Feeling Humbug? Gift Yourself some Gratitude

I love December for the colorful lights and the frosting of snow that makes me feel like I live and work in a holiday snow globe. The anticipation for Christmas is fun too. BUT! I have to confess. This season also makes me feel a little like Scrooge. Bah, humbug! I’m all for the Christmas spirit, but what drives me bananas is the consumerist spend-fest. My true confession, I suppose, is that I am not a gift-person. I don’t want gifts for myself and I’m terrible at picking gifts for others. Some people get bucket loads of pleasure from purchasing and giving gifts. If you are one of those people: I’m happy for you! I, on the other hand, find shopping torture…

December always reminds me how I love giving the gift of experiences.

I’m sure you’ve heard of The 5 Love Languages. I read the Gary Chapman book years ago and from the descriptions, I nodded my head at the “quality-time” description and cringed at the “gift-giving” description.

We all have our own styles of showing love – and I think that’s what the holidays are truly about. Showing love to the people we cherish.

So perhaps that is my one gentle reminder to us all this December. Let us reflect on our blessings, choose gratefulness over frantic shopping, and express love to the important people in our lives, letting them know how much they mean to us. That’s how I turn my humbug on its head.

What are your favorite aspects of the holidays?

What do you loath every December?

December Art, Curation, & Book Update!

“Graphic Glee”
By Alexis Marie Chute
Acrylic on canvas
48” x 68”
2019
$3390

Art Party + Holiday Market

This Saturday, December 7, 2019!

Pick up something special for the avid readers and art lovers on your list at my first Holiday Book, Art and Craft Sale!

Join me on December 7^th from 1-3 pm at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel (free parking, ticket validated inside) for a fun-filled afternoon of live music, art, and shopping. DJ Mintu will be pumping up the festivities PLUS at 2 pm we will have a special live performance from the Edmonton band Moonshine Mammas!

What will be available at the book, art and craft sale?

All my books will be available PLUS I will be on scene signing books!
My latest collection of original artworks will be on display and for sale
The Expecting Sunshine Documentary
Handmade soy wax candles—they smell AMAZING!
The 8^th Island Trilogy and Expecting Sunshine themed jewelry and keychains
Greeting cards
Ornaments
Journals
Bookmarks
And MORE!

Click here to see a few photos of what will be available at the holiday sale.

NOT JUST A HOLIDAY SALE. ALSO AN ART PARTY!

SEE MY NEW PAINTINGS! THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMILE!

Photo via Trip Advisor

New Job! Yahoo!

Curator at the Multicultural Heritage Centre

Look at that beautiful brick building! Inside it is a lovely gallery space and I am beyond honored to be the new Curator there! I officially start in January, 2020, but I’ve already been planning some amazing exhibitions.

Stay tuned for a whole slew of new “calls for submissions” for artwork.

Subscribe to my e-newsletter to have these opportunities sent right to you.

Click here to subscribe. Enter your name and email address.

I will still be Curator-in-Residence at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel, and I have another Curator opportunity in the works. Stay tuned and I will share with you when the news is official.

What I believe: I am a huge supporter of local art. Both its creation and presentation. Art plays an important role in our society, broadly and personally. It is an attraction and also a critical means of communication. It speaks to the age we live in and the world we wish to form tomorrow. I am thrilled to have a part in setting the temperature of the cultural climate where I live. I bring passion, vision, and bountiful energy to this job. It’s more than a job to me. It is a calling.

Photo via Trip Adviser

“Graphic Glee”
By Alexis Marie Chute
Acrylic on canvas
48” x 68”
2019
$3390

Joy Passion abstract art painting Alexis Marie Chute Dec'19-0115

New Art Up on the Website!

“Joy + Passion 2.0”

I’ve added new paintings to my online gallery! They are a continuation of last year’s paintings, which I called “Joy + Passion.” It’s all a continuation I suppose. It started with “Joy,” and has evolved from there.

The “Joy+Passion” abstract painting series is a celebration. It resulted post a season of grief-induced art making. After my loss, I didn’t paint, I couldn’t. Then, getting back into my personal creative work, I found tremendous healing and fresh life there.

This new series utilizes the power of color and graphic strokes. This body of artwork is calm yet energetic, meditative, contemplative, hopeful, and centered, reinterpreting the central-circular mandala theme in fresh ways.

The art beckons others into a peaceful joy, reflective thoughtfulness, hopeful anticipation. Its minimalism is symbolic of the state where everything else has been stripped away and only the essentials remain, expressed through graphic brush-work and bold gestures.

The continuation of the series blossoms with new life and vitality. It communicates this through energetic blues, yellows, and metallic colors, though playful mark-making and patterns.

Click here to see the new paintings!

“Graphic Glee”
By Alexis Marie Chute
Acrylic on canvas
48” x 68”
2019
$3390

Are you a Gift-Giver?

Check-out my Shop!

If you’re still gift-hunting and looking for meaningful presents for your family and friends (and co-workers, your kid’s teachers, etc.), please pop over to my shop!

I’d love to help you give special gifts! One way I do that is by personalizing and signing my books. Buy a book from my shop, and email me with the name of the person you are giving it to, and I will address the book to that person, pen a little message, and add my John Hancock.

I’ve got more than just books in my shop, too. There you will find:

Book Boxes
Expecting Sunshine Documentary Film
Art
Greeting Cards
Candles
Journals
Jewelry
Mentoring Services
Book Trailer Filming

This holiday, if you are not giving the gift of experiences, try shopping from small businesses and artisans. Your purchases will be extra special and will help encourage those makers who create work from the heart.

Happy December!

Thanks for reading!

– Alexis Marie Chute

X