Two years since a new blog post!!

That’s the problem with social media. It takes a lot of time. But I used to really love writing here and I always got such nice feedback. So this is me, again, trying to get back to writing. I want to write more about my art now. That is something that really has changed in my life these past few years. My art has taken centre stage. And not that it wasn’t always the most important, but I let too many other things take up my time. I’ve streamlined my life a lot in the past few years.

I do want everyone to know that I continue to practice and teach shamanism, I just don’t feel like writing about it, or marketing it. It feels like a precious light that I need to protect. But know that it is still there, and if you are curious about training, I will announce upcoming classes on my newsletter.

My whole life turned upside down when I discovered art making in my early 20s. Before that I spent a lot of time reading about and appreciating it, but not making it. Then something changed. I lived in the woods and took copious amounts of psilocybin and what revealed itself to me was art. Art was the secret that was buried so deep inside me I couldn’t reach it on my own. And how would I have known as it was never taught in school.

And here I am 30 years later teaching art myself because people understand how important it is in their lives. We need the arts (fine art, music, dance, poetry) more than ever. Honestly I think that is how our species will survive, and that is what is missing everywhere in our communities. We need to dance and sing and make art.

So I’m not totally sure what writing about art entails, but for today it’s going to be about what is going on in my studio.

My studio is a mess. Like a real I can barely walk in it mess. I clean it but it’s so small it gets messy again in an hour. Not only do I paint and draw and write in my studio but I also teach all my classes. It’s nuts. Some “art critic” friends have been encouraging me to paint bigger. I love the idea. I painted big when I had a big studio at NSCAD. But now? Here? I’m determined, but it’s going to be an interesting endeavour. Over Christmas I am working on a self portrait for the Chester Art Centre’s portrait show, then after that I will be painting on several bigger canvases. I did some pretty big ones for my art show in the fall, so it’s not impossible. Meanwhile I’ve been exploring abstract again, after a few years of completely focusing on Still Lives. I have abstracts all over the place, my faves being these little mini 5x5 sketchbooks that I keep open and just doodle mixed media on as I walk by. Nothing profound, but it keeps the energy flowing. The cover photo is what is on my easel right now, it was supposed to be a purely abstract study but a Swiss Army knife type bird appeared in it and for now, that’s what it is. We’ll see if it stays…

I think what bugs me about blog posts now is that I’ve switched to sqarespace hosting and although I like it, I don’t like that I can only add 1 image to this post, and I wanted to add a few of my studio. So as a work around I’ve added some at the bottom of the main page. I’d like to change them frequently so people can see more of what I’m up to.