When we began planning to move from South Africa to the Netherlands, we knew that one of the changes we’d have to adapt to is the weather. In South Africa it’s sunny, mild, and pleasant for most of the year so we could afford to have a weather-dependent mindset.

I’ve abandoned the first rendition I painted for the Jacaranda painting commission I’m working on. It was too busy and too dark. Sometimes I have to get through a few attempts first in order to find my vision; the core experience that I want the artwork to invite the viewer into.

Earlier this year I had the good fortune of getting to create a unique commissioned artwork for friend and fellow artist, Lisa Reardon’s beautiful home in California. Lisa is a ceramicist who creates wonderful intuitively and iteratively built abstract sculptures.

This quote reminded me of the time when Zola was about 5 years old and I was rushing him to get his shoes on and he admonished me with, “I’m doing my best, but you grownups have had a lot more practice at hurrying, you know!”

We’ve been settling into our new home and I’m loving living right on the water. The sky here in the Netherlands is often moody and busy with beautiful shapes and colours, and I love the way that the water reflects and repeats all the sky beauty down at ground level.

My fun day of outdoor creative “play” culminated in an artwork that I love in many ways. And now I’m at that point where I wonder how I’ll know when it’s finished. Here are two methods I use for assessing when my art is where I want it to be, and therefore “finished.”

My next commission is an abstract in blues, but Yellow insisted on playing too. She said she’d promise to be shy and stay in the background if I let her go first.

I painted outside again the other day. At first I was a bit annoyed that the trees were casting shadows on my artwork, which changed the colours and the dark/ light values, making it difficult for me to assess how the work was developing.

Your art doesn’t need to match your decor. Of course, it can if you’d like that…

This morning I traveled by train to Almere, to take my artwork to a fine art scanner so it can be digitized for printing. It’s my first solo train ride, so I was a little nervous about finding the right train and being on time for my appointment.

There have been so many new beginnings over the past month. My art-making and life feel full of new possibilities. There’s also so much I treasure from previous chapters and want to make sure to bring with me into this next chapter of my art (and life.)

Those of you who’ve come along with me for several years now will remember that I co-founded The Creative Grief Studio with Kara Jones back in 2011. It’s been a few years now since I left CGS at the end of 2019, so it was such fun to be invited back to share with all of the CGS alumni about my Untangle Your Grief book.

Something surprising and hilarious happened in my studio and I have to tell you all about it because it delivered me a perfectly-timed and much-needed truth-bomb, and it’s all still giving me the giggles…

Both my art-making and life-making these days are asking me to stop over-functioning and let go of my training into the idea that understanding and being understood are required in order to enjoy art (and life).