The Big Move

Well I am getting ready for the big move.  I am moving from Oakville to Toronto near Parklawn.  I have downsized my apartment and opted to move the art stuff to a studio near Bathurst and King Street.

Why the change... to simplify my life... spend less time driving to work... and more time actually doing some of the things I enjoy... drawing, painting and walking.

My diabetes demands that I walk a hefty amount every week.  So my apartment is 4.5 miles from the Family Therapy Centre office.  Two thirds of the way there on a straight line is Walnut Studio.

The plan is to walk to Walnut Studio usually in the AM... spend a few hours doodling with pastel sticks... go to work... then walk to the office... Lift a few weights at Goodlife... shower.... and off to work...

At the end of the day... a return walk to Walnut Studio... wind down by flexing those pastel sticks again and finish the day with a 40 minute walk home....  If I am able to do this 3 days a week, I should have value for my money...

My glucose levels will be happy... I will be fit and actually end up saving about 90 minutes a day. My current schedule involves 2 hours on the road driving... and then I do my power walk at the end of the day...

I am hoping that this pattern allows me to paint more consistently instead of going in waves of activity followed by lulls... and thereby allow me to improve at a faster pace.

As I prepare for the move, I am decluttering and divesting myself of anything that has not been touched in 3 years... books, clothes, trinkets all of it is being reviewed.  The only exceptions will be family mementos that I am saving to give to the kids when they are a few years older and actually settled down.

The reason for this need to reduce the time and energy that I spend on useless things stems from the loss of a number of friends in the last six months and the renewed realization that I have limited time left and therefore should make the best of every minute.

I have also shifted in my personal identity in the last year from being a therapist to that of a therapist by day and an artist (with a little a) by night.   Okay it is the reverse, given I see families mainly in the evening... it is therapist by night and artist by day...

The move represents a symbolic shift from painting as a hobby to painting as a major part of the way I express who I am to the world.

Beyond Grief

Those of you who know me are aware that I started in art at the University of Ottawa when I was 17.  Realizing that so many had talents way beyond my own abilities, I opted to pursue psychology.  In time, I became a family therapist and most of my adult life has been spent involved in the therapy field in some capacity either as a therapist or as a trainer. 

However, I kept drawing during all of those years.  Whether on the subway watching other travellers or trying to capture the majesty of the mountains in Banff, I was always with pencil in hand sketching and doodling. After my common law wife`s death in 2006, I accidentally started doodling with a small box of pastels that we had laying around the house.  She painted in watercolor. Unknowingly, as I watched her, I learned the process of transforming a drawing into a painting.  I enjoyed watching her struggle with variations of a painting till she was satisfied she could choose the version that she felt comfortable with.

My first attempts a painting in pastel were atrocious. But over time as I reproduced my wife`s approach, I discovered that my results were not only getting better but I was learning how to paint. With this process, I learned to teach myself to paint.  As I read various artists describe how they approach the task of painting, I discovered that many share this type of a process. It is what allows them to think their way through a painting and learn from it.  More than finishing a painting, this ongoing learning through experimention is what I find most satisfying about painting.