The Stealing of a Few Minutes

From one small piece of inspiration that became a painting to the beginning of a third!
Not bad for someone stealing a few minutes here and there while trying to keep the baby amused. But that's exactly how I've managed to be so productive. I have everything out or easily accesible near where baby plays, so while he is happily amused I can have a few minutes to create. It feels so good to be able to be creative this regularly. It's almost addictive! That small taste of a few minutes, being able to see progress, simply whets the appetite and now I can hardly wait unil he goes to bed at night so I can have a large uninterrupted chunk of time to work.
I have photos to show you, just not at the moment. I need to spend some time with them and have not quite had the chance yet.

I say Tree, you say . . . .?

What comes to mind when you hear the word tree?

Yes, I'm looking for word associations. Why? For an artwork of course. Piece #2, of what is becoming my wood inspired series, has developed a bit of a word theme. Here's a sneak preview of just a small segment.

Wood Veneer Inspiration

A couple weeks ago, on an outing to Main St., we stopped to peruse an art supply store called Urban Source. This is not your typical art supply store neatly stocked with rows of paint tubes, sketch books and blank canvasses. This delightful place is stocked with boxes, bins and baskets filled with all sorts of random materials, ranging from industrial off-cuts and misprints to old typeset and slides.

On this particular day they had a box of wood veneer that caught my attention. A couple sheets of exotic wood were especially interesting with their dark wood grains. Looking at them I began daydreaming of what I could possibly do with them and I quickly came up with a few ideas. Needless to say, these sheets came home with me and then a new painting was promptly begun.

The Anti-Secret to Success

Here is some inspiration for today in the form of some great anti-advice stolen from Austin Kleon's tumblr

Originally from  “How to feel miserable as an artist” by Keri Smith

First Completed Piece of the New Year

Not too long ago I completed my first artwork of the new year, you could say. I did not create the whole piece this year, I simply finished putting it together. Each of the individual pieces were created at different times over the previous year. 

 

They began simply as play. To fuel and fasciltate my art, I collect many little pieces of this, that and the other thing, and then sort them into collections that I store in clear plastic containers. These are not strict collections of only one type of item per container. Rather they tend to be organized by theme, such as colour or texture. Many times I find myself admiring the aesthetic quality of a collection in its storage container, so I decided to try and find a way to display and share that enjoyment. These were quite a departure from my normally highly organized pieces and I felt they were anomolies that acted as an interlude from my typical style.

 Choatic Anomaly Collection

approx. 24" x 24"