Janice Mason Steeves

 My friend, Åsa Boström is a Swedish artist and writer.  She is also coordinating the workshop in Cold Wax and Oil that Rebecca Crowell and I will teach at Ricklundgarden , Saxnas, Sweden in May.  Åsa is collecting stories from artists about their creative process. Here is her recent interview with me: Studio Practice: Can you describe your studio practice? For example when and how you work, what you surround yourself with while working, and how you switch over to studio-mode?   When I go into my studio each morning, I begin the day with a little ritual that sets the space for my creative work.  I wrote a blog post about this last summer. I have a comfortable old chair in a corner. A couple of big stones  and a white pillar candle rest on a small table beside the chair. My morning ritual is to sit in the chair, light my candle and meditate. A wood-burning stove is in one corner, bookshelves filled with art books in another co...

The group show, Modern Works/New Artists opened on Friday June 19th at Agnes Bugera Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta .   I couldn't be at the opening but Edmonton friends took this photo for me.  Here's a closeup shot of the painting in the window.           Night Garden 15 42x48" Oil/wax on panel   ©2010 Janice Mason Steeves  I am embedding a Rumi poem in many of the pieces.  One of the poems I love is entitled, “Bend, Tend, Disappear“ from the book The Illuminated Rumi , translated by Coleman Barks.   "This is how you change when you go to the orchard where the heart opens: You become fragrance and the light that burning oil gives off."