The life of an artist is pure bliss, in my opinion. You may have seen this piece last week with the shocking change due to the glaze of yellow/orange on the magenta.  It has changed yet again, and may sit for a while as it waits for further inspiration. The flowers from this piece, also started last week, are starting to get a rather rakish look.  More to come?  Perhaps! This piece is really getting on my nerves, and I can only manage a bit at a time, cursing every moment.  Do you have pieces like that?  Please tell me I'm not the only one! A meditation inspirat ..read more

on things it just amazes me.  Where did all those organizational skills go when I need them the most?  :D   I started an abstracted piece of this celebratory photo from many years ago. It is definitely doing the abstract tap-dance, don't you think? I saw a supposedly quick way to clean brayers online, which requires soaking them overnight in Murphy wood oil.  I suppose it would be quick had I stuck to the overnight, but they've been sitting there for four days now as they await the scrubbing of step 2!  I'll keep you posted on how it works. I did a spee ..read more

 ...when he suggested that 'Art is never finished, only abandoned.'  Goodness knows I've abandoned more paintings than I'd ever thought possible, although none are to be found in museums.  My latest 'abandoned' painting is the 3' x 4' painting that is meant for an outdoor patio wall. This painting started back in May of 2023 and it's come a long way, and many layers since this photo: The scripted card on the board above is the original concept for the piece.  It's a quote by Arundhati Roy: Another world is not only possible, She is on her way. On a quiet day, I can h ..read more

with the editing feature both on the phone and computer, and having some fun with that small odd-sized piece I started last week.  The piece is 5 1/4" x 8 1/4". I rather like the look of the cropped 'Silverpoint'  here - it's just as attractive to me as the coloured version, even though it loses some of the magical garden mood. And the dramatic cool version adds a different vibe altogether. The vertical sensation of the 'Noir' look has some great impact, too. And given that I've been down with the granddaddy of all colds, it's a great way for me to play without goi ..read more

 ...this week, and precious little has been spent playing in the studio.  I've been scanning reams of photos from decades past, learning more than I ever wanted to know about running a condo assocation (as I've taken on the presidency of same this past week), and only yesterday got a chance to throw some paint.  Given that it was Golden High Flow, though, it was satisfying to the max to see it run, pool and play on the 20 x 16 textured surface I started some weeks back. The above photo is fun given it shows the paint before it starts drying, and that's one of my favourite part ..read more

 ...and purge continues.  This week I've been ironing documents (and there's a phrase I never expected to use).  A small suitcase, well over a hundred years old, turned out to be full of scrunched up/rolled up/creased and abused documents from my maternal grandparents, both born in the 1880's.  My grandmother's birth certificate, some of which is written in Gaelic, shows her born October 13, 1886, in Clontonacally, district of Ballylesson, county Down, Ireland.  The document measures 7 1/4" x 16 1/4" in size, a fair bit bigger than the wallet size ones I have. I was ..read more

going on in the studio this past week, and I've twice emptied the recycle bin.  It's a very big one too. Boxes and boxes of old photos have been disassembled, sorted and earmarked for family, dating back to my grandparents' time (and they were born in the late 1800's).  What a job! In the process, I found some really pretty folios like this one, among other things.  Now I've got a file of background jpegs that are out of this world (and from a previous one). If you've got any suggestions as to what to do with some 500+ old and/or vintage photos, I'd love to hear about ..read more

and more colour.  Isn't life just grand?!  I've been working sporadically since November on a 20 x 16"  experimentally textured gallery wrap canvas and it's just about as much colour as the eyes can manage.  You can see the start of it here if you'd like to check the beginning; the first photo below is the entirety -  so far.   There are parts of it that I really love,  and parts of it that show possibilities.   Some areas need additional colour variation, and others have not yet started to sing their song at all. As alway ..read more

,,,so we did it again!  Another bookmark making party this past weekend had more fun-lovers in the studio.  Eileen, Laura, Brenda and Maureen joined me for a fast-moving morning, with more fabulous bookmarks made. The group was so intent on their 'job' (aka play) that the room was surprisingly quiet and these bookmarks came off the line at a great rate! With nearly 100 bookmarks made in the two separate sessions, the library will have some brisk business in bookmarks in the coming weeks.  Thanks to all the women who made this happen - Carol, Jacqueline, Gwen, Jea ..read more

a happy place, always.  This week I've been playing with collage as a prep for making more bookmarks on Saturday. I have a special fondness for the feathery look of that triangular Unryu paper...itsn't it lovely?  There's another shot of it three photos down. The white on white wallpaper, when skimmed with a black stamp pad is just delightful, too. Of course, it wasn't all black and white this week.  I did a colourful collage from very small bits of paper as well...not sure whether this will be cut up for bookmarks or not. And I finally finished this paint ..read more