how did something so smooth become so tight?

hello folks!

I've calmed down a bit since my last post,
now that i've backed up my work & photos... :-)

more time for painting

i started this out with the intention of staying loose...
using colors i don't normally use,
using my fingers rather than brushes,
trying to let myself go a bit...

making markings and wanting to keep things free...

and then this started to happen...

 and then before i knew it - this.

All of a sudden, i was thinking
what the hell?!?
When did THIS happen?
In my effort to stay loose
and NOT control things...
i end up with a very controlled & tight looking painting.
Crap.

it all feels so aggressive somehow.
i am not afraid to admit that i like some of my paintings
but this isn't one of them.
i liked it more at stage 4 or 5,
when it was loose and without much detail.
Maybe the painting is teaching me something
about life...
and how sometimes,
things don't work out the way we plan
or the way we think they will.

this is a note my mother wrote in her calendar
only a month or so before she died.
We are of Acadian descent,
so we often jumble both french & english
in the same sentence,
and we even have our own dialect
which i'll share with you in a post soon...
Mom's note here translates as:
Chemo - last one - line dancing after.
And she did go line dancing after her last chemotherapy session.
That was mom in a nutshell.
Always making the most of life,
always making time for friends & family,
being a participant in life rather than a spectator,
especially after she knew her days were numbered...

I miss her...

funny, i miss her most 

when i see nature at its best,

like this clean snow drift on our back porch...

because i know how much she appreciated

the same beauty.

On another note,

Happy St-Patrick's day to all!

And in honour of the day,

and of mom's vibrant spirit...

check out the video

and dance if you feel like it. :-)

xox