Livin' The Dream :)

As many of you already know, last weekend was my first time exhibiting at The Artist Project Toronto. It's an amazing show, and actually what inspired me two years ago to begin my own collection of personal work, so just getting accepted and being part of that felt like a big hug from the Universe. The experience itself was so great.. I met lots of lovely people, saw many friends both in the crowds that visited and in the booths around me, and had beautiful conversations. Someone cried in my booth (the second time that's happened), which I took to be the highest compliment. People asked me questions that ranged everywhere from "how do you do that?" to "where did you stay when you were in Nice?". People saw things in my images that I'd never noticed or thought of, which was inspiring.

And I basically got to spend 4 days surrounded by images and telling stories about art, photography, love, and the magic of chance. Because if you haven't had the chance to see this collection in person yet, I'll let you in on a little secret: it's about beauty, and colour, and texture, and layers, and all that good stuff. It's about the South of France, and Paris, and a trip that I took by myself just over 5 years ago. But for me, the collection represents something bigger..

The Absolute Magic of Chance.

What happens when you go as far as you can out on a limb, and then just jump. Without really knowing what you're jumping into, or what will happen, or if it's a good idea. But having a gut feeling that it's the right thing to do.

Because as well as taking about a million pictures in my 3 weeks in France, I also met a man. A handsome fellow with a great accent. He was from Belfast, and was in Nice to go scuba diving. We were staying at the same hostel, and met in line for dinner. That man is now my husband :) Those images have grown up to be my first collection of personal fine art pieces. That trip changed my life, and I could never have seen it coming.

So even when things are not working perfectly, or are much harder than I think they should be, deep down in my heart I feel so blessed at how things are turning out. At how the adventure of my life is unfolding. So if you see me in a booth full of images that look a bit like fairy tales, it's because that's how I feel about that trip. To see my work is to see how I feel about Love, Adventure, and Romance.

I hope that each and every one of you follows your dream - even if you don't know what it is yet :)

xo
Jessica