Spiralling Evolution

It is pretty amazing how when your attention is drawn to something, in this case the spiral as can be observed in the carapace of a snail, you begin seeing the object of your focus everywhere you look. For instance, spirals are present all around us in nature; from fiddlehead ferns to the seed head of a sunflower to the centre of a tornado and to galaxies far far away. In fact, in countless plants and elements of nature, the spiral form, be it Fibonacci or logarithmic, draws you to the centre as if by hypnosis. 

Perhaps it is hypnosis that drew me to focus on moon snail shells on the beach. Some of them look as old as time, some look like they are at the pinacle of their existence. Although each one is unique, the spiral on each is unmistakable. 

Moon Snail at Cap Lumiére, NB, Canada on the coast of the Northumberland Straight

In creating my next series of paintings, I feel myself spiralling towards evolution. The other options, devolution or stagnation, are not very enticing to me. That being said, "spiralling towards evolution"  might be a bit of an exaggeration because this series of paintings is a long and slow process. As a matter of fact, the use of oil paints has been a key factor in the reduction of the rush to completion. Most of these paintings are weeks, even months, in the making. I started using oils when I did my Natural Abstracts series. It is very hard to go back to acrylics which were at one time my favorite medium. I digress. ;-)

Here are a few of my latest paintings:

Lunatia, Oil, 61cm x 61 cm
(This piece was chosen as part of a Juried Exhibition, Moncton Gallery, Moncton, NB)

Oil, 15cm x 15cm

Oil, 15cm x 15 cm

Oil, 51cm x 51cm

This is not the last of them. I still need to centre myself as I continue spiralling towards evolution...be that what it may!

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

  

Harder than one might think...

Taking a break from your work or even an activity you love can be just what you need to renew your interest or give you a totally new perspective. You can get back at it feeling refreshed and full of the vital energy needed to dedicate yourself to the tasks at hand or it can be a little more challenging...Maybe the length of the break has a lot to do with it.

Don't get me wrong, I have been busy creating, it just hasn't been with any particular purpose or goal.  My home is filled with new paintings and photographs, but now what? Some will say it's like riding a bike, but truth be known, I was never the best bike rider.

I get the distinct feeling I'm just rambling on. I am just writing whatever pops in my head. Sometimes that might be just what one needs to get those juices flowing. Of course, it could easily go the other way and just turn into crazy-maker thoughts! I'm going to go with 'creative juices"...Yup, that's what is brewing in my head. And, until a path comes in to focus, I'm just going to post and share some of the work I have been doing in the past couple of years.

Background- Painting of moon snail shell 50cm x 50cm oil on canvas 2017
Forefront- Ceramic wave with celadon glaze, bits of ceramic messages, an shells 2005

Shells, waves, rivers, oceans...It's all about nature again, only this time I'm not land-locked. I'm more water-logged. ;-)

The shell paintings were destined for a group show that I had to bow out of due to health concerns and in the end they inspired me to redecorate the living room!

This is one of the livingroom wall arrangements.

Living on the coast also had a part to play. I started observing shells, much like I did the rocks in my previous series, and noticed that although they are similar, each one has it's own identity. Each one is unique, as these photographs which I have taken in the last couple of years demonstrates.

      

Some of these photographs are framed; all of the shells are part of a growing collection; all are art in themselves. Many inspired a few oil paintings, which I will be posting in the next few weeks.

In the meantime...Namaste!

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

To be continued....

After three exhibits in three different communities, the paintings in my series Nature's Abstracts have each found a home. The culmination of this two year project came to fruition this week. Many were sold, some were traded with other artists and some were given to family.


 

 

 



In My Studio
 

 

Of  the 34 paintings, there were only three I could not part with.

ENTOURAGE
45cm x 60cm
Oil paint and paste on canvas

REFLECTION
36cm x 36cm
Oil paint, stone and resin on canvas

IRIS

30cm x 20cm

Oil paint on raw canvas, stone and feather

 

 

And a few were very difficult to part with.

MUTATION

10 cm x 12.5 cm

Oil paint, paste and stone on canvas

 

MOSAIC
60cm x 51 cm
Oil paint and resin on canvas





LEVITATION
Oil paint on Canvas
70 cm x 27 cm

The feedback I received from the three exhibits by way of written and verbal comments was most rewarding. It seems that this series of oil paintings successfully conveyed the very message I was trying to transmit-abstract art is all around us! I'm not sure yet if I am quite done with this theme because as I developed it so many new yet related ideas emerged. I am leaving them ferment as I take care of a few slightly more mundane tasks, i.e. cleaning my studio and prepping house and home for winter.

As for my blog, what can I say - To be continued....

(Note: I have been having the hardest time putting pics in my posts that it has really reduced my entries...Soooo frustrating!)

And yet another year of promise begins...

Well it has been a while. I might even say too long if I hadn't been busy creating during these past months. And with good reason...solo show coming in April. Still, as exciting as that is for me, the creating part hasn't really been about the show. It has really been about being inspired. Frankly, I just can't get enough of it. A rock is no longer just a rock...I feel like I've connected with something bigger than me. Each rock I choose soon becomes a monument to some creative process that has me enraptured.

MAESTRO
Oil on canvas, 24" x 36" (2012)

Although the paintings may not do justice to the thousands of years that go into the creation of a rock, I have this deep hope that they may awaken the observer to become as enthralled as I find myself when admiring the natural beauty that surrounds us, even in the tiniest of stones. Truly, I marvel at the complexity of it all.

Featured are two of the paintings I've been working on. I was hoping to post many more pics but I seem to be having the same problem shared by many...I can't upload my images. Of the two paintings featured here, one is accompanied by the stone that inspired it and the other is not. In the case of the other paintings I've been working on, some have the stone embedded, some are embellished with metals such as copper mesh, while others are surrounded by wooden frames. They will not all make it to my show but I'll worry about selection later. Then decisions on framing will take place and whether or not to present the inspiration stone with them.

DECOMPOSITION
Oil on canvas, 16" x 20" (2012)

As I always say, and fervently hope, I will try to post more often for I see it as the perfect journal to keep track of my creative endeavours.

And now the time has come to catch up with those blogs which I have so enjoyed and from which I have drawn so much inspiration, and , sadly, which I have woefully neglected.

Namaste.

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!