Yes, halfway through this weird year! I’d be happy to be done with this weekly missive — isn’t that typical for halfway through? But I do want to compare how I’m doing at the end of the year, where this new split-city life feels more the norm. Or whatever the norm actually is, in six more months.

Meetings & Making

I think all my making was at studio and art meetings, this week. As always, the week starts with the Arizona Collage Collective online meetup. Several of the gang had been at Kolaj Fest in New Orleans, so they were full of stories, as I tinkered with a few more spelling book spreads.

Sometimes, when I look over a developing series, one piece jumps out as “That just won’t do!” Here’s the one fro the Aerials project that I deemed due this week, and I even remembered to save the version before changing it. Swipe left and right to see the initial and final versions: more contrast, basically, and a more unified palette.

And somewhere in there, I decided I liked this week’s image from the Paris Collage Collective, so I had a go, using a layer that’s also in the piece above.

I also decided the weekly image, of lunaria seeds, looked like a balloon floating off into the sky, so I anchored it in a tree line, and gave it some friends.

If you’ve ever so inclined, have a look at the weekly challenge, and join the fun on Instagram. It’s a great world-wide community.

Planning

I did a little more scoping out of my print options in Vancouver. I’ve got print jobs submitted at two spots, and a query at a third, with a fourth option in the wings. Not bad! While I’d love to keep printing on aluminum, I don’t see options in Vancouver. So, paper, mounted to wood panel, and finished with cold wax, will do for now. Here are the print shops I’ve been considering:

• Tricera Print
• Fidelis Art Prints
• Opus
• PrintMaker Studio

I’ll be printing each of the new pieces from my Adaptive Horizons series, as 8x10s on various papers. Stay tuned!

Viewing

I’ve had my eye on Equinox Gallery for an outing, for quite a while now. But it’s not exactly close by! When they announced a Bobbie Burgers show, that settled it, and I plotted a route. Well! I’m not the only one who’s a fan of the art — I’ve never seen so many red dots! Maybe one (just 1?!?) piece not sold: congratulations to the artist. I also spotted an excellent grid series that I couldn’t resist.

Then, Saturday was slotted for the Strathcona Blocks Party, where I got to see a print by Barbara Strigel and her proof-of-concept book at Gallery 881.

The book, titled “Expect Delays” is a rough draft, hand-tied, of a series of collages and photographs from the artist. In its delicate form, it was a real privilege to view it.

Most pages were Strigel’s excellent artwork, but one page of the book had notes from the project, with great questions and observations from the artist’s process.

• Is it possible to separate a photograph from its subject?
• A place becomes a shape
• Maybe a photograph is a map

Lots to think about, as I process my own sense of place.

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Around the corner, I finally found Shoebox Art in the wild! Since I’m still settling in, I know I’ve got spots for the two pieces I found: work from Mallory Donen’s Glitch series, and a print of one of Lydia Cecilia’s exquisite collages.

I’m always glad to finally find a place I’ve been thinking about, but it’s hard to get them all done, let alone remembered. How do you keep track of adventures and plans, that don’t have a time limit? I’ve got a couple of new options I’m trying out (saved posts in Instagram, a timeline structure in Notion) but I bet just a notebook list would work… Let me know if you have more ideas.

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