Took a huge leap this year, picked up the family and moved to Vancouver Island. The two year plan to make the move turned into two months and we are no preparing to spend Christmas on the Pacific Ocean.

This was a huge step out of comfort zone and we still should be a little in shock, but the Comox Valley has welcomed us with open arms and very good weather so for now we are riding  this wave as long as we can.

I will building upon the consulting and creative work I have been doing and reaching out to new people and places to see how I can keep the work life balance going.

Can’t wait to see whats next!

Just got back from three days at Chain Lake. I’ve realized the only way for me to truly disconnect is to head somewhere without internet these days. Didn’t miss it and really had a chance to stress out about stuff like trailer crap and my toddler waking up the camp at 3 am. Watched my son catch fish, frogs and dragonflies, watched Bald Eagles fly over and listened to Loons call into the night. The trip was overdue but not overdone. Looking froward to many more and a week long trip to Calgary next month.

My latest public art piece was finally installed a few weeks back and I couldn’t be more proud of it. Pretty excited to see something I designed and had fabricated installed on a high traffic corner such as this in Lake Country. Its been a  long process and a bit of a learning a curve on how to deal with Arts groups as opposed to construction savy clients.  Honoured to be part of a larger exposition and sculpture garden that include 5 other birdhouse themes sculptures.

Got to take my favourite little man down to see some urban renewal up close and personal. Great work by the City of Kelowna to take this neglected space and start to turn it around!

Day 1 of 5 open houses I was part of to get feedback on new off-leash dog parks in Kelowna. It’s been an eye opening project to see how decisions are made from inside City Hall. Not how I like to operate but have more respect for those who can make a difference from behind a city hall desk. 

This week I will be submitting my first design into a public artist call. I have some other design projects that have been incorporated into Kelowna’s Public Art Registry, but this will be the fist time that I have submitted something on my own behalf. Pretty exciting feeling knowing that a year ago I didn’t know what I would be doing and that I am now able to do what I always wanted to but never had the time to. Correction never thought I could do is more like it. Found out another gym rat  know is an amazing graphic artist and muralist, so I have brought him on board to do the custom paint. This might be the start of some great collaborations.

Will update and the end of the month when selections are made. Wish me luck!

  Finally getting around to replacing some of the bird houses at our place. Time and time again after tackling projects like these I realize I am not as good of a carpenter as I think I am. But it will all be worth in to see some new bird families setting up shop this spring

There is something to be said about quality. Finally put this girl out to pasture this week and not because it was failing in any way. A better freer option came about. Almost 30 years I’ve had this bag. I got it the season before I got my first snowboard even and still  had to convince my parents it wasn’t a fad. Not too many people even know those days used to exist. Very glad I can still do something I love and I still have gear and memories from back then. 

A lot of things have changed for us since this picture. We became parents, we traveled to some of the most unique places in the world, I started down a new career path, we even replaced this car with a more practical SUV. But as all these things change around us I realize that no matter what happens in the short term, you have to always keep to long term in mind. Always be able to change scales and see things for what they are now but also what they may mean later. We took these trips before we became parents with an understanding that out travel plans would change after childbirth. We have yet to make a big trip again but  have instead changed the scale of our trips to camping, hiking  and weekend trips to the Coast. We will get back to this one day but until then we don’t regret not being bale o take them we have just adjusted our scale.

Always a great example of built form and public art. These types of exhibits are becoming more and more popular as the population becomes more aware of installation and public art but love the ephemeral nature of temporary installations. Variety and style allow for a constant and evolving appreciation and exploration of the arts.

‘flow’ photo by khristel stecher

http://architizer.com/blog/torontos-winter-stations-2016/