Out with the old

So I’ve recently decided to try out this blogging thing.  A place where I get to stand up on my soapbox and rant about whatever I want?  Yes please!  Okay so I really do have an actual purpose for this blog so before you run away  screaming hear me out.  I am an artist based just outside of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  I have recently realized that my fascinating tales of the perfect canvas, my favourite paint brush and how beautiful a pure cerulean blue background can make a sunflower look are maybe not so gripping to my non artist friends.  Not sure what tipped me off, the way their eyes glassed over upon the mere mention of ‘still life’ or the subtle way they turned just slightly towards another conversation right in the middle of my story’s climax: ‘and I accidentally used the ultramarine blue instead of the cerulean blue…’  In any case, I can’t really blame them, somebody even mentions ‘disc brakes’ or ‘spandex racing shorts’  and they’ve lost me (for probably more than one reason).  So there’s the purpose for my blog, I can yammer on for hours about art and equally thrilling topics like: art shows, paint, pieces I’m working on, pieces I’ve done, portraits that just won’t behave, etc.  You know, all the fun stuff.  And nobody has to needlessly suffer through it if they don’t want to.  It’s a public service really…

So my first blog is not just going to be about about me blogging, as exciting as THAT is.  I’ve recently decided to clean out my ‘mini studio’ (for some reason ‘basement storage room’ just doesn’t sound all that cool) and have found at least four or five paintings that were never finished or are just too hideous to hang.  If you’ve ever done any type of project, art or not, you can probably relate.  Sometimes what seems like a fantastic and inspired idea for a painting (or lawn sculpture or great American novel or even a basement renovation, depending on what you’re into) at 2am when you can’t sleep, isn’t quite the work of art it should be upon further inspection in the daylight, post coffee hours.  Or sometimes you find yourself with a piece that was created for someone else for a particular event in THEIR lives, made a particular size for THEIR particular wall.  Such is the issue with art that is made to fit a specific space and theme…when said space is changed, said piece has nowhere to be.  Which is how the painting I’d made for a relative ended up in my storage room, er I mean mini studio.  The relative moved into a new, but smaller house, that did not have the wall space or the decor to match the commissioned painting.  Now I’ve walked past this piece (being so large it is hard to miss) every time I went into my storage, er studio for the past 2 years or so wondering what on earth to do with such a monstrosity (not saying it was a BAD painting, just that it really held no meaning for ME, as it was commissioned and co-designed by someone else as an ode to a billiard competition they were part of).  

Seeing as it’s such a long piece I kept tossing the idea of a mountain landscape around but nothing ever really clicked.  One day the answer came to me while I was planting sunflower seeds in my front garden with my 6 year old son (and when I say that I was planting I really mean I was observing, because it is common knowledge that any living plant that has been touched by me will die a terrible death).  While planting said sunflower seeds it struck me that I didn’t need to keep the painting in it’s current horizontal state, that a vertical piece might yield more inspiring possibilities.  So there it was, essentially right in front of me: big, tall, beautiful sunflowers.  Sunflowers are awesome!  Who doesn’t like sunflowers?  I’ll tell you who, people who skulk in caves with schemey fingers plotting how to hate gorgeous yellow flowers and… puppies…yes puppies because… well just because.  Anyway, I now have a plan for this 5 foot long by 1.5 foot wide canvas, I’m going to cover it up with sunflowers because even though I strike fear into the hearts of all plants when I am near, I really do enjoy painting them!  I really have no actual plan for this piece either, I’m just going to start painting and see what happens!

So there you have it, my first blog post.  If I can figure out how to put pictures up here I will show you what I’m up to in the evenings, which is the only time I can realistically paint because I have 3 boys ages 6 and under and,let’s face it, oil paint doesn’t wash well…I’ll be honest with you, it’s actually taken me 3 days to write this post and I am literally hiding in my closet typing the last sentences so I can actually hit ‘publish’…