I Am Sitting in the Morning at the Diner On The Corner    40 x 30      My residency at the Township Community Arts Council in Esquimalt starts Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023 at 503 Park Place, Esquimalt Town Square, Victoria.  https://www.townshiparts.org/   My work will be on show for two weeks, and I will be on site various days both weeks. This week I will be there Tuesday the 23rd, Wednesday the 24th and Saturday the 27th.   I am thrilled to include the work of 4 talented former students of mine. (I have 17 paintings of my own and 8 student works.)   On Saturday, June 3rd, I will be joined by the talented Sheila Thomas https://www.sheelsonwheels.art/ for a fun collaborative painting session from 2 - 4 followed by a Meet The Artists reception from 4:30 to 6. We hope to see you there!   My show is called Art and Life, A WIP (Work in Progress)    Jane, His Wife    24 x 24       The Glow Fr...

  You Are Here  12 x 12 I was very fortunate to be chosen for a week long residency at the  Leña Artist Research and Residency Centre on Galiano Island this winter. Galiano is a lovely peaceful island in the Salish Sea, just a small ferry hop from the larger Vancouver Island where I live. I loaded up my little Smart car with canvases, paints and brushes and headed off with great anticipation. The first day on island, eager to explore, I took an unplanned 5 hour hike (it involved a wrong turn along the way, ok?) and barely got home before the sun set. On an island with no streetlights. In winter. I had no phone, no food and no water, just my lucky horseshoe tucked away which got me back home while there was still light to see the road in front of me. Let's put it this way, my legs were tingling! Anyhow, it was glorious! I breathed in all of that forest oxygen on my hike to the bluffs, hugged a few trees, sang a bit, and generally found myself settling back into myself aga...

I have been in a very long dry period when it comes to painting.  About 2 years, in fact.  After I shut my studio doors in anticipation of the building being condemned and torn down  (so far it has only been condemned and set on fire)  I packed up the entire contents of said studio and brought them home, stuffing paintings and materials into various closets, nooks and crannies.  After my kid left home I co-opted her old bedroom as a studio of sorts, but most days I felt too melancholy being in there to have any creative urge sparked.  I was on empty.  Then about half a year into our Covid reality something sparked a tiny little creative flame.  An article on mending techniques that I shared online resulted in a friend mentioning a slow stitching group on social media.  I joined it and wholeheartedly embraced slow stitching for the next 6 months or so, finding it both mindful and blissfully soothing.  ( See my previous post o...

I began my slow stitch stories during the early days of the Covid. An artist by trade, I found myself with a severe case of painter's block beginning in early 2020, and turned to the ancient art of slow stitching to help calm and soothe my nerves.  The act of making small stitches on the various fabrics I found in rag bags and closets in my home was like meditation.  I began by making embroidered fabric pieces of approximately 5" x 5" that I call "slow stitch stories" all of which can be found on my Instagram account SlowStitchStories -  https://www.instagram.com/slowstitchstories/ Here are three slow stitch stories that chronicle my time nesting at home throughout the winter and my wish to reconnect with friends that I was missing: Home Safe and Sound   The Path To My Door   Until Our Paths Cross Again I then began creating brooches and talismans with the same recycled fabrics, also sourcing materials from India and Africa - recycled sari silk waste mat...