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I'm still around. Have not done drawing since the I AM series. All my creative heart is aimed at my scifi novel. I'm on the third draft and actually have a plot that works! Do I sound amazed? I am!! Picture me dancing around my studio work table when I solved the final BIG plot hole. That was in June.

It's obvious that writing has taken the place of drawing. That said, all my art materials continue to live in my studio on the shelves. So does my art book library. Not giving up these treasures. Who knows, I might pull them out and play when writing isn't cooperating.

Also I love love love the drawings I have created over twenty-some years. I'm happy to keep sharing them on this site. I did say in a previous post that I'll be putting up another writing site at some point. Not yet. Too busy on the novel drafts.

Funny how words used to be my play refuge from the artwork, and now it's the other way round. Okay, time to go work on the novel.

I'm sad to say the Brooklyn Art Library as a physical space is no more.  "No longer financially viable."  Coupled with that, there was a catastrophic fire in the truck that was carrying the books after they were packed up, and some of the collection was destroyed.  My two sketchbooks were among the destroyed books, as well as the sketchbooks created by two of my friends.

So sad.

However.  Hooray hooray!  The online digital library still exists.  You can find both of my sketchbooks there, as well as the amazing and beautiful and imaginative books of so many other artists from around the world.  How cool is that!   https://www.sketchbookproject.com/library?search=cat%20fink    And of course, you can find my books here on my site.  Click on Gallery, and then on the Sketchbook Projects.

Thank you, Brooklyn Art Library people, for all you created over seventeen years.  You are stars.

In case you've been searching, the link for my writing site (catfinkknowtrustchoosecreate.com) is closed.  I hadn't written a post since April 2021.  Clearly it was time to retire the blog, so I did.  I'm working on creating a new writing site but no forecast on when it will become active.  I'll drop a note here in the art site blog when it's up and running.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Yes, I'm still around.  No, I haven't abandoned my drawing, but yes, these days I am mostly writing. 

The writing started in Spring 2014.  It turned into a blog https://catfinkknowtrustchoosecreate.com/ in December of the same year, and I kept up the blog until April 2021. 

By then the posts were few.  The COVID situation plus six deaths in my extended family (not related to the pandemic), including my parents and a cousin who was more like a sister became too much hurt and too much chaos.

I let myself wander and play and sometimes do nothing at all.

What I was really doing, without realizing, was giving myself space to heal and find a way back into who I was after all this change.

The writing.  I'm up to draft four on a memoir that may only ever live on my studio table.  I have the completed first draft of a hopepunk scifi novel that I love.  I'm in the midst of creating the backdraft (aka back story) for it.

I'm still an artist, drawing, playing, creating for myself.  And now for anyone who asks, I'm an Artist Who Writes.

I've been playing around with watercolours, not at all seriously or with intent, since I created my Joy Diary sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library in 2018.  To my surprise, this summer a new body of work showed up, "I AM", and watercolour is the ground of every piece.  These are (so far) small mixed media pieces on Arches watercolour paper.  To my eyes, they are little treasures, something precious made to hold in the hands rather than admire from a distance.  I begin each with watercolour and ink, then dot the paper surface with metal brads, and collage tiny hearts and stars cut from the leftover trimmings of the large watercolour paper sheet.  Creating these are pure enjoyment.  No fuss, no intensity.  Truly, all play.  The I AM gallery is here https://www.walkingowlstudio.ca/gallery/i_am/ 

Once again I am pleased to announce the Multifaith Calendar is using one of my images in their 2021 edition.  You'll find the drawing as an inset on the page for August.  The image is a detail from 'Holy Water'; see the entire drawing in the gallery 'Fix Something Broken'  https://walkingowlstudio.ca/image/fix_something_broken/holy_water

The calendar can be ordered from http://www.multifaithcalendar.org/

My second sketchbook is making its way to the Brooklyn Art Library.  This one is a pocket mural, a long drawing, accordion-folded, with images on both sides.  It expands to the width of your open arms.  How fun would it be to carry a garden in your pocket, one you could unfold and jump into.  A place that is all play and joy, a garden of the heart where lives all you love.  Click on 'Gallery' above, and then on 'The Sketchbook Project - The Secret Garden'.  I'll meet you there! 

My little sketchbook, ‘The Joy Diary’, is complete.  Today I mailed it back to the Brooklyn Art Library, where it will become a permanent part of The Sketchbook Project collection for 2018.

As an unexpected result of doing this project, I learned something new about my creative identity.

When I started the sketchbook, I thought of it the way I think of a body of work for an art show.  In an art show, I choose a theme that becomes a starting point, and each drawing becomes a singular point of view related to that theme.

As I worked on the third drawing in the sketchbook, I realized my concept and understanding was shifting.  This was not an art show with 21 themed-but-separate drawings.  Instead, this was one long drawing that moved from page to page.  I was seeing the drawings as sequential, telling a story.

I was seeing my sketchbook as a book.

In a single realization, I shifted from an artist using words in her drawings, to a writer using images and words on an equal footing.  I shifted myself and my creative process from ‘either/or’ to ‘and/also’.

For years I said I was both artist and writer, but I saw these identities as separate and distinct, two hats that I exchanged and wore one at a time.  In the process of creating this sketchbook, artist and writer merged.  I shifted into one identity wearing one hat.

I have been heading this direction for most of my art career.  There are words on my drawings as far back as 2003.  Funny how I did not consciously see this coming, yet when I look back, the progression is obvious.

So what am I now?  How do I call myself both artist and writer, giving my images and words equal footing, without having to use a phrase four words long?

I’m not a graphic novelist, although I can see this one coming next, in the way the third draft of my book is currently forming itself.  This next shift will not be a surprise.

For now I continue to call myself both artist and writer.  The word ‘both’ is important, making image and word an equal part of who I am and what I create.  I am okay with that.  More than okay.  This shift in seeing myself and my work gives me both clarity and joy.

The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Art Library, is at https://www.sketchbookproject.com/

YAHOO! COME AND PLAY! Workshop on March 10th, 10 am to 4pm, at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre in Williams Lake! A one-day expo of creativity for adults, with entry level workshops in seven artistic practices. These are 'tasting' workshops, one and a quarter hour each, your choice of four from the seven offered. Try out pottery, creative writing, pen and ink drawing, fibre art, charcoal drawing, improv, or music. All materials provided and no experience needed. I'm teaching creative writing. Come and be inspired. More details and registration here www.centralcaribooarts.com/springintoart

The Station House Gallery in Williams Lake, BC, has a new summer show. 'Expectations of Character: Dorothy, Alice, and Anne' opens the beginning of July and continues through August. It features work by artist and costumer Korene Kidd, and is accompanied by the work of guest artists. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and Anne from (of course) Green Gables have inspired this selection of artists. And, oh yes, I happen to be one of the guest artists! Anne of Green Gables inspired me and led me into ideas and actions since I first met her. I longed for hair the colour of Anne's. Ironically, she longed for raven hair like mine. My Anne-inspired narrative drawing is titled 'What Gives Me Joy (Anne)'. Station House Gallery is at 1 Mackenzie Avenue, Williams Lake, BC. Check them out on their Facebook page for up to date info, photos and more. https://www.facebook.com/stationhousegallery/wall