Green
It’s hard to explain how green the greens are here… and hard to capture in just a photo. I think it has to do with the northern light… especially in the evenings. The greens simply glow…
“For still there are so many things that I have never seen: in every wood in every spring there is a different green.”
It’s hard to explain how green the greens are here… and hard to capture in just a photo. I think it has to do with the northern light… especially in the evenings. The greens simply glow…
I’m getting a lot of Green Therapy every day!
Here’s a little video I made a few years ago, from the Korsfjorden forest here in Norway:
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature... it will never fail you.”
I’ve had a wonderful and much-needed time away from it all…
And soon I’ll be back in Vancouver, doing my very best to not be caught up in all the busy-ness of city life (easier said than done I know!). But I am looking forward to getting back to my studio with more creative inspiration, paintings, and art projects to pursue!
By the time I’m back, we’ll be heading into Fall… And I do love Autumn!
This year the North Shore Art Crawl will be held from October 14th to 16th, followed by our annual Small Wonders show in early December. Stay tuned for more information about these upcoming events.
Our studios are also open on the first Saturday of the month. Visit Welch Street Studios for more information.
“Nature in her green, tranquil woods heals and soothes all afflictions.”
See you at the studio!
The Fox in the Forest
I’ve been away on holiday for the past month… In the beautiful, southern Ontario countryside, with big open skies, farms and quaint little villages. I stayed in a lovely house in a forest clearing and every day I went for a walk in the woods…
And now my travels have brought me home to Norway… For more inspiration and relaxation.
But I’ve still been working behind the scenes…
I’ve spent the time away from my studio working on my website and updating my store and art product line. ↓
Happy Summer!
Something new beginning...
Spring is in the air and our next show is fast approaching. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming show (New Beginnings). Here’s a (quick) little preview of what I’m working on…
“Let the beauty we love be what we do. ~ Rumi”
Spring is in the air and our next show is fast approaching. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming show (New Beginnings). Here’s a (quick) little preview of what I’m working on…
“The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.”
Drawing the foundation
…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?
~ Vincent van Gogh
“Sometimes I think there is nothing so delightful as drawing.”
I've finished the drawings (step one) for my next series of small paintings. With a simple HB pencil I'm sketching a story on canvas… I love this part of the process.
It's as if I'm a conduit bringing the vision from my mind's eye, through my arm, into my hand, and out through the pencil onto canvas. Drawing helps me really connect to what I'm creating in a tangible way.
The drawing is the artist's signature... Each line and shape expresses the essence of the vision and is unique to each artist. This is why I draw freehand... no grids, no tracing... I allow my hand to interpret what my mind sees.
It's also very therapeutic. When I'm drawing I'm in a meditative state… I’m "in the zone" where time disappears, worries fade away... Nothing else really matters than this moment.
And in a practical sense, drawing is the foundation of the painting where I map it all out. If the painting were a person, the drawing would be the bones. This is step one in my painting process.
In the next step I'll begin painting in tones of grey and defining the shapes (this would be the muscles of the person!) and slowly begin to bring the painting and vision to life...
“…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”
A little love for February...
It's February and I'm already noticing the longer, lighter days. I feel like we've rounded the corner... Soon we'll see the beginning of Spring with all its promise of new life and hopeful dreams...
Creativity takes courage. ~ Henri Matisse
It's February and I'm already noticing the longer, lighter days. I feel like we've rounded the corner... Soon we'll see the beginning of Spring with all its promise of new life and hopeful dreams…
Every year I choose a word as my inspiration, or intention word for the coming year. It usually just comes to me... sometimes popping up a few times in my consciousness before I realize it's 'the one'. It's very intuitive and when I decide... It just feels right.
This year's word is Courage. And so I've been thinking about this word and what it means to me... It's a powerful word... resolute, strong, brave... and it's root is cor, the Latin word for heart...
Courage originally meant, 'To speak one's mind by telling all one's heart.'
(brave♡heart)
So I'll see where Courage leads me this year... and what I'll learn from it.
“Courage is like love. It must have hope for nourishment.”
Now back to February (heart month), the month of Love...
(and my birthday month so I'm a little partial!)
I'm planning on re-vamping and re-organizing my website(s). It's time for an overhaul and a bit of a change. I have a few ideas...
So if there's anything in the boutique you've had your eye on... I cannot guarantee it will be there in the weeks and months to come. But, for this month, I'm offering 30% off everything Roses in my boutique in honour of Valentine's Day!
Just enter the code BRAVEHEART at check out for 30% off everything Roses. (Offer ends February 28th at midnight).
Life is for Living
As the year 2021 comes to a close and we transition into another year full of life’s uncertainties, I find myself thinking about what matters most…
“How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one, is what we are doing. ”
As the year 2021 comes to a close and we transition into another year full of life’s uncertainties, I find myself thinking about what matters most…
One of the hardest things (for me) of these past two years, is being unable to carry on with my goals, my plans, and dreams. Life has become smaller. I feel as if I’m a growing plant that’s trapped inside a glass jar… And I’m beginning to curl up on myself.
“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.”
It takes courage to go out into the world, to take risks, to fall down, to rise up again, to start over… to learn, to grow, to create… It’s what life is about.
Life is for living.
One needs to be free to create and to pursue one’s hopes and dreams, and a sense of purpose… To have fresh air, sunshine (and even a little rain!), to experience friendship, love, and connection with others…
Otherwise, our spirit cannot thrive. And just like plants and other animal beings, when we’re isolated from others and held back from truly living, we are not healthy and are unable to flourish.
This year my ‘Word for the Year’ was butterfly… My symbol for hope, strength, and endurance.
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all”
As I emerge from my 2021 cocoon… (a fragile time), it’s a new beginning, a time to awaken to a new day and to live with strength, courage, love, and freedom to be.
And that’s what matters most.
Go Ask Alice
“And you just had some kind of mushroom - And your mind is moving slow - Go ask Alice - I think she’ll know...”
“And you just had some kind of mushroom - And your mind is moving slow - Go ask Alice - I think she’ll know...”
I’ve been busily creating in my studio hideaway, but I’m finally ready to come out of my cocoon…
Our annual ‘Small Wonders’ show is just two weeks away and I’ve created six new paintings for the show, including my Wonderland mini-series:
Go Ask Alice, 8"x10", oil on canvas
Sweet Dreams, 8"x10", oil on canvas
Magic Mushrooms, 8"x10", oil on canvas
“When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!”
Pink Rabbit, 9"x12", oil on canvas
There will be seven artists in the show which opens on December 2 from 4 - 8 pm. Our studios will also be open on Dec. 3, 4 and 5 from noon to 5 pm.
Stay tuned for more information and the launch of our online gallery with artwork available for purchase directly from the artist (and for those unable to attend in person).
“I am not crazy; my reality is just different from yours. ”
A Pansy For Your Thoughts?
Pansies are one of the first flowers of spring and I’m seeing them everywhere… I’ve always thought they were such pretty flowers… Little charmers.
“They are all in the lily-bed, cuddled close together—
Purple, Yellow-cap, and little Baby-blue;
How they ever got there you must ask the April weather,
The morning and the evening winds, the sunshine and the dew.”
Pansies are one of the first flowers of spring and I’m seeing them everywhere… I’ve always thought they were such pretty flowers… Little charmers.
I didn’t know this but the pansy is my birth flower (February), which is perfect really, because the name pansy comes from the French word pensée which means thought. Pansies represent free-thought, love and remembrance, and holding good thoughts for others. Give a pansy flower to whom you hold dear to your heart.
“Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for
thoughts.”
Pansies are also completely edible and have healing properties that help treat colds, flus, coughs and sore throats. (They are also anti-aging and found in many home-made beauty products).
So the pretty pansy is the perfect flower for 2021.
A few years ago I painted pansies (Blue and Yellow, and Blue and Yellow #2) for my flower series paintings. I made a little video documenting my process from start to finish and showing the process of making fine art into wearable art.
The Pansy Market Tote bag
My latest pansy creation is my new large-size market tote bag. These bags are perfect for over-night travel, as carry-on luggage, beach bags, diaper bags, and of course, perfect for taking to market!
Get the unlined basic tote to use for shopping, or choose the lined option (with inner pockets including a zipper pocket) for travel.
And since pansies are for giving, (and my official flower for 2021), I’m making all Pansy items in my store 10% off for the rest of the year... Just use the code: PANSY2021 at checkout.
“Heart’s ease or pansy, pleasure or thought, Which would the picture give us of these? Surely the heart that conceived it sought Heart’s ease.”
Life is but a dream...
Sometimes I prefer to live in my imagination. It’s a dream world where stories morph from one into the next and anything is possible…
“No artist tolerates reality.”
I’m looking out my studio window at the mostly grey reality. The cherry blossoms have not yet blossomed so there isn’t much colour or nature in my view… Other than a small strip of grass next to the sidewalk, I can see buildings and roads and cars. Even the sky is grey today.
So I create my own reality here in my studio.
“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”
That’s the beauty of art. It has the potential of transporting you to another, more brilliant reality. It makes you question what you see and experience; what is real and what is imagined…
Midsummer Forest - detail
Sometimes I prefer to live in my imagination. It’s a dream world where stories morph from one into the next and anything is possible.
“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”
The Magic Pillow
“Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream...”