About v.s. Of: What Is Your Life Statement

There is an exercise that artists are encouraged to do regularly called writing an artist's statement.
At their worst artist's statements are pretentious, jargon filled, meaningless garble, and at their best succinct revelations baring the artist's soul.
Part of the problem is the confusion over 'about' and 'of'.

Of: the subject. My art is of.....
The subject seem's like it should be obvious, but artist are strange beasts, and often the subject isn't what you think it is. My friend Kit Cutting paint's wonderful dog portraits (amongst other things) often featuring very old dogs. Her painting of my Rolley is a great example.

Rolley, by Kit Cutting

It's a painting of a dog, a very old dog (he was 18 when this was done) but more than that it's a painting of love.
Kit is a dedicated foster parent to rescued dogs, she has a special fondness for old dogs, or geezers as she calls them. She has devoted a considerable amount of her life to finding homes that will love the old ones till the end of their days. The love they give back is guaranteed, and her paintings always are OF this, and of the wisdom of the aged ones.
I paint landscape, seem's simple enough. The funny thing is that for years I resisted painting landscape because 'everybody did it'. I slowly came to the realization that painting landscape didn't necessarily mean 'just' painting pretty pictures, landscape can have a voice. My OF is micro habitats.
I'm a dedicated natural gardener, my property is certified as a backyard habitat. I raise monarch butterflies, rescue salamanders from under the treads of bulldozers, and grow native plants that some think are weeds. This is what my art is also OF.

So what the heck is it ABOUT then?
ABOUT is more the mechanical nuts and bolts kind of stuff.
Many artists work is ABOUT the play of light, or immersion in colour often it's about the tension between light and dark, upright and horizontal, foreground and background, etc etc.
For me the first ABOUT is the abstract patterns that comprise the landscape, the designs found in the fields and wild spaces and those magical places where the two collide. Where the casual observer sees helter skelter  patches I see interwoven pattern.
Secondly I see texture. It's not grass or scrubby shrubs, is bold uprights and lacy caps, intertwining lines, and bursts of textural energy.
Third I see the play of light, fractured as it bounces off textures, becoming colours to delight our eyes.
So that's my OF and ABOUT.

What about you, what are you OF and ABOUT? you don't have to be an artist, all meaningful lives are OF and ABOUT something....
Perhaps writing a life statement is something we all should indulge in from time to time.

Art Show Commeth

Soon, Soon, Soon!

I'll be putting in: pods and corals

Tides out

Flower Face

Lotus #2

Red Hibiscus

And others

See you there!!

Pods and Corals

Walking the beaches in South Carolina we collected shells, sharks teeth and very occasionally coral. I like the aesthetics of the combination of milkweed pods and coral, also the irony of two elements of the natural world both threatened by the activities of man, collected and put in a jar/vase.

Also inspired by South Carolina, and the arts of the Gullah culture, my students have been exploring shell mosaic, with great results, here are just a few.

Sunflowers, and milkweed

Happy New Year.....where did the old one go???
It certainly was an eventful year, lots of wonderful stuff happened, and a little bit of not so.
Personally the year that was, was mostly great, new grand babies, new galleries etc.
But the rest of the world still seems to be a wee bit crazy.
I don't want to dwell on the the stupid evil people in our world but it bears mentioning that Haiti is still quite literally a disaster area, all the money we gave is still sitting in off shore accounts waiting for the politicos to get their act together, while the people deal with no food or clean water and live in the rubble.


I wish there was a easy answer, I hate that some people use situations like this to gain power for them selves. It seems that the only aid really getting through is through organizations like 'save the children' but that's focused mostly on orphans, who ironically are the lucky ones.
We are so fortunate to live where we do, to have opportunities, medical care, and this lifestyle. Give thanks.
This weeks paintings are of a sunflower, and a swamp milkweed. The sunflower is of one that the chipmunks planted in my garden last summer.
I feed black oil sunflower seed all year round. All birds love it, the finches often take it over Niger seed, and the chippies love it too.
I'm not so thrilled with the regular squirrels filling up on it, but those funny little ground squirrels are always welcome, and they usually thank me by planting sunflowers all over the garden.
The swamp milkweed is one I grew from seed I started last February. Funny thing, I waited and waited for them to germinate and finally in May gave up and tossed the soil I was starting them in into the garden, where they grew! The Monarchs loved them, and the blooms are so fragrant they bowl you over. Unlike wild milkweed the swamp milkweed or tuberose isn't invasive, you really should grow some!

Tiny 'flying jewel' paintings of butterflies

With the gallery's grand opening just days away, I've been working like mad trying to get some new work done. The SEB business course I spent the summer taking, was very informative, but it meant that I didn't get as much work ready as I normally would, and now I'm paying for that.

A couple of opportunities have been missed, and while there isn't much I can do about it, I'm still annoyed with myself.

I'm investigating having these paintings reproduced on plak-it mounts. I've had photo's plaked, and when I saw that Vivian Tserotas has had some of her work reproduced on plaks, I thought hmmm, that would work!

A paper reproduction didn't appeal to me, and there are issues with fading with canvas reproductions. I like the chunkiness of plaks so we'll see. Then of course finding shops to sell them is the next step.

St T Guild Show and Gallery News

It's almost here!

The Show in St Thomas 'Art Before Christmas' is less than a week away.

(Friday 6-9, Saturday 12-9, Sunday 12-4, 810 Talbot St, see the side bar for details)

The women who are organizing it, June Anne Reid and Sandra England (also members of the gallery) are doing an amazing job. It's going to pull all the stops!

I haven't been as involved in the organizing of this show as I have been in shows past, which has left me with more time to do marketing etc for the gallery, this was, of course, 'the plan'. Gotta have a plan.

We finished painting the gallery this week, and have the furnishings in. Rose Klein and Vivian Tserotas did an amazing job on the furnishings. The gallery is very sophisticated and contemporary looking. This week Viv and assistants will start hanging the art, and then..........Wednesday November the 17th...........we're open!

OMG

I have butterflies the size of pterodactyls.

Also, Saturday November 13th Mary Louise White, and artist I truly admire, has her opening at the St Thomas Public Art Center 7-9 pm. I Love Mary Louise's work. She's a great inspiration to me.

In praise of weeds re-visited

After much fiddling, I'm ready to post "In Praise Of Weeds" again. I'm hoping that this time it stays finished :) this painting seems to keep demanding more.

This is, of course, one of my "at risk" series.

The accompanying 'blurb' will be

Monarch Butterflies
Danaus Plexippus

Monarchs are under threat from both ends of their
migratory path. In the Northern Hemisphere habitat
loss, pesticides, and crops genetically modified to
contain Bt Bacillus thuringiensis are causing great losses
of pollinators, Monarchs being just one species threatened.
Milkweed is the only host plant the Monarch caterpillar
will eat, but is classed as a noxious weed throughout much
of it’s range.
The other end of the 3,400 mile migratory route is
Lomas de Aparicio Mexico. This World Bio-sphere Preserve is
being illegally logged, resulting in millions of butterfly
deaths.
The Monarchs take 4-6 generations to complete their
remarkable journey, truly an unexplainable marvel.
Can you imagine a world without butterflies?

Monarchs are amazing .

I've been trying to find a classification for my art lately, with out much success. I'm not an environmental artist Probably the best known environmental artist is Andy Goldsworthy who does very cool stuff, and my stuff is too 'pretty' for most of the activist art types. Not that classification is important, or perhaps even desirable, it's just that I had to write a description for my solo show coming up in April, and I really didn't know what to call my style. Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts.

I made it into the Art Exchange 's Miniature show, this is a juried show, so Yeah for me! The opening reception is Feb 6th, 7-10pm, the show and sale is Feb 2nd to 21st at 247 Wortley Rd in London. See you there.

In Praise Of Weeds

Last night at 11:00 I thought it was done. this morning at 4:00a.m. it whispered in my ear that it wasn't, and wouldn't be quiet until I got up and 'did' it.
Is it done??? I hope so, after all I have to hand it in tomorrow morning.
Tonight when I get home from work I have to frame and tag. then go over the other pieces I'm putting in the St. Thomas Show. to make sure everything is properly labeled, signed etc.
This piece is 24x30 the gold board is floated on the black board. The white on the black is a combo of real and painted milkweed fluffs.
the gold curlicue is representative of the 3400 mile journey that the Monarchs traverse each year. It takes 4-6 generations to complete that cycle and is one of the unexplained wonders of our world. Over laid on the curlicue are written man made hazards faced by the Monarchs, logging of Lomas de Aparicio, Bt etc. each are punctuated with a screw, since that's what the butterflies are (screwed) when they encounter these hazards. The green circle with a bite taken out of it is representative of the Lomas de Aparicio World Biosphere Preserve, which illegal loggers have taken a massive toll on, clear cutting, thousand of acres. Running around the blue area is a litany about the urban sprawl, pesticides, herbicides, and genetically modified Bt infused crops all of which are causing an alarming decline in butterfly (not just Monarch) populations, and could lead rather quickly to the extinction of at lest some species of butterflies. The ramble of words concludes with 'imagine a world without butterflies'.
See you at the show P.S. it's whispering to me Still, so watch for future changes to 'In Praise of Weeds'

I'm back

We got in late Wed. night from our New York trip. It was wonderful, and I have two picture cards full in my camera bag. I haven't had a chance to see them yet, as I had to work yesterday and I go in, in about 1 1/4 hours today. I'll have a lot to say as soon as I have a few moments to get to the computer.

For now I just want to remind everyone that the Dorchester Show is tomorrow, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. at the Dorchester arena, across from Timmies on Dorchester Rd.

This is going to be part of the Monarch piece that I'm working on, you can see the tissue paper that I'm using, a bit of a challenge, but I'm liking it.

EDIT: New York was cleaner and friendlier than I expected. We did most of the touristy stuff, Empire State Building, Macy's, Times Square (our hotel was 5 blocks from it), Broadway (we saw Spamalot~hilarious) Harbour Cruise etc etc. The tour was so tightly scheduled that if you weren't there when the bus was to leave, you were left behind, and some folks were.

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The M.O.M.A., and the Guggenheim. The Met was amazing. I could have spent the whole week there alone. Just seeing all of the paintings I've studied so long 'in the flesh' as it were blew me away. I've always wanted to see the mummy portraits in the Egyptian section, so I quickly breezed through that, then on to the art of the Renaissance, and Modern Masters. I can't begin to tell you the impact of seeing those paintings.................... there is a reason they are the classics, and the people who painted them are called Masters. No print has that impact.

M.O.M.A. is of course modern, Picasso, Gauguin, Monet, etc etc. There was a Van Gough exhibit on while we were there, again, I can not describe, no words are adequate. How can it be that no one saw the genius of this man during his lifetime???

Guggenheim was under renovations so we weren't able to see all of it, which was a disappointment, but again what we did see was unbelievable.

I was intrigued by the people/patrons.

There were the people who went around listening very intently to the ipods provided, I wondered if they actually saw what the artist was saying, or only listened to what the narrator said.

There were the people who were there to 'do' the museum, almost as if they were checking off a to do list, they seemed more intent on getting through it than in seeing what they were there to see.

There were the one's with cameras, bagging big game, more intent on what was in their view finder than in front of their faces. There was one guy in the Van Gough exhibit sneaking photos, since photography was not allowed, and he kept pushing people to get a good shot. I wish I had ratted him out, but... I'm too nice.

And then there were the devote, worshipful, examining every brush stoke, and constantly getting in the way of the big game baggers, Guess which one I was lol.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip, and if you get the chance, GO!

prep for &, painting in tissue

Being the environmentalist type I am, and cheap too, I've rescued several pieces of Masonite board out of the dumpster at work .I've been preparing some to work on, and boy I tell ya, it's a lot of work. first I have to cut and sand, then two coats of primer, both sides and all edges. Sand again then gesso, then undercoat, liquid gold is my favourite for the mixed media, but it's very transparent and requires several coats. whew! Now I'm ready to start, but it's taken a whole week.
I've started the next in my series 'at risk'. This one is Monarch butterflies. What remarkable creatures. Each generation only lives 3 months, a little more if the individual is very lucky and avoids all the predators / hazards. Yet they some how know to complete the journey their parents started to either the summer or winter mating grounds.
With this new technique I've been developing, the realism part of the piece is painted on tissue so that I can meld it into the rest of the work. It's more than a bit tricky. I've been trying various methods to figure out the best way to go about getting the effect I'm after. So far... well you'll see

This new painting is called "emergence". It's another one of those funky 5x15 inch boards. The chrysalis was a bit challenge as it had to be strong enough to stand up to the rest of the painting, and yet still appear transparent, or nearly so.

As some of you know I've certified my property with the Canadian Wildlife Federation's backyard habitat program. Part of the certification program requirements are that you provide food for wild creatures. so I have host plants for several butterfly species (and some moths) The common milkweed plant that the monarch Caterpillar feeds on is a bit invasive, so if you want some to grow your own monarchs on, I've got lots. just put it somewhere where it won't become a problem, or put it in a big pot in the ground which is how I handle these sorts of plants

Monarchs are one of my favourites, although I also love hummingbird moths, and 5 spotted hawk moths, huge lovely things ( wing span up to 5 inches), who's babies are called tomato horn worms. I've only been fortunate enough to have tomato horn worms twice in all the years I've been gardening. Unfortunately all of the times I had to squish them as a kid ~ Mom's orders~, must have made a dent in the population. If I'd known then what I know now..., moral of the story know who you're squishing before you squish.

Speaking of squishing no one was using our pool now the kids have left the nest, so we sold it. The tadpoles were legion. I spent the weekend catching tadpoles and releasing them into the pond. Hubby is really going to think he's under attack by frogs/toads this summer! Now get out and enjoy this wonderful day.