Great Find

I was having second thoughts about this break thing this morning. I wanted to try and find some solutions for what I've nicknamed my "texture" paintings. My new papers were beckoning... Maybe I'd just turn it into vacation from business, not just production.

Glad I held off though. I just found a treasure at the library. Mary Pratt's new book, called A Personal Calligraphy.She's one of Canada's favorite painters, so her paintings are all through the book, but what I'm loving even more is that it's her journal.

She grew up in Fredericton, and despite all our moving I would claim the same thing. The picture above is one of the homes on the street she grew up on (elite Waterloo Row). We differ greatly there, but so much of her diary is familiar, cosy, home. I love what she says about her reaction to the social clicks Fredericton is famous for: "It built a sharp sense of humour and a fine sense of the ridiculous. We (her and her sister) are apt to make exactly the same caustic remarks at exactly the same time. On the outside of every social group, we had the freedom to be irreverent and somewhat smug." Definatly the proper way to deal with snob types in Fredericton (lol).

She was married to another great artist, Christopher Pratt, and they had a bunch of kids. That makes for fascinating reading. I wonder how she was able to take care of her career with so many family responsibilities. I'm aware that many women out there are able to. That doesn't make it any less of a wonder to me, because I'm sure I couldn't do the juggling. It's a necessity, I believe, to find out how other artists live the drive, the roller coaster, and the million and one emotions of working in this field.

Another odd coincidence, we have the same birthday- the ides of March. So enough in common that I've got a good book to dig into for the next couple of days. Should I feel guilty? Not an iota. A break always makes for my best paintings.