Mandy Saile: Face

To get right down to honesty...April has not been a good month for me and my notorious headaches and migraines, especially the last couple of days, so please excuse this short post and the fact that this images is not perhaps pieced together properly 100%, photo shop and my scanner seemed to be picking a fight with me today! Needless to say I am feeling abit frustrated because there is so much I want to do and I just can't fully accomplish anything right now it seems...not when I am constantly running for my ice and heat packs every hour on the hour, sigh...but it's just a bad week and I feel the need to complain abit! bear with me. This new image is called "Black Cherry" and it's story is a very personal one, however I like to leave it up to the viewers to bring their own stories to it...if you want to share what you see in it please do. I am always interested in hearing what people think and how closely it aligns to my own ideals. Also a quick note about the Seal Hunt...if you haven't already noticed, I put on the blogs sidebar, right at the top, the petition forms where you can all sign to support the Harb Bill.so ..please do take a couple minutes to sign if you already haven't...Jonathan and I have been in debate/discussion with a few politicians and I will share those correspondences soon, and I've also begun to collect signatures from local people since doing so by this blog just doesn't quite feel like enough. You can get your own printable signature petition forms right here if you interested. Tomorrow's post is already done, just in case this headache does not go away...so please do join me here again tomorrow, where I discuss a recent artistic read. I'll miss my weekly visit with my sweet mom and sweet pup today, but our beloved red beast of 13 years is in the shop and what can I say, I am not much of a bus gal if I can help it! (5 years of Toronto buses and subways will do that to you, ha ha), but that's means a full day in the studio (if the head pain is reasonable!) and that's never ever something that I complain about. My brain is buzzing with ideas and my heart is excited about new projects and drawings I've been working on...mmmm maybe that's why my brain is sore! it can't handle all the creativity...ha ha just kidding, I know that's not it...I am pretty sure it's the barometric pressure doing it's fancy jig and bouncing up and down constantly! Enough about headaches...Wishing you all well, with pain free bodies and happy creativity.

6"x 6" acrylic on canvas, the original will be available for purchase shortly.

I had fun with this little one yesterday. When I paint, whether it's big or small canvasses/wood, I work in my upstairs studio, which I share with Jin and Hazel. They always seem to enjoy having me in there and I just felt really content sitting there working away on this picture whiles the girls played and hopped about the room and took short snoozes on their sun-dappled window bench.

Some days are just so lovely. I am lucky enough to get alot of those 'surges of happiness' where you feel so content that your heart squeezes, or you feel so happy your sure that it's got to be oozing out of your very own pores. Yesterday was a day like that for me. It started with a beautifully sunny day and a wonderful rabbit snuggle with Roo & Ella out on the deck. I got to spend my whole day painting which I think I'll never stop feeling grateful for. And in the evening Jonathan and I went for a nice bike ride with my pal Julie, we went about 15km which was pretty good for our first time out. I admit to having my eyes glued to the sides of the path for any little creature that might need rescuing!

Here's my favourite photos of Roo napping on the deck yesterday.

I really feel like I need to say at this point that I am not trying to give the impression through my blogging, that I live with rose coloured glasses, or that I don't have my own bad days and trials and tribulations to live through, I do, we do...as a hyper-sensitive person, I have alot of those hard and sh***y days. As many of my artist readers will know, just being an artist comes with it's own confused kit and caboodle. But I think we are both very positive and strong people so we bounce back quickly. I want my blog to be positive and inspiring and yes still authentic to me and my true life, which is also very very full of those wonderful heart-squeezing days. And since I have always been a positive person, that is the vantage point that I want to write my blog from. I don't know why I am saying all this now...I could go on...I just want all my readers to know that I am being true to them...and ultimately I just really want everyone to enjoy my posted artwork, to get glimpses into my personal life which you don't get through my website and to simply share in my growing collection and accumulation of inspiration, surprises and beauty.

With that said, I am off to paint...with a slight headache I must add, so we'll see how much I get done! Thanks Everyone and until tomorrow.