Speaking Natural Abstract

I started drawing and painting some thirty years ago yet in 2006 I called my first real solo exhibit "In search of a voice". Although I had been painting just as a hobby you'd think I would have found my personal style in all those years. I even completed a four year degree in visual arts...Yet only now do I feel I can speak.

I'll admit, I mumbled a few words in this language every now and again but I always fell short in the vocabulary. The syntax and grammar left a lot to be desired as well. And now, today, I feel like a babbling brook. My language of choice-Natural Abstract.

I have often created inspired by what I saw as the abstract in nature but it was always just a piece or two. In no time at all, my inspirations seemed mundane. Then a few weeks ago I held a small river rock in my hand and I really looked at it, I read ever line and crevice, I really felt it's story.

Then I held another, and another, and another...and it became evident that each stone has it's own story.

Suddenly, I have a studio full of rocks and stones, full of ideas and inspirations...And I am the story teller.

As you might tell, I treat each stone as a unique artifact. The only common denominator is that they are all oil paintings. As for the composition, I let each stone tell me how it wants to be expressed. Some want to be part of the painting, some just want to accompany it, while others just want to inspire and return to the earth from whence they came. Others I feel so connected to that they will become my personal treasures, my personal rock collection.

Recently I heard a quote on the radio that seems to fit how I've been feeling "I love ideas because ideas are always pregnant". Are they ever! I had the idea to paint what I observed in one stone and twelve paintings later, I see no end in sight.

(All images and text in this blog are protected by copyright by virtue of their publication.)

Fragments, Resistance, Passion and Shadows

Most of my days are made up of fragments, bits of this and that, intertwining but not quite connecting. The fragments are often in motion, falling away, leaving shadows in their wake - shadows that haunt, shadows that disguise, shadows that cripple - preventing forward movement.

Fragments is this oil painting, a pictorial record of how life appears at times. Red for passion:  passion for my family and my home; passion for my two littles kittens, Mim and Pip; passion for nature - fauna and flora; passion for earth and all it's glorious bounty; and passion for creativity, however it chooses to express itself. Still with all that passion, I resist living life to the fullest.

Fragments
20" x 30" oil, slate and paper on canvas

Fragments are oftentimes obstacles, cold and grey like slivers of hard slate dappled with blood, sweat and tears. They fall all around and avoiding them can be hazardous...so you let them fall and you accept the shadows they cast. Fragments, like words, can cut and diminish. Fragments, like incomplete thoughts, keep you suspended. Fragments of life, love and loss...

Still, every now and again you tune in to the passion and once again you rise and greet the day with enthusiasm. That day is at hand!

Fools' Gold

Earlier this year, I decided to take time off from my studio, yet every now and then I find myself at Curio Studio working away on some creative venture, mostly crafty things. This is what I was up to earlier this week when suddenly my mind took a turn. By the time I awoke from my creative haze there was Fool's Gold oozing out of my canvas.

Fools' Gold

Acrylic/Mixed Media

20"x24"

I must confess I am not the ideal person to point the finger at environmental miscreants because I am far from being a hardcore environmentalist. Don't get me wrong, I really care deeply about the environment and have adjusted my lifestyle and many behaviours to preserve and benefit the planet. I strongly believe that it is better to do something to reduce the burden on mother earth rather than to do nothing. That being said, I also accept that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. (This is me trying to justify the many luxuries which surround me.) Still, while I might not feel I have the right to lend my voice to the tragedy that is occurring in the gulf waters, there is a latin phrase that often comes to my mind: Spiritus ubi vult spirat (Inspiration does not depend on will, it is a gift)...and so here I am.

Fool's Gold came about when I went to the studio to do a completely different piece and suddenly I found myself going in a direction I had truly been avoiding...Social commentary through art.

It is becoming evident to me that social commentary is often the direction my work takes. And the reason this befuddles me is that I'm not convinced that I can make a real difference. However, recently it has come to my attention that some of the greatest humanitarians attribute their success on the fact that they focus on the ' individual ' instead of the multitudes and that is how they made, and make, a difference. By that same token, if I choose to add my little statement to the thousands of voices outraged at the injustices and the callous disregard for the environment,  the message becomes so much louder and clearer.

Now all we need is for the Powers-that-be to open their ears and listen!

Threads II - Forest for the Trees

Renovate, paint, blog, photograph, renovate, print, carve, renovate....you got the gist of it. This total "busy-ness" makes it very hard to focus. Yet focus is becoming more and more important to me. I believe I need it if I'm ever going to really be good at expressing myself through my art, at reaching some pinacle of success. Okay, perhaps I'm overdramatizing a tad...Success is subjective and I guess I have achieved it in many regards.

What I really need is to quiet my mind and I feel a good way to achieve this is, you guessed it, Focus! With this in mind, I am continuing my search for the common threads in my work and lo and behold, there is the tree, a source of inspiration and awe! 

Although I have countless art pieces featuring trees I'll share these four, some old, some new, some unfinished and all in a different medium.

La pénombre (The Shadows)

Monotype-Ink on Somerset paper (32" X 55")

Moonlight Through the Apple Tree

Digital Photograph

Shadow Play

Acrylic on unmounted canvas

8" x  48"

Raw clay carving, not yet air dried. Bisquing and glazing to follow. (4" x 10" X 2")

Of course, don't get me wrong I do treat a lot of other subject matter, but when I look around in my home, in my studio, in my yard, trees are very present. And no wonder, where would we be without them!

Out with the old...

Let me begin by saying that it is really difficult to post when you haven't done it for awhile. I just felt like I needed to clear out a few things and create a more orderly work place. And that's what I have been doing...Out with the clutter; Out with the old! And hopefully the "In with the new" will soon follow.

Before I discard or store away the old, I want to keep a record of certain aspects of my work. In keeping with this concept, every now and again I shall post some of my old work prior to removing it from my studio.


In 2007, I had a solo exposition at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick. It was called Cognition and dealt with the subjects of awareness and duality. Two of the pieces in that show are shown here. They have been hanging at Curio Studio since that time.

New Forest & Old Forest

2 separate acrylic paintings on stretched canvas 24" x 52" (each piece)

In Old Forest our eyes cannot see the forest for the trees, while in New Forest our eyes cannot see the trees for the lumber. As a reflection of my own hypocrisy in condeming the pulp industry both are framed in wood, a stark reminder that when you point a finger at something, three fingers point back at you.

Seven Deadly Sins

Overpass scene painted on seven canvases each measuring 12" x 48".

Written in Latin, one can read the 7 deadly sins as designated by christian religion:

INVIDA - AVARITIA -LUXURIA - IRA - ACEDIA - SUPERBIA - GULA

(ENVY -AVARICE -LUST - WRATH - SLOTH - PRIDE - GLUTTONY)

The use of the overpass seemed the perfect segway to each panel and demonstrated how we go about our daily routines without really noticing what is happening around us.

This piece also had a counter piece which dealt with virtue. In researching the virtues as they corresponded to the vices I found none truly spoke to me. That being said, one thing did seem to be an antidote for all the vices one could think of and that is RESPECT.

Also consisting of 7 panels (12" x 24"), each panel held one letter painted in a graffiti style, a commentary that it is often graffiti that is used to point out the "disrespectful" behaviour of others. I am happy to say that RESPECT is hanging on a wall in an elementary school in the southern part of New Brunswick.

Of course, there were many more pieces, some which I've already posted here and others that I would just rather forget. My thinking has changed a lot since 2007 and I would not approach the topics in the same way. I now believe that focusing on the negative only gives it more strength. I sure hope that is not what I've done!

The most important thing is that a new day has dawned and I am hoping that a daily routine of coming to the studio will help me achieve my goal of giving voice to my creative self.

So far so good!

Alpha Omega

I thought it would take me a lot longer than it did to get through the second phase of my project especially as I had no preconceived notion to begin with, only a monotype which I had stored away for the last five years. I always felt it was incomplete, however my professor at the time was very much the purist...you never enhance a print! In fact, because of his words I was extremely hesitant to touch , let alone recycle, my old print. Now that I've done it, consider me hooked.

As a total control freak, just letting things happen is not so easy but I think I'm getting the hang of it. My project, which eventually evolved into Alpha Omega, began with thoughts of the how small a connected world is. I thought of the continents, the people, the common threads and the different languages. And that is where the project took on a life of it's own. Using signs and symbols, each of the eight pages looks to promote a sense of well being.

The writings and symbols include Greek, Hebrew, Sikh, Hindu, Chinese, Alchemy, and Runes. The mediums I used include pen and ink, conte crayons and acrylic paint.

The next phase is an envelope for which I have already tea-stained a piece of canvas. Not quite sure of how it will end up...Stay tuned!

Letting Creation Develop

Can art find expression amid the chaos of construction? I sure hope so!

A few posts back I wrote about recycling my student prints. These are works that are just laying around the studio, many of which just don't seem complete in the fullest sense of the word.

My first recycling projects were story box books. My latest is a monotype print that I am hoping will find a voice after being silenced for five years. The print was about 32 x 24 inches and the subject was about the beginning of Christianity. It invovled numerous ink passes to build up the background; some laser copy transfers of maps from a bible; chine collé using beautiful japanese paper; and impressions of skeletal hands and bones which I cut out in balsa wood, inked, positioned on the print and ran through the press.

When I came upon it in my studio I was actually looking for another print, but as soon as I spotted this one I was compelled to go with the flow. As a matter of fact that is exactly what I am hoping to achieve...going with the creative flow and just letting the piece, which seems to be in book format, develop itself. No preconceived notions; no ultimate goal. Just creating and recognizing when the piece is done!

So far, I have divided the large print into eight equal pieces;

glued them back to back to create four pages;

thus, I now have eight equal size backgrounds. What will develop will develop as it should!

The creative process has begun!

Chair with a view

Until yesterday the time I've spent at the studio lately has been focused on renovations, a continuation of what we have been doing to our house. One thing that has become clear to me is: "Be Careful What You Wish For!..I always said I wanted to be a 'painter', so guess what I have been doing...Painting walls, window frames, doors, etc., etc. of course!

With winter fast approaching, I was sure my cement chair was going to have to wait 'til spring then low and behold, sun was in the forecast for two days so I got to it. It took 12 - 60 lb bags of cement, chicken wire, some copper pipes and a broken plastic adirondack chair.

I can't wait for it to be cured so that I can check out the view from a seated position! This evening, this is what that view looked like.

Spring Springing...

I feel like it's taken forever but spring has finally arrived. Apparently it was here March 20th , it just didn't look like it at the time!

Spring usually means I'm outdoors prepping flower and vegetable gardens, clearing away the dead vegetation, stirring the compost and planting trees (42 of them this year). I woke up yesterday to find that 18 of the small sapplings I had planted were all carefully dug up to get at the eggshells and bone meal I had put around the roots.

As we have a pretty short growing season, I usually start my vegetable seeds indoors. It's a lot of work but oh the rewards! There is nothing as thrilling as seeing the little sprouts breaking through reaching for the light.

Another sign of spring is our annual fiddlehead picking outing, aka the Ostrich Fern. There are no words to describe how incredible it feels to be out there, communing with nature and just seeing the resilience of each species of vegetation from the tiniest seedlings, to moss covered trunks to the tallest trees. Once there, I just never want to leave. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that all those fiddleheads have to be cleaned and blanched and packed up and frozen. The rewards of this tedious work will be most enjoyed next winter, when thoughts of spring are once again a vague memory.

Still the biggest sign of spring is the lack of time to spend in my studio. Perhaps if the house renovations were done it would be different. I'm hoping to find this out next year once the renovation of both house and studio is complete.

In the meantime, I'll continue to use my blog to ramble on and record past works, even though my head is bursting with new ideas and a desire to create that won't be held down much longer.

Worm - A Story about the Environment

Worm, The Story©

The precarious state of the earth soon became evident to the worm as it tried repeatedly to tunnel through an unrecognized dark mass which had been buried just below the surface.

Unable to break through, it turned its attention upwards.

Soon it found itself in the hot, glaring sun. As it felt the drying effects of the sun's rays it struggled to reach a small puddle that gleamed in the bright light.

The worm had to overcome what must have seemed like an insurmountable number of obstacles.

There were twigs and stones and many objects the worm had never seen before. There was a large rock and the trunk of a tree that was recently felled. There was even an anthill which the worm was determined to avoid.

It never occurred to the worm to give up the journey.

And when at last the destination was reached, the worm, slightering with the satisfaction of a job well done, soon suffered no more as the black oil which had dripped onto the driveway envelopped it and sealed its fate.

The End

©AtelierCurioStudio

I chose the royalty-free music for this video at: PacDv Free Sound Effects ( http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html )

This is the latest storybox book. I began with a trinket box that I picked up for 25 cents at a second hand shop. I painted it burnt sienna, then added crackle finish and a raw umber contrast. The storybox books are helping me recycle lithographs and photo etchings I did while a student in a four year visual arts program. These prints, of which there are many, are going to supply my backgrounds for many projects to come. All my work generally has some form of social or environmental statement, be it in the subject or in recycling the materials used to create.

Détresse- mixed media

Three Sages - Ceramic