the day after

back in to the world. cold day.

i like how this one worked out.

i know, it looks pretty gruesome and i aged myself about 30 years but i like it as a representation of that particular monday.

eggs and back to bed

my next installment of the daily self portrait.
no matter what, i try and draw one specific image/mood that sums up the day.

this is sunday february 6. waking up feeling better...groggy, sore and still tired...but things are looking up! we actually went out for breakfast that day and i ate my first real food since thursday.

i will admit that i cried a little bit in the car when i thought i would throw up again but then, we got home and i rested for the remainder of the day.
goodbye flu!

sweet gravol sleep

rounding the bend on the flu in this drawing: this is a portrait of me on saturday feb 5, sick and sleeping in bed.

as i drew this one, i left the orientation of my face and shoulders the same as the other drawings in the series and adjusted my sleeping position and bed perspective accordingly.

sick in the car

this is my third installment of the make-one-piece-of-art-a-day-for-a-month challenge: i am giving myself no excuses to miss even one.

so, full disclosure:

this is me, trying to hold it together while clutching empty grocery bags in the passenger side of the car on the way to see a healthcare professional.

it was friday february 4 after an epic night of sickness.

two separate illustrations

these are my recent contributions to the manitoban newspaper.

calm before the storm

here is my second installment of the "make a piece of art every day for a month" pact i made with a group of fellow artists/mothers. as i said before, i have limited myself medium-wise to ink brush on my new tablet in photoshop and subject-wise to daily self portraiture that attempts to portray one succinct emotion/event that stands out from the day.

man, that was a beautiful day. i got outside with rowan, it wasn't -40 with windchill it was more like -10...bliss! i had a super walk and spent more time breathing outside air that day than the rest of the winter combined.

it's a good thing too, because i got slammed by stomach flu about 6 hours later.

so that was me, bundled up, pushing rowan around the neighborhood on Thursday February 3rd. stopped at the park theatre for a cappuccino on the way home while feeling pretty wonderful all around.

ps: can you see rowans tiny happy little hat peeking up in the foreground?

an art challenge

so, i have been attending a nice group with some other artists (who are also mothers) every month for the past 3 months.

we discuss recent work, share ideas and discuss the challenges of finding a balance between staying creative and meeting the demands of motherhood. it's a relaxing evening and it luckily falls on a wednesday...which is "my special day" to leave the house while curtis puts rowan to bed.

this last wednesday night we all agreed to make ONE piece of art EVERY day for a MONTH. quite the commitment eh? i left the meeting feeling very optimistic and focussed.

i promptly got the flu and was stuck in bed (then recovering from being stuck in bed) so i found myself way way behind by the following wednesday.

and then it was wierd. the universe wouldn't let me have my wednesday night out. nothing was happening. no movies were playing. no friends were around. no live music. seriously. i was not intending on actually working on art during my special night, i will admit it.

but i relented.
i locked myself in the upstairs studio with headphones blaring and drew my heart out. literally. i drew every portrait of each day going backwards until i had 7 drawings.

it felt so good.

i decided to use this project as an excuse to experiment with my new tablet and reunite my brain with photoshop. i had to keep the work within the same dimension and medium and then subject-wise, i decided to draw emotionally expressive, diary-style portraits of myself for each day that focussed in on one single moment that stood out over all others.

so here is my first one.

i am at mawa painting a still-life while getting painted by brenna and feeling the fuzzy nausea that is morning sickness at 9:00 pm Wednesday February 2nd. I am wearing a giant hand-printed scarf that I made and my warmest hoodie.