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!

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.

In the end is the beginning...Well, maybe not.

In the process of creating this image a few things started coming into focus...by opening my mind's eye I could envision strange occurrences in the most banal objects; I was attracted to some pretty macabre images, such as skeletal remains; I had an underlying concern for the environment; and perhaps I had a hidden fatalistic view of where the world was heading.

"Cause & conséquence - eau" was the first in a series of four lithographs about the effects of pollution, the last of which was a culmination of the previous 3. These images were developped using Photoshop and were created when I was enrolled in the Bachelor of Visual Arts program at Université de Moncton. In 2005, "et à la fin" was chosen as the finalist for New Brunswick in the BMO First Art competition.

Détresse- mixed media

Three Sages - Ceramic