More Magic!

Well, the tiling job is finally finished (to my delight & artistic satisfaction, I might add) & I'm off & running with creating art again. I might take a photo of the beautiful honed beach slate with handmade glass mosaic tiles to show you how well my design turned out...if you'd like to see it let me know!

It was so exhilarating to go to a silk painting workshop with a wonderful artist, Deb Strong (cat 'n mouse designs) on Saturday. She's a great instructor & I was really happy with the two pieces I created during the day. I've put the mermaid up for your viewing pleasure.

This image could be used as a t-shirt print, & I'll be looking at it for cards & calendars too. The photo was taken with a phone camera on-site so it doesn't do the painting justice. The silk still has to have the dye set in a steaming process, which Deb is doing for us, so I won't have the original back for another week. I could really be seduced into this art form--the dyes were amazing in how they flowed into the fabric, and the colours are really strong. Unbelievably compelling. Could I be steered away from watercolours? I'm starting to wonder...who was that person who said she was satisfied with watercolours & didn't have any intention of exploring any more mediums?

I also had a great time painting on pottery the weekend before & I'm looking forward to seeing how the second batch turned out after firing. I guess I'd better send off an email to my cousin to get some photos.

That all said and done, I'm feeling a little freer with my time, and have organized my 2009/10 trip down under. I'll be heading out of LA November 17, stopping in Brisbane for a week, then moving on to Melbourne & will hit the road from there after spending some time with cousins & friends & picking up my little car. After 4 months in the sun, painting and developing my art business & contacts there I'll return to Canada mid-March. So, the future in my crystal ball is becoming a little clearer!

Is the magic back? I'm looking for it! If you see it pass by your way send it on!

Back to the future

Hello followers!

Well I'm not quite finished the tiling yet but wanted to get back to you & to my blog, and return to a pattern that was working for me. My latest Landmark course, "An Invented Life--My Life, My Design" is working on me. That is to say, I am seeing how my brain patterns work on my actions and in then my brain starts using those patterns to predict what's in my future...and I'm wanting to shake that up a bit. Not 'cause my life & future isn't already great, it is...just that, well, creating is much more fun that blindly following some pattern that has happened before & unconsciously repeating it because it's easier to be on automatic pilot than to actually generate something new. Of course all that MAY just sound like babbling to you so I'll get on to what else is going on.

I feel like I've lost the magic, hopefully temporarily...although I did think I saw a fairy at dusk flying up into the trees in my garden tonight. So, I'm dreaming that the magic will reappear tomorrow too. Looking for it (as I've written earlier--either here or in my magic journal) is what has it appear, & I've been keeping myself much too busy to look for magic, or be inspired by it. I must say, I have been noticing magic (words or phrases) popping up in some unusual places, and so have some of my friends...so maybe I'm creating a little wave somewhere that I'm not aware of yet. I live in hope!!

I just came back from another session of painting on pottery in my Duncan cousin's studio--learned from the first time, learned more the second time (& looking forward to seeing what happens after firing) & if I get another chance to do some more direct painting, using her straight chemical pigments instead of glazes, before I go to Australia, that'll be even more fun! Some of last week's items will be put in her Christmas sales so we can see if there's a demand for some joint projects next year.

On Saturday I'm excited to be trying yet another medium--dying on silk (ok, I'm not going to kick the bucket, even though my friends tell me that's a guaranteed way to have your art pieces triple in price immediately!) in the studio of Deb Strong, a wonderful Langley artist who does beautiful work with silk as well as more traditional forms of art. (When did I say "I only like watercolours--don't have any interest in doing any other type of medium"??) I've also been toying with the idea of collage so we'll see if that comes to fruition soon.

Maybe I am going through another creative phase--I've certainly enjoyed playing with the slate tiles & patterns that I've been cutting out in the bathroom. However that is such heavy work, & mixing all the thinset & soon the grout isn't my favourite, so I don't think I'll be taking that up seriously. I could be talked into some mosaic work very easily though! From light (silk) to heavy (stone)--I can see I'm all over the map again! I wonder if my coach is going to steer me into more of a focus when we have our session again this week....

Well, I'm off to bed to rest up for another big day--there's a new instructor at the pool where I do deep-water classes & she seems to think we're all hard-bodied 20 year olds. While I am training to climb Mt. Kilamanjaro in 3 years I think it might be easier than her classes!

So, dear reader, stay tuned & I'll be posting more regularly for the next few weeks! Ciao for now
E

Sorry, still tiling!! Finished for the day...but it's tomorrow already!

Hi all
Apologies for nothing! (That is, no postings for a while!) I've been tiling, it seems like forever now...& there doesn't seem to be any magic in that I can tell you! Maybe when it's all over???
Meanwhile I am musing about how to write about magic...something that just appeared (as magical things do!) & seems lately to have disappeared a bit from my life...(as magic can do too.)
However I have created my first fairy painting--actually 4 fairies have appeared in the painting when I only intended one!! So that was kind of cool. I might give you a glimpse of it if you're good!
I have one more day of tiling before I head to Vancouver Island with my mom to paint on cousin Lyndsay's beautiful pottery again, will be thinking more magical themes. I'm also going to watch my Ontario niece play field hockey in Victoria & celebrate her 15th birthday with her! Very exciting. Then back to Vancouver, more tiling, hopefully grouting & sealing & finishing!!! and seeing some Olympic venues with the Ontario girls which will be cool.
And on my list for September is getting my flights to Australia organized for November to March. The 2009/10 tour is about to begin!
So, back to the magic--I have a question for you. Do you have magic in your life? Or do you wish you had some? & what does it look like to you?
Stay tuned, back in a few days.
I'd post a photo of me tiling to show you how hard I'm working but it's really not very attractive with the sweat running down your face! & I thought I was in shape!

A Lick & a Promise

Where are the fairies? I know they're out there somewhere! I just haven't had time to look (or to blog) so since a picture is worth a thousand words feast your eyes!

I'm defaulting to the little fairies looking for fairies in my back yard. And if I wasn't so busy getting ready to re-tile the 70s ensuite shower that was lavender flowered tiles (to match the lavender toilet--now at the dump, & the lavender sink--sometime soon to head to the dump) I might be out there looking. Until then the nieces will have to do it for me--& they're heading to school tomorrow so that doesn't bode well for fairy sightings in the near future.

And I am still holding onto my promise to tell you about how the magic came into my life & art, just getting the composition right...so stay tuned! I'll be back, don't you worry.

Does everyone feel this busy, always?

I can't believe it's over a week since my last post--sorry to anyone who was looking for news more regularly than that! I am back...albeit briefly. I seem to keep creating more activities in my life than I can easily manage...just having too much fun! And then some of the things I love to do get either squished into little slots which is somewhat unsatisfying, or totally missed which is REALLY unsatisfying. Those activities, for me, tend to be reading, writing (& I include blogging in that category), quiet time & (sadly indeed) my painting.

However, today I had LOTS of time painting with one of my favourite, if not the most favourite, instructors, Faith Love Robertson (can you NOT love a person with a name like that?) And tomorrow more of the same. Today we were doing sunflowers (to which I added some fairies) & tomorrow I hear we're doing garden scenes which I might also hide some fairies in! I'm always inspired by Faith & how she teaches--lots of fun stuff to get some paint in various patterns onto the page in a sort of "sub-painting" & then see what you can create from there. I'm almost always pleased by the results & learn lots about colour, texture, composition too.

Today Faith brought me a lovely fairy book to keep overnight & do some research on the various types of fairies & magical creatures, along with instructions about minimizing their wicked spells, and the hazards of playing with them...so I'd better pay attention, since they seem to keep popping up in my life!

Alongside me painting this week is my gorgeous friend Sharon who is a coach in her own right, and so much fun to be around that I remember how lucky I am to have friends like her in my life. She has done so much corporate work as well as start her own training business & go through some of the branding questions that I have been struggling with that she is an excellent resource for me, and so generous in her advice. I want to join her in her "Champagne Club" venture! (& wouldn't you too!!)

The next few weeks are falling into place with the startup fall routine--and a few less visitors to entertain. So I plan to be blogging a little more, although I do have a big bathroom renovation project on the go as well--demolition has already started & will hit the tile removal job hard this weekend while Wes is still available, before he gets into his passion--hunting season. While he's away I'll be (hopefully) creating new slate walls in our shower, and organizing the cabinet/countertop replacement for October. No rest for the wicked!

But right now, off to bed I go, with my fairy book to study!

Stay tuned, I'm going to blog a bit more about how the magic came into my art world, as lots of people are wondering about that...

Ciao for now!

No fairy sightings last weekend but lots of interest and a close encounter with a bear.

That was a most exciting weekend! Minnekhada Lodge was quite magical, full of surprised & interested people & lots of great art and artists. The "First Annual" may turn out to be a regular event. The organizers said there were almost 600 people over the 2 days & with shorter hours (11 to 4 pm daily) there was a steady flow of folks to entertain.

I was pleased to sell some of my magic books, cards, magic lists and at last, an original painting! Seems like this year is a bit tight for original art so to sell a watercolour at this sale was a breakthrough for me. There were lots of others there who didn't. My business cards also vanished at a surprising pace so my presence and name is getting known. And I had lots of fun with the magic draw, the magic pencils (almost sold out of those & they were a real hit with the kids) & playing with the magician & other people who were interested in magic, fairies, and the like.

Minnekhada Lodge used to be the summer/hunting lodge of one of BC's Lieutenant-Governers, Eric Hamber, back in the 1920s, and is now a regional park. The Lodge itself is a beautiful building set on a hillside overlooking farmland and the Pitt River where it flows into the Fraser, and the room I shared with another local artist had a fantastic view and light. The Lodge is set into a Metro Vancouver park, with a lovely beaver pond, lots of forest and walks, and also, lots of bears (which hide out in the woods when they're not headed for the local blueberry fields.) There were many sighted by people on the shuttle buses and the local hikers & bikers during the weekend, including a sow with 2 cubs. I was just starting my walk from the original farm down their driveway, & up to the Lodge on Sunday morning when I noticed the traffic on the main road had stopped. I was about 100 metres from my truck at the time, and about 200 metres away from the road. So, I too stopped to ascertain what was going on & sure enough, there was a large-ish black bear between me & the road. Needless to say I didn't carry on for about 10 minutes, until the traffic drove on, the bear continued across the field to my left & into the ditch, over the road & into the blueberries on the other side. At that point I had about 5 minutes left until showtime but I figured the blueberries would be more attractive to the bear than a tough old artist so I hightailed it down the driveway & then onto the main road where there were a few more people, dogs, and bikes. No worries!

The rest of the day was much tamer although I was a bit worried that the smell of the bbq just outside the Lodge would be even more enticing to bears than the old blueberries!

A great time was had by all, and now I'm very ready for bed, a possible meeting with Michael who has a corporate branding & website proposal to present tomorrow, and a well-deserved rest week! I'll be back soon to create some more fun & magic--see you then!

I Know you're out there somewhere...(yes, that was a song!)

Very heartening to get some responses to my last blog, even if they're not here on this site. Thanks to you all for letting me know you're reading, even if you're stumped by the technology here. There are more than a few!

This week is going fast, getting ready for the weekend show at Minnekhada Lodge which is originals only. After my experience at the last sale where very few originals were sold I'm spending some time painting some magic books & will paint some smaller originals in the form of cards tomorrow and Thursday. I've spoken to some other artists & they are also concerned about the amount of work and costs to set up with the prospect of little to show at the end of the day. So, making some affordable original works to sell is my goal this week.

I'm also heading off to Langley to capture some magic pencils to complement my art...maybe I can slip some under the table this weekend for $1, or else see if I can use them to amaze & surprise people coming by my table. The great thing about shows (other than prospective sales!) is the chance to interact with people & have fun. And apparently there's a magician at this show so who knows what trouble we could get up to together!

I'm one of the fortunate who doesn't have to worry about starving (or getting evicted) if I don't sell my artwork--so in some ways I'm freed up from anxiety, stress, wondering if people will like my work enough to buy it, should I change my style for others, all that survival thinking that I'm sure many creative people are impacted by. I have created a lovely lifestyle, with family & friends and support everywhere I look, by luck & hard work, so anything I do in this field is really freeing and I'm just loving that. Had I started in art earlier, when the demands of being financially stable, building home & security seemed necessary, I'm quite sure I wouldn't have the same sense of possibility. Then again, maybe not...and you never get a chance to live things over, do you? Certainly I'm grateful for the chance to express my creativity now, in this fashion, in the world I live in which is already so rich in so many areas.

And, my aim IS to sell my stuff, to have it generally available in the world, at prices that are affordable to anyone who likes it. I dream of the day when people see my art on the street, or on transit, (in Canada, Australia, Europe and the US for starters) and start a conversation about it with the person carrying it around because they think it's gorgeous and they want to know where to get some for themselves! I'm really happy with the decision to branch into beautiful items with my art on them that are also functional and serve people in the world...(calendars, journal and drawing books, bags, cards, fridge lists, and so on), so if you have any wonderful ideas for me please send them on to me! I love new ideas--something with a distinctive twist (preferably with an enchanting element), not the same old, same old, is right up my alley!

That's it for tonight, probably for the rest of the week. Not only is the show coming fast but some family just left and more are coming to visit for the weekend. I'll be back to let you know what happened after "Art in the Park", probably Monday night.