Art of a Literary Kind

Hey, I wrote a Pome! Now I have something to read at Writers Group on Saturday!
Wanna hear it?? 'Kay? Alright - here goes...

*ahem* *rattling of paper*

The Dream Rotisserie

Discomfort rules tonight.

I roll endlessly with the clock;

the promise of rest always a quarter turn from reach.

Hour by hour I dip into dreams

then inevitably float back up to briefly glimpse

the regular stops on my circuit:

Dresser/lamp/wall/ceiling/repeat

Each moment of half lucid awareness is compelled to surrender to a vague narrative

that builds and echoes through brief episodes of sleep.

The sheets - heated and wet

are thrown to the side until

a slow chill draws me back to my burrow and

the chaotic underworld of ever changing plot.

Dresser/lamp/wall/ceiling/repeat

The chapter shifts once more.

Brain - what are you cooking up?

Scenes are played and overlaid,

condensed to form some elusive conclusion.

A nudge from my unconcious:

"Do you get it? Do you get it yet??

But I'm blank so I'm gone. Again and again and again

I'll ride the dream rotisserie

and marinate in sweat.

The End. Soooo....anyhoo, I will request critiques and keep hammering away at this.

May Workshop 2010

I delivered our watercolour instructor to the airport this afternoon, completing a 3 day workshop that we'd been planning for a year. It was a very worthwhile endeavor - most participants produced or halfway finished at least one nice composition and we generated a wonderful atmosphere that I hope we can maintain for an indefinite period. In less than 18 hours over the 3 days I came away with two half sheet sized watercolours and established a clear genre for myself - this being my light/shadows/fruit debris still life series. It's good to have a direction and I'll be pursuing gallery representation and Federation of Canadian Artist status with a portfolio of these kinds of subject and style

This would be contender number 2. Been meaning to paint this one for countless years so I'm happy to finally squeeze it out. The instructor Gerry Thompson treated us to a very straightforward and manageable approach to paintings and like most people we ship up here, kept us entertained as well.

Ducks In A Row

These are my 'ducks': 2 bags for the home school art class, 1 black case full of watercolour supplies for art club tonight and the blue bag plus cd player for ballet classes in between. Let myself get talked into subbing for the ballet teacher who won't be able to instruct for 3 weeks. That meant that the little hoofers wouldn't have a dance class for 4 weeks and I couldn't let that happen.
Update June 5th - in the program for the year end recital I was included as 'Guest Instructor'!  Really wasn't necessary but it's certainly very inclusive.  Hueylin really tries to dot her i's, cross her t's.

QuiltFest 2010!!

Last weekend a strange, exhuberant and colourful crew descended on Kitimat and made a brief home at Riverlodge where they camped out for the annual regional quilting workshop, conducting their mad skilz and networking behaviours. Even had a demonstration in encaustic painting (which entails painting with pigments in wax...which they can somehow incorporate into fabric art...prettycool)

Anyhooo...quite, quite impressive!

Skeena Spring

The Skeena is at its lowest level right about now but countless waterfalls stitching the steep mountainsides and rocky cliffs are beginning to set a Spring & Summer melt into motion.

Zipped into Rupert today to drop off a painting for the Icehouse Gallery's exhibition 'Legacy and Lace' celebrating the town's 100th anniversary. Thought I'd enter 'Unrequited' as a statement on the economic conditions of the region following the decades of boom and optimism from the last century. The husband had been exceedingly grumpy about this yesterday, declaring it a complete waste of time but he insisted on driving us in because he'd just changed my tires from snow to summer and didn't want to risk one flying off and plunging me into the Skeena.
He said there had been far too much joking about it to leave it to chance.
One of the assistants at the gallery was Dolly, formerly of Dolly's Seafood Market so the husband pre-ordered a small halibut for a month from now. He requested 20 to 30 pounds which I tried to ammend to 'more like 20' slightly alarmed at the prospect of possibly having to buy a $300 fish.

This is the famous Car Wash Rock, so named for the near steady run of snow and water onto the highway below. (uncharacteristically dry at the moment) We just missed having an oncoming train travelling by at the same time a few mere feet to the right which, when combined with a logging truck in the opposite lane is an experience seldom matched in much of modern travel. This section is representative of the old highway and there's just no wiggle room so that how it stays.
An icy cold, sometimes hair-raising blast from the past.

Home Sweet Home Studio

Here's the art room, looking more organized and comfortable than I've ever before been able to arrange it - the result of a week's worth of sorting, stashing and trashing of lessons and materials. Now I'm just waiting for inspiration to kick in...

I do have several folders of different compositions and barely begun pieces that I could tackle, along with TwinB's cigarette pack pieces. All that's required now is for me to commence with the 'early to bed' approach to life.

BC Book Prizes Tour 2010

The provincial tour kicked off today in Terrace and Kitimat. Four authors gave readings from their nominated books and there's the oh so effervescent Kari Winters, author of a toddler's book in the background assigning hats to various victims to represent characters in her little piece. She made a special point of inflicting the melting ice cream cone on Eden Robinson.
I love writers. They're so much fun.
I can't wait for the day when I stop being a ridiculous fan-girl whenever I'm in the presence of published writers. And next time I'll go easy on the coffee so maybe I can converse without being such a blithering idiot.
At least I managed to present the right book to it's author for signing this time...