expressions

Penticton Art Gallery now has two pieces of mine for their pre-Christmas sale, I will be in a show at the Rotary Centre for the Arts for three days November 12th on, then the next week Gallery Vertigo is letting me have a show at the Kalamalka Campus. Summerland Art Gallery is holding a pre-Christmas sale of art cards and books which has motivated me to get producing again.

photograph of my hand shadow on a scrap book page

Hand made books are a real pleasure to create and I want to have three or four more ready for Gallery Vertigo’s book store.

This thursday I will be in the Rotary Centre for our First Thursday Open house. Last month 30 students from UBC attended and it was lovely to have a chance to meet the up and coming art teachers that will be inspiring students in the high schools and elmentary schools.

texture abounds in this piece for a CD cover

I am a featured artist in Homes for the Holidays and will be putting up the pieces that I created next week in the show home. All of those great photos I took one day last winter after a heavy snow fall should look great in this old fashioned christmas themed open house.

star gazer lily in my neighbours yard

Meanwhile, I am organizing an all candidates meeting to get more interest in the election. Only 22% of citizens turned out at the last election and there seems to be a more prevasive kind of negative inertia in our town. People are quick to complain and critize but don’t go out to the cities open houses or respond to on line surveys. I guess it is human nature to have everything be alright until it seems to be all wrong. What about the place between?

Sutherland park after fresh snow

Cold weather, art, politics. That is my life right now. Happy November.

art in the entry lobby of Caldwell banker lobby

New Year’s is a time to restructure, reexamine and reassess those actions which have been taken to move toward a goal. The first step is to have the goal clearly in mind. The difficulty comes when I enter the labyrinth and become dazed and confused. As a Myers-Briggs personality type of extrovert intuitive, I am reactive and focussed frequently on trying to soothe, help and educate others.

The journey is to learn how to make myself a calmer more fulfilled person. My goal is to be the type of person who just plain raises the Vibe. So part of my maketing plan is to sit meditation every day. Part of my marketing plan is to get my art out into public spaces to be discovered by people who are setting up house.

Also, assessing what possibilities exist for me that I haven’t paid attention to in the past can be valuable. All around me are methods of support. Awareness. Listening. Keeping my seat, as Pema Chondra recommends.

The best way to show your art is to fully understand what you are doing as an artist and as an agent. As we are headed into the year of the Ox, it is good to know what the path is and pay attention to the yoke. It is all a big yoke anyway….says the smiling Buddha.

The castle becomes an art gallery

My work at Traces of Memory

While four pieces of my art are enjoying the relative warmth of Ferrar, Italy, I am here scraping the ice off of the sidewalk. However, the brilliant, clean sunlight coming in the windows and doors is sending visions of being able to move to Edmonton into my brain. I can live with the -27 degrees, I tell myself. I can live with the sun and moon reflecting off of snow. The jewel like ground holds beauty in every crevice.

blue skies

What is soul destroying is gray, gray skies, gray air, gray vistas. The interior of houses feeling like caves and energy as well as optimism sinking into the winter gray bog of despair.

I have a 5 by 7 foot image that I am preparing for a furniture store in town. Having sent the Christmas presents off and most of the cards I can now concentrate on my art. The next step is to complete this work and then I can begin to publicize my classes with renewed vigor.  Teaching is such a joy for me. Learning as much from my students as I manage to teach, is the usual result. So often a question sends me into a new direction. The wall is a door.

Yesterday we had some bad luck or results from steps not taken, however one wants to phrase it. The “new” car needs the head gasket replaced and the cost was estimated at $2,500. We can’t manage that. Then the refrigerator died, shortly after the protective tent over the construction wood collapsed and broke.

At least all three are out of the way. We almost had four because we forgot to turn the heat back on after we were listening for the refrigerator to breathe. The house was 52 this morning but luckily no pipes burst.

Trevisan

Lack of focus is often the biggest devil in our lives. I have made so many mistakes from simply not paying attention. Sunday in our Dharma group we were reading Ken Macleod’s differentiation of awareness and mindfulness… but I had trouble keeping my mind on it.

So often the careful, structural analysis of things which are scientific sounding have no reverberation for me. I intuit. I feel. I have a gut response, or a flash. Breaking things down into steps, mincing logical discussions just feels like a weight and confuse me. I am mindful enough to watch this process in myself and aware enough to know how much others seem to seek structure to give them control over ideas.

The images of Trevisan that Paola sent through are wonderful. If only my art could talk!

My pieces are on the left

Traces of Memory Show in Ferrar, Italy

Cameron stretched the new canvas for me and put on the hardware. I cleaned up his studio for him this morning. What one finds difficult, the other find simple. Having a team is a strong position.

Large New image, Red pyramids

Don’t be afraid of the severe winter in Kelowna. The sky is fantastic with its 100 shades of blue. Step out into it. Take the hand of your partner/love and enjoy what is.