From The Studio

The last painting I did in 2024, this is it.  I thought I should add a painting image on my yearly From The Studio post because pictures tend to make a buncha words more interesting.  Yes, it has been a long year that seems to have flown by fast.  I did this painting in the spring 2024 for the final days of West End Gallery Victoria before it closed down end of April.  I meant to post a blog at that time saying how sad I was West End was closing in Victoria.  I meant to write my appreciation for the staff, Amy Boyle, and Cole.  I miss their encouragement, they always made me feel way better about my works than I did.  I miss being able to drive by with my husband, Gerry, on our drives through town in the evening, and see the corner of View and Broad glow with beauty from all the artwork shining brightly in the windows.  Now, there is a for lease sign, still.  My work is still represented by West End Gallery in Edmonton, tho.  I plan on getting some new works there in the new year.  I don't have any gallery representation locally in Victoria.  I decided to rest from the urgency of making art for a while.

" Loyal Friends "  48X36  SOLD

Yes, we are saying good bye to 2024.  I'm resolving to make a better effort, same resolution I always make, and never feel like I'm successful at that.  I reactivated my social media accounts after almost 5 years.  I noticed the changes to social media right away, took me a while to figure it out again.  I even have the app on my iPhone.  It's been so long since I was on there, I have forgotten why I needed to leave it.  So nice to see what friends and family are doing.  So nice to read what artists are doing from all over the world.  Why did I shut it down?  I guess my head was in a different space 5 years ago.  Very focused on figuring out how we were going to manage my husband's progressing Parkinson's was most likely the need to step back.  I was afraid I'd use Facebook to vent, or cry, or expound on the massive changes to our lives.  As Michael J Fox says, it's really not so bad.  Yes, it's life changing, and Gerry does have struggles, but life goes on in it's changed way, and it's really not so bad.

I can make a better effort in so many areas.  I have a 48x48 canvas I ordered in the fall sitting in my studio waiting for a story to be told on it.  I have other canvasses with stories started, but need a happy ending given to them.  I have mountain high piles of beautiful photos I want to use as beginnings of the stories I want to tell.  I have paint. I have brushes.  I have the space and big home to paint in.  I am back on social media to show my efforts to others.  Now, I just need to make the better effort, that's all.

Here's to embracing the changes ahead in 2025, and being able to reap the rewards of what happens through making a better effort in our daily lives.  We cannot change the world, but we may be able to achieve gratifying accomplishments in our ordinary days.  Making art is such a gift, I'm ready,

LET'S DO IT!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Mary Ann