  Last week my daughter and I spent a couple of days in Banff to take some photos and spend time together in our favorite place. I brought my most recent landscape painting titled "Lake Louise" and was extremely grateful for the beautiful winter weather we've been experiencing. We enjoyed our time in the Banff Springs Hotel, walking along main street in the town, and the wonderful cafes, stunning galleries and delicious food. I really need to make a point of spending more time there and don't know why I don't as we live so close.
 Today I delivered new work, including this sweet hive of chubby little bees, to the Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond. I love visiting this gallery and can never leave without picking up little gifts for family and friends. It's filled with amazing books, weavings, cards, pottery, sculptures, and, of course, paintings. And the drive is so beautiful, especially on these gorgeous days we've been so fortunate to experience.
Listen: Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time." So begins Vonnegut's absurdist 1969 classic. Hawke rises to the occasion of performing this sliced-and-diced narrative, which is part sci-fi and partially based on Vonnegut's experience as a American prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany during the firebombing of 1945 that killed thousands of civilians. Billy travels in time and space, stopping here and there throughout his life, including his long visit to the planet Tralfamador, where he is mated with a porn star. Hawke adopts a confidential, whisper-like tone for his reading.
 One of the ways I like to add the semblance of texture to my paintings is by using plastic wrap and on these pieces I have been loving the vibrant colours of acrylic inks. Whenever I begin pieces this way, the patterns inspire the direction that the work leads and creates a beautiful underpainting, some of which I like to keep visible at the end. These are such great beginnings...can't wait to see where they lead.
 Years ago I had been accepted into fashion school in Toronto, and though I didn't pursue the education, I have been enjoying watching my youngest daughter follow that path now. Her interest is quite different than mine was, but I am really having fun sharing her joy in her endeavors. For quite some time I have been wanting to paint something for her sewing studio and several months ago I actually began a piece but it has been slow going as other projects and responsibilities keep cropping up. Now I'm finally getting back to it and am excited to see where this ends.
  The past two weeks I have taught at a Daycare in Calgary, at the Bert Church Theatre in Airdrie, in my daughter's Grade 2 class in Lethbridge, and led a Wine & Paint Night...what a busy time it has been! We have painted inukshuks, northern lights, birch trees, and wildflowers and worked on printmaking and altered books. Each time I think, this is my favorite age group or I prefer this type of workshop and then I feel the same about the next one. It's a good thing, I think. I've been seeing so many happy faces which makes me happy, too. There really is nothing like art to fulfill the soul.
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!
  I am absolutely in LOVE with these SUGAR spray paints. Not only are the colours beautifully vibrant (my fave!) but they are so much more environmentally friendly and made of a cane sugar base. You'd think that spray paint would be tidier for me to use, but for some reason I just can't keep paint off myself. You should see my feet...I keep stepping on wet stencils on the floor. Anyway, the combination of paint, colour and stencil patterns helped finish up this piece that I've kept working on an putting aside for some time which makes me so happy. Whenever I am too timid during my process, it always takes so much longer but when I just let go and trust myself, the work comes to a beautiful finish.
|
|
