Archive for May, 2009

June Show

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Playground Invite

I’m having a show beginning June 4 at Dales Gallery in Victoria, BC. For those of you who live here, I hope you can come by!

Plugging away…

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

I’ve been neglecting you, sorry. I’ve been painting like a crazy woman getting ready for my upcoming show here on June 4. It’s been a scramble, but there’s nothing like a deadline. I’ll have new work up on my website soon, too. In the meantime, please indulge yourself with 3 minutes and 36 seconds of stop-motion video beauty:  Her Morning Elegance.

 

Her Morning Elegance

Her Morning Elegance

Five Fab Blogs

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

 

From Lady Ann's blog Visuals

From Lady Ann's blog Visuals

1. Visuals ~ Lady Ann de Borja (exquisite name, no?), a graphic design-lover, posts about illustrators and things that inspire her (and, it turns out, me!)

2. Kelly + Olive ~ these two interior designers just look like a pile of fun. Check out How to Build a Succulent Garden.

3. Ink on My Fingers ~ Susannah had me at hello. The dreamy visuals, the philosophy, the kind face. She also has an Etsy shop for her gorgeous photos.

4. Lilla Poesia ~ Amy’s a wanderer who ended up in one of my favourite cities, Sydney, Australia. She photographs her discoveries around town in the relaxed manner of a beachcomber turning over stones.

Photo by Amy at Lilla Poesia

Photo by Amy at Lilla Poesia

5. When I Grow Up Coach ~ Michelle Ward is a spitfire. She’s a young creative career/life coach. You can feel her energy and enthusiasm even in her punctuation! She’s got top-billing in my Rolodex, I can tell you that!

     
sugar                    

A magnet design Michelle used on her blog,
courtesy of the designer, allisonstrine.

Divisadero ~ Michael Ondaatje

Monday, May 4th, 2009

ondaatje_divisadero

I’d forgotten how moved I am by Michael Ondaatje’s writing. I picked up Divisadero at the library on a whim, and every night I look forward to slipping back in to his incandescent writing. This passage practically made me swoon, and sparked a whole imagined series of paintings:

Why was Coop never in our father’s photographs? There were a few pictures taken of him, but these seemed preoccupied with texture and light. And there were some abstract reflections of him in a window, or of his shadow on the grass or on the flank of an animal. How many things could you throw your image against?

Mr Ondaatje and I seem to share a love of shadows. When I flew over the Sahara in 1998, I had read the English Patient 3 times already, and the film had just come out in theatres. The image of the plane’s shadow on the dunes was one of the most beautiful things I had imagined or seen. Though I was too high up in the jet, I imagined being a part of that landscape, if only for a few hours before landing in Nairobi.

The visuals of the English Patient were so stunning, it’s still the first film that pops into my head when I’m asked for my favourite. There’s even a bit with a paintbrush…

 

Desert
Heroditus
Desert
Paintbrush