Trenched

There is some satisfaction in knowing I have more electricity in my studio than in the house. The other day the contractor was up on the roof installing the shingles when his stapler suddenly quit working. I opened the back door and apologized for deciding on toast for breakfast. Apparently the circuit includes the one plugin for the kitchen, the fridge, the furnace room and all the kitchen lights as well as the outdoor receptacle into which the stapler was plugged. We do have a hundred volt panel that is very much underused at the moment… I might try my hand at electricity sometime in the near future. I am sure I could do a better job. In the meantime the siding is done, the gas and the electrical lines with an extra something for an alarm system in case I get famous are all installed. It has even been inspected! So exciting! Now for the inside. It is getting so close to moving time. I am not sure I am excited about that, however. One must accept the fact there are benefits and prices attached to every decision… In this case the benefits far outweigh the price. I am so looking forward to my own space again. Life is good.

Invitation: to Ponder

Pondering is an ancient and somewhat lost practice in our busy present days. I tend to ponder a little when I am surprised by extraordinary beauty. My pondering also tends to be too little. Lately my soul has been calling for park time. Hugging a tree, breathing deeply, walking slowly, taking time to really look, these are practices designed to keep me sane. Being artist has given me an edge over most people as the creative process requires connection and pondering. The painting before you is the latest in the “Invitation” series, a lot of which has been centred around the Jasper area. There are about ten others coming over the next few months. I suspect the calling for park time will become more insistent if I continue to ignore it. Painting will continue to give me the respite I need as I pack the boxes and move into my new space. However, I will take time to ponder, in a park, this week. That might be a good idea for everyone…. Happy pondering!

Plugged

The hole in my fence is plugged! There are a few things left to do with my new studio though… like a roof and a window and doors… Apparently the city guidelines have changed in sixty years and the contractor is no longer allowed to replace the windows on the south side. Since no windows are allowed on the west side and there will be an interior wall to separate my work space from the gallery on the east side that leaves the north side. Basically the north side is a regular eight by seven garage door for easier access when I bring in my large canvases. God is so good. I will have my north light after all. We will get a door with windows in it…. I can see it all now! I was hoping for attic space but it looks like we will be storing more in our crawl space than in the attic. The struts cannot support much weight. In the meantime the walls and the shelving in my present studio are much emptier. The cupboards are bare. There is still a lot to pack and I keep wanting things… So typical. I know which box it is in; do I really need it? At this point the answer is no! I am busy enough with my watercolours. Next week I will show you the finished “Invitation: to Ponder”. Just about to add the poetry. Life is so good.

Latest

There is another deadline. I like deadlines. They inspire me to keep working. The show is in November and I decided to continue with the watercolour series “invitation”. The gallery space requires about twelve full-sheet size paintings. Depending on how things go I may include the four already completed. This one is called “Invitation: to ponder”. What you see is the beginning of a second layer. Watercolour develops patience. The first layer defines the light areas with particular attention to the white spaces one wishes to maintain. White is only white once: the beginning surface of the paper. The light areas are not all necessarily white though. I put in variations of quinacridone gold, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and, with a few strokes of the brush, created what appear to be grass, trees and rocks. With the second layer of colour the pigment is a lot stronger and I begin to play with negative space. This play is made much easier when the previous strokes already hint at blades of grass or pine needles in trees. All I do is fill in the holes! Life is so good.

The Sun Came Out

The contractor was getting antsy. The rain kept pouring and the schedule fell way behind. Still the rain continued. So my husband and I requested some nice weather and the sun came out. The cement is poured. Progress!! I am making progress in other areas too. I have just completed the painting for a commission. I am going into prints. My client prefers prints for her prizes so I took my sketch to the lithographers today for a scan and a proof. New territory. The same company completed another task for me this past week: notecards. I will be making up packages of six and looking for venues in which to sell them. The clear packaging should be arriving this week. Something else will be delivered this week: some more “Connections” books. So exciting! The latest watercolour is well on its way too. Watercolour does not take long to dry, depending on how much water I apply to the surface. And I could use a hairdryer to speed the process. I find I have better success letting the paint dry naturally rather than forcing it. Waiting for paint to dry is not exciting…. This week I decided to plan out the next seven or so paintings, looking for good notan compositions. In the meantime the paint dried. Another task I pick up at intervals is packing. I filled two boxes today. Did I mention that there is a certain order in which things are to be done? Paint first, pack later. When I am getting close to closing time I may not have the energy to be creative. Packing does not require creativity, just a good sense of space and volume. Life is good.