Pencil Shavings

What an Amazing Day!

OK - it started off at 4:30 when I was up trying to clean the house before the kids got up.  But things improved a lot when I got to wish my beautiful girl a Happy Birthday.  Wow, she's growing up so fast, and she's so lovely.

I can't believe how lucky I am.

My dad and my brother's family came over for a little pizza party, and I really loved watching my brother and dad sitting around talking.  I don't know why it warms my heart so much, but it really does.  I showed my sister-in-law the drawing I did of her son and asked for a picture of my niece so I could work out a matched set to give them for Christmas.  I know it won't be a surprise, but it still is filled with love and that is what counts.

I'm barely awake now and I have to get up early and go to the school to help the kids with reading (love that!)

Oh... a bit of shameless self-promotion! This painting is now available as a print at Imagekind. The original sold right off the easel and I would be very pleased if you would consider it for your collection. OK. Enough of that, now off to find my sweet soft pillow!

So Comes Sorrow by Kathleen Ralph

365 Days of Art - Day 138 - Little Man

About a month ago I took my nephew out for a day at the zoo while his mom and dad and big sister were busy moving their stuff out of their home, preparing to start a new adventure in their lives.

It's bittersweet for me.  I love them, and I love having them close to me, but I know why they need to go and at start this new part of their lives, so I'm helping them as much as I am able to.

My hour of art for Day 138 is a portrait I drew of the little man.  I sure love him and his adorable dimples.

I'm going to give this to my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas (I wish I had a great picture of my niece too, but I'll get one after I give this one and do another for them.)

Life changes so much.  As soon as think that we know how it's all going to play out something happens and throws all of our plans to the wind.

Hopefully I can find a beautiful kite to fly in the winds of change.

Yes You Can, But Should You?

I've been thinking lately about this whole "Getting Excited and Making Things" concept that Wil Wheaton started in his blog. 

I admit that Wil started me thinking about other things I can make and do, and it did get me excited about trying.  I tried with the realization that I might fail, but also knowing that what I was creating wasn't too far removed from what I'm creating now, just using new delivery systems.

The advent of Print On Demand (POD) technology means that anyone can  create nearly anything.  You could design T-shirts, art prints, music CDs, audio books or print books.  There are probably zillions of other things that you could do that haven't even occurred to me.  It's a renaissance for the creative soul.  With a few hours of investment you can put what ever you want out there.

The catch is that you have to be prepared for the idea that you might be the only person who wants one of your widgets.  If you can take the ego hit, then why not?

I bought Wil's book that was basically a finely tuned collection of his blogs, and thought it was great.  Does that mean that every blog should be a book?  Mine certainly shouldn't.  Can you imagine a book full of doodles and emo snifflings?  I can't imagine sitting down to read such a thing.  I think my blog is better consumed on a day by day basis.

I have been told by several people that I should write a book about my mom adventures and the really funny stuff my kids do.  Sometimes I do blog about those things.  The things that won't hurt their feelings.  But I won't write a book that details all their childhood (and soon to be Tween) foibles.  Because that stuff should be private for them.  I may choose to lay pieces of my life out for public consumption but my kids don't have a choice over whether or not I write about them, or toss their lives out for people to laugh at or judge them on.  So I'll try to err on the side of privacy (that doesn't mean I won't ever write about them, I'm just not going to make it a habit.)

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm all for the "Get Excited and Make Things" vibe.  I'm just not totally embracing it for my whole creative life.

365 Days of Art - Day 137 - It's a Zoo!

It was a cold day on Day 137, and it was a day off school.  So I took the kids to the newly opened conservatory at the zoo.

The butterflies haven't taken up residence yet, but the conservatory was lovely and warm and full of beautiful plants.  We sat to paint, then would move to another vantage point and paint again.  We took lots of pictures and slowly made our way through both sides of the lovely building.

The girls painted lots of things (even things that weren't there, like butterflies) and I filled up several pages with little studies, some of which I posted here.

It was a lovely morning spent with the girls and it reminds me that I should really spend more painting days at the zoo where so many subjects are there waiting to be observed.

What I really need is a small collapsible stool to take and sit on where there aren't any benches, but good vantage points.  I think I'll make more of an effort to get my painting out of doors, even in the winter!

As The Crow Flies (or something like that)

I have finished my painting "So Comes Sorrow" and I am really happy with how it came out.  Sometimes I get an image in my head, and I don't know how I will translate it into paint, but I know that I have to try no matter how difficult.

Working in watercolour provides that extra risk too, because there are no do-overs in watercolour.  Then I had to add the extra challenge of working in only three colours (shakes head).  But in the end, as you can see in yesterday's post, it came out looking great.

Part of the success I'm sure is from the success of my charcoal study of the crow.  This came out beautifully, the darks a deep, the background is velvety, the eye is bright and alert.  The study gave me lots of confidence to move forward onto the finished piece.

The study also spoke for itself.  Usually I don't do much with studies, but this one is really nice.  So nice that I decided to offer it up as a print on Imagkind.  So here it is, just in case it speaks to you too.

Close Your Eyes and Make A Wish

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was sitting on a bed in the hospital holding my husband while he cried.  I was exhausted, bleeding, and still hooked up to tubes dripping fluids into my body. He was telling me about the tiny creature that lay in a clear plastic box with tubes and wires of her own.  It was the first time I had ever seen my husband cry.

I asked to be taken down to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, the nurses were reluctant because of my condition, but I told them that I would walk if I had to.  So a wheelchair was procured for me.  I steered the IV stand while my husband steered me, and soon I was looking through the plastic box at the tiny, but perfect, little girl that I had given birth too.

I whispered her name and she turned her face to me.

I slipped my hands through the seals and stroked her nearly transparent cheek and told her, through my tears, that I loved her.

She was so tiny, and fragile, and I would have slept with my hands on her head and her heart, my forehead pressed to the clear plastic if they had let me, because I couldn't bear leaving her there without me.

Today, nearly eight years later that tiny baby is a gorgeous tall girl and we are taking her and her sister (who almost shares a birthday) to the zoo for a birthday party for both of them.

I am so blessed.  The miracle of modern medicine saved that baby so I could see her grow into this amazing child.  And miraculously I have another child, so smart, so delightful in every way who is happy to share a birthday party with her big sister.

It is Thanksgiving weekend for our neighbours to the south, and its a weekend for being thankful here in our house too.

I am so grateful to be a mom.  I love being an artist, but I was born to be a mom to these wonderful girls and when they make their wishes today and blow out the candles I'll know that my wishes have already come true.

Predawn Light

I was up very early this morning.  I'm not sure what had woken me up, the cat was asleep and not asking for breakfast yet at four thirty am. I got up anyway.  I suppose that I could have tried to go back to sleep, but that rarely works for me.  I have learned as I get older, that sometimes it's just better to get up and face the day on less sleep than try to catch another hour or two and feel groggy and out of sync for the rest of the day.

It's also Saturday, and with good luck I'll have a chance to steal a nap later.

It's still dark as write this.   But in a few hours the sun will climb into the cold sky and bathe the prairie and foothills in a warm glow, lighting the mountain tops with the pink light of the early morning.  I love that early morning light and more often than not I find myself standing by the kitchen sink with a cup in my hand, as if trying to catch the glowing, enchanting light.  I watch as the light moves through the spectrum, and feel a peace that comes feeling connected to this land.

It's hard living here.  The light starts to disappear in the fall. The days get colder, and soon winter is upon us.  We wake up in the dark, go to work in the dark, glimpse the sunlight during our workday and come home in the dark.  Sometimes winter wears on my soul and I long for spring and the freedom that comes from wearing a light jacket, or no jacket outside, instead of being restricted by layers of heavy clothes.

But in the winter the mountains stand tall and crisp against the sky.  You can never see the peaks as clearly as you can in the midst of the cold winter.  The summer heat, and dust from farming, obscure the view and somehow shrink the rock giants on my horizon.  In the winter, I look out and see the glow of the sun on the snow.  In the winter I am breathless with the beauty of my home, and grateful that my parents and grandparents chose to tough out the cold of these Canadian winters, and grow roots in the brief summers and glorious autumns, so that I can stand at the kitchen sink, with a cup in my hand, trying to catch the elusive magic of predawn light glimmering on snowcapped peaks.

365 Days of Art - Day 132 - Facing Things

This sketch was done in a smaller sketchbook on the evening of Day 132.  I toned the paper first with pastel then used conté crayon to do the shading and detail work.

It's not the most fabulous piece I've done, but it's not awful either.  I'm not sure how I manage to deal with scale better on my work, I guess it's just practice, which, really, is what the 365 Days of Art is all about.

This weekend is going to be a busy one, we have a birthday party for both kids on Sunday and I have cakes to bake and stuff to organize, so updates might be spotty. 

What can I say - I need to deal with real life before I can come here and tell you about it!

On the works in progress front I have a painting that I'm developing from the crow study on my easel, and I'm working on something interesting that will be going into my Cafe Press shop in the new year.

Speaking of Cafe Press, my shop in it's current form will be closing on November 30 (that's three days!) so if there is something there you want get it now because it won't be there after this.

Also in a fit of self-promotion I have four beautiful prints available from Imagekind.  This weekend there is 25% off framing with the discount code of "Thanksgiving09" so go have a look and let me know what you think.

Meanwhile it's back to getting ready for the party.  I wonder how many cupcakes 12 grade schoolers can eat in a half hour?

Getting Excited

Following a blog by Wil Wheaton, in which he exhorted me to "Get Excited and Make Things" this week, I decided to do just that.

Well, OK, I had already made the stuff, but I decided to embrace the future, (the future being Print on Demand technology) and set up an Imagekind gallery to create and sell prints of my best/most popular/favourite pieces of work.

OK - so, so far I only have three pieces up, but I will have more soon, well as soon as all of you tell me what your favourite pieces are!  (feel free to fill up the comments section - it will give me something to do tomorrow! and have a look at the website and EBSQ gallery as well)

As for the creating something new... well I'm closing the Cafe Press shop in 5 days (that would be the end of the month!)  When it re-opens there will be something new there that I will tell you all about (it will be all about "Getting Excited and Making Things"), but meanwhile the stuff that is in there is going away, quite possibly forever, so get it while you can!

Meanwhile go have a look at the prints and remember that if you enter the code: "Thanksgiving09" you will get 25% off framing until Sunday.

Uplifting My Spirit

Once or twice (OK, maybe a few more times than that) I have felt that I would have to stop making art.  My heart fails me, I am over taken with sadness, and I don't feel like I can create anything.

I know that some artists thrive in melancholy, they make their best work from that deep dark well of sadness and despair.  I'm not one of those artists.

I have always felt that my art was more than pretty, that it spoke to people and helped to  lift them up.  I have always wanted my paintings to come from a spirit of wholeness, and to convey hope, and sometimes even joy.

Some of my clients have written to me telling me that my art has helped them in their healing process, that somehow I tapped into what they needed when they needed it.  For an artist that is a wonderful compliment.

I guess that my art sometimes has to heal the wounds of my own heart.  I am slowly learning that the art I make when I am heartsick is also the art of my heart.  It's not something to be turned aside.  It may not be the kind of art that I share with the world, but it does have a place in my process.

Today, even though I felt like I couldn't create anything, I picked up my tools and went to work.  I thought a lot about the things that are making me sad while I worked, and when I was done I felt lighter, uplifted, in a way that I haven't been for many weeks.  Only time can heal the aches and pains of our soul, but we owe it to ourselves to help it out when ever we can.