Last night I sat and stitched! I love hand stitching! Stitching is reflection time. Mind journaling time. Sorting out time. Recognition time. This summer I crossed another milestone, the unanticipated loss of a cherished sibling. I live at a distance, plans unfolded quickly and I missed the celebration of his life. Then the revelation that yet another sibling suffers from heart ailments. It’s time to take stock and to examine priorities....

The last couple of weeks have been difficult.  Not only have I been dealing with my reactions to the ‘tempest in a teapot’ but I have been doing a lot of hand stitching and, for me, stitching time is introspection time. Throughout my life, I’ve been fortunate, or not, in that I have not had a lot of conflict in my life.  Perhaps it is because I was well schooled in the art of  ‘avoidance’, perhaps it is because I...

A Bully has crossed my path! With the recently increased profile of bullying in our society, I want to make a comment. It doesn’t stop with childhood.  It’s not always physical.  It can be disguised in many ways. As a person of certain years, I have not had a lot of experience with bullies for many years.  I am a straight speaking person who calls it as she sees it and people usually know where I stand on an issue. People usually respect that....

Over the years my husband and I have traced our Scottish roots with varying success.  Don and ‘the lads’ have had ‘Duncan’ tartan ties, we have worked at the local ‘Highland’ Games and participated in Robbie Burns nights in our small eastern Ontario community.  In 2000, our millenium project was a family trip to Scotland that provided context for our research – and new information. I decided today to...

The Alberta Flood Rose Project is a fundraiser for the Alberta flood relief work of the Canadian Red Cross as they respond to the recent flooding in Southern Alberta. “The flood waters rose… Albertans rose to the challenge!” Calgary and area artist have been asked to donate a 4 inch by 4 inch piece of original art depicting the Alberta Wild Rose – the provincial flower – in the media of their choice, for inclusion...

On Sunday I drove from Welling (south of Lethbridge) Alberta to Calgary and I found myself in a particularly aware and contemplative state. Here are some of the thoughts that passed through my mind as I drove (yes I did stop periodically and make notes!). Alberta. Land of blue skies and sudden storms, majestic cloud formations and distant landscapes, golden fields, rolling hills and towering mountains, phenomenal fall sunsets and winter...

  OK!  I’m still here! I really meant to get back to my blog/web site sooner!  Is it really two  months since the last post? It’s been mostly good stuff and creative time.  Thinking back, it was the re-occurrence of a back problem that forced me to take a break in the beginning.  Long hours at the computer entering data for this web site and winter inactivity probably were factors.  Then, I had some really intense creative...

Okay!  I’m in rebellion mode today! I have an almost complete website – with some portfolio posts requiring additional attention and more posts to do.  It’s been six weeks or more of  many long days of work.  I should be working on that! I could be doing more hand stitching on my ‘exhibition’ piece that is still under construction and I have two more exhibition piece commitments to go… There is a box of...

Exhibition Research Continued: In my research regarding art exhibitions I recently stumbled upon a discussion about vanity galleries on the Art Business group on LinkedIn.  It started me thinking about my own experiences and so I went to the blog posting written by Katherine Tyrrell who started this discussion for more information. Katherine defines a vanity gallery as ” one which requires you to pay to show your art. This may involve a...

  Collaboration – A Tool for Increasing Your Audience Continuing from my post of notes made  while reading Anna Hergert’s blog, I turned to Alyson Stanfield’s blog and the first posting that came up was ‘Multiply Your Exhibition Audience with Collaborative Programs.  Right off the bat she provided a list of things that art museums consider when developing their exhibition schedule.  This was of particular interest...