nature of contentment

2021/22

ARTIST STATEMENT: GHOST TOWNS

My inspiration for the Ghost Towns paintings began with a series of trips within rural Manitoba and south through the grain belt of United States. I became aware of the deterioration of many of the small towns. Houses that were once grand were decaying and visibly returning to the earth; “For Sale” signs dotted the main street buildings; and railway lines were fenced off as trucks roared down the main streets. However, even as the economic viability of these towns dwindled, an interesting juxtaposition of rebirth was evident. Antique stores and flea markets were taking over abandoned businesses, and fairs and exhibitions were attempting to lure in new populations. A sense of impermanency pervaded.

Everything in our contemporary life is in constant fluctuation — nothing is as it was a second ago. And yet we hold onto possessions, personal image, people, values, beliefs and habits as if they were meant to remain the same forever.

Ghost Towns, is about impermanency and its related consequences, and as such I have shifted my approach and processes of image-making.

I have limited my mediums to image transfer combined with paint. I begin each painting with layering the image transfers onto the canvas. I then pull the images together through painting. More transfers and paint are added until I achieve my desired effect. Because the images for transfer come from various sources, a discord is produced. Perspectives, proportions, colours and light sources are all slightly off from each other producing an uneasy, ungrounded and surreal quality.

At first glance, each scene appears casually realistic, but a closer look reveals a deeper layer in which sarcastic, humorous, ominous and even ghostly events transpire.

2017

"Approaching Corner Brook, NF" 2017 encaustic on board 43"x11" Sold

”Brier Island, NS” 2017 acrylic, image transfer 16"x14" Sold

”Canadian Shield, MB" 2017 acrylic 24"x30" $400

”House in St. John’s, NfL" 2017 encaustic on board 8"x9" SOLD

”Symbiosis" 2017 acrylic, oil, image transfer 19"x25" $360

"Small Footprint" 2017 acrylic, image transfer 20"x16" SOLD

2016

Artist statement: "Roots"

Root:

* a vehicle to deliver nourishment

* the cause of close emotional attachment

* a source of origin, a basis, a means of continuance

* to root - to establish a firm base

During summer hikes along pathways and river banks, I am drawn to the winding patterns of tree roots. Some strong and resilient like corded rope, others brittle and weathered like polished bones or old gnome fingers, and others flowing and shimmering like ghostly snakes. Pushing up from their earth home to meet the air and warmth of the sun, they are but a hint of the hidden structure that lies below.

My attention shifts to the spaces within the roots - the arrangement of rocks and plants, puddles and insects, all nestled within the crossed boundaries. Closer inspection reveals layer upon layer of their own intricate worlds.

“Roots” - my series of seven paintings - represents this relationship of strength and mystery. Dense oil paint portrays the concreteness of the roots - the base of strength and source of nourishment - while layers of image transfer build ethereal almost hidden scenes within.

2016

”Roots: Grounded” 2016 oil, image transfer 20"x24" $480

”Roots: Flow” 2016 oil, image transfer 20"x16" $320

Roots: Potency” 2016 oil, image transfer 20"x16" $320

”Roots: Heartfelt” 2016 oil, image transfer 19"x24" $480

Roots: Expression” 2016 oil, image transfer 20"x16" SOLD

”Roots: Intuition” 2106 oil, image transfer 20"x16" SOLD

2015

"A Bale of Turtles" 2015 mixed media on paper 30"x22" $380

"Face to Face" 2015 oil 36"x28" $1,000

"Up for Air” 2015 oil 42"x32" SOLD

”Within Reach" 2015 acrylic 36"x24" $800

"Turtle Shell #1" 2015 cast paper, mixed media 21"x18" $200

"Turtle Shell #2" 2015 cast paper, mixed media 21"x18" $200

2014

“Ablaze” 2013 encaustic, image transfer on board 10.5” x11” $200

“Seabed Secrets” 2013 encaustic on board 10.5” x 11” SOLD

"Within the Ice" 2013 encaustic, image transfer on board 10.5" x 11" SOLD

"Splash" 2013 encaustic on board 10.5” SOLD

"Feathery Fossils" 2013 encaustic, mixed media on board 10.5” x11” $200

"Afternoon Shadows" 2013 encaustic on board 10.5” x11 $200

2012/13

Artist statement: "fossils"

Nature speaks and I offer up her stories through my art. As I walk in her beauty – be it snow, sand, rocks or trees - my ideas take sprout, grow, bear fruit and fold within themselves. Living in Manitoba on a foundation of limestone has inspired my latest body of work based upon fossils. Polished leathered shapes raised upon or carved into ancient stone, they are fascinating in their textures, shapes and lines; mesmerizing in their details. Scales, veins, tendrils, ridges form the “bare bones” of past stories taunting us to unearth the characters and reveal the plots.

2012/13

"Turtle" 2013 acrylic, mixed media 30" x 25" SOLD

"Bred in the Bones" 2012 oil, image transfer, mixed media 33" x 40" $1300

"Fossil Site 108” 2012 cast paper, acrylic, mixed media 24"x30" SOLD

"Structure" 2012 watercolour, pencil, acrylic 20" x 26" $400

"Shelf" 2013 watercolour, pencil, acrylic 26" x 20" $400

"Effervescent" 2013 watercolour, pencil, acrylic 20" x 26" $400

2010

“Oasis” 2010 oil, cast paper, pencil 28"x 48" Sold

"Hole in Soul series: Amarylis” 2010 water colour, ink, image transfer, mixed media 10"x11" $125

"Hole in Soul series: Farmhouse” 2010 water colour, ink, image transfer, applied paper 10"x11" Sold

"Hole in Soul series: Moving Outward” 2010 water colour, pencil, image transfer, applied paper, photographs 10"x11" Sold

"Hole in Soul series: Wishing Well” 2010 water colour, ink, image transfer, applied paper 10"x11" $125

"Hole in the Soul series: Yielding” 2011 water colour, pencil, image transfer 10"x11" Sold

2007-09

Artist statement: Rivers

“The river was flowing gently and softly … but it’s voice sounded odd; it was laughing!” Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

The river flows gently around our bodies, slips through our fingers, and turns into mist. We see it as the gentle, nourishing female element while earth with it’s solid forms and rich textures is the strength that provides our world with stability. Similarly, when we think of our own strength we focus on our bodies for they are tactile, made of muscle and bone. But in reality it is our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies that provide our stability or our collapse. It is our soul’s reaction to our body’s action that creates our destiny, just as water carves and molds the earth into its ever-changing shape.

Nature instinctively moves with the ebbs and flows, accepting where the river will take it. We choose to muscle our way through life rather than listen to the rhythms within. It is this contrast of function and its effects, that are the subject matter of my latest body of work. I have chosen the river as the symbol of our “True Selves” or the “All Knowing”. It represents the strength deep within us as we try to balance our inner conflicts of humility and confidence, joy and envy, apathy and compassion.

In working with a variety of mediums, I make choices based upon the medium’s own emotional or mental impact. overlays of handmade paper lend an air of delicacy and vulnerability, while the paper casts form more rigid and determined expressions. Layers of transparent colours represent the depth of awareness needed to arrive at the “All Knowing”. At times I have chosen to allow Nature to speak for itself, while in other works I have woven the Human element into Nature or made the Human form the primary subject.