International Women's Day!

I've put many, many hours into each of these pieces and have enjoyed every single minute of them, so much so that I awake at six in the morning and rush to my studio.  At each step along the way I love an area, then really, really dislike it until I add some more layers, texture, and colour.  This process is really about trusting intuition.  All I know at the beginning is that I will incorporate a canoe somehow, but until I get to that point in the work, I don't know where or how it's going to show up.  So far this image reminds me of family, of heritage, community and history.  At this point I believe the image will be predominantly orange and green, but I cannot guarantee anything until I get there.  Thinking of community these past days makes me grateful for friends and family, and for the ways that I can contribute to healing and growing a community.  This morning I received an email stating that one of my paintings will be hung at the Women's Crisis Services of the Waterloo Region in Ontario - how appropriate to happen on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day and also one year after my work was included in the International Women's Day! exhibit in Ayr, Ontario.  I love when my work continues to have a life long after it leaves my studio, where it can be a blessing to others.  I am honoured.