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Meanwhile, in the studio we are working like busy bees on a new series of copper enamel jewellery for the spring/summer. The colours we are using defy the monochromatic colours outside. We are planning to offer small classes to people who would like to learn to make their own pieces. If this is something you would be interested in, please email!

Added to the mix  of breathtaking scenery and exciting studio work is that our daughter is leaving (again) in a few days to take an animation job in Spain. We’re very excited for her, but as you can imagine, it is also bitter-sweet. We’ll miss her presence, her ideas and her energy and her love. Still, I can’t wait to hear her stories about the next chapter of her life.

The cats totally know she's leaving.

Practising with the "Riptide Rollers"

Moving to Spain is a huge leap of faith. Maybe even bigger than the leap that Larry and I took when we moved to this sweet village of Bear River.

One thing I know for sure, she’s not afraid of jumping!

High jumps at roller derby in Lawrencetown.

Pink and Orange. Monoprint by Flora Doehler, 2011

Two of my pieces will be in a printmaking show that opens tomorrow (Saturday) at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia – Yarmouth branch!

I just finished them last week and framed them a few of days ago. The show includes work from printmakers at two South West Nova Scotia studios. One is in Yarmouth and the studio I use, Le Manivelle, is in the basement of Saint Anne’s University in Church Point.

Iris. Monoprint by Flora Doehler, 2011

Detail from a painting by Wayne Boucher

We had all the ingredients for a Merry Christmas this year. Food, Swiss chocolate, art, a fragrant tree, friends, our daughter Emily, and beautiful snow. Only our son Jesse was missing from the mix, which was too bad, but we did spend lots of time on the phone catching up with his city life.

Our sweet local Christmas tree. You can see we used up some Green Willow tissue paper.

It’s wonderful to have our daughter home….this time from London.  She’s been helping us get back into finishing up house tasks like painting the last few walls, hanging towel racks and putting up coat hooks; little details that we stopped working on 2 years ago. She’s very determined to have us organized before she departs on her next adventure. It’s amazing how you stop seeing the unfinished trim around the windowsill or the temporary  curtain on the bathroom window after the main renovations are over.

Fresh, fragrant boughs.

I doubt we would have even bothered with the tree and decorations if neither of the ‘kids’ had come home, but I really liked the effect and I’m so glad we were encouraged to do so. Thanks Emily!
The fresh tree came  from a neighbour who delivered in on the day he cut it. All for $15 and the fabulous fragrance was free.

The land was green up until early Christmas Eve when snow started falling and falling and falling.  It was so very pretty that I took a break from cooking and walked around the block to admire Nature’s beauty.

Our pond is starting to ice up. The dark spot is where a continuous mini-waterfall flows.

Tall and Short.

There was very little traffic and in the ditches I could hear water trickling in its eternal journey down, down, down the hills to the river.

Walking on Pleasant Street.

The snow was fluffy and light.

The Baptist Church steeple in the distance.

I wonder what story this building is telling. Who lived here? Where did the back porch go to?

An old story.

I stopped in to visit a neighbour and when I emerged to continue my walk home, it was dark. The only sound to break the silence was the wind in the tall bare branches – a sound I’ve always found very soothing. I stopped and stared up and thought about how nice it would be to see my departed parents and grandparents again. I thought about Robert Frost’s poem.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

I turned my camera lens to the light that shone from the street lamp at the top of our driveway. Probably there was a drop of water on the lens that caused these distortions, but I thought the timing was perfect.

Meanwhile over the last week, soup and other food was made and shared at a few gatherings and of course, way too many sweets were eaten.

So just to ground us again and ease us back into thinking about creativity, we went with friends to visit Wayne Boucher, Nova Scotia’s celebrated painter. He treated us to a tour of his new paintings in his retrofitted studio that overlooks the Bay of Fundy.

Visiting Wayne Boucher's studio.

On the wharf at Parker's Cove.

By December 28th, the Christmas snows were gone and the weather was balmy.

Standing on the Wharf looking out across the Bay of Fundy was, as always, a visual treat. What inspiring shapes and blues in that water and sky. Wow! What a gift for us all.

Bay of Fundy at Parker's Cove.

Wayne Boucher’s palette:

I think Wayne's palette repeats the colours in the Bay of Fundy.

Beauty Berries are wonderful for dried winter bouquets.

In between the pre-Christmas craft shows and holiday visiting, I’ve squeezed in some time to create art again!  It had been one whole month since I had painted at all.  Any gap in production starts up the old familiar tapes in my head which ask:

• Will I ever be inspired to paint again?
• Will I remember how to paint?
• Has my best work already been squeezed out of me?

From past experience and from talking with other artists I know that none of these worries ever come to pass. And actually, those fears have encouraged me to develop strategies for finding my way back to the easel.  Perhaps the tools I use can also help you when you feel ‘stuck’.

Rosemary potted-up for the winter.

I’m very interested in the whole notion of ‘inspiration’ because it is at once universal and also individual. We all feel it, but for different reasons. If you can put your finger on what inspires you — by observing yourself when you are in that mind and body space, then you can more easily find it again when you need to.

I know that my drive to paint is fuelled by:

• observing nature’s beauty – the colours, textures, shapes and movement of plant life.
• my personal reaction to colour – eliciting feelings of happiness, excitement, energy
• contrasts in sunlight and shadow, light and darks – eliciting feelings of awe and intrigue

The winter palette in the perennial bed.

I decide to actively look for those inspirational triggers outside, using my digital camera.

I grab my camera and head outdoors. I like the immediacy of digital photography. It’s just me and the viewfinder. No brushes, easel, canvas, paints, water, medium… You get the picture.

I love the colour and size contrasts between the fir tree and saplings.

On this particular day it was very foggy and drizzly outside and our familiar surroundings looked unfamiliar and mysterious. I took my photos with this in mind and tried to frame each shot in the way I would if I were painting the scene. So my first strategy was to look for subjects in the landscape and to think in design terms while framing up the photo.

The pond is holding and is already photogenic. (The excavator found that rock while digging the pond!)

It’s unlikely that I’ll use any of these photographs for reference in paintings unless I have some of the actual objects in the studio while I’m painting. (Assuming it’s too cold to paint outside.)  For instance, I could work from a bouquet of dried seed pods or rosehips together with photographs.

These rose bushes grow like weeds here and can become very invasive. I do like the colour of every part of the shrub and the tiny white single blooms are very fragrant in spring.

Having a photograph of the way pod or seed stalks group together would be helpful for me to use as reference in a pianting, but it is more essential for me to have a bouquet of dried twigs in front of me. There is an energy source in the physical piece of plant, even when it is dried that I need. I like to touch it and feel and see the texture. Unfortunately, that is not (yet!) possible with a mere photograph.

The pattern of these Siberian iris seed pods would make for an interesting painting.

Nature provides me with infinite examples of inspiration; but maybe your inspiration is triggered by interiors or photos of a special collection,  or other people or macro shots.  Whatever your choice, try using photography as a way to sharpen your compositional skills and to practice “seeing”. The photos can be the artwork or they can become reference for later paintings etc.

More importantly, in my opinion, the mere act of taking the photos can nudge your thinking, your brain and your eyes into thinking and seeing like the artist that you are.

Do you use photography as a creativity tool?

Wires and jetstreams.