February the 14th, yes Valentine’s Day. I’m alone at a friend’s home while my exhibit of water-colors and acrylics on canvas, with artist Karen Martin Sampson is on at the Pearl Ellis Gallery in Comox, (1729 Comox Ave) until March 2. The phone links me to my husband, my daughter and son, the daughter of a friend, my auntie. I leave messages with my mother, a few friends, my granddaughter. Maybe someone will call back or text. I should have planned to spend the evening with people but it never occurred to me I might feel the need to do that. Who knew? But there are many things on my to-do list and now is a good time to do some of them. Feeling lonely can be assuaged by ticking tasks off the list.
As many of you know, I have built a new website, one that I can manage myself. Of course this requires another steep learning curve and regular attention but relying on other people can be problematic and communications can breakdown without warning. Relying on one’s self means there is a lot of fumbling and apprehension to overcome, to accomplish what appears to come so naturally to others. I guess they just got
there sooner. Like my dear daughter who has helped me so much with the site.
Somehow the idea of a blog strikes me as being somewhat like whispering, “Can you hear me?” in the midst of an enthusiastically yelling crowd. However I shall join my voice to the chorus and share about my world.
At a time in my life when I feel I want to work not quite so hard, I find myself working harder than ever. I have the feeling of a wave lifting me that I want to catch and surf as long as it lasts. That wave is the excitement generated by the imminent arrival of a real tangible book that can be held in the hand, with pages that can be read and turned, references to places that can be found on a map, pictures that reveal a past that is gone but of memories that shape the present. I still can’t tell you exactly when I will be touring
Vancouver Island promoting “Drawn to Sea” although I am pretty sure it will be the last two weeks of April and possibly into May. My publisher Vici Johnstone of Caitlin Press, her small staff and many other people are working flat out to pull it all together. I am thrilled to share that both Costco and Chapters have made substantial pre-orders of my book so you’ll see it on the shelves of the big chains as well as the independent book stores.
Author Paula Wild is one of the people who really made a difference for me in my effort to make this book real. She, like me with small group art retreats, offers small group writers workshops, with an extraordinary attention to detail, and commitment to the process, and success, of the individuals who avail themselves of this type of educational experience. Many people take a lot of classes over the years, large group classes where a specific target is described by the instructor and the participants garner a bit of knowledge and an introduction to some new skills. But the small group class, one to four individuals, while usually costing more than the larger workshop or class, has the potential to take you on a greater leap of expertise in a shorter time. Paula, like me with painting and pottery, has the ability to see where you are at, what you have done and what you know about writing, comprehend what you are aiming for and prescribe precisely the actions and information that will connect the two.
This is what she did for me and what, I hope, I do for painters seeking to develop their skills and reach for the previously unattainable. Your job, of course is to fill the prescription and undertake the actions. So thanks Paula, for mentoring me to the fruition of my book, this blog’s for you.
And for you too, Josie girl. My granddaughter texted me back, she is about to read “The Dragonriders of Pern”, a book I loved when I was young, found in a second hand book store in Comox, and mailed to her. My mother returned my call and we had a nice chat, so my Valentine’s day ends with a lot of love from afar.
I think about what a painting about love might look like. What is the color of love, the shape, the texture? If you show it on a two dimensional surface can anyone recognize it without a title? It sometimes seems as difficult to recognize real love in human relations as it might be to recognize it as an art piece.
The next blog will be sooner than this one was. Promise. Y
Here are Theda Phoenix, me, and Karen Martin Sampson at the Artist Reception, in front of my painting "Xumdaspe". (Photo thanks to artist Lyndia Terre)
As many of you know, I have built a new website, one that I can manage myself. Of course this requires another steep learning curve and regular attention but relying on other people can be problematic and communications can breakdown without warning. Relying on one’s self means there is a lot of fumbling and apprehension to overcome, to accomplish what appears to come so naturally to others. I guess they just got
there sooner. Like my dear daughter who has helped me so much with the site.
Somehow the idea of a blog strikes me as being somewhat like whispering, “Can you hear me?” in the midst of an enthusiastically yelling crowd. However I shall join my voice to the chorus and share about my world.
At a time in my life when I feel I want to work not quite so hard, I find myself working harder than ever. I have the feeling of a wave lifting me that I want to catch and surf as long as it lasts. That wave is the excitement generated by the imminent arrival of a real tangible book that can be held in the hand, with pages that can be read and turned, references to places that can be found on a map, pictures that reveal a past that is gone but of memories that shape the present. I still can’t tell you exactly when I will be touring
Vancouver Island promoting “Drawn to Sea” although I am pretty sure it will be the last two weeks of April and possibly into May. My publisher Vici Johnstone of Caitlin Press, her small staff and many other people are working flat out to pull it all together. I am thrilled to share that both Costco and Chapters have made substantial pre-orders of my book so you’ll see it on the shelves of the big chains as well as the independent book stores.
Author Paula Wild is one of the people who really made a difference for me in my effort to make this book real. She, like me with small group art retreats, offers small group writers workshops, with an extraordinary attention to detail, and commitment to the process, and success, of the individuals who avail themselves of this type of educational experience. Many people take a lot of classes over the years, large group classes where a specific target is described by the instructor and the participants garner a bit of knowledge and an introduction to some new skills. But the small group class, one to four individuals, while usually costing more than the larger workshop or class, has the potential to take you on a greater leap of expertise in a shorter time. Paula, like me with painting and pottery, has the ability to see where you are at, what you have done and what you know about writing, comprehend what you are aiming for and prescribe precisely the actions and information that will connect the two.
This is what she did for me and what, I hope, I do for painters seeking to develop their skills and reach for the previously unattainable. Your job, of course is to fill the prescription and undertake the actions. So thanks Paula, for mentoring me to the fruition of my book, this blog’s for you.
And for you too, Josie girl. My granddaughter texted me back, she is about to read “The Dragonriders of Pern”, a book I loved when I was young, found in a second hand book store in Comox, and mailed to her. My mother returned my call and we had a nice chat, so my Valentine’s day ends with a lot of love from afar.
I think about what a painting about love might look like. What is the color of love, the shape, the texture? If you show it on a two dimensional surface can anyone recognize it without a title? It sometimes seems as difficult to recognize real love in human relations as it might be to recognize it as an art piece.
The next blog will be sooner than this one was. Promise. Y
Here are Theda Phoenix, me, and Karen Martin Sampson at the Artist Reception, in front of my painting "Xumdaspe". (Photo thanks to artist Lyndia Terre)
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