Farewell and Thank You, Montreal
A collection of painted memories of our time in this city
It has come time to say farewell to Montreal. I will miss the couple who sit on a bench in the park gently plucking their banjos, the people who ride or walk down our street singing (it happens so often we call it ‘the singing street’), the patchwork of houses and shops, frequent coffee shop windows, the tumble of gardens and green laneways…
A More Manageable Way to Set Goals: Quarterly Summits
Increasing your chances of sustainable success by setting goals four times a year instead of just once in January
Setting smaller goals, more often, creates momentum that carries you forward. Each quarter is like a new year. You take stock, reset, and create new horizons. A quarterly pace allows you to pivot and adjust as you go while still having enough time and focus to achieve your goals. Setting goals each quarter gives a new burst of energy and allows you to set a smaller number of goals that are both more focussed, more manageable, and more likely to be accomplished.
Painted Story: We Bought a Farm
The story behind our move from city to country
This is the first in a new series of featured Painted Stories. These are painted portraits of a home, business, or place that is important to someone and the story that accompanies it. I hope you will love seeing the spaces that are important to people, learning a part of their story, and seeing it in painted form. I thought for this first post, why not start with myself?
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.
A Year Without Alcohol: An Experiment in Creative Flow
How cutting alcohol changed my creative practice
Over the past several years, I have been looking carefully at all of my resources – time, energy, focus, money, and well-being, to name a few – and have been looking at how I can optimize each of them. Since I became unblocked and began making art regularly, I have found myself discovering just how important creative flow is to my life.
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.
Avoiding Cliffs: What to do When Fears Are Holding You Back
Focussing your attention on the manageable next steps
We tend to get way ahead of ourselves—thinking many, many steps ahead or of worst-case scenarios. We attempt to protect ourselves by imagining all that can go wrong or of all the difficulties that can come our way. We stare at the biggest cliff we can find and then recoil back from it, justifying why we shouldn’t take action toward what we want if it will lead to that. So what to do?
Daily Painting & the Power of Routine
Using the power of routine to get back on track
The beginning of the summer marked a low point for me, and over the past few months, I have edged my way back to creating by making a routine for my weeks. It’s not an understatement to say the simple act of painting each morning and knowing how I planned to spend the rest of my day helped me to get back on solid ground.
Finding Mental Clarity in a Bustling World
Using word maps to help clear your mind and move past overwhelm
I came about these naturally, through necessity. They are simply diagrams where I write an area of concern, put a circle around it, and then begin adding everything I am thinking of related to that topic.
Creating a Daily Gratitude Practice
How to feel more grateful with just a one-minute commitment each day
Keep it simple and easy – Nearly three years ago, I began a daily gratitude practice and have been doing it ever since. I have found that the trick to sticking to it, is to create a very low barrier to actually doing it. Keep it super quick and easy to do – we’re talking one minute of your day.
From the Painted Stories Instagram feed
