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Sad news, folks! The opening reception for our art show, Growing Up (at the McMullen Gallery, UofA hospital) has been postponed. Officials are worried about H1N1 and therefore are putting any social gatherings at the hospital on hold. The Show IS STILL ON and it will be open during the original reception hours which were November 5th from 7-9pm (but without all the wonderful bottles of wine we bought and yummy food to snack on).

In order to feel better about the reception, I drew a picture for a friend of mine with a baby around the same age as my son. The baby is pictured in a ring sling, one of my favorite modes of transporting a baby.

On a side note, does anyone trick-or-treat anymore? My house only saw seven little ones (and we live in a city, in a home in a residential neighbourhood)... don't tell me H1N1 has scared off the kids as well as the art show viewers!

Finished another painting for this fall's Growing Up Show. This one depicts me taking my new kitten home from my parents farm. He later went on to cry the entire trip home.

This is another finished piece for the growing up show. I'm hoping it's quite obviously a scene from a girls sleepover, an event that many girls experience while on their path growing up.

Growing Up Show Painting Links 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 (#5 is still a progress picture - will upload the final soon!)

On another news worthy note, a book I started illustrating for Tony Potter Publishing late last summer that was put on hold is now back in full force. Apparently there was some interest shown when they took the mock-up to the Bologna Book Fair this year. This will most likely be the last project I can fit into my schedule before I take maternity leave (unless something little and lovely comes into the picture). I'm hoping to finish all client work by May 15th so I don't end up with deadlines and a newborn at the same time. I hope this leaves me with some time to complete a series of paintings for the baby's room!

Here's a photo of myself working on painting #5 for the Growing Up show. It features my grandfather after his stroke and heart surgery. While my family gathered to support his efforts to recover, his heart was not in it and he died within a month. This scene was initially created to depict death as a part of growing up but I decided instead to focus on the aspects of family support, frustration and love. The scene depicted is truly appropriate for the gallery space, being in a hospital, where patients can take the time to wander in with their families.

I started this painting with many thumbnail sketches and searched for appropriate references, including searching my own diaries and sketchbooks from the time. I'll continue to photograph the painting in many stages and share the progress here.

This painting is part of the Growing Up Art Show this September in Edmonton. Being a very personal collection of my own "growing up experiences", this is a stylized version of myself trying on my first bra. I was one of those pre-teen girls who wanted to wear bras, shave my legs and wear make up before my parents deemed it appropriate (they were most likely right). So when the time finally came to purchase my first bra I cherished the experience through my embarrassment.

See more posts on the Growing Up Show here, here & here.