Artwork

Does Your Why Hold Strong?

At an adjudicated art show I attended a few years back the adjudicator offered a piece of advice that stuck with me – good art comes about from knowing your why; I would add that so does good farming. Why you create the particular work you create, why you gravitate to those subjects or that process. Are your intangible reasons powerful enough to see you through the lack of reward? Are they powerful enough to show up in your work? If no one witnesses your creations or your process does your why still hold strong?

If an artist knows their why they will always figure out the how. As long as our why’s are important to us there is importance in honouring them, there is importance in continuing even when the results we want from life are not self-evident. Upon hearing it this advice fell into place for me just as the three chosen words Wool, Stone & Prairie did years ago. I remember that the advice gave me great hope; it gave me hope because I knew my why. And today my why is still holding strong – there is that at least. Even with a diminished flock of sheep and fewer dogs, and the occasional slow down of creativity while I fumble with learning new things, my why holds.

I did this drawing awhile back and then ruined it when trying to mount it to a wood panel. Your why also has to carry you through the mistakes, the errors and the losses. It has to be your reason to show up and create when, creatively speaking, nothing seems to be flowing or going your way.

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Drought, Resilience and Art

When tagging and sorting market lambs this fall I was pleasantly surprised at their weights. A look back at a few photographs from the summer season and the surprise seems unfounded. So does the dry conditions of the prairie apparently. All I took note of this past summer was the lack of water and the abundance of grasshoppers. I missed what the prairie was doing, how much it was continuing to grow, regardless of the hardship it is under. I have been going on at length about the dry conditions here and yet even with drought and grasshoppers the photos show an abundance of quality food that any sheep would be eager to dive into.

summer grazing sheep

There is a resiliency in the land that makes my heart sing to see it, the weights of those market lambs are all nature’s doing.

This makes me pause to consider what I have been missing in my pursuit of being artist. At first glance into my studio what I take note of is the growing pile of abandoned efforts, ruined attempts, and false starts. Some days it’s a struggle to even go into the space and try again. I don’t even see the successes of the summer. I forget that while I am struggling with a new medium pieces are still selling. I forget that, as long as I show up and put in effort, what will emerge is a skill set I did not have before. What will emerge is artwork that is my own style and therefore re-energizes me. I feel as though I am in an artistic drought, meanwhile my artistic resiliency is being built, the seeds still being planted for when that hint of rainfall finally does arrive.

collection of watercolor paintings in progress

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Prairie Sheep Collection

needle felted wool sheep, prairie sheep collection

I have a number of felted sheep that stayed with me when the main collection of the Felted Flock sold. It didn’t seem right to relegate these remainders to storage, not to be seen again, and because they were part of such a creative and expansive project before, in my mind, they needed a re-touch, they needed to become something other than remainders of the felted flock. So I decided to re-create them in a manner that is reflective of the place that stirred the whole project to begin with – the prairie.

The Prairie Sheep Collection includes needle felted ewes in colors reflective of each prairie season: Winter’s Touch, Spring’s Bloom, Summer’s Rise and Autumn’s Calm. And for the traditional, I’ll make a few white sheep and black sheep available as well. And just like the real sheep, no two are alike.

This first group is now at the Saskatchewan Craft Council Boutique in Saskatoon and I’ve made a good start on the second group. I’ll continue adding new sheep to the collection which can be viewed here. There is a limited number of these.

Once the staff at the Craft Council has entered them into the store inventory they will be available for purchase. Purchases can be made via the Craft Council, in person, or through their online store. An alternate purchase option is buying ones from the next set directly through me, just send an email. These are available individually for $135 each (CDN funds), or in a small flock of your choosing. I can offer a discount on sets of three or more when a purchase is made through me (discount is not available through Craft Council).

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