For so many years, I’ve pushed the fine arts part of myself to the back burner, telling myself it was because I have other priorities and responsibilities… important commitments… obligations. I told myself I had to be practical – and I was. But somehow in the process, that little spark that used to flare each time I picked up a brush became dimmer and dimmer each year.
But the glimmer never completely went away… it always nestled there in the centre of “WHO I REALLY AM”, sometimes jostled awake by a painting I saw or nudged into alertness by a particularly beautiful scene that was just begging to be painted. And sometimes it would ache, quietly… whispering, “it’s time…”
I’ve had this blog named and ready to go since May of 2010. I’ve known this was coming, and I made sure I was ready. And now – I think it really is time. So – after a hiatus that has spanned one full decade and has long fingers reaching into another – I’ve lifted my brushes again.
I was given the final “push” to get going when I was encouraged by friends to join them in answering a call for submissions to a project celebrating International Women’s Day (International Women Celebrate, AyrSpace Gallery, Ayr, Ontario: http://www.ayrspace.ca/) And ironically – I named the piece I submitted “The Journey” – referring to the dark place women have come from, and the journey they have taken… a journey many women are still faced with. Maybe subconsciously, that painting was – in part – acknowledging this journey I’m embarking on as well.
Part of my inspiration for this blog came from my friend Kim Rempel who has been posting beautiful daily paintings to her blog for over a year now (http://www.eatdrinkpaint.blogspot.com/). I've really enjoyed watching her already considerable talent grow and blossom - seeing her confidence as an artist grow as well. I know my life won’t allow me to commit to daily paintings, nor will I suggest that I’ll be able to keep to a strict timetable on this blog any time soon. I want this to be a joyous journey but I do recognize that it still has to fit into a life that also includes raising two children on the teetering on the brink of entering their teens, running a home, and working with my husband to publish a monthly newspaper and run two radio stations. But I will commit to posting a couple of pieces of work each month - something I think is a realistic goal to begin with.
I hope you’ll join me as I explore the part of me that’s been in hibernation for so long. It promises to be an interesting trip!
As Oprah would say… Here We Go
But the glimmer never completely went away… it always nestled there in the centre of “WHO I REALLY AM”, sometimes jostled awake by a painting I saw or nudged into alertness by a particularly beautiful scene that was just begging to be painted. And sometimes it would ache, quietly… whispering, “it’s time…”
I’ve had this blog named and ready to go since May of 2010. I’ve known this was coming, and I made sure I was ready. And now – I think it really is time. So – after a hiatus that has spanned one full decade and has long fingers reaching into another – I’ve lifted my brushes again.
I was given the final “push” to get going when I was encouraged by friends to join them in answering a call for submissions to a project celebrating International Women’s Day (International Women Celebrate, AyrSpace Gallery, Ayr, Ontario: http://www.ayrspace.ca/) And ironically – I named the piece I submitted “The Journey” – referring to the dark place women have come from, and the journey they have taken… a journey many women are still faced with. Maybe subconsciously, that painting was – in part – acknowledging this journey I’m embarking on as well.
Part of my inspiration for this blog came from my friend Kim Rempel who has been posting beautiful daily paintings to her blog for over a year now (http://www.eatdrinkpaint.blogspot.com/). I've really enjoyed watching her already considerable talent grow and blossom - seeing her confidence as an artist grow as well. I know my life won’t allow me to commit to daily paintings, nor will I suggest that I’ll be able to keep to a strict timetable on this blog any time soon. I want this to be a joyous journey but I do recognize that it still has to fit into a life that also includes raising two children on the teetering on the brink of entering their teens, running a home, and working with my husband to publish a monthly newspaper and run two radio stations. But I will commit to posting a couple of pieces of work each month - something I think is a realistic goal to begin with.
I hope you’ll join me as I explore the part of me that’s been in hibernation for so long. It promises to be an interesting trip!
As Oprah would say… Here We Go
Thanks for the plug sweet friend! Wind in your sales... : )
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