More Sunshine

Quiet Prairie

8x10

acrylic on canvas

I painted this landscape from a photo in the summer of 2008 at the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus and it was inspired by a man in the class named Harry. I had some wonderful chats with him over the week we were there painting and he was such a gentle man; a farmer all his life and he really loved the land. He had always wanted to go to art school and as a young married man he had been accepted into a visual arts program in a different province, but his equally young (first) wife was too nervous to leave the prairies and as a result he didn't go. He settled into a life on the farm and never pursued his love for art. Finally, though, here he was at the Kenderdine campus at the age of about 60, with a bad hip and a second wife chasing his dream after all those years. He was an inspiration. I hear he returned to the campus this past summer for the class in August... I am hopeful that I will see him again someday, that our paths will cross at Kenderdine.

Onto the topic of sunshine...

You should have seen me last night... I haven't been that giddy since, well, the afternoon of November 8th which was my gallery reception. Why was I giddy you ask???? Well, I met my friend Nancy at Indigo to get some Christmas shopping done and when I walked in the doors who is packing up from his book signing but..... drum-roll....   

R.L. Prendergast of "The Impact of a Single Event" fame!!! 

I could not believe my eyes! If you aren't familiar with this blog you need to know that this is one of my all-time favorite books and you can read the post I made about this book if you click here (Impacts and A-ha Moments). I walked in and stopped in my tracks. He was getting his coat on and I looked at him, and then the table of books, and then him, and then the poster, and then I said something extremely clever like "Are you Him???" to which he replied "yes". I proceeded to gush that this was one of my all-time favorite books and then he asked "Did you write about it on your blog?" That freaked me out and I panicked slightly thinking I might be in trouble. He clarified that my friend was in the store somewhere and had told him about me (good ol' Nance) and had given him my name to Google! Ack! I was shaking I was so excited to meet him... and I had questions... which he answered! It was fantastic! Fantastic, I tell you! I ended up buying three more books which he signed for me and I had chattered/raved about it so much at his table that I think he sold at least three more copies to other customers before he left for the night. It is such a good book. Such a good book! Put it on your Christmas wish list today! Check out the above link to the website which is really well done and I think it will get you intrigued enough to buy the book. If anyone knows Oprah, please tell her to read it!

Impacts and A-ha Moments

 Seeing The Light

acrylic on 300lb paper

NFS

Ahhhh, it's good to be feeling better. I am still stuffed up but I do think the cloud has lifted. I tried to nap this afternoon, but my mind wasn't settling down. I started thinking about more ideas for paintings, thoughts to share for my blog, what to do with paintings that won't be in the show.... you know... important stuff. When I realized I couldn't sleep I got up and did something I haven't done for (quite possibly) years... I had a bath! Now don't get me wrong and may I make it very clear.... I have showered in the last several years, albeit not as often as before I had kids, but I have not made the time for the luxury of a bath. It was a treat. I found some old lavender bath milk powder, put the jets on and soaked. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a great book.... and a glass of wine, so I'm drinking that now to make up for it. Excuse any typos that may crop up as this post progresses!

Speaking of books, there is one thing I know about me... I am a reader. I love a good book. I love it when I don't want to put a book down; when I am so engrossed that it hurts to stop reading, but at the same time if it is a really good book I love to make it last as long as possible. I stopped reading when I had my boys until a friend started a book club about 3 years ago and I got back into it. I'm not part of the club anymore, but I will be forever grateful that it got me reading again. The first book we read in the club was "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. When I finished the book I felt weepy. Why had I allowed myself to stop reading? What was going on with this mother business that I halted so much of who I was before these little creatures entered my world? Was I supposed to erase who I was? Was I supposed to become something entirely new when I became a mom like a caterpillar does when it basically liquefies before it morphs into a butterfly? Did I sign up for this? Was I putting these constraints on myself or was there some sort of expectation I was feeling from somewhere? Or was I simply not able to be multidimensional?

But now I know I can read and I can raise children at the same time! Who knew?!!! It's a revelation.

There is a tie-in here between the book topic and the painting I posted. This is the first ever of my paintings that I liked. It was my A-Ha! moment. I had taken my first class at the Emma Lake Kenderdine campus in summer 2000 and I completely stunk out the joint, so I pulled myself together and took a technical painting class that winter. I stunk pretty royally during that class, too. Something possessed me to sign up again for Emma Lake in 2001 and halfway through that class we went to Spruce River. Three tries at a painting later something clicked and after 2 hours of "going with it" I had finished this painting. It was on the invitation to my first show at the coffee shop in town and although people wanted to buy it, there was no way it was for sale. While working on this painting I learned something about acrylics that I was missing- how to layer them, how to glaze with them, how to simply accept them. I also discovered that I needed to focus on what interested me compositionally as opposed to trying to include things I couldn't care less about (like the spruce trees above the sweeping grasses). The single event of painting at Spruce River that day had a huge impact in my painting life. Huge.

Which brings me to one of my all time favorite books.... which I have read 2 times since I discovered it this spring: "The Impact of A Single Event" by R.L. Prendergast. Buy it. Read it. Tell everyone! I just discovered that if you click on one of your favorite things on the profile page of your blog you will automatically be on a compilation list with every other person that also has it as their favorite thing. Super cool right? Well, I am the only person who has this book down as their favorite thing! This is unacceptable!!! :o) I realize I am no Oprah and I can't do for R.L. Prendergast on my measly blog what she can do on her international Emmy winning day time talk show, but darned if I'm not gonna try! People, get yourself a copy of this book and read it! Love it! Share it! Make a book club and talk about it. If nothing else put it on your favorite books list so I am not the only one!

I gave my copy of this book to my painter friend Debbie this summer at Emma Lake. I feel like the friendship and connection we made when we met there in 2007 has forever changed both of our lives. It was one of those single events that changes you. I told her someday we would go together to paint the place at the end of the book.

Do I have you curious enough to read it now....? I hope so and let me know if you do!