Q How to Live? A Don't worry about death.

2. Q. How to live? A. Pay attention

3. Q. How to live? A. Be Born
4. Q. How to live? A. Read a lot, forget most of what you read, and be slow-witted
5. Q. How to live? A. Survive love and loss

6. Q. How to live? A. Use little tricks

7. Q. How to live? A. Question everything

8. Q. How to live? A. Keep a private room behind the shop

9. Q. How to live? A. Be convivial: live with others

10. Q. How to live? A. Wake from the sleep of habit
11. Q. How to live? A. Live temperately
12. Q. How to live? A. Guard your humanity
13. Q. How to live? A. Do something no one has done before

14. Q. How to live? A. See the world

15. Q. How to live? A. Do a good job, but not too good a job

16. Q. How to live? A. Philosophize only by accident

17. Q. How to live? A. Reflect on everything; regret nothing

18. Q. How to live? A. Give up control

19. Q. How to live? A. Be ordinary and imperfect

20. Q. How to live? A. Let life be its own answer


New block prints inspired by the Chapter Headings of Sarah Bakewell’s biography and collected essays of Michel de Montaigne,  “How to Live: One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

Peace Noel

 

Linda Finn is a remarkable artist, mentor and friend.  Nearly a neighbour, she lives north of highway 17 in Eliot Lake.  Most probably she is not aware of how much it helps me to know that she is also in northern Ontario, working in her studio. I'm sharing just two of the hand made angel cards we have received over the years from Linda because they are life-affirming.
Love and Peace
xxx   

addition then subtraction then addition ...

Egg, Rochelle  Rubinstein, block printed, painted and carved wood panel

I respond to this carved wood panel by Rochelle Rubenstein.   It reminds me of Paterson Ewen's work with routered plywood, cosmic imagery.

The rugged material, uneasy horizontals, and jaggedy marks tip me into some unnameable emotion.

Her marks are made by taking away material.  She subtracts.  This is opposite to stitch.  Stitch adds.

I saw Rochelle Rubenstein's piece  in  Momento Mori , the exhibition curated by Gareth Bate for the World of Threads festival from works that were fibre inspired, not fibre based.

Cohobate, Nicole Collins, wax, pigment, jute twine on canvas, on board

World of Threads also introduced me to the layered work of Nicole Collins.

She begins with a layer or two of wax and paint, which are then partially removed by scraping or melting, only to be reapplied slightly differently.
The show is up until November 25 at the gallery in Sheridan college of Art and Design, Oakville, Ontario..

I was inspired to research these two Toronto artists online.  A humbling exercise...there is so much..

 Holy Well , Rochelle Rubenstein

Humores, Nicole Collins, encaustic on canvas

"painting is so difficult

life is so short"

Louise Bourgeois

Shield

There was a Perivale Gallery envelope in the stack of mail that built up while we were away earlier this month. A Shield For My Open Heart sold in July. Shiela told me that a thin black-wearing art teacher from Mississauga purchased it. Although very glad about the sale, I feel a need to remind myself about the work. The main part was printed with small hand carved rubber blocks. the stitched part is couched metal over book pages. Two books were used. One was letters home by Mary Cassatt when she went to Paris, the other was Joseph Albers theory of colour. Lots of stuff for an art teacher to love.

mixed media with stitch

open heart
encaustic on paper, thread on silk, text by T.S. Eliot
Shield for my open heart
block print, couched metal thread on book pages

The Perivale gallery opens for the season on May 23 so I took these two new mixed media pieces over to Minemoya for framing today.
We had snow.

Bound

a limitation
a binding
rule bound
neatly bound
out of bounds
north bound
forward to the unknown, backward to memory
bound with a rope
secure

What are the boundaries of quilt making?
How do quilts bind me as an artist?

The tradition binds me - the old patterns, the layers
The stigma binds me - it's a domestic art
The labour binds me - each piece takes a year to make

art quilting class

Lucie's block prints. Dorothy's bleach experiments, reverse applique, and block prints.
Linda's block print and embroidery, Rachel's collection
Rachel's 'Queen with necklace' made from ties

This is just some of the evening class's so-called "homework". I wish I had thought to photograph what the morning class had brought in. Next time.

experimental drawing

Garment or shield? Decoration or camouflage?
block printing with ink wash on watercolour paper


He wore it!

art theories

There are many different art theories.
Ritual theory
Formalist theory
Imitation theory
Expression theory
Cognitive theory
Post-modern theory
Feminist theory

A theory is more than a definition. A theory is a framework. A theory helps things to make sense. Many modern artworks challenge us to figure out why, on any theory, they would count as art. Theories guide us in what we value, guide us in what we dislike. They inform our comprehension and introduce new generations to our culture.

Cynthia Freeland

bird swarm

I am captivated by the flight of a bird swarm across the sky. I like to use birds in my artwork as metaphor. To me they represent freedom, the soul, and/or my kids who've flown the nest.

"I want to make work that people can relate to" says Nicola Henley, about why she uses the bird image. "It gives intimacy."