My Artist Voice #5 September 9, 2022

   Welcome to my fifth Artist Newsletter.  Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed to date.  If you would like to receive this newsletter via email subscription, please contact thechautauqua@gmail.com and ask to be added to the mailing list.  Feel free to share this with friends who may also be interested.  Thank you so much for your support.  

   August seemed like a very WILD month, and September may be too!  

    I had my fifth recording session on August 11th, and we figured out the final two songs and tweaked the others based on feedback I've been getting from friends who have been listening to them.  TJ sent me the tracks, and after listening to them, I realized I was singing my last song different from how I had recorded it, so I quickly recorded it again, and sent the file to TJ. Our final recording session was on August 26, and was only half an hour.  We listened to the songs in the order I chose, and there were just a few very minor tweaks for TJ to make.  I received the mastered tracks, and had TJ make a couple minor tweaks before I approved them on September 6th!  The songs were done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Our Voice of the Muse graduation was September 6th.  Those 4 months just flew by!  It was an emotional session as we shared where we were in the process and how we'd grown through the program, and then each of the ladies shared their impressions of our progress and growth.

(photo below courtesy of Laura Rose)

Celebrations: 

- I bought a treat for myself - an original canvas and 4 adorable felted penguins from Zoe DeCnodder! 

- my album is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now I just need to get the cover artwork done, CDs ordered, figure out how to stream it online, and figure out my official release date.

- My chapbook is almost ready to be printed!  There was a bit of adventure around that as I had originally made it an 8.5x5.5 sized chapbook, but then decided that it wouldn't work with all the pictures so made it an 8.5x7 chapbook.  When I got the quote for printing, it was recommended that I bring it down to 8.5x5.5 so the printing cost wasn't ridiculously prohibitive, so I ended up spending 3 hours reformatting it back down and deleting a lot of pictures!  Thankfully, it's only 40 pages long, though, even that was enough to send me cross-eyed after a while.

- I've been processing lots of garden produce.  I made 28 cups of homemade tomato/pepper soup (on three different days) and 6 more pints of rhubarb juice.  My "dead" crabapple tree had a last hurrah and I filled a milk crate + 3 ice cream pails with the crabapples before the tree was cut down - I really have no idea how it produced fruit as it was completely rotten all the way through!  Two pails went to my sister, and I made the rest into 13 (!) quarts of crabapple juice.  I sorted the remainder of last year's carrots and made 3 no-bake carrot pies - froze 2 of the pies.  My niece was here September 4 & 5th. and we made 8 more cups of tomato/pepper soup and made 3 pints of refrigerator pickles. 

Recently Completed:

I've completed...

(Top L-R top) Watercolour play (9x12 mixed media paper), "Give Thanks" (8x10 acrylics)

(Bottom L-R) Watercolour play (9x12 mixed media paper), "Hallelujah" (8x10 acrylics)

   I also completed my 16th cartoon comic booklet (June 27 - August 13, 2022) and it can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/beth.richardson.10/videos/576944640790991

Works in progress:

Currently, I'm working on... 

- a 9x12 page of watercolour play 

- an 8x10 acrylic painting + 16x20 acrylic Inner Circle Muse painting 

- mandala on 9x12 mixed media paper 

- crochet chocolates and candy for my crochet food project [temporarily on hold]

- I'm also in the process of completing my Reiki Level 1 certification.

Upcoming Projects: 

- My 10-song music album entitled "Just Show Up" is expected to be released/available in October, as well as my chapbook "Exploring My Artist Voice: a journey without a map."  Official date still to be determined.

- I put together a submission to exhibit at the Viewpoint Gallery in Red Deer - the gallery that actually started this particular leg of the journey last year - I didn't get accepted last year, so fingers crossed for this year.

- In Inner Circle we did a week-long art journalling process to determine what our project will be for the next 8 week cycle - I ended up with 78 (!) options in my basket!  As I'm wrapping up a number of big projects, I decided to focus on those right now, and then I'll see what is next.  I won't run of out of things to do for quite a while ;)

Thanks for reading,

Beth 

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As a life-long creative, and recently self-taught artist, I endeavour to weave my varied interests and wisdom together in an enlightening and entertaining manner, to make people think, but above all else, bring a smile to their faces and hearts, as my style is almost childlike in its simplicity and playfulness.  While bedridden for much of 2017, I developed 5 – 10 minute practices which allowed me to commit to them daily. I’ve been called the “Queen of Small Steps” because my simple practices – though they may seem small individually – have added up to quite a body of work in a relatively short time period. 

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   Your support and kindness are always greatly appreciated, and I look forward to continuing to bring joy and inspiration! Thank you so much and have a marvellous day!