look up

So I've made a decision about this photo-a-day project, as my residency looms closer:  I'll be taking a hiatus from the project for a month, and returning to it May 8th. It's important to me, but it's more important to really focus on the work at hand during the residency. I'll miss it during the break, but stay tuned here during April for posts & pics about my project at Elsewhere!

For today's theme, continuing on with my affection for using vintage wallpaper in composites...

prairieskies - monica lacey 2013

trees

Today's shot is a composite I made using 5 different photographs - the main one of the trees is taken about 4 years ago in one of my favorite spots on the riverbank in Fredericton, NB, where I went to school. If you love this image, get yourself a print of it here!

sunset on the river trail - monica lacey 2013

smile

I smile a lot. Generally I have trouble keeping a straight face when asked. So does my dad - I always admired his 'laughter lines,' and now as I'm getting older, I've got them too. I think it's a good sign. Today's photo is actually an older selfie that I took for this project. I shot a few new ones today, but this is still my fave because I was so genuinely smiling at myself - something we rarely do but that feels great! Don't forget to check this out!

smile with your eyes - monica lacey 2013

If your spirit needs uplifting today, watch this. If you need a laugh over something ridiculous, watch this. And if you just need an infusion of visual beauty, have a look here. PS My co-photographers are taking some time off, and I'll be posting an update on the future of the photo-a-day project soon.

light + magic = transparent

Well it's been a few days since I took my daily photo, but it's rare I take time off, so I'm going to skip the guilt and get on with it :)

First, a few wonderful things for you to check out:  on themes of perseverance, the beauty of the ordinary/how one person's trash is another's treasure, and pushing the limits of one's comfort zone.

Also, I'm going to put in another suggestion you check out my crowdfunding page and get yourself some artwork!

see through this - monica lacey 2013

magic is inside you - monica lacey 2013

just a drop of light - monica lacey 2013

apologies

self-portrait feeling sheepish - monica lacey 2013

Yup, I'm aware I haven't posted in a few days!  Basically there has been too much happening this week, and I feel like these guys.  Stay tuned though, I'll be back tomorrow!

structure

I've been lusting after my own orchid for a while, and finally one day, my amazing husband, who had been observing my orchid-desire, brought one home. They have a fascinating and beautiful structure, as do most plants, and are the subject of my shot for the day - in full colour & in black & white. I'm working on a painting of my orchid and have been staring at it closely for a couple of hours. You can get a beautiful print of either of today's shots (or any other from this project) by contributing here!

orchid in colour - monica lacey 2013

orchid in black - monica lacey 2013

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

thankful

give thanks and praise - monica lacey 2013

Gratitude is an important daily practice for me. When we sit down to eat together, my husband and I will each say 3 things we're thankful for that day. Before we go to sleep, we tell each other 3 things we're specifically thankful for about each other that day. When I do my daily yoga practice, I give thanks at the beginning and again at the end, to the teachings of yoga, the lineage of which I am a part as a yoga teacher and yogini, and to my own highest self.

Being thankful is a way of taking the time to pause, to absorb your life, your breath, the people around you, the nature around you, your path, your body, your heart, and to witness the abundant blessings all around you, both large and small. It uplifts the heart and spirit, automatically, and has great power to shift one's perspective and open the mind. You know the stillness of floating on your back with your ears underwater? That's what gratitude does for the soul.

In that spirit, today here are just a few things I am thankful for:

my snuggly cat who lays on my yoga mat while I practice

the sunshine on the snow when I went x-country skiing this morning 

the blooms on my orchid

my husband 

the vinyl cafe & their musical guest today, Joel Plaskett

the generous folks who are helping me realize a dream in my career

getting excited about planting my garden this spring

the fact that my internet was down today & the resulting letter-writing afternoon I had 

If you need some inspiration to find your own sense of gratitude, watch this.

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

essential + eerie

This first image is actually from yesterday's theme, Essential. It represents two things that are essential for me, in both my personal life and my studio practice: collecting, and nature.

collection: shoreline - monica lacey 2013

The photo below is for today's theme of Eerie, and it's of a piece of wood I've used for testing encaustic techniques. It always fascinates me how entranced by/afraid of our own skeletons we are as humans. Memento mori I suppose.

skull & cloth - monica lacey 2013

Remember, if you're enjoying this project, you can get yourself a print from the series by contributing here! See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

inspired

spring bloom - monica lacey 2013

Today's image is of a felted flower that I made, inspired by the recent shift of seasons toward Spring here on PEI. I'm making them with the Senior Citizen's groups that I teach every week. They began by making the stems, thinking "what is this green stick for?" So this week when I brought them this completed flower as an example, they were excited to finish their own and became really inspired - it was great to see.

As I slowly prepare for my upcoming residency in North Carolina, I've been looking through past residents and their projects, and getting almost overwhelmed with inspiration! I'm feeling ready to move my studio practice to the next level, and shift toward doing larger work, and more installation work.  The last project I did that got me excited like this was comprised of video, photography, and sculpture, and was shown at the UNB Art Centre in 2012 - you can see the video portion of it here, and read my post about it here.

If you don't already know, I'm having an art sale/fundraising campaign to help with the cost of this residency.  If you've been really enjoying this photo-a-day project, contribute a mere 25$ and choose any photo from January 2013 to the present and I will send you a signed 8x10 print of it, gorgeously printed on 100% cotton archival fine art paper. It's an amazing deal! 

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. Also, check out this great photo project by Gabriele Galimberti.  Inspiring!

age

play it one more time - monica lacey 2013

For today's theme I shot an old player piano roll from my collection. Despite its age, it's still pretty amazing technology. See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

night

nightfall - monica lacey 2013

I missed my shoot yesterday as it was a jam-packed day for me, so I took an older photo and altered it for the theme of Night.

emotion

emotion as a place you used to live - monica lacey 2013

I created today's image using a page from a magazine that had, on one side, a gelatin silver print by Fred C. Wurtele in 1904, and on the other, an albumen silver print taken by Eugène Atget in 1921. I coated the page in wax to make it transparent, and placed it in my window so you could see both images. 

Speaking of emotion, have a look at this.

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. If you haven't already, have a look at this too!

dark + fire

Well, I missed yesterday's shot so today is a double post on the themes of Dark and Fire, which, I have to say, compliment each other quite nicely!

the outer light - monica lacey 2013

the inner light - monica lacey 2013

See Minka's photo here & Juliana's here.

body parts

how i get there - monica lacey 2013

Long one of my favorite parts of the human body (not in a fetish way, just in an appreciation kind of way). I even took a course in foot reflexology years ago. I especially love my own feet & appreciate very much all they do for me. See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

food

a glimpse into my diet - monica lacey 2013

I often feel pretty darn lucky to have access to such abundance when it comes to food. Even with this much food in the fridge I'm thinking it's time to get groceries. It's all relative of course. I'm looking forward to summer when I can get back to growing some of what I eat! See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. Don't forget to check out my fundraising page & contribute if you can - there are some great perks!

portrait

sit still - monica lacey 2013

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

black & white

So I have some news to share:  I got accepted as artist-in-residence at Elsewhere in Greensboro, North Carolina! It is a 'living museum' housed in a former thrift store, and the artists who go there (6 at a time) get to create work on-site using all the crazy materials that remain from the owner of the thrift store (who was a hoarder in the best possible way!). It's a huge honour to be accepted (it's highly competitive) and I am so excited to go there and get inspired! I'm sure I will live on that fuel for a good long while. The thing is, I can't really afford it. This artist gig doesn't pay that well (yet!), so I created a crowd-funding page in the hopes of raising some money to help with the trip & cost of the program. If you feel moved to contribute, which you can do here, I am offering some great perks - including prints from this photo-a-day project! And then when I get really famous (which I will, mark my words!), you'll be able to say you helped with that success.

My image for today is a close-up of a sculpture I made by knitting reed together using broom handles.

tangled dreaming - monica lacey 2013

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!

spring

Spring? Let's just say that here in PEI, we're not quite there yet. Hence my response to today's theme.
See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

spring? - monica lacey 2013

art

If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself - soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all. Why should it? It can wait. It can stay silent a lifetime. Who knows anyway what it is, the wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live? 
- Mary Oliver on inspiration & creativity

In my brief & humble experience so far, I've found that being an artist full-time means a couple of things for me:  a) I'm working constantly, all the time. I go for a walk and I see things that become ideas for projects. A random conversation becomes fodder for a new piece. I can't really turn it off. b) the actual inspiration, a.k.a. the fuel to create a physical piece, comes in great spurts and waves and can only be summoned by showing up regularly to the studio and leaving a few 'crumbs' around, like bits of things that are interesting to me and may lead somewhere.

This is what happens when I 'show up' and get to work.

my work table, march - monica lacey 2013

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

shenanigans

Since we got a kitten, there are plenty of shenanigans around our apartment. Johnny the cat provides us with endless entertainment. In the mornings when I do my yoga practice, he likes to sneak onto the mat while I'm in downward dog, casually lies down and waits for me to lower down on top of him before he runs away. Sometimes he likes to attack my hair when I'm lying down. This is a shot of him playing with the elastic I use to tie up my yoga mat. He loves it. See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

johnny, sunday morning - monica lacey 2013

colour

tulips for the grey days - monica lacey 2013

Around this time of year I like to keep my house stocked with fresh flowers, must keep hopes up after all.  March now though, we're in the home stretch of winter. If you need a little pick-me-up & don't have any tulips, watch this. And this. Minka Bartels is our guest photographer for the month of March - welcome Minka! See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.  Big thanks to Lee Clarke for joining our project in February!