Nasty old hag

Do most people mellow as they get older? Cuz I'm just getting meaner and grumpier. SO many things are annoying me these days--the horrible din of gravel trucks rolling past my front door, the relentless blackflies that have caused the back of my neck to resemble a flame-red moon crater, and the noise that the air makes as it travels along the hairs inside Duane's nostrils as he inhales. Oh, I'm currently a nasty piece of work, I am. And yet...

There are moments when I realize that that life is SO damn short, I better stop and look around and savour each day, cuz they are flying by and there are so many reasons to celebrate my ability to get vertical each morning.

So I guess it all balances out. I get increasingly grouchier and then I slap myself upside the head, go for a walk, and stare at woodpecker holes for a couple of hours.

And then, of course, there's my ART. What a wonderful outlet it's been over the years, managing to keep me from being the serial killer that would NO doubt otherwise have been my chosen profession. It's hard to stay grumpy after creating an image of The Geezer's nose hairs, ya know?

Yep, I'm a lucky woman indeed. And as long as the majority of my brain cells hang on for a few more years, I'll try to control any homicidal impulses that pop up. Or, at the very least, paint them away.....

OK, I want everybody to ignore my most recent blog. It was written under pressure. That's right, you heard me. I was instructed to update my blog, and I never respond well to instructions. You can ask my seventh-grade gym teacher, Mrs. Jolley, if she's not dead, which she probably is, considering how old I am. She'd order me to take-out the gym equipment, and I'd give her the finger and head for the girls' bathroom to smoke.

Anyhow, I'm blogging again today cuz I'm snowed-in here. About a foot of the white stuff outside my front door. This means that today will be a day for a), painting, or b) working on details for my upcoming show, or c), consuming vast amounts of chips and dip, or d), staring at my navel.

I'm leaning towards "d", at the moment....

And of course I MUST get the pups out for some exercise. The dogs love the winter, and we're always finding exciting things on our property. Two day ago we discovered a bunny murder scene, complete with coyote tracks, rabbit fur, and fresh blood. Oh, the dogs were in scent HEAVEN. Don't think I've ever seen my Dane, Logan, quite so excited...

But before I do ANYTHING, I must search all my cupboards for some chocolate. Being snowed-in can be a wonderful adventure, IF you have all the necessities of life.....

The blog revival

OK, OK, it's been awhile. I get distracted, I have the attention span of a fern....

Autumn was a wonderful time for me, if I overlook the foot surgery I had in late summer and resulted in me hobbling around in hideous blue booties for six weeks. To counter THAT little experience, I was once again accepted into the Headwaters Arts Festival's annual juried show, and was even presented with a jurors' award for one of my paintings. Making art can be such a lonely process, it 's wonderful to receive validation from people you respect. Keeps the engine chugging, ya know?

And now I'm getting ready for a solo show at the beautiful Alton Mill, in Alton, Ontario, to run from January 5th to February 13th. It will be a retrospective of my work, and it's the first time I've had a one-man show since I've been painting. (I had a show in Toronto in 2002, but it was all pastel work...)

So it's a busy time, but I'm having fun and looking forward to seeing lots of friends at my show. Snow be damned....

Blogger delinquent

Yeah yeah, I know...I'm a pathetic blogger. This is because I'm always mouthing-off in e-mails and on Facebook, which apparently dilutes my blogging skills. Oh well, what are YOU guys gonna do about it, anyway? You can't hit me from there, right???

I was part of a wonderful art show at the end of September, called the Headwaters Arts Festival. It takes place annually in Caledon, Ontario, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. Besides, it was a juried show, which means I had to compete to get my paintings accepted, so it was a huge honour. (and a bit of a surprise, too. Who knew that local art critics could be so twisted???)

Best of all, I sold two pieces. My "Blue Bird" now resides in Scotland. Sigh. I hope it writes me once in awhile....I miss my babies when they leave the nest.

So now it's time for me to paint paint paint again. But I'm such a prima donna....the planets need to be in alignment, the music needs to be perfect, and I can't have so much as a gas bubble...

No wonder I'm so under-productive, eh????

The local whacko

This morning I dropped-off three little paintings of mine that are going into a small local show this coming Saturday.
Now, I live in a wonderful community that's full of creative people--painters, photographers, weavers, potters, etc.. and I'm proud to be included in any local arts activities, but I have to tell you, I'm getting a bit tired of being the artist that NOBODY KNOWS WHAT TO DO WITH.

When I lived in Toronto, my art was considered "edgy". Around HERE, my art usually draws about as much enthusiasm as a freshly-killed skunk in the middle of the road. Noses twitch, eyebrows are raised, people back-off slowly, probably thinking a slow retreat is easier than trying to come-up with a positive comment.

So I placed my three little paintings on a ledge, beside another artist's beautiful rendering of flowers and beside a photographer's gorgeous image of a sunset in the Niagara Escarpment. And I started to wonder if my paintings "cancel-out" the sheer loveliness of the other artists' works.

And I decided that life isn't all about beauty and that our planet needs constant balancing and re-alignment so that ALL of its energies (positive and negative) balance and compliment each other.

I mean, SOMEBODY'S got to expose what's living underneath the rocks, right?

I'm off to paint now. There's a squashed porcupine on the highway, right in front of my house, and I'm feeling inspired.....

I blog therefore I am

Did ya ever see the Steve Martin movie "The Jerk"? Steve Martin plays a character who's, well, a JERK, and at one point the dude gets INSANELY happy cuz he discovers, after a lifetime of feeling like a nobody, that his name is published in the new phonebook that's just arrived at his front door. It's as if his very existence is suddenly validated.

Well, I'm sort of feeling like that today.

My brand-new website is up and running.

And people are reading my blog.

If, right now, you're mumbling to yourself "hey, that doesn't diminish the possiblity that you STILL are a jerk", well, you may be correct.

But at least I'm a jerk with a website. Booyah.

Here and now

It's Wednesday. The dogs need to be walked, paintings need to be organized for two upcoming shows, and there are drawings which MUST be released from my pen. But all I can think about is the sound of the two pileated woodpeckers that live on my property. They make the strangest "walka walka" noise, and I could hear them yesterday but I couldn't SEE them.

Which means that I can't draw right now. I can't organize paintings. And I can't walk the dogs, cuz they interfere with my ability to focus my binoculars.

I have my priorities, ya know.

If you've ever seen pileated woodpeckers, you're totally getting this............