Two girls heading home at the end of the day, Mile End, Montreal (section)

Stepping Out of Your Creative Comfort Zone

Expanding your skills by exploring an unfamiliar subject

In taking steps toward a goal, you will find that new steps reveal themselves to you, as you go. Sometimes they are simply next steps on the same path, other times they are a surprising new direction, a different perspective on your work, or an unexpected creative challenge. I share how to step out of your creative comfort zone, why it’s important to fill your toolbox with new skills, the importance of embracing mistakes, and how to incorporate your new skills into your unique creative style and voice.

Winter Magic: Paintings of Montreal in the Snow

The creative discoveries that come with paying attention

Montreal is so beautiful under its blanket of snow. I have been savouring every minute of our last winter here in the Plateau. You learn so much when paying close attention to something and then making work about what you’ve seen.

Daily Paintings: Memories of Walks

Uncovering patterns in your creative work

Many of my mornings over the past few months have been spent in the studio, painting. I’ve been going back to the basics – making work for myself – because I feel more alive, balanced, and grounded when I am creating images. I am keeping things simple: a few brushes, smaller loose-leaf pages, my favourite tubes of colour… and painting what interests me, for me. This has helped me to remember why I began painting in the first place and reconnect with the process of making.

Playing with Paper: Exploring Chine-Collé

Paper collage made with a printing press and Japanese papers

It can be easy to forget to share the behind-the-scenes of what we are working on. These things can give a glimpse into the artistic process and into other ways of working that can be very enlightening and inspiring to others. So, I thought I’d share with you here a few recent explorations I made in chine-collé as well pictures of the shared studio space in which I often work

Gestural Landscape Paintings

Creating a series of landscapes in 20-brushstrokes or less

I am always looking for little exercises or studio tasks to get over the fear of getting started and to get me into a feeling of creative flow. I find anything that is low-pressure and enjoyable works well.

The Happy Accidents Between Prints

Allowing new ideas to reveal themselves to you within your creative process

You never know where that next idea will come from. Slowing down and paying attention during the various steps of your creative process just might spark something that takes your work in a new direction. I thought I’d share some of my happy accidents with you…

Through dark to light: returning to the darkroom after 10 years

Taking small, brave steps to heal your past

A few weeks ago, was my first time back in the darkroom after more than ten years. I never expected that I would be back in one.

My hand holding a printmaking squeegee on an inked screen showing a Montreal house drawing

Laying down ink

Exploring the printmaking process

Printmaking is something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. My first and only real experience with it was in an overview class of several processes in high school. I loved it at the time, but was focussed on photographic printing in the darkroom.

Blog - Posts tagged: studio explorations

Expanding your skills by exploring an unfamiliar subject

The creative discoveries that come with paying attention

Uncovering patterns in your creative work

Paper collage made with a printing press and Japanese papers

Creating a series of landscapes in 20-brushstrokes or less

Allowing new ideas to reveal themselves to you within your creative process

Taking small, brave steps to heal your past

Exploring the printmaking process