Doctors & Derrieres 5 this FRIDAY!

I'm a participant in this year's Doctors & Derrieres charity auction. Here's what the website had to say about this fabulous event:

Doctors and Derrieres is a fundraising event in its 5th year where a group of medical students pose nude for talented local artists and sculptors. Art pieces in diverse mediums celebrating the human body are then donated by each artist to be sold at the main event to raise funds for global health projects.

This year's event takes place on April 30, 2010 from 7 pm to 11 pm at the Enterprise Square Gallery (10230 Jasper Ave) in Edmonton, AB.

All proceeds support Change for Children's Emergency Social Health Fund, a community-led grassroots initiative in rural El Salvador that provides health care in underserved areas.

Doctors and Derrieres is hosted by the University of Alberta medical students in partnership with Change for Children Assocation (www.changeforchildren.org) and Christian Based Communities of El Salvador (CEB'S) with donated support from the Harcourt House.

This year's artists are:

Dwight Allot
Bonnie Bigley
Ross Bradley
Margaret Braun
Chris Chalifoux
Fran Cuyler
Gerry Dotto
Kevin Fagan
Sharon Moore-Foster
Dinorah Garcia
Roger Garcia
Eric Gravel
Edmund Haakonson
Peter Harasymiw
Theo Harasymiw
Sarah Jackson
Robert Millang
Corissa Spring O'Donnell
Bob Prodor
Caitlin Sian Richards
Pedro Rodriguez
Raymond Thériault
David Thomas
Davey Thompson
Keith Turnbull
Jodi Tychkowsky
Darren Woluschuk
Gabe Wong
Amanda Woodward
Jessica Yawnghwe
Hank Zyp

An illustrated Life

I don't know if any of you remember the art show I was a part of in November of last year (it was called Growing up)? One third of those paintings are going to be a part of a travelling exhibition through the Art Gallery of Alberta's program TREX, a third of them were sold to rather lovely people and the remaining third are being transformed for a new show called "An Illustrated Life". We've added local talent Roger Garcia to our team (Amanda & Davey) and the new show will be this September at Arts Hab. I am creating at least three new pieces and am so far enjoying the new topic. I also bought a rather wonderful, large canvas that I wish to use for the upcoming show.

Do you think any of these would be a good start for a painting? Any fav's out there?

Morning Tea

Sweet Slumber

Bad News

And this isn't for the show... I just drew it for fun (imagine that?)

Getting a new sister-in-law

My brother-in-law is getting married this summer and as a part of their wedding gift I designed the invitations. I'm quite glad that they took me up on the offer as I had the change to design three stamps - two of reuse for the thank-you cards. They chose a lovely textured brown paper and hand painted the blush and little bits for the shoes, tie & flower (lovely job, Liz!).

Dinner is ready, honey

Motherhood changes everything about your life. You can be told one hundred different times in equally different ways and you'll still be shocked when your turn comes. During pregnancy, I imagined life on "the other side" would be easier. With the cumbersome belly gone and all the pressures of big client work off my back I'd be able to concentrate on fine art, sitting down to illustrate a childrens book that I'd have time to write and finally being able to work on some stationary designs. I was giving myself a "year-off", my own self-made Canadian maternity leave, just like "everyone else" who wasn't a freelancer and had real employers who made them pay EI. The house would be spotless. Dinner would be ready (and nutritious, delicious and piping hot might I add). I even remember telling my husband that when the baby came, giving me relentless hours of free time, he should expect to never cook or clean again. What a beautiful, ridiculous dream I was living in.

I am blown away by amazing women such as Rachelle Anne Miller, Gina Perry, Holli Conger and Heather Castles who really seem to make being a stay-at-home illustrator/mom so effortless (even though I know it's not). Every day has it's challenges. At first I didn't even know if I'd get around to having a shower, let alone figuring out if I'd be able to get to the dust bunnies. These days the house is pretty clean, the bed is made and supper is for the most part on the table. The studio, however, is getting dusty. Or maybe I'm just starting to get rusty. Instead of picking up the sketchbook when Dexter hits the hay I find myself wilting on the couch with a bag of chips in my hand watching Supernatural or Modern Family. Maybe I'm still exhausted from my mom's surgery or maybe it's the lack of having a full nights sleep for over a year? I took a short visit to my friend, Amanda Woodward's studio and had a little pang of longing when I saw her working on a children's book. The beautiful sketches for her current project were so lively, fun and thoughtful. I'm pondering how to find balance in my life, how to carve out more time for my career. I miss it.

Also found time to see the AGA or Art Gallery of Alberta and a little coffee at the Three Banana's Café afterward without Dexter. Loved the exhibitions. Here's a little snapshot of the building, which I completely adore!

New Website, New Blog too!

First of all here's the NEW address to my BLOG.
http://www.crystaldriedger.com/blog/

I'm proud to announce that I have a new website up and running! I'm using a site called squarespace which allows me to have faster download speeds, quicker uploading and quirky, little things that iweb never allowed me to do before (like having rollovers!) and best of all, a built in blog. Have a sneak peak! Take a look at the new site and let me know what you think!