Langley Art Studio Tour

Why hello there! How have you been? I've been crazy busy! I'm having a bit of a hard time keeping up with my studio practice while still putting out cake orders AND trying to home school our kids while we go through a teacher's strike here. Needless to say my kids schoolwork involve baking and art projects. Meh, makin' it work.

 Right now I'm preparing for the Langley Art Studio Tour Sept. 20-21 & 27-28. This self-guided tour will feature 43 artists in various studios throughout Langley. To view a list of participating artists and venues click here. This year I will be stationed at the Loafing Shed Glass Studio where Robert Gary Parkes will be demonstrating some glass blowing magic. Who couldn't watch that sort of thing all day? As for me I will be doing printmaking demos everyday which will include linocuts, silkscreens, and monotypes. I will be emphasizing  how to print at home and without a press. Demo. times will be 1-3pm each day but I will probably be working on something the entire time I'm there.


Below is a short video I created of using a homemade gelatin plate for monotypes. I will be demoing this technique on Sept. 27. Shall I see you there?

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?

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.