Blog
Giving Yourself Permission to Play
I have recently found inspiration in the romantic figurative paintings of Donna Young, a western American artist. I am interested in how she has allowed herself the freedom to detach her figures from existing backgrounds and as a result found freedom to play with...
The Transformative Power of Art
LORI MIRABELLI - ABSTRACT ARTIST Ontario-based abstract artist Lori Mirabelli made the decision to sell her art on line through Etsy in 2008 and hasn't looked back since. She has used art shows, art gallery representation and her own social media network to market her...
Excellence, Her Name is Erin Bow
I first became aware of Erin Bow when I read her award-winning YA novel, Plain Kate around 2011. I remember being captivated by her use of language and how she created empathy for the title characters. It was fresh. Something I hadn't read before. It deservedly won...
What Constitutes a Painting?
I've recently discovered the American painter, Mark Bradford, who is influenced by the urban landscape and uses layers and layers of found paper to 'paint' his complex works. He is challenging and inspiring, working with new generations of inner city youth to make art...
Vivian Godfree
The Village of Pugwash sadly lost an impactful and creative member of the community recently. Vivian Godfree was so important to volunteer organizations like the North Cumberland Historical & Genealogical Society that it is hard to imagine how they can carry on...
Using AI for Writing
A marketing friend says she uses AI as a search engine more than she uses Google as it can focus her search without having to wade through the many related websites Google comes up with. Instead of relying on her husband, another friend now uses AI to edit down her...
Channelling Life Experiences into Your Writing
When I first met Andrew Chalmers, my next-door neighbour, it was like meeting a hurricane in human form. He bubbled over with ideas and hilarious stories, entertained a room full of people single handedly, juggled 24 balls at once, not dropping any. He left me...
Having ‘The Ones’ In Your Life
In his Art2Life free workshop, American artist Nicholas Wilton talks a lot about community. He has built his considerably extensive art education career on it. In his case, we are talking about a community of a staggering 100,000 people tuning in this...
Storytelling
Elaine Cook has always told stories. When she was young, people thought she was lying. And she was,,,,but she was good at it. Excuses to explain dubious behaviour became elaborate fantasies. School history essays took flight when her imagination leapt beyond the...
Meditative Play of Monotype
inking. pressing. pulling. stencilling. inking. pressing. pulling. stamping, inking. pressing. pulling and magic happens or happy mistakes. surprises for sure. jumping off points for further explorations another way to loosen the creative process relying on...