Catherine Nixon, Painter in Oils

Oh progress!

2010-03-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

I've been knocking on many, many doors for many months, and it seems that one may be opening just a crack. Omega Gallery in the Dunbar region of Vancouver has accepted a painting of mine on consignment, yipee! Only the funny thing about this progress, the elation wears off quickly, and all I can think of now is how much farther I have to go...I'm sure I'm not the only single mom whose hair stands on end in the middle of the night, sweating in fear about how I'm to pay the mortgage and keep food in the fridge. I know I can do it, what I need to do is write it all down, maybe then it won't be so scary and the divine genius of the universe will activate on my behalf...

2010-02-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me lately, though this is hardly an original thought, that we humans are truely gods and goddesses, with enormous powers of creativity and destructiveness. If we could only all realize this, and leave behind the divisive, combative dogmas of organized religion, would we not become more sane? And if we could also soulfully accept that we are subject to a higher power, namely Mother Nature, we might find peace and purpose, as well as self-control. We might find the way that our children and theirs could inhabit something other than a smoking ruin on this precious, lovely Earth. Just a thought...

A Soulful Evening

2010-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, Feb.12, many of the good people of Procter, B.C., were on stage at their village hall, having a bistro night in honour of Valentine's Day. While countless thousands were gathered around the hallowed glow of their t.v. screens, dutifully watching the orgy of excess in Vancouver, the remarkably cultured, socially and politically active, and creative citizens of this hamlet on the south shore of Kootenay Lake were making their own entertainment. We read poetry, sang songs of love and loss, drank and ate, and laughed our asses off as the evening progressed (some might say degenerated) into the madcap antics of karaoke. Older children ran about in the hall, and when they ventured onto the enclosed and darkened stage, where both the perfomers and the audience were, they lined the wall and watched in whispering and respectful silence. Some of them, too, got up and sang.
It made me think, what constitues entertainment? We have centainly become a society which passively consumes.This disease affects particularly the young, who depend upon their elders to protect them from it, and who, without such protection, have their heads bowed over their gadgets while the world conducts its ancient dramas around them. Don't they deserve more?

How to walk your way to fitness and peace of mind

2010-02-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

I'm a walker, totally addicted, and what's bred in the bone is hard to avoid. But I'm crooked, like most of us, and I had to figure out a way to walk that compensated for my flat feet and uneven hips. So when I walk, I consciously correct my stride so I don't roll on the outer rims of my feet, activating my core, feeling the ground beneath all of my toes, until I feel as straight a a Masai warrior and as tireless and light on my feet as any elf...it seems to have thwarted the advance of the arthritis in my toes as well...And when I walk a minimum of eight k per day--and I really fly, you can't just poke along-- by the time I'm home, I'm calm in my mind and heart, floating on a blissful endorphin cloud. I highly recommend it--dirt cheap, non-polluting, meditative, and spiritual!

Calling all artist-pantheists, poets, dreamers, mothers, climbers of mountains

2010-01-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not alone, though my favourite pastimes ( except when my sweet daughter Ruby is with me, or I'm with the ones I love, thank God for them ) are solitary in nature, as well as in Nature. I yearn for conversation about art, Nature, love, the nature of love, the love of Nature, the nature of Art, the art of Nature...

Changing my style, reading the biography of Picasso

2010-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

O now i begin to understand that i know not where the mystery will lead me but i am a servant of time and destiny.

Going up a mountain, seeking solace and inspiration

2010-01-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

I climb the mountain to remind myself that I am an animal, albeit a sophisticated one.

upcoming show

2010-01-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

I have a show of new paintings at the Old Fire Hall in Rossland, B.C. during February. Th e space is cosy and elegant, the food and drink is wonderful, the company is stimulating, and you can feast your eyes on some vivid Kootenay high-realism.