healing, sort of.

I have been sick for 4 weeks. I could feel a virus coming, but I had no idea of the intensity behind it. It hit me on a Monday afternoon with a full force of fever, nausea, sore throat and the like. After a week I lost my voice. A week beyond that I still could not speak. 3 and a half weeks later I am still easily tired and my voice gets raspy with a slight cough each night. I am guessing that I let myself get run down. I tend to over-commit as several friends have reminded me. "You keep way too busy." I've been told. It is tough when you are practically homesteading, yet holding down a full time faculty position in Fine Art and Media which also requires you to be a working artist...oh yeah, and I'm a mom and wife with a great family. I have always had a long 'to do' list and I am seldom bored. I could fill several lifetimes with all the interesting activities I want to explore. I love skiing with the Dad-guy and my kids! Drawing, listening to music, visiting, volunteering, oh why is life so short? Or, at least couldn't I have more stamina. In the meantime, I feel like a 2 year old kid that doesn't want to go for my nap. Sigh, resting has never been my strong point.

Kid's Self Portraits

I meant to post these during the summer, but other things got in the way. These self-portraits were drawn by my kids during week long art lessons with Mom. It was interesting to see the progression.  I am not sure if my lessons made an improvement to their drawings or not. They progress from left to right with the left one being the drawing they made on their own, without my guidance.

Buy my Art

Okay, so this is a very bold statement but I figured I should just be honest. I am hoping you will be interested in buying prints of my art. I know Christmas is coming, birthdays are coming, or maybe you just want to treat yourself to something special. I hope you will look at my Imagekind site. It is the most amazing online store for high quality art prints that I have encountered! You can choose your potential art purchase, then actually try several types of frames on the piece, right there, online! You can see what it will look like on different colour walls, they have an option to change the colour of the walls. There is even an area where you can see what the art print would look like over a couch! Now that is online service! Even if you don't end up buying anything, do me a favour and go play there with my art for a while. Come back and let me know what you think! Here is the link:http://kimstewart.imagekind.com. If want something and you don't see it there in the gallery, just ask me and I can add it.

You ate what for lunch?

As I eat my chicken sandwich, I reminded of a time when it was my job to make lunches for the family. I'm not talking about yesterday or even last week. I am referring to my 14th year on this earth. My parents owned a ceramic shop where they taught, made and sold all things ceramic. It was my job to make lunches for them and myself each night before work and school. (My brother made his own lunch, maybe that was a blessing). Unprepared, and making sandwiches at the last minute I would often have to spread frozen butter on soft bread, put too much mustard, or forget to cut them in half. Surprizingly, no one complained. One day my mom told me about my poor dad's mishaps at lunch. She began her story by telling me how hard he worked, and how much he looked forward to his lunch break. He opened up his lunch bag and unwrapped his sandwich. One of the corners on the bread was hard because it had not been properly wrapped. He picked up the 'uncut' sandwich and chunks of sandwich spread dropped out the bottom and out the middle where there were holes from my attempts to spread frozen butter. His sandwich was in pieces all over his lap. I blushed as she finished her story. Somehow it had not occured to me that someone would actually be eating this sandwich. Today, I opened the lunch that was lovingly prepared by my 15yr old son. Between the squished bread were huge chunks of chicken, too big for me to bite easily. As I picked up the 'uncut' sandwich, several large chunks of meat fell out onto my desk....and I smiled.

A delight from home

We recently returned from Grande Prairie where we visited family and the prairie landscape. I forget how much I miss the prairies until I am there again. The wind always blows, and you can see for absolutely miles. There is nowhere else like it. I took my family out to Kleskun Hills which is near the farm where I lived in the mid seventies. The Kleskun park now has a bit of a heritage site with many buildings and bits from history. I was thrilled to visit the Hubert Manning house, built in 1914. Mr. Manning was our neighbor for a time and I have fond memories of him. Inside the house was a book with stories about this eccentric man. They were much the same as my own memories. I'll treat you to a story now.

One time (this is how all good stories start), one time we were at Mr. Manning's house for a visit. I think we might have brought him some water as he had no running water. He invited us to tea and told us stories from his home in Ontario. My brother and I were so fascinated buy his tales of collecting and making maple syrup that Mr. Manning wanted us to taste this golden liquid for ourselves. He had several jars left in his cellar, he said and if we would only wait a moment or two, he would dig them up, literally! His cellar had collapsed a while ago and he had to go into the hole where his stairs once were to dig up whatever food he needed. After a lot of grunting and dirt flying out the hole, Mr. Manning reappeared like a large gopher with a dirt covered jar in hand. The lid was rusty beyond recognition, but inside the glass we could see the golden liquid! My mouth watered in anticipation! After wrestling open the lid, Mr. Manning flew over to his bread box and pulled out a crust of bread. He generously poured the liquid over the crust and divided it in two. As I bit into my piece, an overwhelming taste of mold invaded my mouth. The bread was very moldy. With tears in my eyes I continued to eat the crust and thanked Mr. Manning for the taste. He looked at us, beaming that he could share a delight from his home. He didn't notice my tears as he had very poor eyesight. The moldy bread and tea with ants floating in it has become one of my favourite memories.

I've been Behancing myself

I have spent the better part of 2 days building a profile on the Behance.net creative network site. They have an amazing interface that organizes and flatters the work. Other creatives are encouraged to view projects and appreciate them using the feedback button at the bottom of each project page. Membership to the site is by invitation only keeping it focused on quality creative work. I'd love you to visit my profile. Here is the link: http:www.behance.net/kimstewart

if you like what you see, appreciate it! You'll know what I mean when you get there...and thanks!

Kids leaving home

My kids are leaving home today. The boy is going to work at our local kid's camp. He'll be in and out of camp for 3 weeks, doing dishes, cleaning toilets, and other daily maintenance. My daughter is gone to spend a week with her Grandparents in Salmon Arm. She'll be heading to the beach, water slides, petting zoo, fruit picking, and other fun stuff. Me? I'm going to work hard to get a little further on my website. I have been designing a website that will feature my art for a month now, but progress has been slow. After all, it is summer. I can't help but be distracted by sunny days at the beach, and relaxing with a good book.

Life in dark places

We have been carefully removing clutter from our place and recently discovered these growing in the cold room drawers. They are the leftovers from last year's potatoes. Too small to peel, they sat neglected until now. It is amazing the growth that happens in dark places. Places we normally do not look. I'm not sure, but I think there is a metaphor in there somewhere.

Gas prices are changing my life

We have changed our lives a lot over the last couple of years, reducing the amount of trips to town and combining activities to reduce our gas consumption. We live about 40kms from the city and it takes about 35 to 40 minutes to drive to the heart of town. The whole family used to attend sports activities in town 2-3 times a week, as well as trips to work, grocery shop, etc. Over the last year especially, we have dropped our town activities completely, we go in maybe twice a week during the summer for essentials. In the fall, we will have to carpool to save on gas where we used to take separate vehicles to accommodate for different schedules . Everyone in our family either works or goes to school in the city. This will mean more hours of hanging around in the car, waiting for each other. The car is like our second living room. I am considering stocking it with a bar fridge, hotplate, and fold out tables for kids to do homework. (Hey, maybe I am on to something!) I really don't think we can cut back any more than we have. We are people who have chosen a lifestyle that takes us away from the violence, crime and stress of the city, back into nature, gardens, peace and quiet, but we are taking a beating financially for our choice. Others must feel the same. Will this force people to move to the cities, ending a way of life? It seems less and less financially feasible to live and work in the country. These are interesting times, full of change. It is tough to make decisions that will reflect well on both the environment, and the mental and physical well being of my family.

go to your happy place

There are so many places to go on the internet for inspiration. It used to be that I worked at home, alone in the basement on my art. There was no one to talk to, no one to show my work to. Now there are many virtual places to go. It cannot replace being in the same room as someone, but it is better than being alone. Here are a few links to articles and places I have recently enjoyed: Article: Voices of Geezerdom:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_1_95/ai_n17114144 Knitted Poo (yes, it is what it sounds like):

http://www.artnewsblog.com/

Noble Pets: this is very funny and kinda odd:

http://www.noblepets.com/index.php

Enjoy.

me, myself and I

I have been drawing a self portrait each day for 2 weeks. First thing after breakfast I would drag myself over to the mirror and try to capture what I saw. I discovered that mornings are not when I look my best as many of the drawings show a grumpy, puffy looking face peering back at me. It was an excellent exercise, kind of a 'photo of the day' thing. Anyway, I am sharing my favourites with you here. The full colour one is a digital drawing done in Illustrator based on a photograph of me. Everything else is drawn using some sort of pencil-like instrument.

the boredom begins...for them.

Summer holidays are not even here yet and I am hearing that lament from my kids. In an effort to stimulate them to creative play I started naming off some fun things I did with my brother when we were kids. As it turned out, most of the things I thought of, I hesitated to recommend. In this bubble-wrapped, politically correct, helmet-wearing, booster seat (until you are 9!)-using society, games like 'stretch' and 'cowboys and indians' don't fit in. When we were bored we parachuted off the swings-until a kid split her head open when the swing came back and nailed her. We played stretch until an adult saw how close the knife in the ground was to our feet. We watched the brave 'Tommy M.' climb the roof of our school to get the rubber balls that were up there. Once, the janitor climbed up after him and the two of them ran around the roof, the latter chasing the former until the former climbed down the water pipe. At home, my brother and I rode the horses bare-back, without saddles or bridles. It was fun until the horses had enough and started running off with us hanging on to their manes and wishing for glue so our pants would 'stick'. When we saddled up, we often took them and jumped them over the empty ditches made deeper every spring from the run-off. Other favourites were hiding in the 4 foot tall grass, catching snails and frogs in our pond, and making up maps to hidden treasures on the farm. We carved those maps right into the bark of the poplar trees in special places.

160 acres of pasture and hay was our home. It was a kid's paradise and if our parents worried at all, they never let on. Outside everyday, even when the temperature was well below freezing and the snow drifts over our heads, we made up all sorts of stories and created the objects to go with them.

Now, when my kids say they are bored and ask me for suggestions, I know what I'd like to tell them. "Go outside and play". Should we have to say more?

new post to saved project

I've changed the name of my "preserves' project to 'saved'. I like the connotations of the new title. It's less domestic.  I've added a new page, saved art and made a post to it. You should be able to see it as one of the options at the top and side of the blog. It will contain some of the drawings I made as a kid. Check them out, they might surprise you.

climbing the walls

I think it is good to push myself beyond my comfort zone and opportunities come at surprising times. Last weekend my family went out to our local Bible camp and conference centre as volunteers for their big spring clean up. Lots of maintenance and preparation was required for new equipment to come in. Yep, this is not kids camp as you remember it. This place is decked out with amazing toys! Situated on Ness Lake, the camp has the usual canoes, Kayaks, and cabins, but they also have a huge jungle swing, a zip line that runs high above the ground, an indoor climbing wall, and gymnasium. This year's big project was to clear treed area for the new high wire course that is being installed. These facilities are used to challenge kids and adults alike to physical and spiritual strengths they never knew they had. Once the work was done, we were able to check out the equipment. I have never climbed before so I was thrilled to be able to use the climbing wall. My kids and the dad-guy all climbed as well. Fun stuff!

and it goes on

I do not take naturally to what I call domestic work. Those nasty chores that fall under the category of housework are never finished. I have been working for a month on staging our home. 3 weeks ago we listed it on the real estate market with the hopes that it will sell, freeing us to buy a home and property closer to the city of Prince George. We are about 38kms away right now. That translates to a 40 minute highway drive in good weather to reach the centre of town. The 'dad-guy' and I pounded away at replacing counter tops, installing tile on our backsplash and refinishing kitchen cabinets. The results are stunning. (I'd show you, but my son (14) has taken my camera cord to his room and it has 'disappeared' in there.) After weeks of 'cramming' to complete improvements, I have lost interest. There are still some details that should be looked after, but I can't seem to motivate myself to do them. Cleaning out storage cubbies, scraping old paint, and reorganizing basement clutter is not at the top of my 'holiday fun' list. Maybe I need a reward system, something like an ice cream cone, or a new toy for motivation. A search on google nets this information:

One principle that underlies these conceptions is that some people will focus more on challenging themselves to achieve by choosing moderately difficult tasks, persisting in the face of setbacks, etc. while others try to avoid situations of moderately difficult tasks where their self-esteem would be at risk (Atkinson & Feather, 1974). Those who are risk averse tend to choose either very simple tasks or very hard ones. In the former case they are confident they will succeed, and in the latter case nobody will expect them to succeed. Dweck and Leggett [1988]

Another site tells me I need good role models, and specific goals. It goes on to say that if I am a high achiever, I will need a moderately difficult task. Maybe that's the problem. How hard could it be to clean out a cubby hole? Should I think about all the skills I will use to clean? Should I picture the space as it might look once it is organized? Maybe I could trick myself into thinking it is an important task. After a while of this non-purposeful thinking, nothing is done and my head feels thick.