Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

For inexplicable reasons 8, 17 and 42 have, from a very young age, been my favourite numbers. (Weirdly, I was a child when I picked these numbers but 8 was my late husband's hockey number and 17 is my current husband's hockey number and between the two of them I have been married nearly 42 years.)  But enough about that for now.

So far the year 2025 has been "Workshop" year for me.  I literally have lost count of how many workshops, lives, tutorials, challenges and classes I have already participated in during the first 85 days of the year.  Many include paint. Some include fabric - making me a wee bit regretful that I have wheedled the enormous stash of fabric I inherited from my Mama down to just 2 Rubbermaid containers. 

In my sanctified reasoning many of these workshops fall into the category of crafting, rather than art. Some are a combo of both.

It has taken many years for me to stifle my "imposter syndrome" enough to be able to call myself "An Artist."  And now, here I am an artist and reverting back to my crafting days. And though I am enjoying them, I have to admit that I sort of feel like I'm cheating on myself.  I'm not sure why. For truly both arts AND crafts are exercising the same gift of creativity.  

Anyway, let's get on with the story I came here to tell you.  (Writing is my other 'thing.' I can write, art and craft. But don't ask me to talk, sing or dance - I drew the short straw there.) 

So this morning I had a zoom call in one of the final days of a ten day creative workshop with BB Henry Arts (Go ahead and google her-  she is super creative and diverse and she does a bit of everything for everyone.) 

This was actually a FREE 10-day workshop.  Being free, and being that BB (Brooke Henry) is a pretty dynamic and talented person, led to there being over 9000 people signed up for the workshop. Yup. NINE thousand.  I was one. 

Today was the 5th of five zoom calls in the workshop. During each call Brooke usually hands out 8-10 giveaways. These include art supplies, works of art, free admission to paid membership in classes and workshops etc.  

The way these giveaways are conducted, she has her assistant do a random number generator and the first person to guess the number between one and 100 is deemed the winner. 

Today I had the zoom call running on my phone without my face in active video while I was in my studio doing other things. (I've been sort of down and out for a week with a cold and I am trying to be prepared to leave for Hawaii in 2 days and also be prepared to teach two large paint nights within 3 days when I return on April 26.) 

Shortly into the zoom call, Brooke does a giveaway.  I know from experience that with this many people in the group it usually takes nano seconds for someone to guess the correct number between one and 100. I didn't even try to get back to my phone with my wet hands to enter a guess. But I said out loud to no one, "Seventeen is my guess." 

Yup 17 was the number. Yay Sarah, or Lucy or Michelle, or whatever your name was. I was pretty stoked that you picked my number and won.  

A while later my hands were dry when the next giveaway took place so I scrambled to my phone to enter my pick. I knew I was a bit late to the game so I opted to enter "8" rather than my other favourite number of "42."  The middle of the pack numbers always get guessed first. I knew I stood a better chance by picking a low number or a high number. 

Holy Hannah! I won! I freaking won!  I am the proud new member of BB's RingDex Class, which honestly I had already been looking at paying the membership fee to join.  Woohoo!  This was after a bit of anonymity after realizing my zoom identity was "iPhone user" instead of my actual name. But I won indeed. 

This drew me into the call more intimately and I started working on a project for the class while I sat closer and paid more attention to the screen.

About 15 minutes later there as another giveaway. This one for a membership in different class. 

I was quick to respond so I entered my 'middle of the pack' favourite number. 42 

Uh yeah. I won.  

We are talking nano seconds to be the first to enter the winning number. And I'm a bit zoom challenged when it comes to making my way around a call. 

Turns out they opted to give someone else a chance. 

The second person to guess my lucky 42 was awarded the prize. I'm super happy for her.  I like my prize better. AND prize or no prize, the fact that I won makes me feel like the winner.  

There were a number of other giveaways during the call, but I opted not to enter a number knowing I wouldn't win anyway.  I wish now that I had written a number down... y'know just to play along. 

I don't remember the rest of the winning numbers.  But I'm sure I woulda called them.  

I am an artist. A crafting artist. I am a crafting artist who can do math. But I'm not mathy enough to figure the odds of the number of people picking numbers between 1 and 100 and guessing the first three numbers correct. 

Seriously.  

I did not go out and by a lottery ticket today. But you are welcome to use my numbers.   8, 17, 42.   If you need three more I would go with 3, 12 and 20.  (These are more intentional numbers for me- come for a visit if you want the 'why') 

You're welcome.  I will take a 10% tithe of your winnings.   

I'm Sexy and I Know It ...

 Who'da thunk??!? 

My film debut would be me in a swimsuit, showcasing an exercise program? 

Seriously! 

As is my usual two-to-four times a week custom from October to April, I went to aquafit at the pool today.  I usually show up about 20 to 30 minutes early and do some core work treading water before the 50 min cardio program starts. 

The cardio program started at 12:10 today.  

I entered the pool about 11:40. Another gal joined me shortly thereafter.  We were the only two there in the shallow pool. 

A few minutes later the aquafit instructor waved the two of us over. He is a super friendly guy who just started leading these classes, of mostly elderly women, at the beginning of the New Year.  He's only been in Canada, from south Asia, for about two years. 

He was quite nervous and a wee bit awkward to start with. 

But he has really come along the last 6 or 7 weeks.  He is always asking for input and opinion in his broken English.

He waved the two of us over and asked if we'd be okay if he video'd while he instructed and explained the differences between doing jumping jacks in shallow water versus deep water versus on land. This was a requirement of his becoming certified as a fitness instructor. 

I thought it weird that he would ask just us two rather than waiting for the entire class to arrive.  

We gave our "click here to accept" consent without really knowing what we were consenting to. 

Before we knew it he set up his phone camera on a tripod, the music in the entire pool shut off and he waved us over to the end of the pool. 

And the two of us were versed in the art of doing jumping jacks for about 10 minutes. 

By the time the recording was over, a dozen or so others had entered the pool wondering why the heck they were apparently late for class when they were still 5 minutes early. 

Our film debut ended right at 12:10.  

Time for class to start. 

He motioned for the class to start the warm-up jogging while he went to fire up the music playlist. 

After 15 minutes of silence throughout the complex (so the instructor's instructions could be heard on his phone camera while he recorded his two willing participant athletes) the class music started belting out... 

"I'm Sexy and I Know It " was the first song. 

Followed by Adam Levine belting out "Moves Like Jagger." 

Coincidental that these two songs were the first ones played after my swimsuit film debut? 

I think not. 

It's February Again. Already!

 

It seems every year has two New Years. 

Of course there is January 1st, the actual New Year of the Gregorian calendar. 

But September often also feels like the "New Year."  

The kids go back to school. 

The casual days of summer are winding down. 

Many clubs and churches and sports teams and groups begin a new season. 

For many years, September brought to me a pull and a longing to 'go back to school.' Not for anything in particular.  Not a yearning for high school math and PE and lockers with combination locks that haunt my nightmares even on occasion still, 40 some years later.  

I just wanna learn stuff that I want to learn.

 I do admit that the last few years that pull has been a little less intense.  I have been busy.  Busy forging a new life. A new husband. A new house. And new adventures. Surely the waning pull for schooling has nothing to do with an aging brain.  

Last September that old feeling surfaced again, and I signed up for a watercolour painting class at Studio 2880. I loved it! Much of it was stuff I knew, but I did learn some things, but mostly I loved just being scheduled every week to have to do something that I enjoyed, but didn't necessarily make time to do (outside of needing to be intentional about painting 110 Christmas cards each year.)  Happy New Year. 

8x10 Watercolour Painted at Studio 2880

Then January came. The real New Year. 

New year, new starts. 

I began signing up for classes that enticed me. 

And here it is the last day of January and I find myself registered and participating in 11 different classes, groups and clubs. All of them in the creative arts in some way or another. 

Most of them online. 

That's the problem with the online world and algorithms. All you have to do is show interest in ONE thing. And BAM! Everything that comes across your feed is more enticing than the last.  And you gotta try them all. 

So my clean, simple watercolour art studio that my new husband and new house have granted me, has suddenly become filled with acrylic paints, fabrics, papers, glues, canvases, scissors, inks a plethora of other things. 

And my Amazon delivery guys are on a first name basis. 

And I rarely emerge from my studio, except to go to the pool three or four days a week. Not so much to get a bit of bodily exercise, but to get me out of the house so I can stop by Michaels for more supplies on the way home.  

And tomorrow is February. 

And February means Opus Art Supplies daily practice month.  

Opus Daily Practice is an event I have participated in for the past eight years.  

Each day they give a prompt word and the participants create a piece of art somehow remotely connected to the word.  

For eight years, I have taken that prompt word and painted a watercolour work of art. Ok, they haven't all been 'works of art'.  Many have been experiments. But they are watercolours.  

Eight years times 28 days, and a couple of Leap Year's thrown in there. That's a LOT of paintings. In recent years I have made most of the paintings greeting card size so I could get rid of them - 8x28 equals many. (Sorry, I don't math or PE anymore). 

But tomorrow is February... 

Watch for the Opus Daily Prompts to bring out more than watercolour paintings in me this year.  

Also, I'm trying to keep up with all kinds of classes and mediums and content. So you might wonder how I connected the prompt with the image you see. 

There's a very real possibility there isn't much connection at all between the daily word and the art. But I will post some form of art each day in February. You can use your imagination to make a connection...

...or just shake your head.