I love words.  I especially love words with multiple meanings.  This morning my youngest, who is eight, was saying how much she loved the word ‘hooligan’.  We discussed what the meaning of the word was, and she said that she liked to say ‘flapping hooligan’.  The conversation evolved to how she was glad that she…

My husband is positive that the Art Gallery (any and all I guess) has my picture posted somewhere with a warning.  I am frequently honoured with my own personal security guard.  Walking into an art gallery with four children usually garners attention, but I am able to draw attention without my entourage as well.  In…

Many moons ago I posted about creating during an auditory assault.  I figured the image that emerged in that moment was honest.  It spoke of a true reaction to the chaos that was surrounding me.  One of the many lovely things about needle felting is that if I don’t like what I am making I…

I just finished reading a book.  It wasn’t a book of substance.  It was purely entertainment.  Nevertheless, it got me thinking about prejudices and how subtly they are communicated in so many aspects of daily life.  This was the second book I read by the same author where there were slights against people that were…

If I am completely, mathematically honest with myself, I am middle aged.  If I make it past 90 (with brain and body still functioning at a life quality level) those are bonus years. I can only speak for myself, but I have found being in my forties a very reflective time. My teens were fraught…

I have been thinking about stereotypes lately.  One of the stereotypes I have been thinking about is that of the mother.  I am a mother, so I guess I can be a voice of experience.  There are several different mother roles: overwhelmed/end of her rope mother; super mother; the archetype mother (I am thinking the…

I have a very clever dog.  She is another character in a house full of characters.  She has perfected the boneless dog flop that some how makes her immovable from the best and warmest spots.  She takes advantage of the fact that I only ever sit on the front edge of my seat.  The empty…

I am one of the many that experience wintertime blahs.  It is hard not to fall into the greyness that can be winter in central Canada.  The doldrums start in November, temporarily usurped by the self-imposed panic of Christmas, and once the Christmas clean up is finished, it gradually settles over me.  I battle it…

I have been thinking.  Maybe the use of the word ‘artwork’ is meant to make the art more accessible.  The word ‘work’ adds a commonality to it that ‘art’ by itself might not have.  Everyone has to work.  Although, my husband thinks that ‘artwork’ is a more complex word than ‘art’, thus more elitist. It…

“The artworks are fragile”. This phrase was part of a sign in a large provincial art gallery I visited this week.  I thought the word was bad enough singular, but now it has been pluralized; pluralized and used in a sign posted in a major art gallery in a major city.    I visit galleries…