Saturday, August 25, 2012

Painting Paint

 
 
North Rustico is a wonderful small fishing village on Prince Edward Island.  It is populated with rustic groups of old buildings.  Recently I used many of these buildings as reference for a series of paintings based on tight, almost abstract compositions painted with realistic detail. 
I was hoping that by saying less about the building as a whole, I would say more about the poetic quality of the aging process and the movement of time.
In this technological world when the pace moves faster and faster, I loved the idea of peering through the age worn paint and rippled windows into slower, simpler time.
 


Thursday, August 16, 2012

An Ordinary Gift


I am always on the lookout for the interesting and unusual locked inside of ordinary experiences. These become extraordinary moments that punctuate my life... a ray of light,  reflections in a table top,  the elegant movement of an arm, a swirl of fabric in a dancer's dress... elements that seem so ordinary on the surface bless me with amazing joy as I focus my attention on them.

It is like unwrapping a gift. At first I am sitting alone waiting for my iced tea, wrapped up in my thoughts, and then I see the reflection of the sky in the tines of the fork and bricks in the blade of a knife and the gift unfolds.

(left) Tea For One 14"x 11"  acrylic            (Right) Service For One 16" x 12" acrylic

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

My Colombia: Breathing in the Landscapes of My Life


Confluence 30" x 30"
 Acrylic on canvas Painted on location in Wenatchee WA
(below) First Dusting of Snow
20" x 20" Acrylic on canvas


I spent my childhood living on the slope of a valley overlooking the Columbia River. We could see the river from our house… every sunset reflected in its expanse.
My favorite playground was a dry, steep, sage covered slope punctuated with an outcropping of lava rock. It was a perfect viewpoint for the valley, the river and the mountains beyond.

Autumns from that vantage were abuzz with the sound of chainsaws: smelling of leaf smoke and burning apple wood, and stirring with the activity of the harvest. The river wound bright blue through the golden leaves of fruit trees.

Winters were shadowy ultramarine and crisp white drapery over the rolling hillsides. Shivering cold, the river was a steel band that seemed to hold the world in place.
  
Spring blazed with wildflowers that raced up the sides of slopes, blue, white and yarrow yellow... the air perfumed with apple blossoms. As the soft green grasses ripened into gold of early summer, I would imagine the slopes were the tawny sides of a giant sleeping lion, with the river its bright string toy.


But summer was a wonder! Because my father was an avid water skier meant every spare minute was spent on the Columbia….our speeding boat slicing through the blue. My father, graceful and athletic as a dancer, balanced on one ski, leaning back, holding the line with one hand…waving and smiling….sliced through the wake with a little jump….my mother, sister and I getting soaked with spray. The smell was rich, like frogs and fish and mud and boats and power.


In those years, the Columbia was ever present … a silver thread that stitched its way through the center of my young life. 


In Many ways, these early memories are imbedded in my love of painting in the open air. Spending time in nature, observant and very still was a way of life for me as a young child, and continues to be so as a painter. Although I do much studio painting, I rediscover my self when I am painting outdoors surrounded by and breathing in the landscapes of my life.


Monday, August 13, 2012

Night LIfe -Victoria Row, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Night LIfe Victoria Row 24" x 18" acrylic
I am starting this blog with a painting of an warm summer evening spent with friends dining under the fading sky and the twinkle of lights in the trees on Victoria Row,in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island in Canada.  I have visited this place almost every summer for twelve years, and spent time with warmhearted friends on the island.  Exploring and painting are at the heart of my art journey, and this island has been a long time love.