My escape from work

I'm writing this during the second weekend of the Langley Art Studio tour and while it's relatively quiet for visitors it's been great to have so much time to create work and finish up some loose ends.I'm pretty content with this kind of work. This feels much different than my other work. In a previous post I had written about the serving job I had found near our new home and how it just wasn't bringing in the money I needed it to. This caused me a lot of distress because I don't love waiting tables. I've done it for the past twenty plus years because I've gotten good at it and it brings in the most amount of money for the least amount of time. For the past two months as I watched the bills grow and my income reach minimum wage levels, my body revolted and caused me to be in pain. I felt as though I had mild food poisoning for the whole two months. It was exhausting. I couldn't take it anymore and asked my previous employer if he would take me back. It will be quite a commute but at least I will see some cash. 

I mentally prepared myself for two more weeks of hell but found that as soon as I gave my notice my stomach started to become normal. I didn't have to endure the two weeks though because the restaurant cut me from the schedule. I'm probably better for it and if I needed any comfirmation that I made the right decision I came home with $1.46 in tips on my last shift.

They say that the things you focus on the most are the things that come to fruition and one of my biggest fears about moving to Langley was not finding a job that would pay enough. I'm going to take this as a reminder to focus on what really makes me happy and that I need to see myself making a living doing that. 

What about you? Have you ever had your body yell at you and try and show you the direction you need to go?

Wordless Wednesday

Luka Luka

Yellena

Meghann Rader

Wendy Gold

FK IT DUDE

This weekend is going to be a busy one. Lots goin' on. If you didn't have anything planned you might want to see me on the Langley Studio Art tour. While I man my table and chat visitors I will be preparing for Christmas. There's not much time left you know.

If you wanted to start this weekend right I suggest you go see FK IT DUDE which will be showing at the Hot Art Wet City Pop-up Gallery on 752 E. Broadway. This multi-artist show will be an homage show to the cult classic "The Big Lebowski". I don't know about you but I love that movie and when I saw the call for submissions I jumped at the chance to create something. 

I did a mixed media piece on cradled board that let me use a little digital painting and a little encaustic work. My piece references one of my favourite characters, "Jesus Quintana", and his love of a shiny bowling ball. Although John Turturro's part is quite small in the movie  it's just fantastic.What's your favourite character?

Digital and encaustic

I polished the encaustic so it was really shiny.

Illustration Friday: Burst

"She couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into sorrowful tears"

A quick sketch for this week's Illustration Friday: Burst

Some Halloween Skeletons

I've been busy on so many projects that I almost forgot to update my blog. Lately I've been working on numerous silkscreen projects and this year I finally got it together to create some Halloween themed pieces. What do you think about my funky little skeleton?

A nice sized trick-or-treat bag

Size: 6-8 yrs

Size: 24 months

Available in my shop

My Ninja Cat

Before we moved here our cat, Paris, was an indoor cat. She had access to a balcony but she could never reach the ground. At our new home there are birds, bugs and butterflies to chase not to mention all the amazing new smells to experience. There are coyotes where we are now though and we've been keeping her on a leash outside to make sure she doesn't go too far. I should say that we've been trying to keep her on a leash because since she's come here she's turned into a ninga cat and has escaped at least once a day. There are fences and trees to dash up, birds to pounce on and roofs to saunter along while she listens to me curse at her. Paris LOVES it when she escapes and we chase her around the house. Once inside again the excitement continues and she plays ninja cat on the stairs and has taken to pouncing on the kids as they pass by. When her eyes get big and round the kids scream, "Mom!".

Have you ever had this happen to you? Have you ever had your cat's instincts suddenly released when they'd discovered the outdoors?

 This is where you hear the theme from Mission Impossible playing.

 For fun I thought I would gather some ninja cat images. Funny how you never see ninja dogs.

Cat Pictures.net

Affie

Geeky Pet

Cat Pictures.net

Preparing for the Langley Art Studio Tour

The first day of school is tomorrow and like many parents out there I'm really looking forward to having a little extra time to myself to get some stuff done. One of the first things up is preparing for the Langley Art Studio Tour which happens on two consecutive weekends at the end of this month. As my studio is in a town house I will be setting up a table with some other artists at the WindSong Housing Co-op.  I will be showing with artists: Lalita Hamill, Rick Rozdeba and Ken Nash.

I look forward to the chance to spend some time with other artists and maybe even get a bit of drawing done. If you're in the area on the weekends of Sept. 22-23 & 30-31 stop in and say "hi" to me.