Blog

Been a bit slack on updating my website. I am working almost full time and also have a few art projects on the go so it's difficult to keep up with everything.

I was awarded a BC Arts Council grant...am now a bonefide mid range artist...whoohoo! My grant work is the creation of an installation incorporating signage as the backdrop. The weather in Vancouver has been super wet and dreary. We get one day of sunshine and many days of rain. It's hard to stay motivated. I am doing work inside that most definitely should be done outside. The signs are difficult. At first I thought I was going to have an easy time painting with high gloss paint and learned quite quickly that almost any brush/roller I use is going to leave a surface. So I've been sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, painting...finally I decided to try other mediums...wax...NOPE...varathane..YES...but also went through a number of rollers, brushes and other applicators. I have finally found the right one, but I still need to go through the process of sanding and painting and sanding and coating. The effect is wonderful...I am loving it! So much so, that after I make the signs I proposed, I am going to do my dining room table up like a sign. I can hardly wait!

On other topics, I received an order for soup cans from a collector in Beverly Hills, California. I also came across this Navajo "artist" named Ryan who has plagarized my soup can idea...kind of upsets me that there are people out there unable to come up with their own concepts so they troll and steal! I am going to contact him at some point and give him a piece of my mind. He started making them in 2005...about a year after my work was included in an exhibit in Santa Fe. He is creating prints of Mutton Stew...goodness!

Aside from that...life goes on!

July 9, 2011

Was watching a couple of episodes of Undercover Boss on netflix and it got me thinking about my past life working as a chambermaid. I started cleaning rooms at the age of 15...actually used to accompany my Mom at her cleaning jobs when I was 10 years old and when I became of age to work, she got me my first job cleaning rooms at the Georgian Towers Hotel in Vancouver. Cleaning was always a job I could easily fall into. I didn't need anything more than physical strength to get me through the hustle and the bustle. I remember when I was in my early 30s and still cleaning hotel rooms, I felt so blah about my lot in life. I hated cleaning as I found it to be a brain-dead type of job. If you had problems they didn't go away because the job allowed you to think and dwell on the issues throughout your shift due to the fact that there wasn't any real challenges to help you take your mind off of shite!

I felt like I was stuck in a deep pool of mud with no chance of every getting out. The only thing that helped me get through each cleaning day was my ability to challenge myself in little tasks like picking up folks nightware off of the floor and  carefully folding them and setting them neatly on their pillows...or I would roll up their toothpaste containers...or make my thinned out towel look huge and fluffy by folding them just right. I actually took pride in my work, but hated every moment...well...almost every moment. I did generate a lot of tips by doing a great job and that helped me get through each day, only to face another of the same o'l same o'l.

I am so glad that I had an opportunity to follow my dream of becoming an artist. I love being creative and having the ability to challenge myself on a daily basis. Everything I experience in life is catalogued and through this process I always have a lot of inspiration to pull from.  Some sad...I still really feel the loss of my dear Mom, my bestest friend Harold and my lil Scruffy. I think about them almost daily and wish I could get a chance to spend a bit of time with each one of them when I feel like I need them. I am not so sure about the concept of an afterlife anymore. I guess that really doesn't matter though.

Right now I am still working on the new series of segregation signage that I started awhile back. I am finding each sign to be a super long exhausting process to get from point A to point B. I apply several coats of primer and multiple coats of paint with sanding sessions between each coat. When I finally get the surface looking like I think it should, then I create the text using Adobe Illustrator and print out the design on multiple sheets of paper that need to be taped together to create one large block of text. Then after drawing and painting in the boarder, I transfer the text using a pencil and painstakingly hand paint in the lettering. This also is a multiple step process as each coat needs to dry before I can apply another. I continue doing this until the lettering becomes opaque. Then there's the varathane....at least 4 coats need to be applied with sanding in between until the surface becomes smooth.

So far each sign has presented its own challenges, but hey...challenges are what I strive for because each one teaches me something new. I am hoping that I will get the final 4th sign completed within the next couple of weeks and then I can move onto the smaller series of signs. I am also planning on taking 2 glorious weeks off of my job in the Downtown Eastside and spend that time completing my Chieftain's Bar installation. Can hardly wait!

I'll post photos as soon as that work is done. 

UPDATE - My two weeks vacation from work was actually spent as renovation time. I got my porch resurfaced with Duradek, repainted what needed to be repainted, had the built-on flower box removed and replaced it with more or less a covered shape that was similar to the flower box...also had a couple of front steps replaced and repainted.And finally, had my workshop roof replaced...yay! All of this needed to be done!

I ended up taking my third weeks vacation off and used that time to complete the last sign. I even made a whole new sign. This work has already been spoken for...actually received two requests for it. I haven't figured out a price but will do that as soon as my Chieftain Bar is completed.

Today was so hot outside and of course it was the day I had put on my agenda for our Bedding for Homebound Seniors project. I had a helper join me and we went to one of the SRO's (single room occupancy) hotels that we service in our foodbox delivery to homebound Seniors. We got lucky because all five of our clients were home. I stripped each bed while my helper opened up the packaging and handed me items from the sheet set and then the comforter set. It was sweaty work, but in it's own way, quite fun. Its so great to be in a work situation where one can actually make a difference in someone else's life. The elderly gents were all so excited. They got to pick out the colour of their comforter and I coordinated with it 320 thread count sheets. I am sure they will each have a great sleep tonight. Good quality sheets are so much softer than cheap sets. Tomorrow I will deliver the pillows that I forgot to load into my car...it's all good. I love my job and I love the people we are seriously helping to make their lives better.