Cabin fever

I always think that it's good to just hunker down when school ends.  It just feels like too much work to get everything packed up the minute school is over and get off on a big trip somewhere, only to end up in traffic jams and rainy early july weather with cranky tired children.  So we stay home and play cabin at home.  The boys lounge around in pj's, curl up on the couch and watch movies in the afternoons, and then run around outside in between rainy showers.  Have I mentioned that it's been really wet and cold?  Well, it feels like March if you ask me.

This weekend there was a feature in the Vancouver Province on local makers and I was part of the article.  It was cool to see my work work displayed on an entire page of the newspaper!  I'll try to get  a pic of it here, since it's not online anywhere.  Also I picked up a copy of the August issue of Style at Home where my Bermuda Striped Bottle vase was featured amidst all things minty green!

And as for the new studio transformation that is currently taking place- I'll have the dramatic before and after pics when it's all said and done.  Dean and his brother painted the whole studio a fresh clean white slate yesterday- the ceilings and walls and by the window- it all needed to be brightened up.  Next up is the floor and then baseboards before it's ready for me to start in.  It's really fun to think about where I'll put things and how I want the studio to flow and work better.  I also think a change of scenery will do me some good.  Sometimes some new surroundings/things to look at can spark a new lease on creativity.

Watercolour Wildlife

As you may have noticed, I've been away for the past 5 days in Princeton BC (about 3.5 hours away from Vancouver) at a resort camp that we attend every June for a staff conference for Dean's work.  The climate in the interior of BC is really different than that of Vancouver-  I live in a mild and temperate rainforest climate, while Princeton is much dryer with much more extremes in climate- ie. cold in winter and hot and dry in summer.  There are so many birds and wildlife that we got to see while we were there; besides all the sparrows, birds, and eagles, we spotted (and photographed) a baby fawn close up, lots of deer, a marmot, and a little striped chipmunk.  Someone in our group even saw a 'cinnamon' coloured bear right by where we were hiking that day- yikes!
All the wildlife and of course the patches of birch and aspen trees were pretty inspiring, so, when it got cold and a little wet about the 4th day in, I spent some time indoors with Sasha (he's got such a cute and goofy smile on his face) doing some watercolour painting together. Here's a couple of bird paintings I managed to finish. Hopefully I'll have time to finish a few more that I started so I can share them with you here. To see more work from this little mini-watercolour series see here.

In the meantime...

I've had a few artist who are planning to be parents ask me how many hours I'm at the studio a week, with kids and all, and while 'work' consists of more than just studio time, my studio time is rather limited.  My kids are 6 and 8 and I'm generally not at the studio for 40 hours a week.  Probably I'm consistently at the studio about 25 hours a week, if I'm perfectly honest with my time there.  It can be frustrating most days, when I have more to do than time to do it.  This past weekend, with Dean gone for 4 days, my studio time was non-existant.  This week, my boys are on Spring Break, and again, my studio-time is really limited.  We want to head up to the Island to see my sister and hopefully, new baby, and my making time gets pushed to the side. That's OK.  Time with my family is really important to me. 
That being said, I did feel like I accomplished a lot this past weekend.  With kids in tow, I dropped off work at the Gallery at the airport, picked up more shipping supplies, picked up 600 lbs of clay, and made these really cute tags with stamps I carved.  The boys crowded around me and drew designs on the soft-lino that I carved into stamps and we had a lot of fun.  It's amazing what you can get done with kids around you if you make it fun.  Good music, lots of snacks, and trips to the park in between meant that it didn't feel like they were getting dragged around all weekend too. 

The Letter 'L' is for Lovely!

I got some really great news on my birthday this summer that I feel I can start to share with others! My only sister & her husband are having their first baby in March!

So when I came across The Letter K Design on etsy, a North Vancouver mom/designer & maker named Kate Whyte, I was pretty smitten! These little wall blocks have a vintage, yet contemporary feel, great for the baby room, but also very sweet for other little corners of the house! The custom letters are personal and classic, but I think the unexpected letter pairings are what really caught my eye! 'A is for.. Artichoke'?! Ok, the kid probably can't pronounce artichoke, but won't they sound cute for trying? These hand-drawn images transferred in limited editions on Birch blocks with Nursery Rhymes and even Anniversary Blocks are an amazing gift idea for your next baby shower, wedding gift or for yourself! The details (sides and backs have lovely little images and words) are really amazing and definitely worth checking out!

Kids and Art

I'm currently listening to my kids talk to each other through the window, one playing hockey outside asking the other one to watch what he's doing: the conversation is hilarious with all the little things they are saying and commenting, rooting each other on in their boyish way!
I've been having a little dialogue over at the Sycamore Street Press blog under the post about me and my work about having kids and doing what you love. A comment that made it sound really idealistic kind of got me on the topic and I feel like it is something worth talking about. I think there are a lot of parents and artists out there- people who make their living doing what they love and juggling kids along the way. For some people parenting was a 'happy accident'- such is my case, and the timing of kids wasn't totally planned, for others, they are planning their kids around their work. Any way you slice it, it is a big move to make!
My boys are my biggest joy in life. Creating is something I am very motivated to do because it's who I am. I had my boys fairly close together and was mostly full-time at home for the first 4 years- I taught art 4 times a week at the local community center when my second was 8 months old. All the while I made arrangements to be able to do a little clay work at the local pottery studio at the community center where I also taught, just to feel like I was growing as an artist.
When my youngest was 2 I hit a cross-road. I had outgrown the community centre studio, was starting to sell a little to my community connections and felt like I needed to try to see if I could make a living as an artist. It was too hard for me to just ignore my passion and call what I do a 'hobby'.
It took a little while to find a suitable studio space, access to a kiln, get my paintings into some shows, get my work looking professional enough to sell, especially because I was cramming in time to do this in between my creative child-care solutions. For a while I did a swap with another mom who is a photographer, to watch each other's kids one day a week for each other. I had my mom come out for a while and stay with us for a day. We shared a nanny with another family one day a week for a while, and then there were weekends, when my husband was 'mostly' around and I would go to the studio to cram in some time.
The other thing I did was get myself into a government funded Self-Employment Program, where they paid you $300 a week to 'start your business'. There were things involved in getting into and being in the program-not everyone is qualified, but for 11 months, this helped tremendously! It gave me the ability to move from my part-time hours into full-time and really jump started what I do.
That program ended about a year ago, and my oldest son started grade 1 in fall so my childcare situation is slowly improving. I'm still figuring out how to get enough work done every week to make do, but slowly my work is getting out there and people are starting to look for it. I have to really believe that this is the right thing to be doing because my kids are worth so much more than all the things I make. Yet we all have to make a living somehow and I would rather be doing what I am passionate about than do a 9-5 job that pays the bills but that kills my creative spirit. I just hope that I can afford to do this long-term and that I don't kill the love for what I do to make that happen!