{happy birthday curlypops}

Dream Sweetly

Acrylics on canvas

78 x 30 inches

I made you a little something!  Can't wait to see you soon my friend.

{i hear you claude}

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers"

                                       Claude Monet

{now we're getting somewhere}

Layers 1, 2 & 3

Layer 4

Layer 5

Layer 6 & 7

This is what I've been working on for the last couple of days.  Lots and lots of splashing paint around, making marks, spraying water.  Not much thinking, certainly no over-thinking, a process of simply making colour and creating depth.  It's really fun and the more I play with Flora's techniques the more I understand her process of letting go, but perhaps not completely.  There's a natural rhythm, a subtle noticing of where colour needs to go to bring the piece to life, a gentle balancing.  I'm loving this part of the process.

The hard bit comes next for me.  Taking the groundwork and turning it into something more cohesive.  Flora encouraged us to continue to stay loose, to let the painting come to life of it's own accord.  I haven't quite found my way with it yet.  I get a bit stuck at this point.  How to take it from a beautifully rich piece of colour and pattern and turn it into a more cohesive artwork.  It's a mystery.

The journey continues.  Always.

{from me to you peeps}

{see the pretty birdy?}

No?  It's ok, I can't see it either.  But I feel certain there's a bird somewhere in this space and it's just a matter of time before it makes itself known.  Watch this space.

{totes}

 

I am totes excited about starting 10 magical days of holidays very soon.

I am totes going to be painting, painting, painting over that time.

I am totes busy planning my first solo exhibition for the year opening in June at Chair 14.

I am totes looking forward to seeing family and friends over Easter.

I am totes going out for lunch at Mamasita while I am on holidays.

I am totes working on a super special surprise for one of my peeps and can't wait to spill the beans.

I am totes shocked that a mere 2 glasses of red wine can produce a hangover.

I am totes into the word totes at the moment.  Every time I say it I feel giggly and happy.

Have a totes great Easter peeps!

Totes: A shorter more convenient version of the word totally.  This word is most commonly used by teenage girls. {Urban Dictionary}

{me, in a real live book}

To top off a fabulous weekend I also received my copy of Patti Digh's new book with my lovely and inspirational friend Louise Gale's gorgeous artwork on the cover and ...

my artwork nestled within it's pages.  Last year I responded to a call out for artists to contribute work to Patti Digh's newest book {you can read the story here if you're interested}.

This is a dream come true.  I've been published!  

The book is available for purchase here on Amazon.  I'm also going to have copies for sale on opening night of my exhibition in June {more news on that coming soon}

Doing a great big dreamy happy dance over here!

{emerging}

... from a weekend of bliss, but from something more too. 

I can feel my words and my mojo returning, my balance and my energy feeling more solid.

I choose happiness are the words that keep playing in my head.  And it's true.  I choose happiness.  Life is good.

{ebbs & flows & the weekend ahead}

 

Ms L and I are celebrating our 11 year anniversary this weekend.  We're taking a trip to the Peninsula Hot Springs for dinner and some night bathing.

In truth it doesn't feel like a particularly celebratory time in our lives.  Ms L has stuff going on.  I've got stuff going on.  The kind of stuff that gets in the way of celebrations.  The kind of stuff that gets in the way of everything.

It occurred to me this morning however that this is life.  The good bits and the shit bits.  That this is relationships.  Full of ups and downs and pieces that sit somewhere in between.  

I feel so incredibly lucky to have someone to share the journey with.  Someone who believes in living life to the fullest, who's willing to embrace it all.  A woman who continually strives for an extraordinary life and who constantly reminds me of possibility and hope.  We're a good team made up of two great people.

Happy anniversary Ms L.  Here's to the journey hey!

{seriously uncool}

I'm beginning to suspect that the studio assistant may be trying to sabotage me!  Or perhaps he thinks the canvases are fur peep hammocks?  Either way, there's trouble in the studio.

***************************************

PS.  If you're free tomorrow night NCB is where it's at.  Might see you there.

{evolutionary*}

I've come away from last weekend feeling completely changed as an artist.  To be honest I feel a bit overwhelmed as I hadn't considered the possibility that 2 days of painting could have such a profound effect on my work.  My goal for the weekend was to play and to be open.  To give myself the gift of time and space.  To take what Flora had to give and embrace it with all my heart and soul. 

There were occasional moments when I felt myself tensing up, or worrying about time, or getting attached to the outcomes, but then I'd just take a deep breath and tell myself to let it all go.  I'd go for a walk in the idyllic surrounds and listen to the birds or feed a horse an apple.  For the most part I felt so completely relaxed all weekend.  I felt a peace that I haven't felt in quite a while. Isn't that always when the best shifts happen?

At the same time though the weekend felt like some kind of homecoming. As I played and experimented and totally indulged in Flora's process of layering and mark-making, of adding colour and taking it away, I felt a rhythm take hold.  It all made such perfect sense.  This, I thought, is exactly the way I was always meant to paint.  Intuitively, passsionately and with wild abandon.

Untitled {as yet}

Acrylics on canvas

30 x 30 inch

*all the photos in this post are of the same painting at various stages of its evolution.  It was amazing to watch it unfold.  Flora talked about not thinking too much and letting the paintings emerge of their own accord.  I totally got it!

{glimpses}

I don't have any words for you, but here's some pictures of one of the most amazing weekends of my life.  Next up I'll show you the evolution of one of the paintings I worked on.