It's a new year and with it comes a fresh start. We've probably made resolutions, have a list of goals and dreams, or bucket list items that we want to accomplish in 2020.  Easier said than done right!  In my yoga class we are reminded to set an intention as we begin our practice.  It's about bringing your awareness to a quality or virtue that you want to cultivate more of in your life.  It could be any number of virtues, such as kindness, gratitude, love or forgiveness, etc.  Setting an intention activates a part of your receptivity.  I think it's better than sticking to a firm resolution, which just brings guilt when we fail to keep it. 
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In 2019 one of my intentions was to order a sketchbook from The Sketchbook Project and become part of this art movement. I had a year to complete it and believe me I did struggle with procrastination. I'm happy to say my completed sketchbook will join the permanent collection at Brooklyn Art Library in New York.  It is home to over 41,000 sketchbooks from around the world and growing.  I hope to visit it one day!
I made a little video of my sketchbook on Instagram before I mailed it out and it's a pleasure to share it with you at:   https://www.instagram.com/p/B7GVQzCHPGW/
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So don't be too hard on yourself  and use your gifts and talents to accomplish your own good intentions for 2020!  Love & Light,  AXO

​How do you feel about the shortest day and the longest night of the year?
Waking up in darkness and sunsets by 4:30pm,  if we get any sun at all, pushes my energy inward.  It’s a time of deep reflection and personal introspection.  A good time to learn more about our fundamental nature and essence.  It’s also a time of family, social gatherings and celebration.  I try to be Danish and create a little “hygge” in my home with candlelight, logs in the fireplace, a cozy nook with lots of books and warm blankets to wrap up in.  If I could hibernate I would.  Which also means I don’t get a lot of art making time in.  And that’s ok.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder right?  When I finally get back to my studio in January I hope to bring a refreshed creativity and sense of wonder to my art practice.   I hope you find your light too!
“The winter solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is
​in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.” Wikipedia 
Merry Christmas, Hanukkah Sameach!, Kwanzaa blessings to you and yours, lo, Saturnalia!,  and Happy Holidays, 
Axo

Winter Solstice arrives in the Northern Hemisphere at 12:19 am on Sunday, December 22. 
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“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
 
Beautiful words to live by.  I am thankful that I have some ability to create art, have supportive family and friends, great space to practice in, and represented by galleries that appreciate and reinforce what I do.
I have also realized that I enjoy sharing art with others. Whether it is an art workshop with adults or volunteering with a group of pre-schoolers, I must admit, I probably get more out of it than they do.
Little ones teach me to look at things in wonder. Sharing is caring said one of the preschoolers while making art.  Isn’t it though!

Adults teach me that every artwork is worthy when heart and soul are poured into it. Everyone has an interesting story to tell and being able to put it into a creative activity is a beautiful thing.
I am thankful for my Artspa group of friends. Established in 2006, we have been creating art together for a very long time and I love them all.  Some members are lifers and some come and go like the tides. They are my art sisters and occasionally brothers!
I am thankful for all the art organizations I belong to and all those that selflessly volunteer to keep them going.  And I am thankful for all the art enthusiasts and collectors of my art. Your enthusiasm makes hours of solitude worthwhile.
So maybe all I’m saying is don’t be afraid to share your creative gifts. There are hundreds of opportunities just waiting for you!  Art has the power to change the world. 
 
​https://petapixel.com/2018/11/26/apple-made-an-animated-short-about-sharing-your-gifts-with-the-world/
 
Art is my Truth, Art is a Healer and Art Makes us Human
 AXO
 
 

 Evolution comes from the Latin evolutio, meaning to unroll.  As an artist I accept the fact that my artwork will continuously open up and unfold in mysterious ways.  I try to supress the doubt that arises and encourage myself to try new things.  An old commercial runs in my head at those transitional  times.  View it here:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1OqqelrGys  

I am a collector of found objects.   I have a collection of rusted metal rings found close to home and across borders and seas.  When a particular object keeps showing itself to me I know it's time to incorporate it into artworks.  So, I have started a series called "Columns and Rows".  A deconstructed abstract series that has been perculating for some time.

Here's one work called "The Way Forward" ​ 6x36, mixed media on terraskin mounted on cradled wood panel.  It can be hung as a column or a row.  Every artwork I create tells a story; maybe mine, maybe yours or a universal one.  As an art viewer you get to decide.  

The best result is that the artwork engages the viewer or an art enthusiast feels the need to bring it home.  The worst result is mediocrity, a waste of time, paint and canvas but even so it's not a failure because I have learned something valuable in the process.  So try the *seaweed pie!

Carpe Diem my friends,

Axo
Feel free to like my art page:  https://www.facebook.com/AndreaPottyondyArt/ 

This is where I try to create magic, in my Artarage on a circa 1980s Ikea table. Dragonflies seem to be on my agenda today. I have seen so many flitting around my garden. They are symbols of change and self-realization, a reminder to seize the day. Using some donated antique doilies (thanks Jean) and one special doily my mama made many years ago, I print wings on lovely washi paper. I enjoy experimentation...failures are learning tools, happy surprises bring me joy.  I am in my happy place. I hope you have one too! Axo

"I Love You Enough To Let You Go"  8x8+ , mixed media/assemblage on burlap, is one of twenty four artworks in my exhibit at the Art Lab Studios & Gallery in beautiful Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.  

​The mixed media and assemblage artworks are composed of many materials.  Some found, some handmade, some rescued from second hand shops on my travels here and there,  but all have been given a new purpose in the artworks I create. I have been collecting ephemera for many, many years. It can take days or sometimes years before I realize an artwork. I let my intuition guide me and the pieces come together like a puzzle and create a new visual narrative. I try to revive the overlooked, the disposed of and the ordinary, then turn it into something beautiful, preserved and collected.

In this exhibit I gathered and used donated and found objects/papers, painted tissue papers, vintage newsprint from France, UK, the Netherlands and Canada, mulberry paper, Japanese papers, handmade seaweed paper, 19th c. math books sent to me from Newfoundland (that's another story), corrugated cardboard, gold leaf, paints, inks, charcoal, graffiti markers, 100+ year old silk from India, old show posters, my own handmade prints of objects and animals, driftwood, fishing line, leather, mother of pearl buttons, vintage patterns, metal and poetry by Tagore (1861-1941) (another great find). And the most important ingredient being my heart and soul! 

I hope you go on a road trip that takes you to Parrsboro and the Art Lab studios & Gallery, I can guarantee that you won't regret it! 
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In creativity and light, 
 Andrea Pottyondy, SCA
 

 
 

"As part of the work of the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP), a collaboration of 19 of the world’s leading energy producing cities of which Halifax is a member, 24 local Halifax artists have partnered with 24 Danish artists under the WECP initiative called “Rørpost”.
The purpose of Rorpost is to bring international artists together in WECP member cities using collaborative projects as a pipeline for the flow of creative energy, the development of friendships, and the celebration of the freedom of expression.
The word “Rørpost” means a pneumatic tube in Danish. In the past pneumatic tubes were used in department stores to make change or exchange paper messages. In this case Rørpost is a metaphor for sending the paper exchange and art ideas across the Atlantic. The verb “Røre” basically means “to touch” when translated from Danish to English."
We had a splendid time in Denmark last week.  Coming together in friendship and art was an incredible experience. Thank you for putting on a fantastic art exhibit opening in Esbjerg. Thank you , Astrid and Leif, for letting us into your home, for the warm hospitality, conversation, great food and drink and tours around town. We enjoyed it immensely. ​ Tak og se dig igen! 

It was a great adventure. Seventeen people on a "We Are Bamboo" tour in Costa Rica. People who love to travel but want to give a little back to the places they visit. That is what we all have in common.  First week we volunteered in a small town called Corozalito. We were asked to paint a mural on the two room school house, more than a hundred tires around the soccer field and many cement tables and benches. I lucked out! Being an artist I was able to help create a mural with Tim, a graphic designer from the UK and Maria another artist from Australia. With some ideas and designs by Munsi, one of our guides from Turtle Trax, who also educated us about sea turtle habitat,  we came up with a design, drew it in chalk and Jacqueline, Pat and Angharad helped paint it. We had shade, the rest of the gang not so much! Besides painting we also did beach sweeps, picking up debris (ban plastic straws please) and night patrols where we witnessed Olive Ridley sea turtles nesting. It was amazing.  The second week was all fun and lots of educational experiences!  I love my Bamboo family and hoping we meet up again on another adventure.