Shawna Lemay
@shawnalemay.bsky.social
A writer inspired by photography. Musings at transactionswithbeauty.com
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
"Doubt is the friend." Beautiful reminder from @shawnalemay.bsky.social
This is my one day this week to slow down, unhook from digital life, have a make music, play with words day. And of course, @shawnalemay.bsky.social showed up to set the tone I needed. Of course she did.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
Live Like an Artist: On Making Art Anyway — Transactions with Beauty
— Let us begin with the comedy of artistic doubt. Granted, I have been trying to return from 8 hours into the future (jet lag), but this past week I have been in a state of artistic doubt. It’s nothin...
transactionswithbeauty.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:39 PM
"Doubt is the friend." Beautiful reminder from @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
"If no one wants it, you might as well make whatever is in your heart": I appreciated this post on "making art anyway" from @shawnalemay.bsky.social and wish I could convince myself to do exactly that.
Live Like an Artist: On Making Art Anyway — Transactions with Beauty
— Let us begin with the comedy of artistic doubt. Granted, I have been trying to return from 8 hours into the future (jet lag), but this past week I have been in a state of artistic doubt. It’s nothin...
transactionswithbeauty.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 PM
"If no one wants it, you might as well make whatever is in your heart": I appreciated this post on "making art anyway" from @shawnalemay.bsky.social and wish I could convince myself to do exactly that.
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
“No one wishes to visit cities that are devoid of art, history, culture.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Live Like an Artist: On Making Art Anyway — Transactions with Beauty
— Let us begin with the comedy of artistic doubt. Granted, I have been trying to return from 8 hours into the future (jet lag), but this past week I have been in a state of artistic doubt. It’s nothin...
transactionswithbeauty.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
“No one wishes to visit cities that are devoid of art, history, culture.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
This is my one day this week to slow down, unhook from digital life, have a make music, play with words day. And of course, @shawnalemay.bsky.social showed up to set the tone I needed. Of course she did.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
Live Like an Artist: On Making Art Anyway — Transactions with Beauty
— Let us begin with the comedy of artistic doubt. Granted, I have been trying to return from 8 hours into the future (jet lag), but this past week I have been in a state of artistic doubt. It’s nothin...
transactionswithbeauty.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
This is my one day this week to slow down, unhook from digital life, have a make music, play with words day. And of course, @shawnalemay.bsky.social showed up to set the tone I needed. Of course she did.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
"In lieu of flowers, walk in the trees and watch the light fall into it."
#TodaysPoem #poetry
In lieu of flowers by @ShawnaLemay.bsky.social from The Flower Can Always Be Changing (2018 @PalimpsestPress.bsky.social) scalar.fas.harvard.edu/resources-fo... & palimpsestpress.ca/books/flower...
#TodaysPoem #poetry
In lieu of flowers by @ShawnaLemay.bsky.social from The Flower Can Always Be Changing (2018 @PalimpsestPress.bsky.social) scalar.fas.harvard.edu/resources-fo... & palimpsestpress.ca/books/flower...
Resources for Loss: "In Lieu of Flowers" by Shawna Lemay, contributed by Zarret Mills (2025)
I would like to contribute to the Scalar project a poem called “In Lieu of Flowers” by Shawna Lemay. I was browsing around online for something that resonated with me and stumbled upon this poem, ...
scalar.fas.harvard.edu
November 12, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"In lieu of flowers, walk in the trees and watch the light fall into it."
#TodaysPoem #poetry
In lieu of flowers by @ShawnaLemay.bsky.social from The Flower Can Always Be Changing (2018 @PalimpsestPress.bsky.social) scalar.fas.harvard.edu/resources-fo... & palimpsestpress.ca/books/flower...
#TodaysPoem #poetry
In lieu of flowers by @ShawnaLemay.bsky.social from The Flower Can Always Be Changing (2018 @PalimpsestPress.bsky.social) scalar.fas.harvard.edu/resources-fo... & palimpsestpress.ca/books/flower...
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
I’m enjoying my second read even more Shawna☀️
November 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM
I’m enjoying my second read even more Shawna☀️
Lovely to see! @palimpsestpress.bsky.social
sunday #bluebrewbooks
pieces of my lists...so many wonderful works suggested over these past months…been packing up the house and puppy gazing now some down time so currently rereading🤍
"everything affects everyone" @shawnalemay.bsky.social
pieces of my lists...so many wonderful works suggested over these past months…been packing up the house and puppy gazing now some down time so currently rereading🤍
"everything affects everyone" @shawnalemay.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Lovely to see! @palimpsestpress.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
Sometimes you just need to scream “I embrace the world!” (Gojira song. Very therapeutic!)
And another saying that has always helped is one @shawnalemay.bsky.social always says: “you are required to create something beautiful.”
That’s all I know. Hopefully it’s enough. ❤️
And another saying that has always helped is one @shawnalemay.bsky.social always says: “you are required to create something beautiful.”
That’s all I know. Hopefully it’s enough. ❤️
October 5, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Sometimes you just need to scream “I embrace the world!” (Gojira song. Very therapeutic!)
And another saying that has always helped is one @shawnalemay.bsky.social always says: “you are required to create something beautiful.”
That’s all I know. Hopefully it’s enough. ❤️
And another saying that has always helped is one @shawnalemay.bsky.social always says: “you are required to create something beautiful.”
That’s all I know. Hopefully it’s enough. ❤️
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
“People do things like read or look at art because they want to be delighted, or be shocked by beauty, or for joy or surprise or to be taken outside of where they are. … How can we show people that more? I mean, of course we can. We need to keep trying.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Live Like an Artist – Overwintering — Transactions with Beauty
— I’ve been thinking a lot about the process of overwintering, as I have brought in a couple of geraniums to spend the next season or so on my kitchen windowsill, and a hibiscus plant for another corn...
transactionswithbeauty.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:30 PM
“People do things like read or look at art because they want to be delighted, or be shocked by beauty, or for joy or surprise or to be taken outside of where they are. … How can we show people that more? I mean, of course we can. We need to keep trying.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
“Once I’ve read one thing by an author that I’ve loved, I tend to read all. I’m a re-reader, too, often re-reading the entire book or just favourite passages. I’m the dog-earing type, the underlining type. I like to have a few books on the go at all times.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Books are Life — Transactions with Beauty
A while back I wrote a list of non-fiction books that I find to be important to my life. Lately I came across this on The School of Life insta : “You’ll likely read only a few thousand books in you...
transactionswithbeauty.com
August 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
“Once I’ve read one thing by an author that I’ve loved, I tend to read all. I’m a re-reader, too, often re-reading the entire book or just favourite passages. I’m the dog-earing type, the underlining type. I like to have a few books on the go at all times.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
On finding your next read.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/finding...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/finding...
Finding Your Next Read (Old School) — Transactions with Beauty
I’m an expert at finding life changing books for myself (and maybe for you too, if you’re a regular reader of this blog). I’m confident in saying that I excel in magically summoning the most amazing b...
transactionswithbeauty.com
July 21, 2025 at 7:29 PM
On finding your next read.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/finding...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/finding...
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
“The most important thing I go on learning from Jane Austen is to view the world at a comedic distance. I read Jane Austen because she’s funny and she’s sharp and she’s tender. I read her for her layers of understanding and for the way she sees.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Shawna Lemay’s tribute to Jane Austen: on learning to “view the world at a comedic distance”
“The most important thing I go on learning from Jane Austen is to view the world at a comedic distance,” writer and photographer Shawna Lemay says in the tribute she composed for “Unexpectedly Aust…
sarahemsley.com
July 19, 2025 at 1:12 AM
“The most important thing I go on learning from Jane Austen is to view the world at a comedic distance. I read Jane Austen because she’s funny and she’s sharp and she’s tender. I read her for her layers of understanding and for the way she sees.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
“Every re-reading will reward you with a new and deeper understanding of humanity, of her genius. If you truly wish to understand the meaning of ‘wit,’ it is there in Austen’s works.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Where Shall I Begin? Living with Jane Austen — Transactions with Beauty
“Where shall I begin? Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first?” This is Jane Austen writing to her sister Cassandra on June 17, 1808. Later in that same letter she says, “You know ho...
transactionswithbeauty.com
July 14, 2025 at 11:49 AM
“Every re-reading will reward you with a new and deeper understanding of humanity, of her genius. If you truly wish to understand the meaning of ‘wit,’ it is there in Austen’s works.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
Millions of Canadians work full-time and still struggle to afford a new pair of shoes.
As costs rise, here’s one person’s story of making (and faking) it in Canada as part of the working poor.
macleans.ca/society/conf...
As costs rise, here’s one person’s story of making (and faking) it in Canada as part of the working poor.
macleans.ca/society/conf...
July 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Millions of Canadians work full-time and still struggle to afford a new pair of shoes.
As costs rise, here’s one person’s story of making (and faking) it in Canada as part of the working poor.
macleans.ca/society/conf...
As costs rise, here’s one person’s story of making (and faking) it in Canada as part of the working poor.
macleans.ca/society/conf...
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
I needed these kinds of blessings today. Maybe you do too. 💖 @shawnalemay.bsky.social
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/blessin...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/blessin...
Blessings and Praise and What Do You Want From Life? — Transactions with Beauty
It’s the time of year, maybe, when I remember my friend Michael McCarthy . I have some cornflakes in his honour. I read my favourite poem by him. I think of all the lives he touched, and how he touch...
transactionswithbeauty.com
July 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I needed these kinds of blessings today. Maybe you do too. 💖 @shawnalemay.bsky.social
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/blessin...
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/blessin...
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
What is the best Love you’ve ever had in this world? Be quiet while thinking about that Love. If someone comes along and starts talking, quietly shoo them away, you’re busy, you’re a poet… Be quiet so quiet, let the very sounds of that Love be heard in your bones.
—CAConrad, from “(Soma)tic 6”
—CAConrad, from “(Soma)tic 6”
June 25, 2025 at 8:27 PM
What is the best Love you’ve ever had in this world? Be quiet while thinking about that Love. If someone comes along and starts talking, quietly shoo them away, you’re busy, you’re a poet… Be quiet so quiet, let the very sounds of that Love be heard in your bones.
—CAConrad, from “(Soma)tic 6”
—CAConrad, from “(Soma)tic 6”
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
Read @amandaearl.bsky.social's review of @shawnalemay.bsky.social's Apples on a Windowsill (pub. @palimpsestpress.bsky.social)!
Lemay teaches us how to be attentive to the beauty in our lives, in ordinary things and their poetry, and in our own ordinariness...
www.thetemzreview.com/earl-lemay-3...
Lemay teaches us how to be attentive to the beauty in our lives, in ordinary things and their poetry, and in our own ordinariness...
www.thetemzreview.com/earl-lemay-3...
June 17, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Read @amandaearl.bsky.social's review of @shawnalemay.bsky.social's Apples on a Windowsill (pub. @palimpsestpress.bsky.social)!
Lemay teaches us how to be attentive to the beauty in our lives, in ordinary things and their poetry, and in our own ordinariness...
www.thetemzreview.com/earl-lemay-3...
Lemay teaches us how to be attentive to the beauty in our lives, in ordinary things and their poetry, and in our own ordinariness...
www.thetemzreview.com/earl-lemay-3...
The greatest invention: transactionswithbeauty.com/home/thegrea...
The Greatest Invention — Transactions with Beauty
I remember reading Jason Guriel’s essay about browsing in The Walrus when it came out in 2021. I actually picked up a copy of his book (which contains the essay) on Indie Bookstore Day — I was t...
transactionswithbeauty.com
May 31, 2025 at 5:11 PM
The greatest invention: transactionswithbeauty.com/home/thegrea...
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
“Painting is no guarantee of happiness. Neither is not painting.”
– Benjamin Moser
@shawnalemay.bsky.social
– Benjamin Moser
@shawnalemay.bsky.social
Live Like an Artist – No Guarantee of Happiness — Transactions with Beauty
— This week I’ve turned, once again , to Benjamin Moser’s book The Upside Down World . In a chapter discussing Meindert Hobbema, there is the line, “Painting is no guarantee of happiness. Neither ...
transactionswithbeauty.com
May 23, 2025 at 1:13 PM
“Painting is no guarantee of happiness. Neither is not painting.”
– Benjamin Moser
@shawnalemay.bsky.social
– Benjamin Moser
@shawnalemay.bsky.social
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
"... what I know is that if you use the same music for a piece of writing it does something to your brain — fast tracking you to the space of your work."
May 18, 2025 at 12:29 PM
"... what I know is that if you use the same music for a piece of writing it does something to your brain — fast tracking you to the space of your work."
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
Two of the marvellous photos taken this past weekend by official @yegindiebookstores.bsky.social Extravaganza photographer @shawnalemay.bsky.social.
April 28, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Two of the marvellous photos taken this past weekend by official @yegindiebookstores.bsky.social Extravaganza photographer @shawnalemay.bsky.social.
Reposted by Shawna Lemay
Well done you!
A nice review of my book of essays on Galleries West. Very chuffed to see my work discussed in an art magazine.
www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/boo...
www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/boo...
Bookmark — Apples On A Windowsill
Essays, photos by Edmonton's Shawna Lemay
www.gallerieswest.ca
April 25, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Well done you!
A nice review of my book of essays on Galleries West. Very chuffed to see my work discussed in an art magazine.
www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/boo...
www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/boo...
Bookmark — Apples On A Windowsill
Essays, photos by Edmonton's Shawna Lemay
www.gallerieswest.ca
April 25, 2025 at 12:05 AM
A nice review of my book of essays on Galleries West. Very chuffed to see my work discussed in an art magazine.
www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/boo...
www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/boo...