I’m going to admit a bit of a dark secret here.. for a while now, I’ve been struggling with making new work. Struggling to even be interested in my own art practice. As far as I can tell, this is a state that most professional creatives experience from time to time, but that doesn’t make it any less disconcerting when it’s happening to you.

Don’t get me wrong - I was still interested in LIFE. In other stuff, like the garden, hanging out with my family, conversations with wise and hilarious friends, good books and delicious recipes. I just lost interest in making art. Or rather, I couldn’t figure out where my art-making journey was headed next.

And let’s face it: the world has felt very heavy lately. I left social media over a year ago just to quiet the anxiety that was resulting from being constantly bombarded with all of the everything. It’s made a noticeable difference to my day-to-day mental health, but I also really miss the beautiful things about connecting with friends and fellow artists, and so I might just dip my toe back into that space.

But I digress.

The point is, I was feeling lost. In a lull (or at least, I hoped it was just a lull!). And then a couple of things coincided in January: I decided to take a series of online courses to up my game in Photoshop (which I’ve been using since 2000!), and I happened to watch Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum. These things seem incredibly unrelated. And yet, one reignited my interest in my own artwork process, and the other gave me HOPE.

Over the winter months, I wore that HOPE like a floor-length faux fur coat, and I delighted in playing with image layers for the first time in a long time. The result is the birth of a whole new series, and the first piece in that series is entitled HOPE.

Here it is.

This ice storm image in the background was an absolutely horrible drive home from Ottawa one April - what I love about it is that the very next week was the week that all the tiny green buds started showing up. The images from this ice storm always serve to remind me that even in the bleakest times, there is promise just around the corner.

The bubbles were blown and photographed in our living room this past February, because I was too impatient to wait for warmer weather to try this. The variety of what I captured within one afternoon was astounding. Also mostly out of focus, because I was also too impatient to wait for someone else to be around to blow the bubbles, so was constantly running back and forth from bubble station to camera-on-tripod. But I managed to get enough of them in focus to keep me busy for days.

Within the bubbles are parts of an absolutely stunning magnolia tree, which I photographed on Toronto Island when I was there last spring. I participated in an artist residency at Gibraltar Point for 10 days, and it was such an affirming and inspiring experience. These colourful blooms remind me of those days, and fill me with Joy.

All together, these things feel like HOPE to me. Hope for things as big as the world and the future, and as (relatively) tiny as my own creative practice.

I have big plans for this theme, and for this piece. I’ll share more soon, but for now I’ll leave you with the dreamy thought of a Magical Hope Garden Project..