So you think you can't draw

[pages from my sketchbooks (c) colette copeland]


These drawings are from the sketchbooks of someone who thought she couldn't draw.

For most of my life, I believed I couldn't draw. I had made a couple of drawings that showed promise and that should have told me a different story, but I tossed the idea aside as a fluke. My belief was stronger than the evidence. When I look back on some of my old sketchbooks, I remember those years of believing I couldn't draw and shake my head. You really don't know something until you've tried. Happily one fine day, I decided to try, for no particular reason. It was at a time when I was learning to follow my intuition without endless questioning or second-guessing.

Belief: it's such a powerful thing, both for positive and negative. The wonderful thing is that we have a choice in our beliefs.

My new blog

I've opened a blog shop, something I've been thinking about for a while. Eliminating the middle man means better prices for my customers. The time was right, so here it is: Fancy that!

Please have a look!

Friday's child

[detail from collage, Absence of Fear (c) colette copeland]



Blessed sunshine is covering the land after a couple of days of constant rain. It's a reminder that things always get better, always. I finished a major project, and now I'm working on some new pieces.

Wet, misty day

The air is misty and wet, the kind that makes you want to curl up in front of a log fire and read a good book. Except that it's too warm for a fire. All of nature is green, scented with wet earth that you want to walk barefoot in.

Instead, I opened my windows, and worked while pigeons flocked on the bacony, all nice and plump from the feast of popcorn someone spread out on the ground below... I think they came looking for dessert.

Boys of Summer

[acrylic on canvas (c) colette copeland]

As far as spectator sports go, the only one I like is baseball. The exception would be watching my nephew play soccer because he is poetry in motion.

When I lived in Ireland, I substituted cricket for baseball, and in the summer I would go to the Trinity College cricket field and watch, while a fellow student explained what was going on. This painting is one I made some years ago when the Red Sox (Boston) came to Toronto. The Jays are off to Beantown, according to the local ads.

New on eBay: altered vintage postcards.

Busy hands....

....are happy hands. I've just started the last leg of a project for a favorite editor. (The editors I work with these days are all favorites because they are such good people to work with.) I'm denuding this box so that I can paint and collage it for its contents.

Here's a tip I learned at the bookstore: To remove sticky labels cleanly, pour some Ronsonol (it has to be Ronsonol) lighter fluid and scrape the label off with a very sharp blade. It will come off very easily. The Ronsonol evaporates very quickly and leaves no smell. It's best to wear gloves, or at least avoid contact to skin. I got the Ronsonol at the dollar store for $2.99.

Sunday in a list

Walk in the park.

Paint.

Prep dinner (guests coming at 6 p.m.)

Clean kitchen.

Finish a little felt clutch I started.

Declutter pine table being used for artwork and set for dinner.

Proofread two articles due tomorrow.

Have a shot of Prince of Darkness coffee. (For explanation, please see Tracy's comment in the comments section below. My friend did the work for me! Thank you Tracy!)

Simple things

Take a lovely piece of old lace, wrap it around your wrist and tie loosely. Clip the tied part with a vintage dress or shoe clip. Et voilà, a beautiful bracelet.

Wishing you a peaceful weekend.

Old papers

Old papers have a magic of their own. They're loaded with a mysterious history and memory, and I for one can never resist them. I assembled some scraps, tied them with string, and attached another of my favorite items: old used tags.

[detail of collage available on eBay]

But is it art?

My (occasional) journal . If a journal is a reflection of the self, this will tell you who I am. I could give you some high falutin' story about exploring space and its meaning in a postmodern world, but it's nothing like that. It's about letting myself do whatever comes to mind. I have great admiration for all the luscious art journals I see everywhere, but this is what works for me.

Decluttering

I used the long weekend to rest and declutter my mind. I believe that along with decluttering our space, our closets and our computers, our minds need occasional decluttering too. I give myself a little time to process things, and then declutter, reorder my priorities and move forward. I saw this quotation (I don't know who said it) a long time ago that stuck with me: it was about cultivating inner peace amid the "noise" of the world around you. It's a very difficult thing to do, but one of the ways I do it is to paint.

I wish you peace amid the noise.

That was the week that was...

The long weekend is here... and so is the rain! The day is mine, so the weather can do whatever it likes! Yesterday, I worked a few hours in a bookshop in my neighborhood where I got myself an on-call job. It's run by a husband-and-wife team who split the week between them. They need me, they call me, and then they leave it up to me when to go in and how much work to do on any given day. Just perfect.

I unpacked, priced, and shelved schoolbooks from kindergarden to grade 8. (I love that clicking price-tag thingy.) I learned and operated the till, and enjoyed helping customers with the books they wanted, too. I know my books. Best of all, it's a five-minute walk from home.

Lilacs from the roadside. They were languishing on the side of the grounds of my building where the TTC has been doing roadworks, so I brought some home.

Stop and smell the flowers

To celebrate getting through a financially very tough couple of months, I treated myself to these gerbera daisies, and I offer them to the handful of friends and family who supported me through it in more ways than one, not least of all moral support and understanding, and the clients who helped keep my business, which is my livelihood, afloat.

Things are looking up now. Never give up and keep working!

Yesterday, I strolled among the neighborhood lilacs and drank in their heady scent, and a plump little sparrow visited my balcony.

Spring.... renewal.

Girl Talk

[detail of a collage available on eBay]

They're back!

Thought for the day:

The dogs bark, the caravan moves on. Every day is a new day, thank goodness.

Show time!

The secret is out: I am a Trek fan. From Capt. Kirk and his crew, to Picard to Sisco to Janeway, and (retrospectively) to Archer. Now, finally the new movie STAR TREK. I had a free ticket for Cineplex that my friend Mitzi gave me and I saved it for this movie. It was everything that I'd hoped for, and more. It was so well done that it had me getting emotional in parts. Even I was surprised at my reaction!

In a word, Star Trek is brilliant!

An artist's artist

I got a sweet package in the mail today from my sister. A rubber stamp from Teesha Moore that I've been wanting... Inside the package were two (gift) word stamps, a postcard, and this leaflet. As it happened, the subject of use of the stamps came up last week, and as a working artist who makes art for a living, I was sure that Teesha Moore was an "angel company." I now have it in writing, so for any of you out there who were wondering, see the photo.

I think of Teesha Moore as an artist's artist; I especially love this quotation from her: The creative act is the secret to joy.

A word about words

If you like to use words in your art, I really, really encourage you to look for words that have meaning to you and compile them in a little notebook.

It's a little jading to see the same handful of words used over and over again when a language is full to brimming with so many interesting and beautiful terms. A handful of words have been so overused that, in my opinion, their meaning has become diluted if not lost.... words like: dream, believe, fly.

Go to your library and pull out some poetry books. Let your eye tease out words that speak to you, attract you. Dip into your own books, look for words that leap off the page. It's a very personal thing. That's how I do it.

There are words in other languages (you don't have to speak them) that resonate, and I usually come across them through music. Through Brazilian music, which I've always loved, I got saudade: it's a Portuguese term that describes the nostalgia of happy times past. It's pronounced differently from the way it's written and it sounds soft, almost heartbreaking. Madrugada (the dawn) is another word I love.

So, do dream and fly, but don't forget the myriad words that can make you dream and fly....

artfood

[detail of large collage]

What do tissue paper and phyllo pastry have in common? They can be layered to create beautiful things for the eye and the palate. One is brushed with glue, the other is brushed with melted butter. One contains paper images, the other contains cheese and herbs... you get the idea.

This kind of layering has been described in books, but it was only when I actually saw and touched the real thing (thank you, Ludgera) that I got it. I can follow a recipe with very good results, but it's when I see a dish being made that I make it with great results.

With art, as with cooking, I like to make it my own: The difference is in the hand that makes it.

Because you asked, Part Deux

Thank you to those who emailed asking me about the Dante quotation and my background in languages.

You say potahto and I say potayto

I have an Honors degree from Trinity College Dublin in Modern Languages & Literature. My major was French, and my minor was Italian. In French literature, I specialized in Voltaire; in Italian literature, Dante. My MA thesis was on Albert Memmi, probably best known for Portrait du colonisé (Portrait of the Colonized), which I wrote in French.

I grew up with many languages around me, and as far back as I can remember, I spoke two: English and French. I had a facility for languages, as well as a fascination, so I picked up several more by ear by the time I was in my teens. If you have a good ear, you can mimic accents, too. I went through a phase where I wanted to speak "uncommon" languages, so, yes, I even took a course on Ki-Swahili (ah, youth, the years during which you believe you can do anything and that anything is possible). I studied Russian for a year when I was 18, which was useful for reading signs and subway stops in Moscow many years later (with my fellow journalists booking me for side trips because of that). While at university, I joined an after-hours' Irish language class, both for something to do and wanting to learn how to read a language that, written, fairly defeated me with its silent letters and shifting pronunciations... Tragically, I didn't last because I got things right away but my fellow students were a little slower and I was impatient and couldn't stand the repetition.... I have had to cultivate patience since then....

You may wonder how I managed to keep all those languages straight. I have no idea. But I did, and I do -- except when I attempt to speak Spanish, I invariably lapse into Italian. When I was sent to Spain by a Toronto travel magazine to write about the Camino, it kept happening all the time, but we understood each other, so there were no problems! The one time I did NOT lapse into Italian was at a café counter where I was ordering coffee and various items of food in what I believed to be spotless Spanish. The server asked me: "Are you Italian?" I was flabbergasted. "Why?" I asked him. "Because you have an Italian accent and your gestures are Italian." When I listened to myself, I saw that he was right: I did have an Italian accent when speaking Spanish. My friend Marina straightened that out for me. She is originally from Madrid and offered me Spanish lessons in return for a painting. So now I can speak Spanish with a Castillian accent (but... I still lapse into Italian!!!!)


With my primary two languages, it's a matter of shifting my language mentally: For English, I think in English. For French, I think in French.

My maternal grandfather was a professor of philology and a journalist. I believe I get it from him!

When things are meant to be

I wanted to have a look at the latest issue of Where Women Create, because due to my tight books&magazines budget I have to choose carefully, but I couldn't find it locally (probably sold out right away). I didn't want to have to order it by mail. I went to Chapters and had another look. Perhaps, I thought, their shipment is late (I'm something of a cockeyed optimist).

There was no sign of it.

But then my hand went behind a bunch of magazines (my body does that sometimes, I figure it's following an intuitive impulse), and pulled out what was likely the very last copy.

If someone hid it there, I'm very sorry, but it's gone now...

Anyway, when my eye fell on the name Clah on the cover, I recognized it as Navajo, and I knew it had been waiting for me. Elizabeth Clah was featured in an article on Adopt an Elder, and it fairly squeezed my heart. I had never heard of the organization before, and well, kudos to the organizers, and kudos to Where Women Create for running the story and publicizing the organization.

P.S. Some of my favorite people were also in the magazine, so for me it was a bonus issue.

Happy Mother's Day/Fête des mères

To all the Moms, Mums, Mams, Mamans, Mammas of the world.

Have a Happy day!

Weekend update

Because you asked:

acqua in bocca is an Italian expression meaning mum's the word. It literally means "water in the mouth", which is perfect when you think about it: If your mouth is full of water, you cannot speak.

Today is thunderstormy. Nevertheless, I'm off to Bloor/Bathurst to have un caffè at Aroma with Marina. If I get wet, I won't melt.

Messages

For AC in Ottawa, and my friends in Lucca (Italia), the city hidden from the Pisans by a hill: Just to prove that I can remember it after all these years.



Godi, Fiorenza, poi che se' si grande,
che per mare e per terra batti l'ali,
e per lo 'nferno tuo nome si spande!


(Dante: la commedia divina: 1. Inferno, canto XXVI)

As for the rest: acqua in bocca. Ciao!

Disintegrations and revelations

There's a lot of this going on

today in blogland.

Explanation here.

Poem for the eyes, Richard Kostelanetz, 1970

Mysterious ways

[face (c) Teesha Moore]

This piece is a perfect example of the mysterious way in which a picture comes together. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I took the first step and let it all happen from there. Just as I was about to draw vertical lines into the "body" below the face, my hand did the opposite and drew horizontal lines, and as I drew the third or fourth line, I realized it looked like a beehive -- which was the theme of the piece. The second column on the page is all about bees, and I had already decided she would be called the bee keeper.

Many years ago, a wise person told me: Don't censor yourself. Let go and see what happens. I learned how to do that and now it's automatic. If it doesn't work, no harm done. If it does work, it makes me happy.

I don't have a "muse." That whole muse thing has always made me uncomfortable. It's as if some power beyond your control, controls you, and if the muse decides to take a holiday, there you are stuck, unable to create anything. I just have myself, my inner self that knows more than my outer self, and she/I have ultimate responsibility for what I create. So, I guess you could say that my "muse" is........myself!

Power

The friend I mentioned in yesterday's post has Power. It's supposed to hit 27 Celcius today. He wanted "a little bit warmer" and now, judging by the haze out there, we're getting a lot warmer. There will be someone who'll say: If it was just a little cooler, it would be perfect!

I had a good day yesterday: the cleaning didn't get done (it will, it will, very soon... Mr. Swiffer is primed to sweep through the place), but a lot of other things did get done. I tried my hand at dyeing scraps of lace and fabric, and used some in the final piece of a project of which I can only give you a sneak peek because it's going West to that hive of creativity in Laguna Hills.

And as a reward, I splurged and had some carrot cake. This carrot cake is like no other -- it's made by Dufflet. In Toronto, Dufflet is, and has been for decades, the pâtissière par excellence. She was very young when she hit the scene, and she still keeps going, still as excellent as the day she started. The bonus for me is that it's all fresh, no preservatives, or fillers, or hydrogenated oils etc. to worry me. I was halfway through the cake, when I photographed it, hence the crumbs...

Have a sweet day!

What a difference the sun makes

[detail of card on eBay -- mine]

Yesterday I walked to Yonge & Bloor and dropped in to see a friend. Isn't it a wonderful day, I said, warm with a cool breeze that's welcome when you get hot (I'm a fast walker by nature). "Yeah..." he said, "but if it was just a little bit warmer, it would be perfect."

Nothing is perfect, really. Nothing will ever be perfect. We can strive for it, but--think about it-- if we ever reached perfection, then what??? It would be all over.

So let's just appreciate what we get and say thank you to the weatherpeople in the sky.

I saw these files at Staples when I went to replenish my office supplies. I immediately thought of Jenny Doh. The salesperson remarked on them. I told her what I was planning to do with them, and, bless her heart, she was so interested that she asked me questions and I gave her a mini-collage session. I think I may have a convert on my hands. I could see her taking some home and gluing stuff to the cover and doodling inside them. And having hours of fun!

Resting mind and body

This weekend, I shut down the computer. Except for checking and answering emails, and a little bit of business, I gave it a rest.

Mind and body needed a rest too, although gluing, sewing, and thinking did not get a rest (but that's more therapeutic than anything....). I thought I might do a few essential things I really need to do, but those things didn't get done. They will be -- they always do.

I discovered a couple of natural remedies that seem to work for my resistant bod: lemon balm tea and grated whole apple.

Lemon balm is soothing and taken at bedtime promotes sleep. But here's the thing. One tea bag is a waste. I found in one of my books that you need 2 - 4 teaspoons of dried lemon balm per cup for it to effective. I couldn't find loose dried lemon balm, but I did find tea bags, and it took three bags to a cup of water to get the desired dose. I did get some fresh lemon balm, though, and threw it into a salad.

For me, barometric headaches, especially when thunderstorms are happening, can sometimes be accompanied by mild nausea. I used gingerbeer (because it has more ginger in it that ginger ale), shaken until the fizz is gone (my pharmacist gave me that tip), and sipped it. It works. Then my friend Sandra sent me another remedy that also works: grated apple, skin and all.

I wish you a beautifully healthy week!

Friday's child

Wishing you a very pleasant weekend.