Stickin' Ideas Together

I recently watched the inaugural performance of Susan Boyle.  My heart was filled with joy. With inspiration. With "I can" feelings for my own personal goals. Looking at the faces of the three judges, I saw not only admiration but love. Real love for this woman who mere seconds earlier they were just shy of verbally mocking. LOVE. That's the key to humanity's success. Love is the key to world peace, to tolerance, to getting along with the person who is sitting beside you right now. A little bit of love goes a long, long way and is infectious. Love let's us see who someone IS as opposed to how they LOOK. Love let's us remember that outward behaviours may be caused from inner pain. Love let's us ask another person how he/she is feeling and listens to the answer. Love is round. This Christmas, I remind you (and myself) that a little bit of love goes a long way. How about, for a change, we all spread it on really thick this season? Imagine the results...

The Eastside Culture Crawl in East Vancouver BC is an annual art crawl that takes our city by storm. The hub, at 1000 Parker is a weekend event within itself with literally floors of artisans occupying an old factory warehouse building... which is perfectly decrepit and artsy. My favourite is always Jill Pilon, at Watershed Studio. Her new linear series is brave and forward feeling. Clean in a collage-messy way. She is a huge inspiration to me. Currently I am focusing on more transfer technique discovery on cardboard. Nothing more freeing that playing on cardboard. Minimal material investment = more relaxed approach. I hope that, like me, you will make the most of staying inside during the winter to create and paint. The seasons are meant to inspire; use them to the fullest! ~ Kathryn

I am about a month and a half away from the opening of my latest show, Delivery. All is going better than expected since I have had an unusually busy year with my other career as a graphic designer and have had to put my painting on the back-burner. Here is a snap of one of my paintings-in-progress. What I love about this painting is the prevalence of the almost neon pink. I haven't really employed pink in the past, but this one just demanded it & I listened. I also made use of some modelling paste for the numbers you see. I pressed them through a stencil. They have since shrunk some but are still pretty cool. The blotches of paper you see are transfers in progress. They worked out really well thanks to a very helpful techniques class I took with local Vancouver artist, Jeanne Krabbendam. Next post I'll show you a bit more of this painting nearly finished; I'll keep you posted on the Delivery series.

Way back at the end of 2011 I made a wee painting for a friend of mine. She is a map lover & really enjoyed the work I submitted to The Anonymous Art Show. I made a mini version of it for her. The image above is a quick snap of the painting living in her living room. It's the one beneath the letter V. There is no bigger message here, just a fun post in appreciation of appreciation. Happy painting!

Oh happy day that an art library exists in the world. Recently a prominent article appeared in the  New York Times . My very own sketchbook currently resides in the Brooklyn Art Library. I sent it off this past April. I hope to visit it one day since I didn't get a chance to photograph it before it went out. Yes I know, bad move. Anyway, if you're interested in connecting with a vibrant, global, creative group, this may be for you. Join today!

When I last spoke of the Anonymous Art Show that I participated in back in Nov. 2011, I neglected to note a detail that really stood out for me. On the main wall near the entrance, the organizers hung a large canvas wrapped with all the names of the contributing artists. I was proud as punch to see my name included in print among the over 400 other talented souls who participated in the annual event. It's a small thing, one's name typeset amongst so many others, but it spoke in a large way to me. It said that my work is valuable to this organization; it's appreciated, acknowledged, and recognized. And that feels great. So if you find yourself in need of a creative way to express thanks to your contributors at an event, this may just be the final touch you need.

I'm super excited about my "ultrasound paintings". Finally determining the title of the series makes its purpose clear to me. DELIVERY. It's a great follow-up to my last series, "love letters (to my baby)". In Delivery my focus has shifted away from adoration, to reflecting on the miracle of conception and the birthing process. I acknowledge that thousands of women struggle, pray and sacrifice to have that experience that came so effortlessly to me. These new works are textured and layered with an urban grit. They appear worn, almost hurting but also strong in order to support the topical weight of each piece and the varied experiences of pregnancy. Look out for more come Fall of 2012.