Such a beautiful weekend! Suddenly my little beach town has burst into summery buzzing activity ~ the rooftop terraces are filled with happy ocean peering couples sipping sangria, children are designing elaborate sandcastles, there are bare shoulders, white jasmine sparkling iced tea and roses blossoming on the wild side of things in my verdant garden.
My head hurts with ideas tumbling and jumbling and knocking amongst one another demanding to be realized and this weekend I made several little films ~ the one you see above inspired by my passion for Glen Gould (oh my gosh he had the most effervescent and hypnotic hands), a very windy little film for ‘the four’ collaboration and even a sweet little moment shared with my dog playing in a parade of waves.
It may sound quite fabulous to have a jumbling, tumbling, clamoring noise of creative ideas jitterbugging in my head but sometimes this can be a bit exhaustive (you see because then they all get quite knockneed and I can’t sort out anything properly) Which calls for a cure. And my cure is to pack up the car with my dog and music and books, a basket of cherries and chocolate and head out for a little mini solo road trip. So next weekend I am heading down to Portland and Canon beach to allow my wild spirit freedom to bask in the slow medicine of a loooooooooong drive. (so much scope for imagination!) Oh welcome Summer!
Yoga has been such gladness for me lately ~ think about this for a moment ~ every single breath we breathe is magnificently different and unique ~so timeless and potent and seeded. This week my teacher Dylan said to me in class ~ ‘do it! do the headstand freeform now! the class is waiting!’ which totally freaked me out in the FIRST breath because i felt put on the spot and wasn’t ready (I had only done the headstand up against the wall) but thennnn I took a long quiet present breath and thought ~ ‘then I must do it’ and …i DID. It felt wonderful ~ it felt like jumping into a moondance lit lake at twilight all fresh and new and igniting. And the impulse and belief came from my breath. (and Dylan’s nudge too) Which made me think ~ what else can I do that I didn’t believe possible? Yoda was so right ~ impossible is nothing.
I am in such a heady mood lately too ~ really loving this book…and this film made about the same subject ~ the universe really is such a beautiful and elegant creation.
and Oh! words to shoot by is overflowing with summery goodness this week ~ pop on by and soak it up.
Today I am making a blueberry ~ cherry crisp and homemade lavender lemonade ~ to celebrate summer in delicious style ~ have a happy Monday!
I write poetry ~ I have been writing poetry since the most tenderest of age and my teenage journals are filled to the brim with poems. Oh, I wish I could say I am a beautiful writer of poetry but the truth is (with the exception of perhaps seven poems) they are for the most part quite sacharine.
And I would know since I am a reader of all the great poets ~ if I were to live out my life alone on an Island castaway under a bright and perfect sky, all I would need truly are my books of poetry to feel the fluid line and easy understanding of a soul that has walked this earth before me with one eye to the worshipful beauty of everyday life and love.
Today, in a moment of trust and a desire to share, I read one of my poems (shyly) to a friend over the phone who, gifted me the most appreciated response of a long transporting moment of silence before saying ‘I felt as if I was the one falling in love listening to those lines ~ you are a poet!’ I proceeded to explain that I was indeed not, that this was a rare poem that came to me in a rarer moment still, and while I wished with all of my heart and soul that I was a poet with a capital P as in Pablo for example…nothing could be farther from the truth. Alas.
And yet.
Perhaps I am a poet after all. Perhaps in many ways almost everything I do is another way of writing a poem. I know that when I want to curl up with my dog and read a book (as in the photo above) I will find the corner of the couch where the light dances on the wall peering over my shoulder like a handful of moon puddles.
I know that when I walk by the ocean I can divine the humor of the tides with my eyes closed, I know I can see into the window of the soul of someone just by the way their hands move and I have been reduced to sobbing with lustful joy swimming in a crystal clear lake at effervescent dawn. I have felt meteoric love in divine silence and my children’s laughter, moaned at the taste of roasted clams in the quiet evening by a campfire, felt almost chaste picking cherries.
I have smiled smiles more than a little wonderful with a broken heart hidden deep inside, (while outside it was most beautifully snowing), tasted raindrops like tiny angels on my tongue (eyes wide open) trusting the true ship of my knowing heart. (scintilla)
And just today for example, there were begonias and mountains and peopling sunshine and even trampolines (dilirous) not to mention bare feet and hips amorous to be known. These are the poems I do not write, the sonnets of my daily life…as simple as a glass of water. I open the windows and whisper them to the stars each evening ~ an ode of my own sorts to a life poetically lived,
hurrah for sneaking into neighbors yards and making films of myself on a trampoline looking like a total geek
This weekend…well this weekend has been so perfect ~ not in the way that you might imagine a marching band strutting past with much pomp and fanfare but in it’s own way quite spectacular. I wore a pretty vintage summer dress and went for a bicycle ride down at English Bay, picked wildflowers and admired the lovely summer blue sky, had a glass of wine on a rooftop terrace (and wine always tastes better on a rooftop terrace) went to yoga classes everyday (and pleased to say I am far more graceful in a yoga class than on a trampoline), delved into an insightful discussion which illuminated the recognition that my heart is always willing to explore unknown territory and places the ego doesn’t want to go (yes) and I am so thankful for this, tasted the warm summer rain on my lips and felt so infused with all the peaceful, passionate, momentum of life bubbling inside of me.
This afternoon I spent a few hours in my studio conjuring up new conceptions and pondering the idea that I will never truly understand the magic which brings new creative endeavors to life…there is always some mystery and an element of discovery mixed into this wondrous alchemy. Lately I have abandoned giving ‘titles’ to my photo’s ~ I guess I am hoping that all I wish to say is in them and I want to leave a window open for personal interpretation (if this makes any sense.)
Tonight I am making a DElicious wrap for supper …
Goddess wrap
roasted seaweed ‘nori’ wrap sheets
brown rice (cooked)
avocado
broccoli sprouts
lightly steamed collard greens
a mix of sauteed red onion, peppers, or anything you have available in the fridge (purplecabbage is particularly lovely)
goddess dressing
spread layer of avocado on nori seaweed sheet
add rice, sprouts, vegetables, collard greens, goddess dressing, feta cheese if you like and fold into a ‘cone’ and enjoy with a glass of coconut/mango juice
soooooooooooo delicous! and the nori wrap is so light and flavorful (sometime’s I find tortillas a bit heavy especially after a yoga class)
The beach is a mere 3 minutes from my home and I love to wander down with a book as the sun is setting to read ~ and OHHHH! I am reading such SUCH brilliant books ~ “Grandmother’s secrets (the ancient rituals and healing power of belly dancing ~ which I will discuss further in another post as it is a stunning philosophy and poetic ode to life) and ‘the art of racing in the rain’ which is sooo beautiful in the purest sense of the word.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! one more thing!
the winner(s) of my giveaway are…..Valeria and Shona ~ Please contact me with your address so I can send out the original polaroids to you!~ I took three similar shots of these lovely balloons (one with a spectra camera and two with my sx70) and i am feeling so appreciative of all of you so I thought I ought to giveaway two this week:)
this beautiful photo of me wandering and wondering taken by my lovely friend darlene kreutzer
This photo Darlene took of me when I was in Edmonton makes me so happy ~ wandering and wondering with friends and my poaroid camera picking spring blossoms, a book of poetry tucked under my arm, and ignoring clocks which I think is most important every now and then. Somehow this image makes me long for a roadtrip ~ with the wind and the sea in my soul as my compass.
This morning I awoke to the sound of rain which I completely adore, made a wonderful aromatic cinnamon coffee in my moka pot and stepped out onto my porch to inhale the ordinary, extraordinary scent of the sea infused air and peer up into the pearly grey sky. At this time of the year with all the wildfowers in bloom the aroma is completely intoxicating. Such a soft gentle morning and it’s so strange, even the birds are gentler with their tune on a rainy day. On such a day I could so easily burrow deeply into my studio, spending every minute making art and poking through books I am reading.
I completely forgot I promised another giveaway of one of these original polaroids I created for words to shoot by ~ I even snapped one with my spectra polaroid camera and they really are incredibly lovely ~ so please leave a comment and I will enter you in the draw for the polaroid ~ the original polaroid no less! ~ winner will be announced on Sunday (my favorite day of the week just in case you didn’t know this)
Every second week I participate in two collaborations I feel so incredibly delighted to share in ~ the ‘four’ and also ‘words to shoot by.’ This week I was particularly inspired with the ‘prompts’ presented and threw myself into the challenges. In the ‘four’, I worked on a little film that may look as if it was rather random but I put a lot of thought into it to ‘encourage’ the chimes to react a certain way in the wind ~ of course there was also a strange serendipity due to that mysterious wind which worked magic in my favor much to my overall sense of happiness. I gently tied up some of the chimes to allow the relationship between the other chimes to ‘dance.’ The strange this, it is as if the universe knew what I was trying to express from the deepest part of my soul and helped me along with the resulting yin yang dance ~ I truly love this little film.
In ‘words to shoot by,’ the prompt was ‘body’ and lately I have been thoughtful of how fleeting childhood ultimately is (specifically from the point of view of innocence ) so I worked that into the narrative a bit as well using my son Noah as the subject.
Have a peek at all the wonderful work by various artists in ‘the four’ hereand ‘words to shoot by’ here. The ‘four’ also celebrates a brand new look this week designed by Darlene which I am smitten by, as it allows me to delve into my love for small films.
Summer is perched on my doorstep sipping a rootbeer float and I am thinking of making a few mix cd’s today after yoga, jotting down a list of summer reading and looking around for some pretty oilcloth on etsy for my garden table. I am thinking i would love to find a c h e a p Volkswagon Van for roadtrippin’ this summer as well so if you know of a cute one for sale please contact me! I am also looking forward to a friend visiting Vancouver this week who has been here many times but I love that I get to show my city around from a “Maddie” point of view.
Which reminds me (I am not sure how I made this leap however) that wisteria is growing IN through my bathroom window (from the vines outside) and making itself quite at home ~ I will take pictures when it blooms to share with you.
oh! and i was playing around in photobooth yesterday ~ stretches of time will pass by where I completely forget my computer has this fun feature ~ but yesterday I remembered and enjoyed my silly self for a few mintutes:)
Well it’s Monday and I must say I am quite fond of them ~ so full of promise with a shiny brand new week:)
I was reading today ~ curled up in this vintage green comfy chair i bought at a yard sale for just a few dollars. I carried my chair all the way up the winding stairs to my studio, settling it in the corner, tossed a silk red skirt over the back for a little flair and made a tower of ‘must reads’ on the floor by it’s feet. ‘Modern Painter’ magazine which I completely love as well as poetry by Borges and Cummings amongst other sunful treasures.
I opened up my book of ee cummings poetry and it fell upon a most lovely poem which contained these lines…
“suppose
Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head’
and I thought to myself “Yes!!! Life IS an old man carrying flowers on his head.’ I felt like dancing thinking how magnificent it was that Estlin understood this and expressed it so splendidly. I love ee cummings..he also wrote in a poem
(but i imagine that yes is the only living thing)
and we’ll make yes
Imagine! Making ‘yes’. Let’s make yes.
Oh and let’s not stop there because thennnnnn…in another poem he wrote...’the blue slender hands of god’ and now I am determined to find those hands and photograph them. So, if anyone out there has ‘blue slender hands of god’ please please do contact me so I can capture them in a sublime photo.
a few of my favorite things this week….
the gleam, fleck and swoop of seabirds drawing skycircles
jazz and poetry and summer thunder
golden rain and the silver moon
jade nailpolish
blood orange lemonade
petals and ribbons and roadtrips
all shiny things including the exquisite stars
leaping greenly
yam fries with chipotle spice
my holy curiosity
seaglass and feathers, shells and beach pebbles
bees
the sexy perfumed scent of my garden swooning into bloom
hovering butterflies and ladybugs
singing, smiling, laughing and especially church bells
the beautiful sketch my dear friend Celeste createdfor me
morning coffee
roses les bluets (just because they sound lovely)
chimney’s and tulips and chocolate
aaaaaaaaaaaaand…
Sunday’s (always, because they are perfect)
I am just filled to bursting as well as my beautiful friend Lizzie just gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl so a big BIG shout out of joy and love for Lizzie. I am hoping she will bring the little beauty to her ‘reveal’ retreat I am teaching at this fall:)
More ‘conversations’ are perculating away and will be unveiled in the next few weeks ~
this hill is so beautiful where I walk my dog by the sea, i love
to sit here while she bounces around chasing bunnies,
leaning into small meditations as balletic flecks
of seabirds swoop about the sky
one hundred percent dazzling
my polaroid was taken with a vintage spectra camera
~ and the softtone film I bought from The Impossible project
which is completely splendiferous I tell you.
today i am loving words
‘balletic…poem…leaping, petals and jazz too’
oh, and ‘guffaw’ due to my inclination for
loud, unrestrained bursts of laughter lately
and a new ‘conversation’ with my lovely and supremely soaring friend darlene kreutzer
Have a beautiful Thursday filled with unexpected magic!
This morning I have been here ~ puttering around in my studio with the sun streaming through the windows, a view of the flowering branches of cherry and apple trees in the garden. My son’s rabbit ‘Pancakes’ (who really should be a ‘Pablo’) has been hopping around on my desk which he loves to do when I am working.
It’s a bit odd to me but whenever I have a general ‘busy’ kind of day (packaging up prints for my etsy shop, organizing my desk, making up ‘to do’ lists, listening to fabulous interviews) suddenly I am consumed with a strange sort of poetic/inspired ‘burst of artistic inspirations.’ So in this light peace of a breezy mindspace today I am invigorated with very light and very dark images demanding to materialize in my photography.
It began with this thought that I would love to return to Tai Chi which I used to do for years and loved very much ~ Tai Chi is so rhythmic and sensual and strong. The coexistence of opposing forces in the movements or ‘forms’ was incredibly compelling to the deepest core of my being and felt so beautifully transformative ~ there is an element of the grace and poetry in dance intertwined with Tai chi that is infinitely mysterious and intimate.
And thennnn….images began to pop into my head which lead to the ‘word’ that will be the prompt for next Monday’s ‘words to shoot by.‘ When this burst of creative inspiration hits me I am often seized by the desire to rush out with my camera (s) and begin shooting right away but since I am shooting with polaroid more and more these days, I have learned to rein in my impuse and gestate longer so as not to waste film. I am feeling quite excited nevertheless and will hopefully shoot my images tomorrow afternoon. (And perhaps try and find a Tai Chi class as well.)
Pancakes loves maps ~ I think he has the urge to travel:)
I am a sliver of light trying to spill out of a box.
As an artist, what are your favourite ways to express yourself?
These days, I am enamored with one line poems that I can fit into a tweet and the lushness of a polaroid image or black and white film, preferably neopan or tri-x. I am working on a large scale project that has me working with polaroid print transfers, paint and collage, poetry and encaustic wax ~ don’t expect to see anything soon as I expect it will take me another 6 months to a year before I am ready to reveal it all but it is my current consuming expression.
She is the blue blown breeze of regret as her breath sings out the poetry of her hopeful heart.
What is your creative process?
I wish I had a creative process that involved a beautiful ritual of loose leaf tea and a spot where light dances in peaceful introspection or a Japanese garden that I meditated in before beginning to create but I don’t. If I have a deadline, my process looks something like this:
1. have a million conversations in my head on ideas and convince myself that I know exactly what I’m going to do. This would be the brainstorm section of my process.
2. procrastinate.
3. procrastinate.
4. procrastinate some more.
5. freak out. This would be the motivational part of my process where I rant and rave and wonder why I even agreed to the project/show/job.
6. cry. A good cry is as good as a good laugh.
7. laugh. A good laugh is as good as a good cry.
8. start working.
9. realize that a part of my brain has been working on this since the beginning (return to 1.) and remember this is part of my process and relax.
10. work like a crazed madwoman filled with creative energy.
11. relax and contemplate that I need a new process because a sane person shouldn’t work this way.
If I don’t have a deadline, my process looks something like this:
1. have a million conversations in my head on ideas and convince myself that I know exactly what I’m going to do. This looks much like the process when I have a deadline except far less focused and crosses all my artistic loves.
2. write a list of everything I want to do.
3. talk to friends about the projects that sit in my heart.
4. realize I am too busy to devote any real solid chunks of time to it.
5. somehow manage to do little bits of work here and there as I move through my days.
6. continue doing little bits of work here and there as I move through my days.
7. years go by.
8. realize that I have amassed a body of work that matches that list of brainstormed ideas.
9. realize that a part of my brain has been working on this since the beginning (return to 1.) and remember this is part of my process and I should trust and surrender to it.
10. work like a madwoman filled with creative energy.
11. relax and contemplate that I need a new process because a sane person shouldn’t work this way.
Mostly I am a bit of a goof who is inspired to spontaneously create as i go about living my life …
What are you moved to express in your writing, art, photography the most?
The essence of my subject ~ light, love and hope.
She used to smile and say, “the light is kissing your face” as we lay watching the dust dance in the triangle stream like sparkles revealed by the magic of the sun. we never truly leave childhood loves behind us, we carry them with us in a pouch buried in the cracks of our soul, the cracks that let the light in and the cracks that allow our light out.
I have found a space inside of me that becomes so mesmerized by the differing light depending on the angle of the day or the filtering of the trees and clouds and bits of fluff that we use to hide behind, so mesmerized that my daydreams lose all time and thought. my words are caught in the flame of the sun’s heat and burn up trickling ash along the soft floorboards of time.
How do handle an interruption in the flow of imagination or writer’s block?
Life is one big beautiful interruption. I have always had concentration problems and issues with hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder and perhaps as a consequence, I tend to juggle a lot of pretty coloured balls so having time to sit and work on something for long stretches of time is a great luxury in my world. Because, I am slave to so many artistic passions while also juggling a full time demanding career and a heartbreakingly beautiful family, if I am blocked in one area (like writing), I immediately move to something else (like photography) and in working on something else (like photography), I immediately find inspiration for my writing.
What brings you joy, contentment, happiness?
The heart of my little family, the laughter of my friends and the music of life.
What do the words ‘yes’ and ‘possibility’ mean to you personally?
Every time I have said yes especially those times when I have been most fearful, I have opened a door filled with possibilities. Saying ‘yes’ can lead you down the rabbit hole and help to clarify what it really is that your heart needs and what it really is that you are saying yes to and sometimes that comes with the realization that it is time to close that door and tumble down a different rabbit hole and sometimes that yes will shrink you and sometimes it will make you so much larger than you ever thought possible.
For me, ‘yes’ and ‘possibility’ are easy, it’s a rearranging of molecules, a head tilt to change the perspective view. I have no problem saying yes and I have never had a problem believing in possibility. I think my challenge these days has been learning that saying ‘no’ isn’t necessarily a negative and sometimes saying ‘no’ creates stronger possibility for creating the life that brings me the most light.
I have recently changed one of my stories to align more with who I am today. I used to be filled with so much anxiety and fear that I would actually have to talk myself into leaving the house every day. I will also admit to you that I once became so paralyzed with fear, that I couldn’t leave my apartment. I would sneak out at three in the morning, my dark hoodie covering my head as I raced to the convenient store to buy cigarettes (back when I was a smoker) and then race back to the safety of my curtained up four walls. I stopped answering the phone and might still be there today were it not for a friend who knocked down my door and dragged me back out into the light.
And so I said ‘yes’ to living and fear became my guiding light, the more fear I had, the quicker I would jump into ‘yes’. It was this way of living that gives me such a rich history of experiences.
The thing is. I am no longer fear ridden. Somewhere over the years of all that doing and jumping and leaping, my strength and power overcame the fear. But I held on tight to that old story to the point that it began to make me smaller than I am, I started living small because I was still using fear as a guiding light but I am no longer filled with the same anxieties. I am strong and only starting to understand how much power is inside of me, how much love and beauty. These days I am saying ‘no’ to all that doesn’t serve the person I am inside, the beauty that lives inside of me. I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
I think that the essence of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘possibility’ is the true listening followed by the surrender to the whispers of the heart.
“she set upon her heart’s journey knowing that every path would bring a fresh light of understanding”
How has saying ‘yes’ in your life changed the trajectory of your life?
saying ‘yes’ to my heart, to the possibilities that i read about in word filled books allowed me to leave behind poverty and a girl whose future was hidden in a trailer park of skinned knee belief in the last inhale of a drug filled smoke, a gulp of whiskey raw. i said yes to packing all my belongings into the back of a truck; to big city lights and a university filled with new ideas; to writing poetry and plays, to opening up my heart to the risk of failure and heartbreak; to love; to risk; to live.
What holds you back?
I used to scoff at contentment, I saw it as a sort of death. Picture a feisty girl in red dyed pigtails, black rimmed eyes rolled at the thought of being content. That said, what is holding me back these days is that very contented happiness and I am totally okay with that because for me, now … that is the point. What I mean by that is that I have never felt held back and I have always moved into the possibility of my life but sometimes I can get distracted from creating or sharing my creations because I can get lost in watching the light dance or the I can spend hours just listening to the leaves whisper their perfect poetry. I can lose time in the conversation of hearts and the laughter and love of a perfectly formed human being. Moments of contentment and happiness can hold me back and I am totally okay with that because for me, that is the point. And I can laugh at my younger self and give her a hug knowing that was her point too only she was to scared to believe she would ever truly be happy. I am happy to prove her wrong.
Who are your creative role models? What books, art, music inspire and ignite you?
Books, art and music have inspired me from the time I was a little girl to now and I am sure will continue to do so well into my future. However, I am not going to present you with a list because I haven’t read a book or viewed a work of art or listened to a line of music without finding inspiration and without being moved to an emotion or a passion and I read hundreds upon hundreds of books in a year and have since I was a small child and I live in a house filled with music coming up through the floorboards almost nightly as my husband’s rehearsal space is just below my studio space. And art. I breathe it in daily.
But.
I will talk to you about my creative role models because they are the influences that sit in my heart still to this day.
* My mother is an artist and she used to point to the sky and ask me what colour it was. I would say blue and she would ask me to look closer until I could see the thread of pink and the hue of purple, the glow of orange, the yellow smile. She taught me to see the light.
* My grandmother and I would walk in silence honouring the earth and how she lives and breathes to create beauty in the drift of a cloud, the purple sky and the way every blade of grass sings loudly with beauty. She was native and she taught me to honour the earth, the most important creative role model any of us have. She taught me to honour the light.
* My sister created love and joy with her eyes. She had a severe form of cerebral palsy and couldn’t form sentences or even words like most of us but we had conversations with our eyes and she taught me that there is a language beyond the most common form of communication, she taught me listen with my entire being. She taught me to dance in the light.
* My twin boys, brief blossoms in my life before they moved on into a different light. They introduced me to stillness and acceptance and taught me that our creations are not always allowed to grow and sometimes the real beauty is in the act of creation and there is learning to be had in the letting go, in the surrender to that which we have no control over. It was a long lesson that took me years to learn. I am still learning. They taught me I am the light.
What do you give yourself unconditionally in life to?
love
12. Where has love taken you?
Love has taken me to the possibilities that exist inside of me and to the hopeful beauty of the world.
She plucks and colours and pastes on masks. She dangles jewels in exotic colours. She perfumes the scent of her being. She is beautiful. Her fresh skin is unadorned. She drapes misshapen fabric around her body. Her smell is clean, her hair flies free. She is beautiful. She is comfortable with the scars and marks of childbirth. She is comfortable in the angles and lack of curves of youth. She enjoys the burgeoning expanse of skin as she ages. She is beautiful. The wrinkles mould her face. The colour streams away from her hair. She is beautiful. In his eyes.
If there were absolutely no obstacles what would you do tomorrow?
There are always going to be obstacles, they just continually change as circumstances change which is why it is impossible for me to answer this question until I am living tomorrow which, of course, would be today. I will say to you that a long time ago when I was still a pigtailed child eye’s wide as the world threw me the most perfectly formed imperfect curve ball, I decided that it was the obstacles that I seemed to be continually faced with that would shape my future and that I should embrace them. I believed then that if I was to be a writer/photographer/artist then I should be grateful for every experience and that included the ones that seemed to want to get in my way.
What is on your wish list?
I have a reoccurring memory of myself, sitting in the hot sun, cross legged staring down at the ground, face in concentration as I wished into the future. I used to make a lot of wishes blowing them to the sky, deep down into the earth. I have recently had the realization that those wishes of my younger self have all come to fruition. I am living the life I always dreamed so desperately about – right now, in this moment, I have no wish list because I want to be in these moments, honour this life that I wished so hard to have.
Its easy I think to want to keep piling on wishes on top of wishes but what is the point of wishing if you don’t take the time to enjoy the wishes you once had. For the moment, I am enjoying though I am sure more wishes will dance there way into my life.
famous last words?
you know …. i exist.
Darlene J Kreutzer lives in a wee colourful cottage with her musician husband and sports-minded son in a lovely old eclectic neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. When she is not scribbling in her notebooks or playing with light, she can usually be found sketching, painting, twisting up jewerly designs, puttering in her kitchen and tending her garden.
She is grateful for family, the light that casts beauty across shadows, music that lifts emotions, a little house and garden filled with colour and love, friends and inspirations, the beauty of nature, the ocean’s cold spray, the soft barnacle skin of the grey whale and the possibilities that exist in life.
She shares snippets of her life and current obsessions at hippy urban girl
