Fill the Big Crate Day!

Tomorrow is the big day, we will be packaging up 49 pieces of art work, in all shapes and sizes. We are planning to meet at noon when according to weather forecasts the rain is supposed to stop, which is good since the crate is too large to get into anyone's house anywhere, except that is if you have a big wide barn door and a forklift.

There are of course no photos of this event in this piece, since what I am talking about hasn't happened yet, but it is busily and happily making noise and summer saults in my head.
I cannot decide if this is like:
A - the night before Christmas, when often a lot of time is spent excitedly packaging up this year's treasures or treats to be shared in the morning or....
B - this is like sending  your kids off to summer camp for a while, wondering if there are enough dry socks (styro foam) warm sweaters (bubble wrap) and the little bag with toothpaste and brush and all the necessary grooming utensils (official documents galore stapled on the inside and the outside of the box) perhaps never even to get unpacked and used.
It is not easy, for me at least, to let go of tapestry pieces when I haven't had time to hang out with them for a while - there is an emotional attachment. I guess I like to do a slow travel through all the ideas and visions and how they came to be as I look at them and feel them.
The other vision right now is coming to fruition and we really are going. On my new Ipad which I talk about so often these days I have found Trepkasgade #5 and when I push the right buttons on Google Maps I can go and 'stand in front' of the gallery we are exhibiting in Copenhagen.
I can look at the shapes of the art which is hanging there and I can almost see it through the glare of the windows.
These are my thoughts for this day. The day before gathering the goods up and organizing everything safely and comfortably in the box. When we wave goodbye to the box tomorrow afternoon when we leave Marilyn's house it is scary and fantastic and amazing to think about the fact that next time we encounter it and put our hands on it  ........ it will be in Trepkasgade, in Copenhagen, unloading and preparing to hang our show, which has been underway for so long and from so far away.
And as I got to here I did realize that..... I can probably attach a jpg of our poster for all to see and enjoy!


Sweet dreams and fruitful visions everyone! Cheers, Pia

Ongoing Source of Inspiration

I have recently finished my body of work that will travel to Denmark - all consisting of mixed medium paintings (acrylic, pastel and pencil on wood panels). Each piece is 3' x 3'.

It has been quite the journey so far with the initial idea of exhibiting in Denmark, export workshops, regular SEVEN meetings and of course my jaunts through the forest on a daily basis just to discover what and how I will interpret the theme EXCHANGE (UDVEKSLING in Danish). I am happy to say that I feel great about my chosen idea and hope to explore it even further as an ongoing source of inspiration for future projects.

"This body of work explores a world where creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty from the vantage point of an enchanted forest. It is the exchange of relationships between the setting and its’ inhabitants that will allow the viewer to question their own ideology."

Hope you are able to meet and see the members of SEVEN and our works on exhibit in Denmark! 

- Angela

The Beauty that Surrounds Us

I'm feeling particularly lucky these days to spend my mornings walking through the Acadian Forest which surrounds my home. Birds chirping, rabbits scurrying, native flowers blooming, brooks babbling - all of these wonderful elements appeal to my every sense. Combine this experience with the smell of sunshine beaming down on evergreens, a burst of flavour from a fresh wintergreen berry....and what can I say but inspiration abounds. My work is directly linked to these experiences and the joy this simple daily pleasure provides me with. It allows my imagination to run wild! As I bring these experiences back to my studio, ready with brush to canvas, I shut my eyes and remember the feeling and energy of the rabbit hopping in front of me along the path or the quirky call of an unidentified bird following me and my dog through the forest.

I often have my camera with me on my walks so that I always have something to refer back to, like the small window in which the wild orchids (Lady Slippers) are in bloom, or the tracks of an animal in the snow. It is from these photos and my memories of each daily jaunt that I begin to create my mixed medium pieces.

(top photo: Trillium, middle photo: Wild Orchid (Lady Slipper), bottom photo: rhododendron canadense.


Thanks for reading my post and stay tuned for more posts of actual pieces created for SEVEN's trip to Denmark!

Journey of the Everyday...

Hello...my name is Angela Melanson and I am one of the members of the art collective, SEVEN. I am lucky to have grown up in this beautiful part of the world and am very grateful to share my artistic adventures with six other fabulous and creative members of this group. Here's a little bit about me and my work:

Most of my recent work is inspired by my daily jaunts through the magical Acadian Forest which surrounds my home on a mountain top in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. My daily journey with my dog Meeya provides me with much inspiration based on the scents, sounds and my own imagination (which tends to run wild in the midst of Mother Natures' creation). Perhaps it's the song of the forest birds, the tracks left by various animals in the snow, lady slippers and ferns working their way towards the light in late spring - all of which finds its' way in various forms throughout my body of work. I am in love with the simplicity of the everyday and hope to share this with you through my visual stories.

Rabbit 
Acrylic, pastel & pencil on wood panel
5' x 4'
c 2009