Art is Life; Life is Art

About 15 years ago, Trish bought me a beautiful set of artist's pencils and a sketch book and challenged me to sketch every day while I was away on a summer vacation. Trish was the art lover. I was the musician. Our shared love of the arts made gallery visits one of our favorite pastimes in our early days. Trish saw and felt things in art that I had never really experienced before. "Art is Life; Life is Art" was one of her favorite phrases. She opened my eyes. And that's what inspired her challenge - for me to not just look at the art, but to become the artist. Like so many adults, somewhere along the way, I had come to believe that I was not artistic, that I had no talent for drawing or any other type of creative expression. Trish felt otherwise and convinced me to accept her challenge. So I did, and I managed to fill that little sketch book that summer - hands, fingers, chairs, flowers, books, album covers, all kinds of things - I still have it and it brings me right back to that magical summer every time I look at it. It was a new world for me.

That fall, I took my first painting lessons in a group class at the then new Cambridge gallery in downtown Galt. It was a beginner acrylics class and I was very nervous to start but I was instantly hooked. I bought an easel, my own paints and brushes and claimed a spot in the house and time in the day to do my 'homework' and experiment. One of my McQuarrie colleagues who was herself an accomplished artist told me to frame my new creations and hang them around the house. She said don't worry if they're not good - if you don't like them, paint something better and replace them! I took her advice and put a couple of paintings on display. They weren't good, but they were my art and I loved them!

I did take the occasional class and painted casually for about 3 or 4 years. The image in this post is a small painting I did from a photo I took at Victoria Park one 'school snow day' in January about 12 years ago. It may have been the last one I finished. I didn't intend to stop painting - it's just one of those things that happens. I have blamed my new technology job a bit for that - I was so excited in my new role that it did kind of take over my life for a while. Painting, sadly, fell by the wayside.

But, this is one of the thrills of my upcoming retirement. I can hardly wait to sign up for a painting class in the fall! It'll be a beginner class and I'm just going to start all over again! Already, when I'm out shopping or in restaurants, I find myself looking at giant canvases covered in brilliant colours and thinking "I could try that!".  I've started taking pictures of fabulous abstracts and crazy wild flowers. I have a little collection of things I want to paint! It won't be long now!

Come for tea next fall and I'll show you what I'm working on.