expressions

Today I worked more on getting the patio area outside my studio ready. I dug up the weeds, moved old wood, picked out the stones and laid out the big jig saw pattern. The handyman is coming next week to put in the last windows, make a plywood wall for behind the counter and then I can lay the entire studio out for work.

Hopefully a former student is coming to visit and look at my art.

Because it is 90 degrees out I am taking a break from working in the sun. Listening to Wayne Dyer under the air conditioning and drinking bubbly water is great. When it grows cooler, I will go out and finish laying the patio. It feels so good to get the back yard in order so that I can have a calmer life.

night sky image

Next I am writing a poetry book from my old journals and making some applications for schools. Opening up to the wonderful possibilties in life. What a journey.

Two of my pieces Zephyr Moon, copper and Green/gold were donations for the charity that Charlie Hodge has helped to organize for the Bridges Programme.

Corey Doak sang his Scruffy the Elf song

So many great musicians and bands donated their time that I felt that there was compunction on my part to attend. I have been less than healthy for over 7 weeks but kept chugging along. However, I do have only a few items to complete and my list can rest until the new years.

Corey entrances the audience

Some of the images that I took of the bands I worked with Paint Shop Pro to reflect the sound of the music. I really enjoy recreating the feel of an original situation and keeping the energy in my final piece. Nixie is a band I have been following for several years now. Moving to Vancouver, B.C. from Kelowna, they have now stepped up to move their career to a higher point.

Corey Doak award winning song writer

Corey Doak is a musician that Cameron has played bass for on some of his CD’s and his sound is creative and full of his personality. He stood alone on stage and held the audience. His fan base is large. Playing Christian music at his church, he has garnered a big following.

Nixie singing their set

Currently, I am completing 110 Christmas Cards which will be used by the City of Kelowna. Each is unique because I have drawn into them with metallic ink and Indian ink pens.

over lay of picture of Nixie

It was a laborious, time consuming task but it means they are NOT the type of works that are churned out by a factory like process. I cannot by my very nature ever work that way.

Nixie playing in Kelowna

Loading to my web sites, attending to my on line galleries is the next task for the business.

final image that I really like

Next week I will finish a very large committment to my community with the all candidates forum that I have organized. And not least, hopefully not last, is the wrapping and mailing presents.

paint shop pro layers

Since I will be a hermit for a while after some surgery, I want to have things all complete.

Cameron is working full out on the electrical jobs he is getting.

electronica, rock

He finished working on two houses in the last two weeks and is completing a garage. He must also replace the service to our house in the next two weeks to comply with the insurance companies proviso.

bright sound, big sound

Hopefully, there will be time to knit, to read and to enjoy the “cave” existence of winter. For every season….

Looking forward to cinnamon spice tea, naps and dreaming.

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.

ten images in

Paint Shop Pro came bundled with my computer eleven years ago when I began and while I have not thrown money at technology to increase my agility as a computer based artist, I have spent six days a week for eleven years deepening my understanding of who I am, what I want from my work. Finding my voice has been very much about time and being open to discoveries.

the next step increasing contrast and saturation

First I take a photograph and “feed” it into the computer where I begin to use filters to move the pixels around.

increasing intensity again

The outlining filter is set on chrome to really pop the image and increases the presence of the rainbow areas.

Using filters to move the image around

The next filter I used takes a faint image and lays it over the original image to create more linear lyric movement and greater depth.

The final image is organic and asian looking

Picture of Star Gazer Lily with filters

Chipping the ice away from the back step, I thought to myself that in order to take steps you have to first see the steps. We in Kelowna’s North end are all clearing the way for ourselves to engage in a normal work a day world.

We have not had the snow plow down in our neck of the woods after each snow fall. Frequently the ice underlying the snow layers is treacherous. Greasy brown snow up to the hub caps presents the surface experience.

It is all in the technique. Some drive achingly slowly trying to adjust to the rush of adrenaline that comes when their tires find the grooves in the road that were created on a warmer day when we ventured out through deep snow. Evening freezing left trenches which lie beneath the surface. Others seems to believe that all obstacles should be met with bravado. Swinging out around the corners, they tear into the gas pedal to fly over obstacles. There are fragments of fenders by some of the stop signs in Knox Mountain village.

Ten more centimeters is predicated to fall in the next two days. I am going to be out of the shoveling game for a while because I managed to fracture the knuckle on one of my fingers from the weight of the snow.

Why are we like Stars on Ice? Because we need technique and we need awareness of conditions. The shoveling and dragging our legs through snow drifts has done much to condition the body. I put on my winter pants yesterday and the crotch was down between my knees. Now if I just pull my underwear up and tuck my shirt into it, I will be rad or cool or whatever it is the diaper wearing teenaged cohort calls it.

Also, there is an element of performance anxiety as we get into our vehicles. Will we be smoothly sailing off across the ice, or….

In life and when you are a star on ice, it is good to remember that one must first see the steps before one can take them. I have cleared the back steps. Now I can take out the garbage and recycling. Keeping the house peaceful is now easier.

Tuesday, we will take my art up to Gallery Vertigo in Vernon to hang on the members wall and in March I will put work up in the Mission library. http://www.galleryvertigo.com

January will be a wonderful time of teaching classes and showing others how much fun exploring the world of creativity is. http://web.ubc.ca/okanagan/continuingstudies/welcome.html

It is not nearly as challenging as skating on ice.

Granddaughter On the Phone

I cannot hear what your little daughter says

on the phone.

You are teaching her how

to speak.

She holds up her doll

for me to see.

And you and I,

my daughter,

both laugh

as you translate.

Thank you

for helping us

bridge the gap.

Images of Rome

becomes a stare of
antique amazement

Yesterday, awoke to find a picture had sold from the show that isn’t even open yet. The Pine Beetle Express arrived in the mail and I was so happy to see who had joined me between the covers. I got a ping back from a UK company that posts best language in blogs, a German artist who won a digital show in Chicago left a laudatory comment about my work, I was asked to introduce Gary Geddes when he speaks at the Okanagan Institute, the Designyourwall.com site put me up as a feature artist. When I was invited onto Greg, the owner’s site, I discover that he has done the wallpaper, vinyl etc. for dozens of popular movies.

After years of slogging, so much came together in just one day. I woke up twice with just sheer excitement. Today, the opening of my show.