What a great day at Wayzgoose @thegpag yesterday - thanks so much to everyone who dropped by. Once again I was blown away by the wonderful connections & conversations, and visitors who were moved by something I made enough to exchange their hard-earned dollars with me in order to take a print home. I sold the first two copies of my new “Holding On to This Moment” linocut print - to a woman who’s a fellow sunset admirer, her iphone also full of sunset photos, and to a returning customer who had purchased my Barred Owl print last year and came back to see if I had a new bird print yet (soon!). While selling my work is not my primary goal in creating it, those sales sure do help to bolster one’s confidence that my art can indeed make a difference in worlds other than my own - and to buy more art supplies! I am so grateful for the support.
A little more background than I have previously given about this print: this image of a silhouette at sunset was inspired by a special camping trip along the shore of Marie Louise Lake in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park near Thunder Bay, Ontario. The sky and reflections in the water were ever-changing and magical the week we were there, and I hope this print captures the awe I felt in the face of nature’s vastness and beauty.
I have since realized that this is largely what I’m trying to do with all of my prints – to bring to life the awe & gratitude that fills me to feel so small as one little creature on Earth; to hold on more tangibly to the feelings & mental images of special moments that give me reason to feel hopeful; and to share with others my sources of inspiration so that they too may walk more slowly and look at the world around them with fresh eyes.
Ultimately, I am trying to live by Mary Oliver’s “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” Thank you to all those who are interested enough to listen.
For anyone who couldn’t make it out yesterday but had been following along on the progress of this print, I did FINALLY list it on Etsy at the end of last week, priced to include tracked shipping. 🌅