/brushes equally thoug I'm a bit sentimental about the Altoids tin. :)

I love my Art Toolkit and palettes so much as I can fit in a lot of supplies in a very small space. Currently, this is what my case holds, the supplies I use most, but I am planning on a couple of adjustments.

• I love my Lamy pen and the red D'Atrementis waterproof & archival ink but find that I'm using it more and more often to journal at night, which means it spends more time in my night table than in my toolkit. Instead, I am switching it out for my red Kaweco which hold dark red Octopus waterproof & archival ink. I also have a green Kaweco currently filled with Octopus Grey Fox ink. Those fit nicely into the middle pocket on the right hand side of the kit along with a mini spray bottle to re-activate my Beam Paints.
• I have a dip pen to use with my inks to use with opaque Dr. Martin Pen-White Ink. For sketching I use a mechanical pencil with regular lead, though I also have one red lead so that I don't need to carry a sharpener, and an eraser pen so I don't need a bulky eraser. I've decided to make the switch to Octopus inks because they are more accessible to me where I live, otherwise I do love D'Atramentis inks.
• As far as my palettes, both the Demi & Pocket both have different pans to adjust amount of paint and colours and are great for travel but I do find the Demi to be a bit small for a two week trip. I also enjoy switching pans for an the extra mixing palette if I choose to. If I want to.
• I carry 4 brushes: rounded size 4 & 8 Princeton travel brushes, a fine longer bristle size 4 from Beam Paints and a mini Pentel waterbrush...I use them all.
• I have a small ruler and also got an Art Toolkit metal colour mixing wheel to play in my sketchbooks but it also works great for creating circles and embroidery patterns. I can also fit a pocket sized sketchbook in this kit. My Mini Sendak from Peg & Awl has become my sewing/handwork (knit/crochet/embroidery) kit which has been fantastic.

It took awhile to figure out what I liked to use and how I liked to use it, but I've worked with these supplies for a couple of years now and keep coming back to them. I know how they work and feel comfortable when using them, which keeps me painting and that is always the goal. I have a couple of larger palettes and a couple of larger watercolour brushes that I tend to use in my studio, but these are the ones I use everyday everywhere.