So far 2012 is shaping up to be the year of turning thinking into doing. You know how it is, there are all these intentions and ideas in your head, and you never quite get around to them. For me this is completely focused around art, and all the things I’ve been thinking about for ages and not getting around to are ones that could contribute to my development as an artist.

In the past month there are three of these intentions I’ve taken off my list and transformed into reality. The first was to begin hosting an evening of art making with a small group of fellow artists. It was a terrific evening of good conversation, productivity, and sharing of art – exactly what I’d hoped for. I can hardly wait for the next Artist evening…

The second intention/idea I was happy to finally get around to was to launch my very own artist interview series. This was an item I’d written down on a list of goals for last year. It was the series of Food Advocate profile interviews I started for the Foodtree blog that got me going. I was impressed by the level of information people were willing to share about food that encouraged me to finally bring this idea to life and reach out to artists. You can read the first interview here.

This week marked the beginnings of getting started on a third goal that has been languishing away on a to do list, which is to establish a mentor relationship with a more experienced artist. Until recently I wasn’t really sure who to approach about this, especially knowing there isn’t another artist doing work similar to mine in Vancouver. But I realized this wasn’t a detail I should get hung up on, and came up with someone I wanted to reach out to. Yesterday I met with M.A.Tateishi, a mixed media artist I admire, and we discussed this idea of having her become my mentor. It was a really good conversation, and I look forward to her input and guidance as we trial this relationship over the next three months.

It feels very satisfying to get these long held thoughts into a forward motion. Now I just need to keep up the momentum…

It was a year filled with lovely moments, which these photos only hint at.

Here’s to a good year in 2012!

Perhaps I need to revisit paper engineering in the new year.

It’s a great series of interviews where each person shares projects they’re working on, and a glimpse into their lives. I had fun putting mine together – especially when it came to choosing the photos to include with the interview.

You can read the whole thing on Vancouver Is Awesome.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos of a doe and her fawn, taken on Bowen Island a few weekends ago.

The interview was just published today and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I’m happy with what I’ve written, and Donnaville wrote many lovely comments about my work.

Go check out the interview on Discover Paper.

Paper-Craft 2: Design and Art With Paper

Paper-Craft 2 is a fantastic book full of an amazing variety of projects, designs, illustrations, art installations, fashion and more – all made from paper. It’s inspiring but also a bit intimidating to browse through this book because of the high calibre of the work included. But the collection makes it clear there is no limit to what a creative person can do with paper.

Masters Book Arts

Masters Book Arts is part of Lark Crafts excellent masters series of books. I also have the collage edition in my library. It mainly focuses on handmade books and showcases the wide variety of forms a book can take, and they often don’t look like the traditional form of a book.

The Repurposed Library

The Repurposed Library is written by book artist, Lisa Occhipinti, and it focuses on transforming books into home decor items. There are projects for lamps, chandeliers, vases, bracelets, wreaths, and more – all made from old books. My favorite project is the book bursts, which are deconstructed books transformed into circular wall sculptures.

All of these books were purchased at Oscar’s Art Books in Vancouver. (Support your local independent book store!)

Boris enjoys the view.

A different type of deer than what we see on Bowen Island.

Anne left us a stash of chocolates when she visited Yellow Point the week before, and we had to find it.

Spectacular sunrise.

The pool by the ocean.

A murder of crows flies overhead.

These last three photos were taken using a pinhole camera app, while some of the others were processed using Instagram.

It was a relaxing vacation, and I’m glad I finally got the chance to visit Yellow Point Lodge. It’s not an easy place to get a booking.

1. Taking a very short but much needed getaway to Yellow Point Lodge with Boris. I still need to upload the photos to Flickr, but it was a beautiful place to stay.
2. Walking around the city on Sunday, enjoying adventures and sunshine.
3. Enjoying a decadent Thanksgiving meal with friends. I am lucky because everyone I know is an excellent chef.
4. Making paper flower decorations in preparation for Monique’s wedding.
5. Walking along a very quiet Commercial Drive at night in the rain.
6. New art books to inspire me – thanks to a gift certificate from my sister.
7. Keeping up with healthy habits, like 6am yoga and tracking calories with an app.
8. Slowly moving closer to having our apartment organized and decorated.
9. Finding a good balance between a part-time job, and having time for art.
10. Lucking out and finding a beautiful dress in a store I’ve never shopped in before, to wear to an upcoming wedding.

The above two shots of a juvenile crow were taken one after the other, and they are beautifully crisp images. I snuck up on this little guy because I know crows get antsy about having their photo taken. I was pretending not to notice it as I got the camera app opened up (which sometimes happens so slowly) and then I turned and took a few photos before it flew away. I am pleased I caught it as it jumped from the wire and opened it’s wings.

The photo below was taken yesterday morning on my way to work, again in the same area of Main Street in Chinatown. A large group of crows was flying back and forth over Pender Street between two trees, and I stopped to take a few photos.

I’m so glad to have a camera with me at all times, thanks to the iPhone.

All three photos were taken with the native iPhone camera app and processed using Instagram.

And it looks like summer is just going to keep on going…

I’m a really good eater, and I brought a few friends. It was a really enjoyable evening of fun and food.

Read more about the Butchers of Gastown on Foodists.ca

I was part of the first group to play the game, with Sam and Jonny as my fellow wolves, and Na’ama as the deer. As we started I felt myself slowing down and concentrating on every sound around me. I immediately fell into the mindset of an animal, though I felt more like a cat than a wolf. Pretending to be an animal was one of my favorite things when I was a kid, so I thought this was a great game.

The purpose of the game is to remind you to listen. The deer has to listen for sounds of the wolves sneaking up and prevent them from getting too close, while the wolves have to be as silent as possible.

As I stalked Na’ama I found myself in a state of clarity and focus that I haven’t felt in a very long time. I was actively listening in a way I don’t normally, and what I mostly heard was silence. For the most part the sounds of my own breathing and heartbeat were the loudest things I could hear. I moved as slowly as possible being very careful about where I placed my feet amongst the dry grass and sticks, and used ambient noises to mask my movements when I could. My biggest struggle was trying not to laugh as I did this because the trickster part of me loves sneaking up on people (ask Boris).

This week I’ve been reminded of this exercise as I look after a friend’s dog who is blind. His name is Charlie and he’s been this way since birth, so for him listening is an important part of how he makes his way through the world. As I spend time with him I’ve found myself once again paying more attention to sounds in an effort to imagine how he “sees”.

Active listening is clearly an art I need to cultivate because too often I find myself distracted and unfocused. How often do I really listen without the constant dialogue in my own head getting in the way? Both situations are a good reminder to slow down, listen, and strive for clarity of focus. Too-busy-life be damned.

As you may know I was working full time as an artist for more than a year and in March I decided it was time to look for a part time job to support myself. I wrote a blog post about what I was looking for, put it out into the world through social media channels, and back came an opportunity to work with Foodtree.

Foodtree is an internet startup based out of Gastown in Vancouver. The basic concept of what we do is connect people with where their food comes from through web and mobile applications. Our goal is complete transparency in the food system, and our company motto is, “Know More. Eat Better.” The company was founded by Anthony Nicalo and Derek Shanahan, two awesome people who want to make a difference in the world and it all starts with food.

I’ve been working with Foodtree on a part-time basis since mid-April with the title of “Community Techknowledgartist” and responsibilities of supporting Derek as Community Manager. After the initial thrill and excitement about the job wore off I began struggling with what I was doing there and felt unsure about what I had to offer the company.

You see, Anthony is the kind of team leader/employer who gives you a role but leaves it up to you to define it, and that’s not an easy thing to do. There is no time for hand holding in a startup because it’s a fast paced environment, and it’s the responsibility of every person there to move the mission forward. You’re no longer an “employee” but a member of a team. I’ve never ever worked in an environment where I felt so empowered to perform the function I was hired to do. Or at least now I do after our retreat on Saltspring Island.

The retreat came just at the right time after a crazy couple of months of rebranding the company, refining the company’s mission, launching an iphone app, and new people joining Foodtree. I think we all left for Saltspring feeling uncertain about what we were in for, and came back from a very memorable experience that helped bring us closer together.

We spent the three days at Foxglove Farm with a group of facilitators who helped guide us through the process of clarifying the mission and developing our team. It was the first opportunity I’ve had to really get to know everyone and I couldn’t be more impressed by the intelligent, articulate, and amazing group of people I get to work with at Foodtree. The experience taught me that I belong there and that I do have many strengths/skills/ideas to offer our organization. This makes me happy.

The retreat was a huge investment of time, energy, and money by Anthony and Derek in the group of people they’ve brought together.

I’ve never experienced that level of investment from an employer. It demonstrates how much our team leaders value and regard the individual members of our group, and the importance of the role each plays in moving forward with our mission at Foodtree.

I’m very grateful to both Anthony and Derek for including me in the further development of Foodtree. It definitely feels like being a part of something special.

Yuuki visits the breakfast table.

Field strawberries and a horse on Westham Island.

Beautiful skies in Steveston.

Poppies on a side street off Commercial Drive.

Garlic at the Kitsilano Farmers Market.

A view of the water in New Brighton Park Pool.

I hope you had a good weekend too.

There are so many beautiful (and yummy) things at the farmers markets. I’m so glad the season is now open.

I bring you the cutest goldfish EVAH!!! That is all.

There was beautiful light pouring in through a window as I waited for Boris near the deli counter at the back of the store.

And as we waited in line to pay I realized the guy in front of us had a small boa constrictor coiled around his arm. He said her name was Sketch and she liked being worn as a bracelet. I gave the snake a stroke and then went back to packing up our groceries.

Such is life in East Van – snakes in a grocery store….

The guy in this photo turned out to be an upstairs neighbour from my building who I never see. It was hilarious to run into him in such a random place. He and his girlfriend were helping out as actors during the filming.

The metal column going down the centre of the staircase was set temporarily for their project of filming the interior of the stairway in a helical movement. I didn’t see much of the filming because they were still setting up but I was really impressed by how much equipment they brought all the way to the bottom of the stairs. The only way in is from the top of the bridge because the city bricked up the bottom entrance ages ago.

There was plenty of ancient graffiti covering the stairs and walls, which indicates people have been able to sneak in there in the past. I wonder if the Department of Eternal Art is still around….?

The whole experience gave me a killer case of vertigo but it was an amazing opportunity to get into this space which is normally restricted from public access.

This is what I came up with and I love it.

I foolishly cut it from paper that was too flimsy and it curled in a very unhelpful way. I had to back the whole thing with a thicker paper and then recut the shape. I decided to paint the whole thing to make it more dramatic, using black and white acrylic paint. I’m relieved that part went so well because painting, like drawing, is not my strongest artistic skill.

1. Walking outside in the sunshine enjoying a gorgeous spring day hand-in-hand with B.
2. Visiting the cherry blossoms in McSpadden Park – some of the first flowering trees I’ve seen in our neighbourhood.
3. Walking 5km of the seawall that runs along the perimeter of Stanley Park. So many beautiful things to see, including a hawk, eagles, the ocean, and a heron.
4. Devouring a delicious lunch at Legendary Noodle. I haven’t been there in ages, and already crave another visit just thinking about what we ate.
5. Watching a really good movie (Adjustment Bureau) that reminded me how grateful I am for the things I have.

I started the class with a quick slide show of my altered books and also introduced spectacular work by other artists, like Brian Dettmer and Su Blackwell for inspiration. Because the workshop was only three and a half hours long I chose to focus on folded page techniques because there are many different ways people could take things, and it doesn’t involve waiting for glue to dry.

Everyone got right down to business after my demo and I wandered around the room answering questions and giving guidance as needed. I loved seeing all the different books people brought to work with and the ideas they came up with to experiment. I ended up also showing people how to make the paper flowers I used in my Container Art installation and these were incorporated into some of the book projects.

By the end of class everyone had at least one completed book they could take home and work on further, some of which are pictured below.

Altered books are something I am very excited about and it felt easy to share that passion with other people and make the work accessible. I did some learning of my own in the class, which is what I was hoping for. Some lessons I can apply to my own artwork and others will go towards tweaking how I teach the class. Overall it was an enjoyable experience stepping into the role of teacher and for the next workshop I will be less nervous about the whole thing.

It’s my favorite colour, so of course I’m convinced there can never be too much red.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’ve been feeling the need to take a step back and review all I’ve accomplished since deciding to pursue art full time in 2010. I don’t feel I can move forward properly without it. Sometimes I feel that I’ve done an incredible amount of work, and other times I feel I did very little. I’m hoping this blog post will document things realistically, as well as show what worked well and should do more of, and what I can safely never do again.

» Artwork:
I’m really happy with this area of my practice. I produced a healthy volume of new work over the course of 2010, including continuing with the explorations of altering books, and building on the portrait series of women begun in late 2009. I also forayed into large-scale installation work, which is something I’d like to do more of in future.

Artwork by the numbers:
- 16 individual altered books, framed and ready to hang
- 25 altered books as part of the Forgotten Knowledge series
- 1 large-scale paper tree
- 15 photographic portraits for the Imaginary Girl series
- 5 canvas prints of Imaginary girl portraits

2011 Artwork Goals:
- schedule more time for producing new work
- make experimentation and play a higher priority
- come up with one installation project
- explore creating street art
- produce lower priced inventory
- take on work commissioned by clients

» Exhibitions:
This is the area where I put most of my time and energy last year, and ended up participating in a ridiculous amount of shows because of it. Most of these shows were not career building in any way and had little value beyond an item fleshing out my CV. I confirmed that I need to move beyond showing in theatre lobbies, and be pickier about the group shows in which I take part in order to grow my career. There were a few exhibitions that were terrific for exposure and helped raise my previously non-existent profile in the arts community. The experience this past year taught me that exhibitions are not the more important thing I need to do with my work and in future I will do much less of them.

Exhibitions by the numbers:
- 3 solo shows of three different bodies of work
- 11 different group shows
- 2 juried exhibitions outside of Canada -> Portland, and the UK
- 2 firsts thanks to Container Art -> forays into both public art and installation work
- 1 multimedia collaboration with Resolve Design to create the Tree of [Un]common Knowledge
- 1st time taking part in the Eastside Culture Crawl

2011 Exhibition Goals:
- be more selective about exhibition opportunities
- show outside of Vancouver
- apply for artist residencies
- get paid to show my work

» Selling Work:
I gathered up all the numbers for the first time before I started writing this section and I’m actually surprised at how much work I sold last year. It was the most I’ve sold within the period of one year, which is a good sign. But in order for this career to be sustainable long-term I need to focus more on selling and diversify how and where I make my work available for sale. The bulk of this year’s sold work went to people from my immediate network which confirms what I’ve been told. Most of these sales occurred as a direct result of sharing my work through social media, and also through face-to-face interaction at the Eastside Culture Crawl. A small fraction of the sales came through my Etsy shop and most of these were to people outside of Canada.

Sold Work in 2010 by the numbers:
- 11 altered books
- 2 large metal prints
- 5 small metal prints
- 3 cradle frame collages
- 3 commissioned canvas prints
- 26 postcard sets
- 1 photographic print

2011 Artwork Selling Goals:
- Approach local shops about carrying my artwork
- Research on markets such as Portobello West, Granville Island, and Blim to see if they’re a good fit
- Develop better branding and strategy for selling work online through Cargoh or Etsy
- Research stock photography sites to sell my photo archive
- Participate in the Eastside Culture Crawl
- Increase number of sales from 2010

» Business Development
Business development is the area I find hardest to focus on because it doesn’t come naturally to me. It requires the ability to see the “big picture” and think beyond the fine details of making artwork. Thankfully the entrepreneurial spirit has taken hold and I invested time into laying the ground work for my business. I created an inventory spreadsheet to track information on the artwork I create, and it became an essential tool I often refer back to in many situations. I made use of Harvest to keep track of the time I spend making art, and also use it to create and send invoices. I began using measurable information (i.e. hours) to accurately price my work instead of roughly guessing as I embarrassingly have in the past. I also started using Mailchimp to send out a monthly newsletter and keep people up-to-date with what I’m up to.

Business Development by the numbers
- 45% increase in subscribers to my mailing list between April & December
- 1 dedicated studio space (my first ever!)
- 1 awesome inventory spreadsheet
- 12 newsletters sent out in 2010
- 500 business cards printed
- 1 article in the Georgia Straight promoting the Eastside Culture Crawl

2011 Business Development Goals
- Increase the number of subscribers to my mailing list
- Diversify how I sell my work
- Find and work with a business development mentor
- Develop more of a vertical inventory
- Figure out ways to produce products from my existing work
- Track the time I spend on administrative tasks
- Redo my website to better showcase my work and skills
- Increase exposure of my work online
- Teach workshops on altered books & social media for artists

» Miscellaneous Bits
Figuring out how to shape the artist career I want is an on-going process. I’m still fine-tuning a schedule that works best for me, while trying to get away from the 9 to 5 work day that seems to be deeply engrained. I often forget I have a FLEXIBLE schedule. It’s a constant fight for balance between pure creative time, administrative tasks, and business development but at least I’ve learned to keep art producing days completely free of other things.

I’m glad to finally know more people pursuing art as a full time career because it’s a great thing to have a network of like-minded peers to call upon for advice or just share experiences.

2011 Miscellaneous Goals (Without the numbers)
- Work with a more experienced artist as a mentor
- Meet with a group of fellow artists every two weeks
- Conduct a series of interviews with artists about their careers
- Find a flexible well-paying part-time job working with a creative company
- Find an affordable studio space outside the home
- Save money for new camera equipment
- Exercise every day, including walks and yoga

There were two gifts she had to open before the rest and the very first one was filled with confetti. (I like to kick off present opening with a bang!) I’m really glad the package arrived right on time, and it was the perfect thing to make her day.