Every morning is a new beginning

the newest painting to come out of the living room studio

my new studio, the shed ? well it is simply too cold to paint out there.

Need new fuse box for next winter.

So I invaded the house this week to finish some work for

a call for submissions from Seattle.

cross your fingers people !

This painting is from a photograph i borrowed from mr. pax's facebook

page ( facebook is good for something after all )

the name he gave it is now the title and I have promised 

an evening of wine drinking to Mr. Pax if it is sold

( it is here in writing )

thanks Pax, for the inspiration.

Eat a lot of peaches

I was told by an astrologer once that i would battle between my two sides.
one: the big bad side of loving lovely material things
two: the what do we need material things for ? side that likes to ask why of everything

At this moment in my life I have come to a comfortable place in my daily routine. My little store is balanced and running well. I love to merchandise it, even clean it most of the time, but it has never been about selling items to people. It has always been about the love of lovely little things, beautiful colours, textures, designs and the amazing warm and lovely people and their children that like to appreciate things with me and talk about love, life, womanhood ,partners, children.
BUT as much as I love my comfortable life and the difficulties that come with it. I would love to put it on hold for a while. What would i do ? I would finally pack up and go learn to build a cob/ earthship home, travel, read books, sit and stare at a view, drink tea, listen to music and paint paint paint.
With the idea that right now would have marked that last day on earth or earth as we knew it. I have been thinking a lot about what i would like to change ( as i also dream about those $300 shoes i have had my eye on for over a year and that new fancy smart phone that comes with a drawing pen - lol )
I am tired of media bullshit, materialism, drug commercials and magazines about what kate middleton is doing. Move to the country then stupid city loving girl !!!!!
What is that 70's song ? "Blow Up Your TV, throw away your paper Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches Try and find Jesus on your own."
I can hear my dad singing the song right now.
Well for now, if the world continues in the morning, i will continue to breathe in the moments that i cherished tonight. Tucking my son in at night, talking and giggling and cuddling. Drinking warm tea while listening to an amazing song and writing on the internet. Watching my boyfriend sleep through the news on the couch and then getting cozy in the white sheets. In the morning i will go to the gym and work my ass off, talk with my mom and dad on the phone, talk with the lovely ladies at work, meet my boys in the afternoon, eat shortbread at a christmas party . . . take one day at a time and enjoy it !

A quote i found today :   The Western way of life, and the worship of material goods, progress, and capitalism, has accelerated its way headfirst into battles and wars for hundreds of years. Hopefully, our race will eventually elevate itself to a new era of understanding - one where we find ourselves to be more introspective, and spending our time pondering not only the bigger questions of life - but the smaller ones as well. Spending more quality time with our loved ones, and enjoying the moments. Because we feel there will be many more to come.

my old space myspace

I just rediscovered myspace.

wish facebook never took over

and i found an old blog i needed to re share

Someone else came up with this list as quesses for my middle initials stand for: i just had to share, it's just a good list

PS. they are all wrong!

Sack Lunch
Swell Life
Sad Lumpfish
Sand Lover
Some Lumps
Sushi Liker
Saber Lettuce
Swift Lasso
Soft Ladle
Sea Lady
Shell Larder
Signal Left
Second Location

Swift Lift
Same Lease
Slippery Lips
Sunken Lap
Super Licker
Slick Ladder
Skunk Liver
Similar Lifestyles
Swell Lover
Sweet Loaf
Swanky Legs
Scourge of the Land
Sheep's Larder
Slap Lassie
Ship Later
Sad Lemur
Sore Ligaments
Seafood Lament
Shoe Laces
Scrumptious Lady
She's Lovely
So Long

OPEN STUDIO THIS WEEKEND

i love love loved being on the board of directors

for the DRIFT art society.

BUT

i am even more excited to be involved this weekend

simply as one of the artists !

I have a brand new studio - the shed i call it

and would love love love it if you would drop by for a visit !

September 29 - 30, Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 5pm

Drift on by to see some new work,

bid on your favourite pieces in a silent auction,

enjoy some wine.

833 east 16th ave ( just off Fraser and Kingsway )

Deal Breaker

oh Rachael. Found this link on "everypassingmoment" today, i always find lovely things there.
thanks L

"

The earth has been thought to be flat…science has proved the earth to be round…they persist nowadays, in believing that life is flat and runs from birth to death.

However, life, too, is probably round.

~Vincent Van Gogh

"

A Good Thing

Mmmm  mmm mmmm  headphones on, drinkin tea and late night music searching  . . .

If i could make it to the Hotel Cafe in LA,

this is who I'd go see this Wednesday.

But I would be drinkin something other than tea :)

these times they are a changin'

I grew up surrounded by music.

Driving in the van listening to Fleetwood Mac,

dancing in the living room to classic rock and Abba,

singing songs with my Mom and Dad on a reel to reel recorder,

listening to my dad play guitar and absorbing all the lyrics 

to every James Taylor song that exists.

I now like to play guitar, or hold it, cause i can't play that well.

But I was not born with a voice for singing.

Right now is all about re alignment and focusing on what is truly important - 

thanks to the supermoon the other day.

If I was a singer, I would be writing love songs or heartbreak songs right now.

But I am an artist, so I am listening to others words and

making a new series of paintings.

I wish my paintings could sing.

introducing Romeo Forbes

Yesterday I did a painting camp for children at my studio.

The theme was trees. So I went to the library and found this amazing book 

"elias and his trees", not only is it a lovely story, the illustrations are so gorgeous.

Sadly the artist, Romeo Forbes passed away at 24 years old.

I am so in love with his work. So sad that there won't be any new

work from him. 

But enjoy these.

xo

finding Brian Rutenberg

 

 I am jumping for joy

while sitting on my couch with 

a laptop on my lap (hee hee )

i love google !

i have stumbled upon a new artist.

new to me that is.

Brain Rutenberg

http://brianrutenbergart.com/studio.html

i can't wait to hunt down his paintings the

next time I am in NYC, which is hopefully soon

 ( cause i am going through nyc withdrawal again )

 

i love them

i love them 

i love them

note to my boyfriend:

 

if you ever want to redecorate our apartment

or want to know what my ideal living room would look like.

here it is.

ode to the present - the beautiful beautiful present

Ode to the Present
by Pablo Neruda

This present moment,
smooth as a wooden slab,
this immaculate hour,
this day pure as a new cup
from the past-- no spider web exists--
with our fingers,
we caress the present;

we cut it
according to our magnitude
we guide
the unfolding of its blossoms.
It is living, alive--
it contains nothing
from the unrepairable past,
from the lost past,
it is our infant,
growing at this very moment, 

adorned with sand, 

eating from our hands.
Grab it.
Don't let it slip away.
Don't lose it in dreams
or words.
Clutch it.
Tie it,
and order it to obey you.
Make it a road,
a bell,
a machine,
a kiss, a book,
a caress.
Take a saw to its delicious
wooden perfume.
And make a chair;
braid its back;
test it.
Or then, build a staircase!

Yes, a
staircase.
Climb
into
the present,
step
by step,
press your feet
onto the resinous wood
of this moment,
going up,
going up,
not very high,
just so
you repair
the leaky roof.
Don't go all the way to heaven.
Reach
for apples,
not the clouds.
Let them
fluff through the sky,
skimming passage,
into the past.

You
are
your present,
your own apple.
Pick it from
your tree.
Raise it
in your hand.
It's gleaming,
rich with stars.
Claim it.
Take a luxurious bite
out of the present,
and whistle along the road
of your destiny.

A lovely day

It was my birthday yesterday. So much that I wanted to pack in to remember the day by. So many people that I wanted to speak to. Long lost friends I wanted to see. But the day is only so long and it did go by quickly. What I did do : I started the day out with a crazy intense boxing circuit class, followed by a lunch / shopping date with my boyfriend ( we went to the new anthropology store where I was in heaven and pretended I was in new york ), then off to dinner, drinks and a little kar-ee-oh-kee with friends and family. The picture with my sweet sis really says it all. Just a lovely cozy day. What more can a girl ask for ?
Xoxo

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

tomorrow doesn't matter for i have lived today - Horace

There was a year when I conquered many fears,
many dislikes, many unknowns, many "i have never".

One of them was diving into the cold lake water above.
Face first, without my usual testing and easing,
slowly inching myself in.

This may seem like a silly thing to most,
but I had spent my entire life up till that point
never having dove into a lake.

This photo made me think today
that I might need to challenge myself a little more this year.
As my new year is coming up,
I will look out for new lakes to dive into.

welcome to the new window at 648

this is the new and improved
front window of the Toast Collective.
Otherwise known as the Drift's art display window.
Otherwise known as my studio.
We share.

Thanks to the Len for his craftsmanship
we'll have this place lookin spiffy in no time.

tripping over things ( again )

And I've got
No illusions about you
And guess what?
I never did
And when I said
When I said I'll take it
I meant,
I meant as is

Just give up
And admit you're an asshole
You would be
In some good company
I think you'd find
That your friends would forgive you
Or maybe I
Am just speaking for me

Cause when I look around
I think this, this is good enough
And I try to laugh
At whatever life brings
Cause when I look down
I just miss all the good stuff
When I look up
I just trip over things

- ah, miss ani

did i ever post this new painting? i don't believe i did

sounds and scapes - lyrics and layers

This is part 1 of 3 - of one of my older pieces
"Satellites"

I would like to return to this process:
of layers, found materials, adding and removing,
scraping and gluing, creating and undoing

Steve Weaving together sounds and splashes of colour,
lyrics and layers of paint,
here we come !

transformation, rejuvination, flight

I am inspired to spend my extra time these days . . .
exercising!
Sorry, I know, I should be painting.
But trust me, this is important . . .
and painting more will come next, when that studio warms up
@#*&(!!! it's cold in there, not painting friendly - at all!
So for now I am lifting weights and trying to lift my own weight
which I am awful at.
Tomorrow is for boxing ! I announce this with much excitement !
and sore happy muscles :)

that's all

there is much beauty in a moment of confusion and interpretation.
there is that lesson , again and again, don't look down and miss all the good stuff -
just look up and trip over things.

i learn so much from you, even when I am not looking

"This is blindness, beyond all conceiving
While behind us, the road is leaving
And leaving, and falling back
Like a rope gone slack

Well, I saw straightaway that the lay was steep
But I fell for you, honey, easy as falling asleep
And that, right there is the course I keep

And no amount of talking
Is going to soften the fall
But, like after the rain
Step out of the overhang, that's all "

city walk

oh, poor little silly little sad little me.
So spoiled am I , that I am feeling lost.
Lost because I had to miss my fall trip to nyc.
the fall in nyc - gorgeous.
the fall here in dreariesville - grey
I didn't want to write about it, admit it, it's silly, but it's also true
and I like the truth !
more truth -
the walking, i miss the walking - and apparently so do my thighs!
today my fat a__ ran around the park, over some benches, past a sketchy dude ( guy in park with clean beige boots, big sunglasses, large toque, small backpack)
let's toast to me doing that all over again tomorrow, perhaps minus the sketchy dude,
cause then i might have to find a new park.
let's hope the running helps, cause if i find the time and the money
i want to be on a sunshiny beach in the new year
and wearing a bathing suit might be essential.
whoa rant-aholic tonight, must write more !

ps. this whole thing started because after my little jog i popped into the fresh and lovely Collage Collage store and gorgeous illustration by Julie Morstad (artist above)
she is one talented lady !