My Dear Emily....I FINALLY understand.

Our recent move to the west coast found me in the company of my sister who helped enormously with the whole packing, driving and unpacking ordeal.  She had never been on Vancouver Island before and the one thing she wanted to do before she left for home and to her final year of her Master's degree was to go on a hike.  So we headed in to Goldstream park with my boys and our dogs to discover the forest.  Really, no words can describe the feeling of being in there.  The canopy soars hundreds of feet above and there is a sense of being in a protective cocoon; a secret and magical world completely sheltered from the hubbub of city life.  The trees are enormous!!!! Hundreds of years old.  The sound of nothing but stillness, water trickling in the creek and birds - so many birds I have never heard before!!  I stood in awe of it all, thinking "no wonder the fairies live in here...it's extraordinary...and SO peaceful."

Stone at Emily's grave honored by many who have left their drawing tools

As I walked I thought of Emily Carr and her trees - my favorite of her paintings.  And, for the first time, I GOT it.  I felt and I understood the love she had for these trees, and knew why (from the heart not the mind) she would choose to paint them.  I think it may be impossible to live here and NOT paint trees.

Stone near Emily's grave site in Ross Cemetery (Victoria, BC)

Ch-ch-ch-Changes....(OR, Never Look Back)

Ahhh.....it's been a LONG time, hasn't it?
Well, you know what "they" say about life...."it happens while you are busy making other plans."
To say my life has changed since my last post is a gross understatement! Had you said to me then that in a matter of months I would travel to Jamaica with family, complete renovations that have dragged on for years in order to sell our house, travel to Vancouver Island and purchase a new home in less than a week, manage to get to my folks' cabin for a week and a bit with family, have as many farewell parties and visits with friends as possible, sell and donate many belongings we no longer need, pack the entire remains with the help of angel friends and family, drive the lot of our possessions in 2 Uhaul trucks through Alberta and BC on to a ferry to arrive on the island, and then unpack and attempt to make sense of all of it in our new home...phew....I would have said you were absolutely nuts!! Oh, and did I mention this all happened with only 1 overnight stay in the hospital to monitor heart symptoms. Perhaps that was due to the stress.....ya' think?! So here we are now, living in a little bit of heaven on the West Coast of Canada in a place completely strange and new to us. A new adventure for our family has begun!
The (new) view from here:

Riding the Magic Carpet to One World One Heart

UPDATE - At long last I have returned from the abyss, and breaking all rules, I have completed my draw a month late.  But, it is done, and these two little hearts are on their way to Tina and Maria.  Congratulations Ladies!  And many thanks of all of you who dropped by my blog.  Once my life settles down again, I'll be able to post more frequently than once in a blue moon.....(more on that later.)  And I hope to see you all again soon!


OK...so "Last Minute Martha" strikes again - I'm joining in on the fun of One World One Heart just in the nick of time....again!  Nothing like a deadline stretched to the very last moment.  Here's the deal in the creator, Lisa Swifka's own words:

I created this event in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. 2007 had roughly 85-90 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.
We had a strong showing the first year for sure, and then in 2008 we had just about tripled that number. In 2009 there were 911 participants, to say I was amazed is an understatement. 28 countries were represented in the 2009 event as well.
This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the blogging community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together. This is an INTERNATIONAL event that has and had participants from the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England,Wales, Slovenia and more. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging. What more could I ask for, my little idea has surpassed my wildest dreams of what it could become.

So with that said, I am excited to participate along with nearly 1100 others this year in something with such a great intent - to bring people together.  This year I am giving away two items to two winners.

They are handmade glass hearts on steel bales with matching ribbon to use if the recipients choose to.  They can be worn as a necklace strung on the ribbon, or hung as a small ornament in a window or rear-view mirror.  Or they could be used as a zipper pull or a component on a bracelet....really anthing one might imagine.  My intent - to share love through this event.  To enter - here are the rules as outlined by the event:
1. Each person must leave a comment to be eligible to win. - One comment per person.
2. In your comment, please leave a link back to your blog so I can contact you and so I can visit your blog too. An email address would be good to to contact you about shipping should you be one of the lucky winners.
3.  Draw will be made using a random number generator on February 15th.

Good luck and I look forward to meeting you on this magic carpet ride!

Pushing Outside the Comfort Zone

I recently enjoyed an evening of oil painting with a teacher friend of mine - Mary-Leigh Doyle.  She is a wonderful painter and in particular I love her oils and her style of approaching them.  So this evening was for me an adventure in something fairly new and a relaxing evening of wine and paint - my favorite combination.  I have long wished that I could loosen up in my style as even when I start a painting out that way, I invariably end up with my nose less than a foot from the canvas working on tiny details.  So this evening the exercise was to copy a painting which gave me the "guide" to approach it in a loose and very painterly fashion.  I hated it.  Don't get me wrong, I love trees and feel compelled to paint them these days, but in this case the colors were not my favorites, and as I sat in my familiar 12 inches away from the tiny canvas it looked a mess.  I couldn't discern tree trunks from leaves, from background.  Only when someone insisted that I get the heck away from the thing - to step back and review - did I see what was going on in the painting.  OK....so it's not so bad.  What I do know is that to paint like this is completely foreign to me and it explains why I have such a difficult time getting there.

What you see here is unfinished - it's as far as I could go that evening without smudging it all into a muddy mess.  Once it dries I will add a few last minute touches...and try desperately not to add too much (any) detail.  Perhaps if there were an electric trigger rigged to the canvas that gave my ol' nose a little jolt when I get too close to it...

A Dedication

A friend asked me to add to her new mandala journal - to share a wish or some thoughts on her fledgling creative journey. So, it was a dedication of sorts. I was a little surprised at the request, and very honored to be asked to share. After a short meditation, this is the drawing that showed up...before I entered the words I shared with her. I hope she found it inspiring and supportive.

Collaboration

I really do love working on projects with other artists. I had a wonderful opportunity to work with my dad again on a comission for a friend of mine. Her partner loves to fish and she wanted to give him a damascus fileting knife for Christmas. So, my dad created a beautiful blade with a handle of blue dyed maple. He sent that to me and I followed the color and design of the knife to fashion a sheath and black suede bag complete with glass fish button. It's a real blessing to be able to share these projects with people whose work you admire, let alone that being family. I feel pretty lucky that way.

Ain't it the Truth...

Love is all we need.....

Indeed! Love to you all...