When I decided to begin a perpetual journal, I wanted to focus on two things…one is to slow down in order to pay attention to the natural world that surrounds me, and the other is to shift my creative supplies to materials that are more environmentally conscious. My goal was not only to create more sustainably, but also to contain my creativity in a way that honoured the planet.

Initially, I decided to make a sketchbook by utilizing materials I already had, including a piece of leather as a protective cover that will adapt an interesting patina over time. Inside, I created pages using 300 gsm cotton paper which incorporates 25% recycled cotton. Finally, I bound it with waxed cotton bookbinding twine. Though the pages are rough grain when I tend to prefer hot press smooth paper, I have found that I really enjoy working on it.

Currently, the watercolours I am using are handmade in Seattle by a woman-owned local company. I assume that as I use them up over time, they will be replaced by paints I make myself as I began paint making several years ago and focus on as naturally sourced materials as possible, with honey as a binder and humectant (re-wetting agent). Even the drawing instrument that I have chosen is a fountain pen with a converter so that I can keep re-filling it with permanent, archival ink instead of using pens that cannot be recycled.

I began this project during the summer of my 60th birthday and am hoping to continue for the next five years. Perhaps, at that time, I will begin another.

I have lived near Nose Creek for 30 years and seeing the Alberta wild roses in bloom along the creek never fails to excite me. Though they look so delicate, they are protected by their thorns, and I often think that may be a bit of a metaphor for life – advice in staying open and vulnerable while maintaining strict boundaries. The buds or red rose hips are as beautiful in autumn as the soft pink roses in summer. When my daughters were young, we often gathered rose hips to make tea, but I’ve also tasted rose hip jam, both which are rich in vitamin C.

Lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to personal values, goals, and, specifically, motivation. In my work, I have always followed where my curiosity leads and felt the desire to focus my attention on that which is meaningful to me, then turning that attention into art, storytelling, and connection. I love to research and learn, so, ultimately, my curiosity generates motivation. My goal is always to make meaning from personal experience. What does this mean? What is the story here?

My interior paintings originated from my experience of caring for my babies; canoes from a longing for northern Manitoba; the grandmothers from old family photographs and the loss of my father; and the portraits of women from a response to larger social and historical questions. I am motivated by making things that mean something…and by connection and collaboration. I painted portraits of women whose stories I wanted to honour. I care deeply about literature, community, art, and culture. During one interview in my studio, the writer commented that though I worked in solitude, she felt that there seemed to be an implicit someone on the other side of the work.

I have come to recognize that this work is about more than self-expression, as I hope to connect through this expression. At the same time, I am motivated by learning and energized by being a beginner, as frightening as that can be on occasion. My current 5-year project is a deliberate attempt at creating a structure that forces me to slow down, observe, return, notice, change, and learn over time. I am motivated by discovery.

Autonomy is an important part of my process as I value doing the work of honouring people, preserving stories, encouraging others, contributing to community, creating beauty, provoking thought, and making people notice something, but all on my own schedule. I want to leave something lasting and valuable behind. When external measures become the point, I can lose the joy; when the work becomes the point, I come alive again.

Art allows my busy mind to become present and experience peace rather than being stuck in judgement and analysis. It gives me the opportunity to be fully engaged with life, even though it is done in solitude. I notice, wonder, learn, make, connect, tell stories, and keep going. It is in honouring this need that I feel most myself.

If I were to describe what motivates me, it is curiosity and connection. I am filled with an innate desire to pay close attention to the world and to transform what I discover into something meaningful, beautiful, and, hopefully, useful to others.

Striped grass (arrhenatherum elatius bulbosum):
also known as false oat-grass or onion couch;
tufted grasses used to feed livestock; cat grass.

Peony (paeonia) infusion of petals or roots:
– calms nervous agitation
– constricts blood vessels
– treats eczema