art on a budget

The art world is a place with multi-million dollar price tags and high-rent galleries and studios.

Unless, of course, you just take a piece of paper and fold it.

Or make it in the backseat of a taxi cab.

Or look at the contents of your toolbox with new eyes.

Or trade in the gilded, filigreed frame for a CD case.

finding my way back

I promised myself that I wouldn't make another blog post until I actually had some ARTwork to post. It's been a long time coming -- almost two months actually -- but I am finally re-entering 'the creative zone'. It's a lot harder than it looks! Like a pianist who hasn't tickled the ivories for weeks on end I knew the first day would end in frustration and fatigue, but I was ready for it. My first drawing, done yesterday, is now proudly framed by the blue walls of the recycle bin.

After my disaster the snail mail arrived and, serendipitously, a package from one of my favourite New England artists. John has a knack for choosing just the right thing at the right time and in the package were a paper-covered Moleskine sketchbook and a 000 Koh-I-Noor refillable technical ink pen. Such tiny, perfect lines! Working in a new medium was just the thing to get me 'looking' again -- and as all artists know, it's all about the looking. (Ain't nuthin' more impotent than lookin' good.)




Furthermore, another of my favourite New England artists recently returned home from the Grand Canyon with a treasure trove of photos from the inside walls of the Hopi House, which, knowing my passion for aboriginal designs and patterns, Michelle generously emailed me for my playtime hours. Some mini pen-and-ink sketches, scanned and digitally coloured, completed my first day back.


When I was going to bed last night I noticed this painting, which is hanging above my bed, and it occurred to me that I could further my tune-up process by using the underlying composition with some of the Hopi motifs. So, today, I took some of the Hopi animals and doodled some more in my new Moleskine, then scanned and coloured the sketch. A painting in its future? Unlikely.


I'm a long way from all the way back yet, but at least I've made a start!

road trip

After these past couple of months I've almost forgotten how to blog, let alone paint. Yesterday I was co-jurying a chapter show for the FCA and the NEED to paint came rushing back in. Just a few more days to go ... and bodies to bury.


It's been three weeks since Sonya and I hit the road to collect Coco in Idaho and I have only now assembled the photos for blogging. It was a great trip, if rushed, as we had to cover almost 1500 km in three days. We didn't take the fastest route, mind you, and it was well worth it. We crossed into Washington state at Nighthawk, an itty-bitty crossing between the lake districts of British Columbia and Washington. The Canadian side of the border is fairly well populated (by western North American standards, that is) but we were amazed at how empty it was in that part of northeastern Washington. Miles of lonely roads and stunning vistas. This semi-desert region is definitely not what most people think of when they think of BC and Washington. And I totally revise what I said a few weeks ago about small-town interstate USA. The only indication of corporate America in beautiful, remote old towns like Tonasket and Republic is the Bank of America. These towns are a national treasure full of unpretentious charm and character. We spent two nights (both going and coming) in the gold-rush-era mountain village of Republic at a plain but pristine motel that was dirt cheap and had deer wandering by. We had dinner at the local tavern that night, surrounded by a Hog convention (and I'm not talking piggies).

Leaving Republic for Idaho on Day Two we drove over mountains dotted with Tamaracks, a conifer that loses its leaves in the fall (and is apparently spectacular) and is unusual in this part of the world. And we got pretty lucky in the wildlife-spotting department:





I was getting pretty anxious to meet my new dog and see Mary Ann, who I hadn't visited in several years, so while approaching Spokane, an hour west of our destination of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, I picked up a state trooper and a $113 souvenir of the USA. I blame Sonya's Acura as it's so much zippier than my geriatric piece-o-shite.

Our visit with Mary Ann, Jim, and the extended pack was lovely but way too brief, and Coco has turned out to be a perfect fit. I adore her. She is quite different from our former dogs. She and Jesse spent a week together before I had to give the black clown up for advanced training and though he outweighs her by 30 lbs of flesh and at least that much of bull-in-a-china-shop-itis, by the end of the week she had him totally wrapped around her little paw. She's worked the same magic on the rest of us.

We retraced our route home because it was so lovely, and hit Sherman Pass (1675 m/5500 ft), near Republic, at sunset. There are a lot of stark, dead trunks of trees throughout the dry pine forests of the region (caused, apparently, by 1988's White Mountain Fire), and I went a little crazy at the pass, trying to capture them against the incredible colours of the sunset. Call me trite and a shallow romantic, but it was real eye candy. More photos here.

Back home, the whirlwind that is June in the 'burbs just doesn't compare with three short days of freedom, and Sonya was an excellent travelling buddy. But I have me a new dog and all is well. (And we just missed Brad Pitt, right Louise?)

more dog blog

Rudy has come to the rescue again as I spin my wheels in a frantic effort to regain my footing after last weekend's Idaho adventure. It's been a long time since we had two young, high energy dogs tearing around the place so I didn't even download my photos until Thursday. Got some great shots I can hardly wait to post, though.

Continuing on the dog topic, last night I was watching the news when a clip came on about Romeo, a yellow Lab we puppysat last Thanksgiving when his puppy-raising family went away for four days. Apparently he is now a companion dog for a child with one of the worst cases of autism in Canada. Anyway, here's Rudy:

Since you've temporarily become a Dog Blog, here are some awesome animals:

• Andy the Army Dog
• the funniest cute animal blog ever (NSFW which you can probably tell from the name)
• a game that teaches you how to herd cats

a dog blog

So much for art! Since there ain't none happenin' here lately this is going to be a dog blog for a post or two.

For those of you who are aware that we're puppy-raising a Lab for PADS, Jesse, the baddest service dog who ever lived, is going back to the training facility for advanced training on June 9th! I can't believe he'll be 14 months old already. Last week, to get the dogs prepared (OK, OK -- to get the PEOPLE prepared) for the transition, we did a puppy swap for a week and had a female yellow Lab named Mala (short for Malaysia -- a pup from the 'Asian countries' litter) with us. What a good girl! She was a total charmer and a REAL Lab who, unlike Jesse, loves water and can destroy anything in a matter of minutes. But, like the people pleaser she is, she only destroyed approved items. Jesse, on the other hand, spends half his life with a shoe, a tea towel or a pair of my undies in his mouth, staying just out of arm's reach. How I'm going to miss my bad but beautiful boy.

To ease the transition I think it's time we finally got a permanent family pooch. It's been nearly a year and a half since we prematurely lost Zappa, and though I didn't necessarily want another Australian Shepherd, when I saw Coco's photo I had a funny feeling that she was the one. She may be part Border Collie but is probably a purebred Aussie of older, working lines. Not the frou-frou type like Zappa (who was, nonetheless, all athlete under that unbelievable coat). This photo of Zappa and me was taken in the summer of 2006.

When I emailed Mary Ann about her, giving her my wish list for a dog (temperament requirements that is ~ breed and gender were not so important to me) she seemed to fit the bill exactly. She's just under a year old, athletic like Zappa, good with dogs and cats and a little more reserved with people than the yahoos that came before her. Yay! I've known Mary Ann from the days in the early '00s when I worked in conjunction with her, fostering and rehoming Australian Shepherds. She is a rescue saint, not a nut job like some, who has found new homes for over 750 dogs, much of that time fighting cancer. The bad news is that it has now spread to her brain from two other sites and though I was going to meet her in Olympia, Washington, this weekend, she suddenly had to start radiation therapy for the new tumours so had to stay home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. My good friend Sonya came to the rescue so we are now leaving tomorrow on a road trip (I must be Thelma to her Louise since I'm as tall as Geena Davis) to the Idaho panhandle to pick up Coco. Sonya has a nice Acura, the weather is stellar, I've packed up some CDs and my camera and off we go! I'll let you know if we see Brad Pitt on our mini adventure.

why I love my job

A couple of months ago I got an email from Tom Shermer, who bought Birdland (see the WIP post here). He is a terrific photographer and a birder, so I was not at all surprised to learn that he is an aspiring artist, too. For some reason my work appeals more to artists than other kinds of buyers, which tickles me no end. What he wrote is the kind of thing every artist wants to hear, i.e. that their efforts have prodded, even inspired, someone else to do the same. It totally made my month:

I wanted to let you know that your symbolic work (the whole of primal landscapes and planes of being and earthworks, for instance) really inspire me. In that work I see a real, effective, powerful synthesis of bright color and personal imagery that is a beacon that encourages me to keep stumbling in that direction--the painting direction that I've always been drawn to. I've never accomplished as integrated a work as any of your pieces, and so that direction has always looked bleak to me. I have wondered, if I kept going that way, if there was anything convincing and beautiful to be found there. And seeing your work, I have concluded that there is.

He was kind enough to include photos of Birdland in his condo. There was a closer shot, but I love this fisheye one, especially as it shows his bright colour scheme -- and how neatly Birdland fits in (it's on the left-hand side):


Why else do I love my job? Because, being an artist, I have an instant 'in' to occasionally meeting other artists whose work I admire. Yesterday was one of those days. I had first seen Tracey Costescu's work when jurying an FCA show and was impressed by its sensitivity. The watercolour to the left was one of the works in the show. I was pleased to discover her blog and yesterday I got to meet her at Coquitlam's Frogstone Grill where she's having a solo show in the piano bar area. Very nice and understated! Do check her work out if you're out in that direction. It finishes June 8th.

we're f*cked: a rant

America Is F*cked.......(graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Check this out. This little video clip gets to the heart of North America's cultural erosion -- for want of a better term -- using disrespect for our manmade visual landscape and its history as a metaphor for what ails society in general. I have driven through small towns in Washington state where every single business is part of a huge, anonymous chain. The signs and buildings don't reflect personal investment because let's face it: owning or working in a Jiffy Lube, i.e. someone else's vision of a company, really is just another job. Lots of towns in Canada are almost as bad. I'm pretty convinced that we are deeply, personally influenced by all this visual/corporate homogeneity.

I can't remember where I was or what I was listening to but the speaker said that there are only five cities in all of Canada worth living in because they are the only five cities that have honoured the past by preserving the architecture and charm of their early years, and therefore that important visual link to the past. I do remember the cities, though: Ottawa, Quebec City, Charlottetown, St. John's and Victoria. I lived in Victoria for four years (and Greg grew up there) but we have never made it back in spite of countless tries. It just feels better being there.

Architect and visionary Arthur Erickson died on Wednesday. Will his buildings be flattened in a century's time, dismissed as just more outdated late 20th century glass-and-concrete crap?

OK, Grumpy Pants is done. I have to go kick the dog now.

four years and counting

Holy guacamole. I just looked at the date, wondered what day in May I started this blog, had a peek into my archives at May 2005 and discovered that it's today! I know my commitment has flagged in recent months, maybe even the past year or so, but I don't give up that easily so fully intend to make it to five years! I'll have to start thinking about what a five year old blog birthday party looks like.

Thanks, friends, for making the ride so rewarding so far. Blogging has enriched my life tremendously.

(The photo is the view out my bedroom window, taken two weeks ago.)

valuing the essentials

There's definitely lag time in an economic downturn. 2008 was pretty good for me; in spite of dire predictions of economic disaster Effusion Gallery alone sold 25 of my (mostly small) pieces during only seven months of business. Lately I've been hearing the news of an upswing, though, and SOLD stickers are going up all over the 'house for sale' signs in the neighbourhood. But after the four and a half months of 2009 only one thing (of mine) has sold at the gallery. Ouch.

Time to take matters into my own hands again, though I have heard from those who 'work it' (or at least observe it) over at Etsy and eBay that only the most popular artists are continuing to sell online. I have completely neglected marketing my work and haven't even posted anything over at my so-called sales blog for months. Until today. Do take a peek if you have time. The drawing here is of a Dark-eyed Junco with a seed in its beak, based on a photo I took in December. I like the symbolism here of valuing the essentials when the forecast turns harsh.

rudy to the rescue

I am being saved from blog irrelevancy with a bunch of quick-fix links.

Yesterday I was chatting (on the phone if you can believe it!) with Michelle about how she can't convince her mother to look at computers as tools to relieve her social isolation. Is it an age thing? I don't think so. I think a curious nature and the desire to keep learning in spite of a barrage of new and confusing technology is not at all age related. Check out what iconic -- and definitely not young -- artist David Hockney is doing with it.

And while on the topic of art and technology, check out this gallery of anonymity.


Finally, I love this project.