Capturing the Spirit

This weekend I was lucky enough to be asked by the Comox Valley Arts Council to participate in something called "capturing the spirit."  I was asked along with several other artists to come to the Vancouver Island Music Festival and park myself somewhere in the fray to make art.  I received a weekend pass to the festival in order to "capture the spirit" of the event. At first I have to admit I was a bit reluctant about the whole thing.  I have difficulty even letting my husband see my work in progress.  I hate for anyone to look over my shoulder or comment on my work as it's being made.  I would almost prefer that my work appear, almost as if by magic, rather than give any impression that someone was creating it.

As you can imagine I approached the job with some trepidation and nervousness.  I had slept only four hours the night before, (an excellent tactic for anyone starting something new, don't you think?) and was feeling frazzled and unhappy about setting up in public.  However I was surprised by how quickly I relaxed and adapted.  People seemed to understand that I needed a bit of space to get started, and I had about four glorious hours to get started on my work with no interferance at all.  I had set up the largest easel you could imagine.  The saying "go big or go home" comes to mind.

 My mother was there with me, and she had bought my children two sets of
fairy wings, which they promptly put to good use.

As you can see I added my daughter to my drawing initially:

As the day progressed I became incresingly interested in the festival and the music.  I also took a little tour around the site to see some of the other artists involved in Capturing the Spirit.

Here's my final piece:

Here is a video from 2009 about the program: