reporting on my residency experience...

It must be March. My house is a jungle of flowering bulb plants. Who says winter has to be dreary? :-)

Here I am one month later...so much for my intention to post some updates as the weeks went by. If I had to sum up my residency in one word, it would be 'fabulous'!

Here is a breakdown of the activities I pursued during my fabulous month:

• My main goal was to spend time on my art and I did. I logged in many hours at the drafting table and it was most delicious.
• I dusted off and read books on the art and careers of some of my favourite artists.
• I purchased art magazines and read them.
• I got out old art magazines and reread them as well.
• I attended a presentation given by a very accomplished artist which was most inspiring.
• I took lots of reference photos. I edited some of the photos into images that I will be working on in future.
• I sorted through stuff in my studio.
• I revisited my business plan and made decisions with regards to future activities.

My greatest success in February was in focusing on my art. They say that it takes a month or so to develop new habits, well I wanted new habits. I hoped to to strengthen my ability to put my art time first and I wanted to let go of habits and tasks that were not really serving me. I went cold turkey on computer time. I didn't read any blogs in February (okay, I read two posts that popped up in my google alerts in my email). I checked my email as little as possible and I only responded to the absolutely necessary messages. I was completely unprepared for the amount of time this unleashed in my life. I was shocked. I became intoxicated, drunk on the possibilities. I could have spent more time on art but I decided to be decadent across the board. I actually played the piano instead of just dusting it! I read books!! Lots of them. I can't remember the last time I had been to the library.

I am very grateful for this unexpected revelation. Lesson learned. Now the challenge will be to maintain my new habits! :-)

Oh and I did get skating on the Rideau Canal. Ottawa has the world's larges skating rink which winds through the city for 7.8 km (4.8 miles) . This year marks the 40th anniversary of this maintained ice surface. Part of the experience is to take a break and have a snack. The photo below shows me ready to tie into a BeaverTail (a delicious whole wheat pastry stretched into the shape of a beaver's tail, served warm and topped with goodies like cinnamon, butter and lemon, yum). I shared it and a hot chocolate with my husband.

Below is a picture of one of the resting areas on the canal. There are picnic tables, places to buy food and fire pits. We know how to do winter! :-)

While I didn't post any updates, I did take some pictures of a work in progress. My next post will have lots of photos detailing the work I put into my newest finished piece.

Swiss Chard - finished!

Swiss Chard Mosaic

approx. 17" x 7", coloured pencil on Colorfix paper

copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is the finished chard image and it now has a name, "Swiss Chard Mosaic". The background is more of a dark plum/navy rather than black as it may appear on your screen. I hope you have enjoyed watching it progress. I started off calling the WIPs 'My Journey to a Painting' and it has been an interesting journey indeed. Remember the pictures of my photo shoot?

And now I have a finished work of art! Where I thought I was going on this journey sure isn't where I ended up. You might recall that originally I had hoped to do a piece that included lots of lovely long stalks. Unfortunately a fair bit of the stalks were already trimmed off so I had to rethink my approach. I ended up with a series of back lit photos that I loved. Remember how I started off the piece quite bright so that in the end the work would still have a quality of brightness? :-) Little did I know at the time that the whole piece would be somewhat on the bright side!

So what happened? Simply put, art happened. This piece just flowed along and I decided to flow along with it, to see where the current would take me...I was up for an adventure and I got one. It didn't end up looking as I had originally thought it might but I love the end result.

My process at the end: I finished off my background by going over it with a stiff brush. I actually used a stencil brush and I brushed over the background so the pigment would be ground in well to the sanded surface. It gives the background a bit of a 'buffed' appearance. Next, I went in and cleaned things up. I am a bit fanatical about this stage. I really want my painting to look great close up as well as from a distance. So I examine the work inch by inch. I add pigment here and there to make sure my coverage is consistent and I clean up edges. I go back over the highlights as they usually get dulled down a tiny bit as I brush off my work. I step back often from the piece to see what needs adjusting. This stage takes me a few hours (for a larger work) but I find it satisfying. For me, this final tweaking is what makes the work appear finished.

So now I will tape it to the wall of my studio for a while. From this new perspective, I will look at it often and I will be able to see if something isn't quite right - before it gets framed!

And oh the joys of simple things! I bought a new pencil sharpener a few days ago and boy are my pencils ever sharp now!! I am so happy. My old one started to suddenly malfunction. I wasn't happy about that. The sharpener inside started to wobble a bit as I sharpened pencils. They came out with a blunt end and they were hardly sharpened at all. I haven't had this happen before. I am so glad it started to do this because until I got my new sharpener I hadn't realized how dull my stainless steel blades in my old one had become. It was so gradual I just didn't notice. But wow, with this new sharpener, my pencils have fantastic sharp points. Absolutely yummy to work with. Sort of like when you don't think your skates are that dull and then you get them sharpened! :-) Did you know that Ottawa has the world's longest natural outdoor skating rink in the world? The Rideau Canal is 7.8 km long or almost 5 miles and it cuts through the city. Of course you can skate up and down to put in a 10 mile skate! Along the route there are warming huts, picnic tables and booths where you can buy warm pastries (they are called Beaver Tails) and hot chocolate. The canal has lights along the length of it so you can skate at night - my favourite time to go...to see what I am talking about you can check it out by clicking here.