Gloomy bear

I guess its no surprise to a lot of people that we collect funky stuff. We found this pink bear in a funky shop on Whyte Ave in Edmonton. It's a Gloomy Bear By Mori Chack (His Idea is that Bears should not be in captivity and they will eventually turn on you because it is a wild animal and not a pet, so stay away from bears) this bear we got is 16 inches tall, hard plastic and we got it when we found out we were having a girl. awwwwe. It can go in her room and scare the boogy monster.

My husband as a surprize got me the Hello Kitty Cactus by Tokidoki as well as a gift. It is definitely one of a kind. The only Hello Kitty with a skull and cross bones.

Finally to add to the collection. After months of hunting I found a My neighbor Totoro doll. What I like the most is the hunt for odd objects. You never now what you will find. Sure I guess you could just click and get it online but finding randomly it by walking around and checking out new funky shops run by local people is even better.

Margaret Tarrant "Strike up the Easter band"

My husband and I love looking at antiques, he is on the hunt for a roll top desk. I was looking for bunny kins, particularly the two handle mug and a plate and wide lip bowl and a makeup suit case or hat suit case. I found them all.

We went to a place in Edmonton called the antique mall. Stalls and stalls of stuff, all be it over priced. By this time we new the value of some stuff and we were shocked at the prices of the stuff in this mall. As well all prices were fixed with no bartering. Who doesn't love a good haggle? So one day i saw this piece, just a poster by Margaret Tarrant called "Strike up the Easter band" 16"x20" (Margaret Tarrant drew the pics for the Alice in Wonderland book and water babies, ah just google her) and ever since I got pregnant all I think about is bunnies/rabbits/hares. I think it is her spirit animal 100%. So I walk away from it cause it was retardedly over priced. And thought about that piece for days and I thought if that poster in an old crappy frame from the 1950's gets sold it will be my biggest regret. So we went back weeks later and I paid full price on the most beautiful image for my babies room.

Its been a long time I know

I have not been doing much art so I have been discussing in my head what is my blog for is it a diary of my life regardless of if I am actively creating or is it just for my art and what I create. I read a lot of books and have opinions on them and have often thought about writing about them. then I ask myself do I just create another blog then? when do I separate the two? then they may intertwine and I would be writing things twice. Anyways for the past year have been working for the Canadian military as a clerk I archive and log incoming correspondence and documents. Most of the civilians I worked with are children, husbands or wives of military personnel like me or former military members. Last fall I found out I was pregnant and wanted to get a secure income for maternity leave. I knew that working as an artist was a great job but it did not supply me with the benefits of a federal job. Incidentally my brain loved the job I did. The numbers and patterns of filing was meditative for me and like a puzzle. I had a baby girl in July we named her Lydia Jane. Here is a picture of my pickle. I never realized how much time is consumed by taking care of a baby. I have been meaning to write in my blog but I have had no time. It's either sleep when she does or pay for it later.

long time again

Sorry again time just keeps on passing by. I love this pic. We were waiting for out connecting flight in the calgary airport going to montreal. right before christmas. thought this was pretty cute. I am not sure what is going except I feel I am slowly getting better and I had a major burn out. I also really am not a big fan of Edmonton. But we will suck it up and bear it and hope to get posted in the next year and half. Mostly I have felt that my art has been smothering me and I needed to step away and take stock. I also am tired of trying to find a supplier for my frames. I think in THE coming monthS things will change. I started getting visions a few days ago. they are Still foggy but different.

get well from Tanner

one of my co-workers cats Tanner got my cat a get well card and some present to keep him company and occupied while he goes throught the transition of becoming an indoor cat. he went a little crazy when he smelled the gift and loved the blanket with the catnip inside. my kitty got very high. The cut is closed over but its squshy around the sides of it hope there is no infection trapped in there. only time will tell. Thank you Tanner and Kim

poor kitty

well its been a while i know. i have a job in an office and i bike to work everyday. not necessarily putting my art on hold it just i have no time. anyways here are the pumpkins we did from halloween a storm trooper and bobafett. here is a pic of my kitty who got cut last night in a fight. i guess??? he is pretty pissed that he is an indoor cat right now. but i have had plenty of crying done last night and today at the vet. Cats fight. i just wish people in our neighbor hood would trim their cats nails so they don't do such incredible damage. I was almost thinking it was a rabbit since we have so many of them around. keep yah posted on the leaking wound. they say they wont do stiches because it might trap an infection so it has to stay open. yuck. i am a little emotionally scared and nauseous by this.

cat costume

It is a star wars theme in our house this halloween. Here is the costume we got for Spartan. We also are carving storm trooper pumpkins. I think these pics are so funny.

meerkats

long awaited blog entry. I know I am terrible. I started doing meerkat cause they are so cute. the telus commercials just got to me so here is a meerkat from the zoo posing with one of my paintings

Art in the Wild

I will participating in the Fundraiser Art Event at the Local Valley Zoo in Edsters. This event will be held on Saturday Sept 13th from 6-9:30. I will be DIVING DEEP and doing a series on sea turtles. Come check it out. I am so excited to be part of an art show with a elephant. toot toot. check out their site Valley zoo

Folk Music festival festival

Lets get folky. I am going to be sell my art at the Folk Music festival and this will be happening on Aug 8th-10th in Edsters Aka (Edmonton). I am excited that Aimee Mann will be playing. Here is the site for the line up and more infofolk fest

new stuff at my store

so a month or so back trevor and I and all my military painting drove to Calgary for the weekend where we met up with Matt Greer a stellar Photographer, where he documented my paintings. and for the past month with the little free time I have, I have been slowly putting them up on my store here is a link to Matt's blog and his tutorial on how to properly photograph art.matt greer here is a link to my store and the new productsmelissa ryans store here are some of the paintings he documented and the quality is awesome.

more pics from the festival

here are some more pics of the display

dead girls angels

so I started doing these paintings of girls that are dead in classic nude poses. mostly backs with them growing/sprouting wings. or becoming angels. well they we the top seller at the festival. I contemplated not bring them out or making small prints of the paintings. but thought to test out the response. people ate them up. so I did my Geisha as a dead girl and here is a new one as well, dead girl in yellow. both of these i made while at the festival. I sold the yellow one and the blue one but i still have my geisha. I love her.

Hey everyone. it been a long time. I just finished up the Art Works Festival in Downtown Edmonton at Sir Winston Churchill Park. It was a 12 day festival from 11 am to 10 pm at night. Here are some pics of my display. this wall trevor and I built and we measure to fit it in the trunk of the car. The wall compacts into 6 leafs books and in the set up one is stacked on another and the they are all attached. making a 12 panel wall. It worked out well. I have attempted to upload my images on my blog severa times but something always happens.

no time like the present

hi all it was my b_day yesterday. I turned 34. I have been pretty busy. for the past few months I have had a full time job in a kitchen on the military base here working in the Mess. I also have been getting ready for the Works art festival in Downtown Edmonton. I am on day 5 and I am not burnt out yet but the festival runs from 11:30 am till 9:30 pm from June 20 to July 2nd. that calls for some long days. I got a case of meal replacement shakes to get me through it. here is a load of images that i have been doing. here is dead kitty. dead girl angel, the display of my set up and the awesome new wall we built

Pin ups

I am on my way to Calgary to meet with the people from Suncor and present the painting. And my bestest of friends lives in Calgary and she asked me to do some Pin ups for her. She always loved my Vanilla cowgirl I did several years ago. so i did one with a back ground of hares and swirls, a soft painting. I also loved the lyrics from Peaches "I'm the Kinda" I wanted to put a girl boxing in front of the lyrics of the song. Here is the text and both paintings are 24" by 48"
I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH CAN YOU HANDLE IT? I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA YOU WANNA PREDATOR GAMES, THE HUMAN REMAINS A WORLD PROVIDER, HE'S STANDING BESIDE HER ROCKIN' THE FOX, JUST GETTIN' MY BOX GIVE IT A WHIRL TO MY URBAN COWGIRL KNOCKIN' YOU OUT LIKE ROCKY BALBOA DROWN YOU IN A FLOOD DEEPER THAN NOAH KNOCKIN' YOU OUT LIKE ROCKY BALBOA DROWN YOU IN A FLOOD DEEPER THAN NOAH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH CAN YOU HANDLE IT? I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA GIVE IT A WHIRL TO MY URBAN COWGIRL

OIL SANDS

Here is a painting from a photo that i found on Suncor's website and I asked permission to paint the image and they loved the idea. here is the finished piece. it is 30" by 40" in oils.

grain elevator and power lines

This is a winter scene, since these monuments of farming are going extinct I decided to do the painting in muted tones with just a gray scale. With soft color in the sky like lavender and aqua-marine blue there is more drama played in the heaviness of the sky. Stay tuned more to come.

Pumping units

I am starting a new series along side of every other project I am working on. Anyways I am working on a body of work for the summer season and a festival I am in in the summer. So I am working on the industrial landscape, which is fitting for this environment and I have plenty of resources. There is a pumping station just down the road. I know in halifax I worked on power lines, oil rigs and light posts. This body will be an obvious extension but more graphic and will be more oil driven. I will be looking into the architectural imagery of the industrial landscape. Anyways here is some of my first ones. any comment??

Profiles Gallery

Here is a pic on some of my paintings that are up in the Profiles Art Gallery in St Albert. my cat caught a bird yesterday and thought it would be a good idea to eat it inside, Yuck. He ate everything but the wings and bones and then went outside and came in with a mouse and ate it tail and all. Then he walked straight to his dish and ate more food. what a pig.

Art auction this this saturday

I have my art in a gallery in the beautiful City of St.Albert. I live in the district of Sturgeon County (ward 4) in Lancaster Park which is north of Edmonton. St Albert is northwest of Edmonton and is 14 km from my house. I have my art in an up coming fundraiser and here are the three painting up for Bid two are small only 3 x5 (I call them snacks) and the larger one is 6 x12. I am excited to see how they do. I will have photos of the night of the auction.
flyer for the gallery's auction

JENN GRANT AND HAYDEN

Last year around this time we saw Jenn Grant in Fredericton at UNB. I know her from Halifax and we met through my friend Jason Burns drummer from Down With Butterfly the opening night of one of my shows. Jason and Jenn dated whether they are still dating I cant be sure, but he is a very tall guy and he is the first guy you see in her Dreamer video. I love her music, her voice is like a clean glass of water. Trevor is is basically my date on this one and he is like whatever chick show. so I mention "yeah and some guy Hayden is performing as well (I have no clue who Hayden is and I am like whatever some guy). Trevor is like "What, I have his Cds , I like his stuff, COOL" (i am misquoting terribly but whatever). Some website I saw mentioned admission is at the door and says 12bucks. cool.
So we go for dinner at Edmonton's best kept secret "Japanese Village" before the show
I am a picky sushi eater so here is my review. The teriyaki salmon was amazing and the tempura, the edamame was not freshly steamed nor hot and not enough salt. The dynamite rolls were great but a bit too big for bit size. The spicy tuna was a mush but tasted great. The seaweed salad was too fishy tasting. the price was reasonable but one roll cost $4 for 4 pieces and one small small scoop of green tea ice cream cost the same, so don't order the ice cream. It was a great place we will definatly come back but is is not in comparison to Sushi on Bloor in Toronto. where tea and miso soup are free and the ice cream is some time free.
After that we went to the concert and it was sold out before hand by ticket master, little advice don't trust websites. We were able to buy two tickets from people in line and price of the tickets cost $25 each. The concert was great and funny. I was in a church and the setting was beautiful dispite the uncomfortable seats. We got Haydens new CD In field & Town and it is really good.
if you want to listen to her music and see her video here is her link
jenn grant

DEADGURL ANGEL #1

Thought I would at least paint these images in my head just to see how they turn out. I know they are not for everybody but I think I this one turned out okay. Thought about detailing the background but I am not sure about it. I'll hold off on that for now. working on a new one right now the image will be up as soon as I am done.

Too cold for ice cream

This has got to be the coldest weather I have ever experienced in my life. I walk to work and I literally have to wear so many layers and I still freeze. It only take less than ten minutes to get to work but I have to run. It is too cold and dangerous to walk. We had a terrible storm on sunday and the cat door in the basement blew snow inside we had to shut the cat door because the temperature was too severe; in the minus 40's for three days. Tonight it will be -37 before the wind chill. the cat has not been out in three days. he seems a bit depressed, but hanging in. i let him out and he can stand a minute of it and comes right in. I have been keeping a close eye on my bird feeders to make sure they don't run out. I get chickadee, nuthatches and so many other species. any given moment you look at the feeder there are over twenty birds.
The coolest thing happened I saw an arctic hare and then the other day I saw a large snowy owl, and there are deer everywhere near the base. And I finally don't here the chilling howls of the coyotes. I assume that this cold weather is normal for a person from alberta, but not for me. I lived most of my life in the maritimes a land where walking through slush is a daily activity. it is so strange for me to see all the roads covers with inches of solid ice and packed snow. It like you could skate to work. Gosh I just can't get warm

january blues

I am just not creative or i am too picky with my ideas. I have over 40 canvases in my studio and i am just not feeling any drive to paint right now. how to be inspired??? it will come to me shortly right now i will just wait. I have a job on base that pays very well. it is keeping me busy during these winter blahs. Trevor is in Wainwright during the week days and comes home on the weekend. so i started drawing in the evenings and going to the gym to keep myself busy. I having been toying with ideas or images of the birth of angels in a contemporary thought. females that are dead and then sprout wings. i wanted the skin to have a hint of blue in the tone. I wanted them to look strung out or emaciated and exhausted from the pain of wings coming out of their backs.I don't know just passing images that caught my eye.

Happy New Year

Its been a while but here I am. I just got back home from a long and excellent holiday in Quebec and Toronto. We started off the holiday shoveling the roof's of my parents houses one roof a day. 4 feet of snow each we got a great work out. Trevor learned to Snowboard and picked it up very quickly. He has a bruised tail bone but it will heal ( hope). I am just getting settled into getting back to work here. I will be working on some new pieces of work completely different that anything that I have done before. As well as work on some old projects. I am having a hard time with the time change in the sun rise so far up north. I checked the internet to see what the time the sun really rises and it is at 8:48 am and sets at 4:33 pm. check out this site.
www.timeanddate.com

You're in oil country

Tickets for troops, is happening this saturday nights hockey night in Canada. It is military appreciation night and season ticket holders gave up their tickets to military member. it will be a sea of green. It will be cool to be there. The Rexall Place will be packed. We will be at the late game starts at 8pm and the Edmonton Oilers are playing the Chicago Blackhawks.

slide show

I added a slide show application so we will see how that works out on my blog page. I am updating my photo album as well. Here is three new painting of my oil refinery series. I like em.

Pinks smoke

Here are two paintings I did yesterday. The apple blossom is meditative and the other one is part of the body of work "Canadian Issue." I am not sure if i should shade the area around the guy so it is not so highly contrasted, or keep it so intense. I like it, never thought pink would fit in that painting but it looks pretty cool.

Windy Days

We had a wind storm yesterday and it was a whole new experience to cold wind. I am from the eastcoast so if there is a wind storm and it is chilly out with blowing snow. That wind is going right into your bones. Eastcoast wind is wet and chilling, where you shiver. The wind here was fierce and blew over the farm fields surrounding the base. It was intense shaking the house and I felt the roof shingles creaking. The lids on the recycling bins in the parking lot across the way bent right in half. But the wind was not as cold as out east, it was not chilling and crappy. But I hear it gets really cold out here, so we are in for it. I had a meeting with the base commander yesterday about being an artist in residence and it was short and I got good feedback. But things here are going to take a lot more time, care in wording, and paperwork. Hopefully in January I will be able to get access to there photo, Nyalas, TOW and EME equipment. Here are 4 new painting.

new red bamboo painting 8 x16

Just working on my my holiday line. Tonight we are going to a semi-formal meet and greet dinner at the officers mess. This will be fun. Still have a sensetive stomache from the flu so I don't think I will be drinking. Oh well. I will be posting the pic of the paintings as I finish them. All of the holiday painting are for sale so if you like one just let me know. Mostly they will be bamboo, sea turtles and apple blossoms. Well got get ready.

artillery painting

Trevor who is in the infantry was like "Man, why you make the artillery painting so cool?" I thought that was pretty funny. Finally met some people on base and hopefully I will be able to finish this body of work. I am starting from scratch all over agian moving to a new base making new contacts, presenting proposals. It is going to take some time but I am up for it. I also am looking into some galleries to carry my work and I am on the waiting list for a table at the Old Strathcona market. I decided to get a job on base and at least make some money. I will be working in the kitchen, I am shocked at how much I will be getting paid. It makes me a little giddy and fuzzy inside. Still getting over the stomach flu, yucky. I started a book club on base which will start up in a week. I hope to meet new people and friends. I was not that successful in Oromocto, so isolating there. I have a good feeling about this place so keeping positive. Thats it for now hope you like the new piece it think it is a break through in my style.

New work

Here are some of the paintings I have worked on this week. I have 7 more ready to work on and about 15 blank canvases. I am working on applying for different festivals in the area at this time. I am also looking in to any openings for submissions for group shows.

LONG TIME

Sorry for the delay in keeping up with my Blog. It has been a life changing experience to move out to Edmonton. We moved in alright and got unpacked and now it is feeling like home. Trevor went away to Wainright for two weeks which is 2 1/2 hours south of here. He just got back on Nov 1st. Here are some pic of the new sectional (with pull out couch) we got at the Brick. and the view of the gym from my house. Which I am not going to Today because I have the stomache flue and I feel like ass. I am trying to figure out what I can eat that won't grose me out when it comes up. So far its lots of herbal teas and cereal. I have been looking at Galleries to sell my art in and I am just painting mostly turtles, bamboo and apple blossoms. In time I will start on the military painting but right now I would like to get established in the city and have a place that will showcase my work permanently.

last night in a hotel

We are finally moving into our new place tomorrow after staying in hotels for over 3 weeks. we hope to have internet installed and all that jazz in the next two weeks. So if I have yet to respond to anyone's emails it is because it is a pain in the ass to find a computer. Everthing will be up and running and back to buisness in two weeks at the latest. My new number incase anyone need to call me for question is 780-405-2110

september

Trevor was finishing up his Phase four officers training in CFB Gagetown and was soon to be permanently posted. He got posted to Edmonton with the 3 PPCLI. He asked me to marry him and I said yes, we decided to get married in Halifax and after only three weeks we had an awsome wedding. two days after the wedding our house was packed up and we drove to edmonton. we have been in a hotel since looking to find a place to live. We will be moving in to our new home in a week. blah. so much has happened in a month. we have slept in 20 different places so far. and I have driven in 7 different provinces....we have yet to check out a museum but we have seen all the malls.... looking for job and everybody is hiring...we bought a sectional sofa from the brick. That all for now, from the new army wife.

so much has happened

Well here goes, a long overdue update and so much has happened. the summer went well in Toronto, I took care of my sisters kids for part of each week and then worked selling my art on the street. here are some pics of the last few weeks of that. I started doing paintings with sea turtles and apple blossom trees.

Still in Toronto

I have not been able to go online for weeks. I am so busy. sorry for not keeping everyone posted on what is going on. I am still selling on fri-sun on queen st and during the week I am hanging out with my nieces and nephew.I will be here till then last week of september then i am back to oromocto.

Hot Days

I am on the street everyday now on Queen near Soho St. The heat is killer. I am usually there from noon till 8pm. I am getting a lot of great responses from the people on the street, so I am having a great time. I am pretty tanned and not eating too much but it is only for another month. There is a guy who stacks rocks on the street as a busker and they are really cool, I might draw on the side walk with chalk around his work as a collaborative perfomance in August.