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Hello lovely beans.

As you may know, this week-end marks a Holiday here in Canada, as it’s our national day on July 1st.

But to celebrate connections, new friends and amazingness, I want to share with you two talented artists, local to me, that I met during Sugar & Spice in Port Townsend. I told you: Canada was well represented during the retreat. We were quite a few ladies from BC and are already planning on fun art dates together (thank you Universe for answering my prayer. Thank you !).

Joyelle and Renée are very different from what I do and it is something that helps me know even more deeply: there is room for each and everyone one of us here. I am happy to share some of their artwork with you, they offer you 15% off in their shops as well on July 1st, how great is that ?

From the shiny Joyelle of Joyelle Brandt Creations:

I believe the three most important things in this life are love, kindness and gratitude. My dream is to be a beacon of light, inspiring others to pursue their passions. I hope that viewing my work connects you to your true purpose in life and reminds you of your inherent right to joy.

From the delightful Renée of Peaberry Designs:

Being creative has made me happy for as long as I can remember. Making things look purdy is what I do. Once I discovered the world of mixed media I knew I had found my bliss.

Here are a couple of my recent additions to my shop (note that i am adding new prints and original everyday or so this week, so keep your eyes in the shop for updates):

So stop by and visit our shops before the end of July 1st to see what you want to put in your shopping cart! Remember, you can use the code CANADA15 in any of our shops to get your 15% discount July 1st only!

Happy Canada Day!

I am so happy to finally share a new video with you. It seems like forever since the last ones (a few weeks, actually). I think I really made the habit of recording and publishing a video once a week, and I am loving it for lots of reasons.

Since I came back from Port Townsend, my Mom tells me how my Nixies’ faces have changed. The shading is better. FINALLY *putting my arms high up in the air in a sign of victory* !!! I am not where I want to be with my faces yet, but I love the evolution I see, in such a short period of time. Growth spurt 🙂

I wanted to use this watercolor paper pad I bought a while back. I really enjoyed working on paper almost exclusively (until I gave in and found a store that was selling canvas boards) during Sugar & Spice, and wanted to keep that great feeling.

I collaged papers as a first layer: scrapbooking paper, Gelli plate printed deli paper (can’t get enough play with this ! so many possibilities), book page. I used Collage Pauge for the first time, to see what the fuss is about and why people love it. You’ll see in the video that the consistency of this glue is quite liquidy, and so I put a bit too much; however, that ended up ok as I used it to cover all the paper with eventually.

The three drops show up in every of my paintings. Maybe I will someday share with you were they come from and what they mean to me. But for now, I let you add a meaning to them if you want. The arrows… well, I love them.

I tried to incorporate some of the things I’ve learned recently for the shading. I still have a long way to go to find my own voice in the way I shade my faces, but I have no doubt that I will get there more sooner than later. 

This Nixie is for sale in the shop.

Here is the video, I hope you’ll enjoy (if you have any question, please feel free to ask me):

I would have a lot to say about this new series that I simply titled «Let Them Bloom».

The desire to work with the symbol of the Lotus began when one invited itself on my canvas. It was November 2011, in the beautiful Artfest Annex of Teesha & Tracy Moore in Seattle. I was there to attend Flora Bowley’s workshop.

The drop magically became a Lotus. I did not see it coming. And you know what ? two of the four paintings below started as a drop first and I did not link it until right now, while writing you this. Funny. (my playlist is playing «Let the rain» by Sara Bareille… which is the title of a painting I created at the same time as the serie. thank you Universe for the synchronicity here).

I loved going out of my comfort zone. I was in the workshop with a totally open heart and mind, and no expectations. I left totally changed by Flora & Teesha’s beautiful Souls and their strong will to help people find themselves via art. I didn’t plan it. It was both a struggle and a pleasure to work on this painting (you can read more about it in this blogpost). When I came back home, I knew I wanted to explore more of it, to dig the symbolism and meaning of the Lotus in order to learn more than I already knew.

My Gratitude tattoo is a Lotus flowers with 5 stars. Even if planned in advance, Life decided that I got inked a short few days after being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. No coincidence (I don’t believe in them).

This series is titled «Let Them Bloom» because it took me a year and a half to have them appear on my studio table. I did try to push, to pull them out from my backgrounds. How many times did I start a painting session with the burning desire to paint a Lotus… But they always ended up as something else. The Lotus did not want to emerge. Maybe it was not time for them yet; maybe I was not ready for them yet.

I know more will come, I can just feel it. But these four taught me something very valuable for anything in my life: let it come. When the time will be right, it will appear in your life. If not, it was not meant to be.

Click each image to be redirected to its listing in the shop (so you’ll have more infos about what’s behind it):

This week video is one of those that brought struggle I could not find a fix for. I’m usually pretty good at pushing through when in my creative process I find myself in this place of «what to do next ?». I am immensely thankful for artist I learned from, in person or online, like Jesse Reno, Flora Bowley and Mindy Lacefield. They all taught me valuable lessons that changed everything.

I think this video will always remind me of the power of Connection. Connection with each other. Connection with our environment. Connection to the Source.

While I was filming, I stopped and snapped a picture to post on Instagram. And I felt the tingle to iMessage with Lynda to ask for her opinion. We’ve been classmates in several of  Mindy’s classes for quite some time now, we were supposed to meet and be roommates in June but Life decided other way, and even if our style and paths are different, I know this is a good thing because she has a pair of eyes that would see things differently than mine.
She was very helpful and gently pushed me in the direction I was afraid to take in this painting. I work very intuitively, never knowing what my next step will be, just going with the flow. But once I meet that wall of Fear, it takes a lot to get rid of it. I am so happy I listened to her advices as it allowed me to do the right choices.

As a starting point, I asked my Mom to pick one canvas and three colors for me to start with. She chose a square masonite type gessoboard, and the colors yellow+blue+green.

This Sprixie and her Universe came to me easily. But I was too bold with the leaves I stenciled, they were eating everything around. Lynda suggested me to cover the entire background with a white glaze. ICK. Made nodes in my stomach just to thought of it. What if I would lose all my pretty layers ? I chose to go for it, but to diminish the failure possibilities I used Zinc white instead of Titanium one (Titanium white is opaque, Zinc white isn’t).
It worked like magic, toned it done and even brought it all together for a more cohesive feel. Could not resist the alcohol ink drops, though.

This left horn was the starting point of seeing this Sprixie emerge. If you look closely, it was that piece of scrapbook paper that I glued at the very beginning of the process.

«I feel it all» is the title of a song by Feist that I really like. This Sprixie is a Spirit of the Forest, and she holds it close in her when everything seems to be falling apart. It has nothing to do with the actual lyrics of the song but it came to me, so I accepted it.

Enjoy:

Here are the supplies I used for this painting:

Gelli Plate 8×10 Brayer Deli Paper Chevron Arrows 12×12 Catalyst Blade #6 Liquitex Matte Gel Blick Matte Acrylics Golden Fluid Acrylic Catalyst Blade 04 Golden Heavy Body acrylic paint Stabilo All pencil Black Deco Doily stencil Danny Zuko’s Denim Bubblegum Pink Dylusions Spray Boysenberry-Silk Glaze Bolivian Blue-Silk Glaze Moonbeams-Silk Glaze

When I recently asked on Facebook what you’d like to see from me on my YouTube channel,  most of you asked for a painting video, so here it is 🙂

«Lost In the Echo» — Original painting for sale

My mom was in my studio the whole time I was recording (she is making me beautiful stencils ! I’ll share more about it soon) and at one point, she said to me «I am amazed at how easily and quickly you see your subject appearing when you create». I stopped the camera for a few minutes to show her that I do struggle too, and pulled out some of the paintings I’ve been working on that I don’t know what to do with for now… And I told her that I find it weird that it seems easier when I am on camera than when I am not (should I record more ? ahah).

I chose to use a 8×10” canvas board. As usual, I started with the surface oriented as a portrait size, maybe only because this is an habit, I don’t think about it when I start and this is what I am comfortable doing. But you know… there are always surprises showing up in the process, and seeing the Nixie’s face emerging in another orientation was one of them…

I am currently loving using my Gelli Plate with Deli paper. Making marks with the different Catalyst Blades I have makes me happy too. So I used one on the first layer of collage for this painting.

Watch the process (click on the little gear logo to watch in full HD):

Supplies I used:

Gelli Plate 8×10 Brayer Deli Paper Catalyst Blade 04 Sunset Sunrise paper Liquitex Matte Gel Catalyst Blade #6 Golden Fluid Acrylic Golden Heavy Body acrylic paint Stabilo All pencil Black Silk-African Jade Blick Matte Acrylics Oil Pastel Sharpie Marker On Target stamps Archival Ink Deep Purple