How we have FUN

Here is a video I finished today (less than 3 minutes long). It is the middle of a very long winter, Jose is travelling, and I am fighting a cold. All will be well, with a little help from my friends.

Creativity Unleashed in a New Direction

Did you know my grandfather was a painter? If you didn't know you could take a look at this website to see where his artistic legacy is exhibited today. If you did know, here is how he comes into this blog: I am taking a new creative path these days. I've started a detective search to find his paintings when he lived in Canada, from 1949 to 1952. His family of 9 lived in a grand house on Russell Hill Rd., Toronto, where he had his painting studio and clients came for landscape and portrait commissions. He devoted his life to oil painting while grandma Inés was the art dealer and family manager.

Today I start on a new direction, cheered by Jose (my permanent boyfriend). I started a search for the art he did and sold in Canada, and I am going to apply for a grant from Ontario Arts Council called the Chalmers Fellowship to pursue this project. I am beginning to contact different persons and art institutions in Toronto and I hope to find some leads to get me going.  I know this research will feed my artistic work, but I cannot foretell how exactly. All I know is he and I work in different ways, and none is better than the other.

Here is a sample of his paintings found at Google Images I had never seen before.

Group of Seven on the Wall

When applying to grants for the Canadian arts funding organizations, it is easy to imagine members of the jury looking at your webpage or reading your blog… it makes me nervous. So here it is, the blog that shows my artistic path.

The Group of Seven Organs is up on a wall. It's great to see the work as a group, photograph it, look at it from a distance, and think of it as somebody else's production. Now it has a life of its own. Each one of the Seven taught me different things about my self and about others. For instance I realized I do feel the liver but in an indirect way: when I overload my diet with animal protein, I get an stirrup taste in my mouth (Yuk! I know). So avoid eating meat and eggs and the iron taste goes away in a couple of days. After reading this blog my mom told me she feels liquid traveling along the bile ducts. Who knew? 

This group of organs made me aware of my inside landscape in a new way. For instance, I learned about the spleen (bazo in Spanish) and the gallbladder (vesicula biliar). Two fascinating little corners of the body that do a lot for me. I learned that the spleen is part of the lymphatic system, clearing worn red cells and taking care of other foreign bodies that could be harmful. I thought of including the spleen in my collection but at the end didn't because I wanted to limit the work to the organs I have had issues with.

The Group of Seven is ready to leave me and travel. Where to? I have yet to find out, and I will keep you posted. For now, take a look at its first layout. I suspect the order will change soon. What would this artwork say on a different surface, or in another environment? We'll have to try and see.