Canvas to the Imagination

I am always amazed when pictures, like the one above, get far more attention than they deserve because they’ve made it into Explore on flickr. It was a beautiful place, but I’ve hardly done it justice with this shot. I guess it frustrates me because photography is my art of choice and I’ve put effort into developing my own sense of style and taste. A shot like this isn’t an indication of any of those things but it is the one getting all the favs and views. It reinforces to me how nice, but meaningless it all is.

On a completely unrelated note, thank you to everyone who left suggestions on the previous entry about blogs to read. I had to excavate a few comments after Kirsti pointed out hers was eaten by the spam catcher. Too many links in a comment equals bad says Akismet, even when there is no mention of viagra or casinos.

Waterlilies in VanDusen Gardens.

I am looking for recommendations on interesting, funny, entertaining, or inspiring blogs to read. I feel like I am in a blog rut and would like some help getting out of it. Make some suggestions please, and base it on the ones YOU like rather than what you think I’d like.

A blog I recently started reading is Cake Wrecks on the recommendation of Susie. It isn’t normally something I would read but it’s hilarious! Who knew there was a trend in realistic cake portraiture. (Creepy.)

Week 21 – Life is an Art. From the 52 Weeks self portrait series.

Good things from the weekend:
- a delicious meal that came in many small bowls, followed by a very tasty dessert – all made by Zak.
- Saturday brunch at the Sandbar on Granville Island
- the fastest trip through Ikea ever, which yielded excellent results
- a well-timed phone call from Hendrik that led to a fun Sunday afternoon
- the glorious weather on Sunday afternoon
- homemade sky high pizza made by Boris. So-called because it was stacked with toppings.
- having a clearer mind after a few weeks of too much stress and anxiety

Travis recently blogged about setting goals, and it was a post I’d really intended on writing a response to…ages ago. It didn’t get done, obviously because I didn’t make a point to do it and now those thoughts inspired by his post are gone.

(Sigh)

What I can say is this: over the last few months I have been asked by quite a few people about whether I am working on a new show or will be having a new show soon, and the answer is no. It’s not for lack of wanting one, or even a lack of opportunity, and it definitely is goal of great importance to me. Its just that for most of this year my energy has been focused on other things, like starting a new job, getting used to a very different schedule as a result of said job, and also making time for a new relationship. And at this point of the year these things are no longer so new and I am feeling like I can refocus my energy back into my art and set some larger goals.

All this time though I’ve had small goals that I work on every week with the purpose of keeping me producing new work and experimenting. I create a collage in my moleskin sketchbook every week, and as the weeks have flown by my sketchbook is almost full and I am more than ready to move onto something new and larger. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about collage in the process and am happy to have a bulging sketchbook to show for my efforts. I’m hoping to take what I’ve learned from the process and put it towards the goal of producing a new experimental (for me) body of work. And then…there will be a show!

Good things from the weekend:
1. Beautiful dahlias from the Kitsilano Farmers Market.
2. Walks and talks to and from Jericho Beach.
3. Fresh made egg pancakes with sugar and lemon.
4. Laughing over my seat adjustment antics in the truck with Hendrik.
5. A long leisurely Sunday afternoon.