Happy New Year...oh wait. It's April already.

Oh the neglect!  Four whole months and not a word on the blog.  2014 has had it's highs and lows: if you have been following along on Instagram, you'll be pretty caught up with the good, the bad and everything in between. 

Around the 3rd week of January I was in a bike accident and I fractured my right elbow.  At the time, the doctor told me it would be months until I was back to normal and I just shook my head and said no way.  It can't be.  I have too much work to make. But here we are in early April and I just touched my shoulder for the first time in months.  I'm in Physio twice a week and my arm still doesn't fully extend.  So needless to say, I haven't spent long amounts of time typing on the computer.  All my energy has been in making the work that was on order and finishing up my website.  And writing applications, responding to emails and generally trying to keep up with everything that was absolutely necessary.


So thank you for understanding if you have come here wondering where I was.  We managed to take a couple of long-overdue holidays (Palm Springs in February and Portland in March).  I finished a painting commission (above), made 2 more paintings and then started my 2nd painting commission for the year, which I'm pretty excited about.  New work was photographed by Byron Dauncey in the beginning of February leading to the launch of my new website.  The bottle vase grouping image above even made it into the latest Uppercase Magazine.  Orders have been made and shipped.  More orders are in the works, and thankfully I can throw on the wheel again, albeit I'm a little slower and tire easily.  I take a lot of stretching breaks these days. 

That's about all I have for today but thank you for coming by here.  I decided not to include this blog on my new website for now.  Partly because I'm not sure how to add it without losing old posts, partly because I don't think I can keep this space as active as I used to.  The age of blogs seems to have passed, and while I still feel like it's a good place to have, it doesn't feel like I have the time for it like I used to.  I'm trying to limit my screen time while I'm at home- not only do I need to be more present when I'm home for my family, but I need to be a better role model for my boys with regards to how much time I spend online/plugged in and looking at a a screen.

Lost & Found Paintings

Sometimes it's nice to find paintings in places I wouldn't expect. It inspires me to think differently about venue, space, mark making and colour.   I really love the random marks and painting on the bottom garage-  made by kids? with painted over graffiti and faded zebras...

Two major commercial art galleries in Vancouver have closed their doors.  It's caused a bit of a ripple of speculation among artists about reasons that are beyond just the economy, or the personal reasons of the gallery owners.  Some say the amount of art fundraisers in Vancouver at this time have changed how people buy art.  That people feel better about buying art when they are supporting a greater cause.   Perhaps without realizing it, what seems like a win/win for an art collector, has the potential to be a  lose/lose for both the galleries that support artists, and the artists themselves. 

It's  been interesting to think this through over the past few days and just to wonder about how art markets around the world have been changing.  Two fairly recent films I've watched about contemporary art were The Great Contemporary Art Bubble by Ben Lewis and Exit through the Gift Shop by Banksy.  Both had me really thinking about contemporary art, it's relevance, it's value, and purpose.  I find the art market rather intimidating, perhaps this is why I make more ceramics then paintings, but also very intriguing.