TANGIBLE

Studio Reveal!

It has taken the entire 4 months we've been in the new house to figure this room out.

This was the room when I first saw the house. Dark and full of large cabinets and aquariums. Gawd...this house was full of freaking fish when I first viewed it.. 5 tanks in total~

   

First thing I did was have Dwayne help me take down the cabinets. Then I filled every single hole, chip and crack I could find. Took days I tell ya.

 

 

Then I had my lovely friend Eva who is an Interior Decorator and Colourist, help me pick some colours for the house. Benjamin Moore the whole way baby! The studio, hallway, entranceways and some of the living room is a colour called Venetian Plaster.

Dwayne, with Anams help ...put up some new white wood blinds. But I can't figure out how to make them come down.....sigh...anyway...

Lots of recycled furniture from the old space but it does look like it all fits nicely.

Check this out...

Took the doors off the closet. Installed some sturdy galvanized shelving and then.....had Omnilectric come in and retro fit an outlet right inside the closet. My printer, scanner and all my office equipment is now plugged in ready to work INSIDE THE CLOSET!!! So happy with this arrangement!

  

In unpacking all the studio supplies I came across this wall stencil I must have meant to use somewhere and forgot about. So presto chango...I used it on my old bulletin board and painted a quote. I'm in love with it again.

There are a few more things I want to figure out yet. For now I will live and work in it until I decide what it needs. Toying with the idea of a red bookcase...that would fit under the canvas's.

Take Us To the Bridge.

So I haven't been able to do my final post about the One Little Word Workshop I hosted as ...ummm...mine didn't get finished until about 20 minutes ago.

I would like to say for the record that when half the room has never touched paint before..your need to finish your own project comes second to thiers. I didn't want to overwhelm them with a 6 hour day of painting so really tried to simplify the project and whip them through.

We each started with my traditional blank 12x12 gallery canvas.

Then I had each person pick from my vast collection of scrapbook papers. One sheet to use as their background. This we glued down using our tried and true PVA glue and then journalled our intentions for 2010 right on top of that. My instructions were that I just wanted them to write.

Some journalling prompts were:

• A secret goal for the year
• List of things you wanted to accomplish that related to their word.
• A Quote.
• How they were feeling right now.
• or- if they were really stuck. Just write their word over and over.

I tried not to get really Oprah on them so we did very little talking.

After journalling for about 30 minutes we then did a color wash over our writing obscuring about 90% of it.

 

(my canvas)

(Robyn's canvas)

We kept this up -adding layers of color and then even some images.

Then we even sanded some of it all off!

The last step was to figure out how to place our word on the canvas.

(Anam and Laura working away.)

All in all I hope every one got something out of the afternoon. I confess I did not get final pics of everyone's canvas. Crap.

Here is Diane's though...

And a pretty smile from Robyn.

Now before I show my just finished, still tacky canvas..one more confession.

I re-did it. I sanded everything I could off. Repainted parts of it. and it went a completely different direction.

My journalling is still all under there. My original images can still be seen up close but I will admit it has had a make over.

Please meet my 2010 word.

 

I LOVE IT!!

This year my focus is on my family and friends and people who "get me" It will be about strengthening my "Tribe" and building on it. It is about feeling less alone in the world and making sure I am putting myself out there enough to allow others to get to know me.

and mom...you were soooo close!

One Little Word

A weighty word. A word that you have a connection with, a powerful connection. Will it drive your year? Will it give you focus and directions to getting to a more positive place.

Perhaps.

It is that time of year when those of us who follow the lovely Miss Ali, start thinking about what drives us forward  and how we will find that one perfect word to represent 2010.

I've been thinking about my One Little Word and I think I may have got it...

In fact I've even been thinking of hosting a One Little Word Canvas Workshop so we can all get our words on our walls before we have to figure out 2011...

Sunday January 10th.2pm -6 pm.  My house. Bring your word.

RSVP by January 3.

Shine Yellow~

Oh my! it is so freakin nice outside right now. According to the fine fine folks at the weather network it is about 26 degrees. Feels like 30+ in the sun though. Lola is out there basking in a ray, chin up and everything is all a glow. It is a wonder she doesn't go blind looking directly at the sun like that. Wonder what the heck she is looking at...hmmmmm

Makes me think of these two HomeSense finds I got for my eco baby's room.

I know. I know. I could have painted them myself...but I didn't and Sarah loves them anyway.

Small panic getting to work this am. I thought I had lost my keys. The keys to the kingdom so to speak. They open all the doors to the clinic, the supplements locker, the float....ugh...Luckily Dr. Rick had gotten to the clinic before me and I fluffed my way through all the other stuff until one of the other girls came in to save me. Came home at 11 and found them in about 2 minutes flat. I must not have turned the lights on this morning when I was looking as they were practically right in front of me. Made me feel incredible incompetent this morning but now I know they don't have to change all the locks just because of me...sigh..

Yesterday was a nice day in the studio. Nadia and Joey came to spend much of the day with me.

Joey is a doll. A big fluffy, always moving (blurry pic), white sweetheart that brings a smile to my friends face. Lola spent most of the day just watching him move from place to place touching and smelling her things. She did pretty well in the sharing department as he seemed only interested in things not ball related. But man...if he had dared to touch one of her balls...it would have been a different story.

I managed to finish this painting that I had started about 2-3 months ago. Feels like forever now but I think the message still rings true to me as it did the day I saw it written on the  swimming pool dry erase board. I love the colors and am really thinking of painting one of my kitchen walls the celery green that is in this painting. Weird to be at a point when I actually want to put my own stuff on my own walls but the last 3 things I painted were really just for me. I like that.

Perfect for the impatient person that I am. I want it hanging where I live to remind me to not to forget to breath and just keep on going. I tell myself constantly not to  give up and keep making those small changes that will all add up to a life that will shine so bright.

I Wanna Be a Rock Star!

 

 

Sarah some how managed a true sibling "in your face" Some how,..none of us are too sure how..she managed to change her semester 2 around and talked to all the "right people" and is now taking guitar. Morgan is only slightly envious. He has been asking to take lessons for about 3 years and I had agreed..he just had to purchase his own guitar. Somehow that never happened. Now the ultimate betrayal...his sister gets a guitar..

In other news...I am now on soft/solid food. Hello cottage cheese and scrambled eggs. Hey there! I am happy to be chewing! Pain is also getting better and better. Those who love me can hardly wait till I throw away my yoga pants though...

Did some Calligraphy...

Made a complete mess of it though when I tried to do a layer of words in ink over top of the double lined letters...It was looking cool until then...

Tomorrow am hanging out with Anam and perhaps Diane if she can drag herself away. If she doesn't, I know the curiosity will kill her...grin..

One Step at a Time.

This weekend I finally made it downstairs...(there are a lot of stairs.. at least 15!) My first goal was just to make it down the stairs, my next was to try and sit for as long as I could and try and hold a pen. Sounds simple but at the moment holding my arms above my waist to even type kills my back. But I was smart...I took my 1 litre bottle of liquid love with me and had a shot once I got into the studio. I was a week behind in my Calligraphy class so needed to make an attempt at the homework and see if sitting was going to be possible. All was good. Homework was completed, practice happened and I even managed to sit for about 2 hours. Now I know I can do the class this week. As long as Nadia drives as I plan to be stoned..makes for interesting Calligraphy!

It all went so well this weekend Nadia and I even attempted a studio day. She let me take it slow and we even got accomplished what needed to get done. I managed to even take a few pics of that orange piece I did before surgery.

 

I love it. It has texture and I used so many different mediums that I have not tried before. Nadia had inspired me to try some heavy molding paste. I love the way it picked up the yellows and browns just seems to give it weight. Throw all that in with some more acrylic and oil pastels...sigh..Eventually it will grace the hallway along with an assortment of other canvas's I have painted over the last few years. Slowly getting used to the idea of hanging my own stuff in my own house!

This is the other piece I finished a couple weeks ago and will hang in my kitchen.

I have trouble remembering to take my vitamins and once again girl wonder made a suggestion to paint something to help remind me. Took a long time to figure out where to go with it but now that it is finis...I think it will definitely do the job!

Softly..people...

I woke up this morning with a headache. One of those..day 2 diet headaches from the massive change in diet from all the  Christmas crap from weeks past. I kept trying to tell myself that the head ache is GOOD! It at least means I have a heartbeat. WAIT! Hold the Phone...I also haven't had an ounce of coffee in about 4 days...hmmm..is caffeine going to kick my butt too?

I was lucky enough to be distracted for a couple of hours today by one of the members of my girl "Art Posse"  Yup I am so hip I have an art gang..we just don't live in the hood..where ever that is..

Diane brought over a gizmo to cut some chipboard into interesting shapes for my up n coming 2009 banner that will decorate the studio. Cool gadget but can't say I need to buy one, though using hers was juuust fine! We did a little paint, a little Internet shopping and even had lunch together! ( and if you are in my world right now...that was huge!)

Here are a few things that managed to get finished.

quote by St. Francis Xavier on 12 x 12 canvas

2 smaller 4x4 's

off to watch the snow fall..

One Step at a time..

 

 Evolving takes time! Friday had Diane coming to play with paint with me. Ya gotta hand it to the girl, she's a trouper! She high jumped over those snow banks to make it. Amazing to witness really..and well I have to say..WE KICKED SNOW DAY ASS!! It was the good kind of butt kicking though, it came with chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven..yummm

Once the sugar rush hit I threw a canvas at her and told her to follow her muse. Using our 2009 words as inspiration we sketched, we painted and even lettered.

Diane was a rock star and produced....

She really got in to the spirit of committing her word to canvas and for her FIRST EVER attempt- Did awesome!

I managed to be a little messier. Hell, Evolution is a tough business, it takes time and a about a quart of paint. My canvas was really done in a lot of layers. Very symbolic and all that stuff...If you look VERY carefully you can even see journal pages from years past. Fingers crossed you can't read the writing though...

On the 4 sides of the canvas is written "Change is on the Way", "Visualize", " Live to the Extreme" and "My personal Revolution".

The color around the lettering is oil pastels. Loved how they turned out. The quote is by Eden Phillipots.

 

Tomorrow is another Studio Day. Lots of cool work being done for another special project. I guess this means I should probably clean the studio before Nadia gets here!

Countdown to letting go..

Yesterday was completely paint filled. As usual I was working on my beloved Christmas vinyl tablecloth. Hard to believe that  this dang table cloth has made it another year to yet another Christmas..grin.. In a day filled with music and some moaning about it being too damn early to be creative, I managed to paint this uber colorful canvas. Then, Nadia stole it and put it on her wall. hmmm..

This was going to be the final piece to be sent off to Vibe in Fort St. John. ok..maybe not now.. We signed all the canvas's and packed them away to start getting our heads around letting them go. Scary how hard that concept is turning out to be. There are so many that we would hang on our own walls so how can we part with them now? Ugh...it's going to be hard...

Go to the Studio to see some of the other pieces.

Christmas is nearly here and so is Gram. I am still trying to figure out what "busy work" I can come up with so  I am able to contribute to her "rehab". Currently she is in a Hannibal Lector like phase that involves rotary tools and masks. sigh...( hand to forehead) what ever am I to do... double sigh...

On a completely different note, we have set the date for the company Christmas party. We are hoping our entire shipping department and creative team will be able to attend! We are planning a gift exchange (recycled/vintage and not over $10). We are just sourcing out dining possibilities that will be able to accommodate our number of guests. I expect invitations will go out in about a week!

 

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Day in review.

Woke up to... 

 

Then she came over...

 

She brought this budding artist...

 

I ate these for lunch...

 

I finished painting these for Sarah's room...

and even Scrap Booked week 2  of the Color Theory class in Design your Life...

  

A busy and productive day, but I still can't get over...

yikes..