art starts here!

i finally got a chance to get over to the artstarts gallery & office - what a great experience! the new show [regional voices] features work from several bc schools including banner projects, books, sculptures from found items and clay works and a photography collection. what particularly struck me in the main gallery is just a sense of energy and colour and complete engagement. i was really taken by the photo collection from the 'streetfront' high school kids. what a gift it is to help kids tell their stories - for us to to step inside that story and give the kids a chance to step outside... i remember a quote on one piece in the collection, the photo (great photo by the way - wish i had a copy) taken in lynn canyon says "things just seem easier here".

upstairs in the mezzanine are a group of works [150 faces] that will make anyone smile! i remember the exercise from art class: draw an object or person in one continuous line & don't look @ the paper...

elsie roy: kindergarten class

elsie roy: grade 5

as i started writing this, i remembered a very special event in my childhood - the printing press van came to town! they taught a small group of us to make woodcuts and mono-prints on their giant press - in fact i still have one of mine & one of mike mcgraw's prints (oh so many years later)! so i believe in the impact art can have on a life & i can imagine kids are over the top to see thier work in a real gallery! (read more on the artstarts blog).

220 days & counting

baby boy is 20 weeks old that roughly translates to 4 months third week. we laugh at ourselves constantly - i think we all develop odd little habits and practises as new (& not so new parents). i know i slept in my parents room in the baby buggy bassinet & perhaps my sister did sleep in a drawer (or is that someone else's story)? we put baby boy in his stroller (yes the one that cost more than our car & has only been outside three times) and park him in the bathroom while we shower, he sleeps on the couch in the evenings (in a nursing pillow nest) ...

i met with 8 women from my office for lunch the other day - they are all off on mat leave as well... before i walked out the door i had a panic attack that baby boy would have to be changed there & i would be condemned for having him in disposable diapers that day (we used 'g' diapers (0-4 mos) & are now trying to find bamboo cloth - oh why do i keep explaining myself).

we are still constantly thrilled and amazed as baby boy rolls over (and back given the opportunity), makes moves to scoot across the floor (we think he's going to skip crawling though), sees new things and reaches for them (and comes away with big clumps of cat fur for his effort), becomes michael flatley in the jolly jumper (i can't believe they have been in business for 60 years!) and gets such genuine pleasure from sucking his own toes...

chocolat

i was just end dating some magazines in my current mag stack & found the premier issue of chocolat 'canada's shopping magazine for the home' (yes it was dated september 2006 but i find premier issues extra special for some reason)... i perused each page looking for any good & current canadian suppliers, designers, photographers etc. the main article featured photographer tracy shumate's loft in toronto (another great loft). when i was finished reading i had to wonder:

• why is it that photographers have such cool homes? (if i were a photographer would i have a cool home or do you have to be cool first to be a photographer?)
• why is it that we can't support more than one canadian design magazine? (or two if you count 'style at home')

* favorites

i still mark favorites - actually i collect favorites (much like my physical life collecting projects & items that make me smile & things that might generally be considered garbage by others). i arrange them carefully in cleverly and future usefully named folders like: 'pregger + baby' / 'raising.baby', 'a&e' /'design. architecture', 'dev resources' or 'buy stuff'. then what?

the other day (much like cleaning up my magazine pile) i was cleaning up my *favorites folder only to realize that many of the sites have not been visited in years (were dead or completely useless or totally uninteresting)  - they were likely added in a late night frenzied stumble down some rabbit hole. i thought about it for a moment - do we even use *favorites anymore? we've become so good a searching and the search engines have become so good at finding stuff that it is quicker to google it than to follow the beneficent maze of folders & subfolders & urls. i mentioned this realization to tnb one day not so long ago & she replied that she now mostly uses *bookmarks (mmm booooks) paradigm shift or just another small step for organization woman?

clean it up? delete it? hah! i look around me @ our shared office & think what the hell - clean up? at least it they are hidden behind the computer's clean lines and finite space & not strewn over the floors and shelves and other horizontal & not so horizontal surfaces of our disheveled home (sweet home)...

i took some pictures today but this isn't one of them:

symbols

i have been thinking about juan miro - i suppose that is a result of a recent visit to a little gallery over on granville street (chali-rosso - they have amazing original prints from rembrant, matisse, chagall & miro). when i see miro it reminds me of my trip to barcelona & the 'fundacio joan miro'. in truth i knew little or nothing of miro before visiting spain & i am still not a huge fan - but having seen the path his work took from the beginning (a gifted 12 year old) to end (a surrealist with his own niche) left me with a deep respect for him.

i was mostly struck by something fundamental to his work that has stayed with me every since - that is his recognition of and integration of symbols in his work. it made me think of my own life & it's symbols and my art as well. i'm not sure if my icons have changed over my lifetime - i expect they have - these are what i wrote in my journal at the time:

• stones
• wings
• the moon

my painting: 2002 moon shattering stillness

fog fog fog

we are into the 6th day of living in a cold wet blanket of fog. there have only been a few glimpses of what used to be blue above us & for a brief moment yesterday i remembered there might still be a sun up there...

f what?

seriously, f-stops and apertures are kicking my butt. i can hardly believe i used to run a darkroom. maybe black & white back in the day was easier? perhaps mommy brain has affected / infected my creative cortex? maybe i just need more practise. practise, practise, practise - that is the fun part!

mommy calling card

maybe i would be able to get a mommy play date if i had a mommy calling card:

i just wish i had the guts! i love the paper - love the style - love the idea even (harkens back to the time of dance cards). i'm just afraid of being laughed out of the community centre... but wait - if this is my new business (changing diapers, producing milk, managing and directing the daily development of baby boy etc.) why shouldn't this be my business card?
all cards available on www.etsy.com

set to record on my pvr

1. house - who can resist this grouchy pill popping diagnostic genius?
2. top gear - irreverent british humour, perpetually anti-american. this series is beautifully shot, has gorgeous scenery, showcases sexy & ridiculous cars - i'd wager they can make a gearhead out of anyone. who wouldn't want a car described as "a thug in a silk dressing gown"?
3. survivor - i was over it until my partner saw it for the first time last season, an avowed anti-reality tv watcher - he was hooked in a big way. now i get to watch it just for the gabon cinematography!!
4. project runway - a guilty pleasure - they can, like, make clothes out of anything... and then there is heidi klum saying 'auf wiedersehen' each episode. *shrug*
5. saving grace - she is gritty, wiry, smart, & tough. oh, & i think she may just have a sweet side - have you seen her with kids & puppies? i mostly just love her (holly hunter's) pipes!
6. heroes - i'm not sure why this is still recording. the first 26 episodes were cool - but now i'm over it - too confusing - is everyone hero now?? infact i am getting up to delete this now - DONE.

i cannot lie, there is not a single intelligent program in the bunch; no hint of nature or science or current events or even politically savvy commentary. that being said we have been spending quite some time infront of the telly recuperating from lugging around baby boy & we do try to balance our intake... does catching up on '2 & a half men' count as current events?

arghhh - i need to pick up a book!

& i haven't taken a photo outside the house for 10 days (cough, hack, wheeze)...

open minded

i found it! i've been thinking about this place lately - i scoured the file folder a couple times before i found it right @ the front (argh mommy brain makes everything take twice as long)! it was originally in wish magazine september 2004 & now that i look back @ the article i find it apropos that the key to the story was decorating for baby (not your average baby room) - i say forget bows & bunnies too.

mommy play date

as i look forward to the next community centre 'moms & infants' session i have to laugh a little - what is my agenda? granted us new moms are desperate for information (when to start solid food, where to find day care, & how do i learn /relearn nursery rhymes) and we cannot resist seeing other moms with their little ones (doing a little baby comparison tracking) - but let's face it - for some of us - getting together with a troupe of babies is more about getting some adult face to face time too.

yeah - the babies are cute & all - but i think i just really need some to find some allegiance with the hippie mom across the room who looks totally @ ease with her little one & is obviously already back in her prenatal jeans or realize a kinship with the downtown mom swinging her little one into the latest groovy snowsuit & kickass stroller.

days are consumed by little ones. it's not an unbearable amount of work per se it's just time consuming. & the whole baby brain/mommy brain thing makes even the most quick witted mom a little slooow. so it's nice to see that we can still function as human beings - girls, women, chicks... have a laugh over a cappuccino or if we're lucky a glass of wine; get out of the house to talk about breastfeeding & the economy & daycare & music. how does one pick up a new mom?