Sunday 20 November 2011

leaps & bounds

untitled (paris - ml 2011

Well it's been a busy & eventful couple of weeks!   Many good things happening, and I couldn't be more thankful.  I guess I'll start with my biggest news:  I got engaged!  It's something my partner (now fiancé!) and I have talked about for a while, but now it's official and we're really excited.

In career news, I had grant funding approved for the L.E.A.P. program, which provides funding to Seniors organizations to bring in artists to teach workshops or classes.  I'll be doing 8 weeks of Felting with them starting in January!   I also had a really great studio visit from someone who happened to see my work online & had contacted me to come see it in person, which resulted in some great conversation about art and a sale!  I now have a few pieces at Details Past & Present Art Gallery in Charlottetown - my first commercial gallery - so that's exciting too.  And I've been invited to participate in a printmaking show in the new year at Gallery 78 in Fredericton!  Whew!  Busy times!
shakespeare & co. - ml 2011

I think that, even with all that good news, the thing I really feel satisfied about, is that I, just now, after 2.5 months, have finally finished editing my photos from my trip to Paris!  Perseverance rules!
Here are a few of my faves:
carousel at Parc La Villette - ml 2011

omnimax theatre at Parc La Villette - ml 2011


marché aux puces Saint-Ouen - ml 2011

the paris catacombes - ml 2011
books for sale - ml 2011

creatures at Saint-Ouen - ml 2011

montmartre - ml 2011

rest - ml 2011

another door opens - ml 2011
montmartre - ml 2011

rodin's The Kiss - ml 2011   

Tuesday 1 November 2011

procrastination is an art form unto itself

pei farm day - ml 2009
If a gal's not careful she could find herself waking up with the best intentions to get some productive work done in her studio, make herself coffee, and then head to her computer to "catch up on some email real quick," only to then find that it is lunchtime already.  It's hard though, because now that we have access to everything-in-the-world-all-the-time, it is hard for someone with an innate burning curiosity to turn away from all that. Or is that just something I tell myself to justify procrastinating?

This morning I found myself getting sucked in/riveted by a few of the blogs I have bookmarked, most of which I fully intended to follow when I found them, and then the list slowly grew to several dozen...here a few of the ones that are distracting me today:

http://www.unruly.ca/
http://www.nowness.com/
http://arthound.net
http://thecreepycatacomb.blogspot.com/
http://www.instructables.com/

Anyhow, aside from all the web-diversion, I'm also torn between working on editing the hundreds of photos which have piled up on my desktop in folders marked "to edit," puttering away on a new painting, working on some soft sculpture, watching the new episode of Pan Am and getting outside for some exercise.  Hmm...how to choose...

In other, more productive news, I just returned from a week in Halifax for a workshop on Natural Dye techniques with India Flint at the NSCAD Port Campus.  My commute was one of the best parts:  I stayed in Dartmouth with a friend and biked each morning to the ferry, took the ferry across to Halifax with the sunrise over the city, and then biked along the waterfront to the campus.  Delightful.  The workshop was neat too - did you know you could make dye from maple leaves?  Well it's true!  Nature is amazing.  I think I just made up my mind - outside!  - and hopefully that will motivate me for all the rest :)

bundles in goldenrod dyebath - ml 2011

magical sea sculpture - ml 2011

bundles with onion skins and scallop shells - ml 2011

point pleasant park, soaking our cloth - ml 2011


bundles with iron and windfall leaves - ml 2011