Who wants to die with their stories still inside?

I believe in intuitions and inspirations...

I sometimes FEEL that I am right.

I do not KNOW that I am.

- Albert Einstein

I normally make art during the evenings

but lately, i've felt a tug towards the art table

in the morning.

i'm learning to trust the tugs a little more

as i get older...

This collage/painting took less than an hour to complete

and i love it. It's exactly the feeling i was looking for.

(the floor boards and the dots are paint and marker,

the stove and wood are collage)

I wrote something years ago

and this little painting on paper was created

with that poem in mind.

This is how i see both painting and writing together on the page...

i make sense of the world

through art and stories.

Some of the little stories I write

are happy, others are sad,

and they are all based

on life experiences.

You all get a sneak peek (2 pages) of the kind of book

i'd eventually love to share with the world.

There's so much work to be done

and still so many questions

but i'm confident it's all gonna happen

in due time.

Patience, perseverance, and hard work.

They tell me these things matter

when we're following our dreams...

I trust they're right. :-)

oh, and here's the mess on my table

after my morning session.

Tim Horton's coffee.

An important part of a well balanced breakfast.

Especially if you're Canadian.

...tee hee hee... 

And here's one of the many reason i believe

stories are important:

Because they change people.

Especially stories like this one.

When I watched this documentary last week,

Himalaya: Le chemin du ciel

(Himalaya: Path to the Sky)

I was reminded

that the whole world doesn't revolve around me

and that sometimes,

my priorities may need a shift.

I was reminded that the greatest lessons in life

are often found in far away places...

and that sometimes in life,

we just need to make our hearts strong -

Here's the trailer for the film.

I hope you like it...

always toward the light

hey people!

i had so much fun doing this collage earlier today.

Sometimes i think art is an escape from reality,
and other times, i think of it as moving towards
something bigger than me
rather than away from reality.

I guess it means different things to different people

but don't you love it when things just come together

and it all feels right?

god knows it doesn't always feel right.

but today was a good day.

i even decided she would wear cowboy boots with tiny spurs.

You can't see them much, but they're there.

it's all in the details... (giggle)

and then a few little words.

I read somewhere that all living beings

gravitate toward the light...

Well - except mushrooms i guess...

and the grumpy old guy downtown. :-)

Just a quick note to all of you...

I've had to limit commenting on blogs lately,

only because i was spending more time on-line

than actually creating something.

Making art.

This damn social media can quickly eat up 

a lot of hours in the day

and I don't want to become a zombie

in order to be social

with the whole fucking world.

Besides - i don't want to be social with everyone.

Only with those of you who are here with me. :-)

So i just wanted you all to know that even if

i comment a little less on your posts lately,

i'm still reading them.

I'm still laughing

and sighing

and admiring

and oooo-ing and aaaaah-ing

So keep creating and posting, ok?

xox

Linking this to Illustration Friday! 

art in paint, in sand, in words, and in music

Melancholy were the sounds on a winter's night.

- Virginia Woolf

i've been away from the sketchbooks for a few days,

thanks to a migraine. I get them now and then.

Whenever i get them,

the world stands still for a few days -

but i'm happily back to the drawing table again. :-)

I just finished this a few minutes ago -

this is acrylic on paper...

there may have been a left brain/right brain thing

happening here...

I only noticed after i got the basic blue paint on there

that it was rather symmetrical.

and then of course, you just KNOW i'm gonna find a face. ;-)

These shapes just looked like eyes to me,

and a nose, and mouth.

a few added white dots, and it's done.

The hardest thing for me (as an artist)

is knowing when to stop.

Then, time for a little collage/painting

 a few leaf shapes...

added circles and acrylic paint...

 a few details...

Painting abstracts always helps me let go

of the need to know the meaning of the painting.

It's very freeing to paint something

that doesn't NEED to look like anything.

At least for me it is.

And while i was recuperating on the couch,

i read this book again.

I absolutely love the soft illustrations in this book

and the story is such a fragile one...

about a young boy (Hervé) who loses his father...

Such a gentle way to share an overwhelming loss...

I leave you with this 8 minute video on sand art.

Some of you may have seen it already,

but i'm sharing it anyway,

because i not only find the art beautiful,

but i love music as well

and it's a wonderful reminder

that art extends much further

than the pencil or the paint brush.

Art is about communicating.

Across the oceans,

across different cultures,

across generations.

I don't know what that song is at 5:05,

nor what he is saying,

but it's one of the saddest songs

i've ever heard...

xox

sometimes you just need to scream and shout...

hello people of the world.

A quick little collage this afternoon.

You may see this one again soon.

I'm working on an e-book - a combination

of art and writing

and this piece was done to accompany

something i wrote a few years ago

about a dying friend.

i can't wait to show it to you all.

but for now, just the art.

Sometimes the darker themes

are the most profound, don't you think?

The most honest.

I read this quote years ago

(can't remember who wrote it!)

Bear your sadness with greater trust

than your joy.

If the world was filled with happy people

living in happy places

with happy jobs

surrounded by happy bubbles

and happy birds chirping

and happy rainbows...

i think i'd want to slit my wrists. ;-)

Life isn't always happy,

so art can't always be happy either.

At least not my art.

That's what i love about art.

If you learn to get out of your own way

and give your art the space it needs

to say what it wants to say,

it can be nothing but truth.

So after the collage, I decided to paint

this little sketch i did a while ago.

Not exactly as the sketch,

but close enough...

a few healing colours...

a bit more detail in the face...

cleaner white lines around the hair...

I'm not quite done with it yet,

so i'll post it again when it's done.

Someone sent me this today

and it cracked me up,

so i wanted to share with you.

This was the note attached to the message:

I get this poem every winter & every winter I love re-reading it.

It's a beautiful poem and so well written.

A poem by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

SHIT ITS COLD

The End.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

If you can't smell the roses,

play in the snow -

and if you can't play in the snow

you can always drink wine. ;-)

...giggle. 

I have a dream...

We have guided missiles

and misguided men.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

can reading other blogs be bad for your health?

A few weeks ago, I read a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers.

She gave us a month by month glimpse

of the goals she had set and accomplished

during the year 2012, with deep gratitude to everyone

who supported her and her dreams throughout the year.

When I finished reading the blog post – my first thought was

holy shit, I’m a loser. ;-)

I had done so little compared to her.

I felt like i had been

less productive

less ambitious

less organized

with my life in 2012,

compared to her.

Compared to her.

It's hard sometimes not to feel intimidated by others

especially when they seem like

money making,

creative geniuses on steroids.

It's so important to remind ourselves

that everyone's dream is different,

and even without any dreams at all

we all have a place in this world.

It's so important to know for ourselves

why we do this.

Why we make art.

Why we share stories.

Why we reach out to connect to others.

I didn’t publish that book

or go on an art retreat

or reach that six figure salary.

I wasn’t featured in a magazine

or interviewed

and I don’t have a gazillion followers.

But i have you. :-)

I did however, do a bunch of other things

that made me happy.

Like connect with all of you beautiful peeps... :-)

Like be a good mother to my son and a good daughter to my mother.

Like write every day in my journal

and make art every day

and take morning walks with the crunching snow

under my boots.

Like noticing how beautiful the moon is at night

and toasting to the gods of colourful sunsets.

I do what i do because it makes me happy.

Not because it makes me a million dollars -

because it makes me happy.

Here's to trusting that wherever we are in life,

we're all ok.

xox