Drive By Shootings

Our contemporary society seems always in a deliriously rushed state. As we clutch our smartphones and attempt to squeeze an impossibly busy set of events into the day, we are even rushed when we attempt to relax.
This post takes me that place that we offer for ourselves when we seek repose and renewal. As visual artists, we are also caught up in that societal frenzy to try and capture some creative inspiration in a cramped couple of hours.
Clutching a camera in hand, a friend, also an artist, sought an escape to the Gatineau Hills to view that last of the glories of our colourful Canadian autumn from the blurred vantage point of the car window.
Streams of reflected colours, sharp accents of light and blurred shapes are captured by the lens. Even leafy shapes are pulled and distorted to the edges of the window.

As I caught these images, I felt that they were also a metaphor for our hurried lives. They are 'Drive By Shootings', an attempt to grasp at beauty that is fleeting, working against time. Even at the end of the day and the end of the season, we clutch for another moment to appreciate in our rush of life.

Credits for Drive By Shootings

Drive By Shootings IV          encaustic on board unframed             24" x 24"                $500.  
Drive by Shootings III           encaustic on board unframed              18" x 24"               $400.
Drive By Shootings I             encaustic on board unframed             24" x 24"                $500.
Drive By Shootings II            encaustic on board unframed             24" x 24"                $500.
               

The Whitehorse, Yukon Series

Let me introduce you to recent encaustic works from a journey I took to Whitehorse in February of last year 2011. With my daughter Camille, 29 on a work related trip, and my camera in tow, we arrived in Whitehorse and made our way to Kluane National Park and the majestic foothills of one of the mountain chains in that vast landscape. A week later we travelled further north to Dawson City and along the route saw some inspiring vistas. It is always formidable to take on the challenge of capturing images of the Canadian west.


I well understand Paul Cezanne's obsession with Mount St. Lazare, as he returned to capture it again and again. The mountain became his muse. A landscape can take its grip upon you as you try to capture its monumentality. 


I'm so pleased to bring these fresh vivid forms to you. 


Credit Information:


Kluane Yukon, 2011; 18"x 24" encaustic on board                     $500.


Yukon Landscape 1; 18"x 24" encaustic on board                       $400.


View to the Cliffs, 2011; 18" x 24" encaustic on board               $400.


Lake Labarge, 2011; 18" x 24" encaustic on board                      $500.

Glimpsing Through Shell Ice

As I stood before these chards of ice with various natural objects lying inside them, I became entranced by their luminosity. With the medium of encaustic on board I began to represent this fragile, transitory slates of nature.


The resulting work now make up a series of four 12" x 12" boards that have become mixed media pieces containing what I saw that day, luminous areas of lines, shapes, pieces of dried leaves, seeds. I also embedded the haiku Bob created to commemorate these delicate formations. I hope you enjoy this collaborative work as well. It claims as its title: 


Glimpsing through Shell Ice


glimpsing through shell ice
assuming aqua spirit
grey trunks nod, yearning

Featured Artist Show: Sacred Places, ArtScene at Spencerville, On

At ArtScene, in Spencerville Arlene Hare and I showed our most recent works called Sacred Places.  Here a a few sneak previews that I hope you'll enjoy. The show will be offered for you throughout all of September. Come see the 'Barnes Creek', part of the South Branch River Series that won Honourable Mention from the Marianne Silfhout Gallery.  Below is my artist's statement for the show.

The act of creating a permanent interpretation of a place that speaks profoundly to my soul is what you see before you today. many artists before me have grown to know that the communion with nature and the experience of the creative act is a holy one. When I reflect on a place, I meditate, and in so doing, the act of creation of a place is sacred. many artists see the creative act as prayer.

I begin the process with recording the place using watercolour and photography. This offers a quick accurate recording of the topography of the land. its reflects the tradition of early military officers and topographers who carefully recorded our land as they travelled from the east coast to the interior of canada. throughout my life, watercolour has been as common as holding a camera and provides a quick meaningful record for later.

once taken into the studio, the ‘place’ begins its slow and careful interpretation using encaustic painting. I only use clean unbleached beeswax from a local farm in prince edward county. all the works in this exhibition have been selected from the gatineau, eastern ontario, and the bay of quinte penninsula. these are the places i have come to know and have grown to profoundly appreciate and I share them with you today.

The word ENCAUSTIC comes from the greek, ‘enkaustikos’ meaning to literally burn in, as in the process of burning wax into a surface for a permanent stable image. the painting requires applying of layers of successive strokes of beeswax blended with oil paint. each layer is burned into the body of wax using a heat gun. There are ancient Greek art works in this medium that still have a rich vibrant array of colours, so the encaustic landscape will always maintain its colour and beauty.

take a walk through these sacred places and enjoy them with me. i hope these places speak to you as they have to me.

Spirit of the Land Awards Poster

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Marianne Silfhout Gallery Youtube Video

Enjoy this link to view the Vernissage evening of Spirit of the Land.

http://youtu.be/0xZjf-bIld4?hd-1

Spirit of the Land

This summer I entered a juried show at Marianne van Silfhout Gallery at St. Lawrence College, Brockville. This gallery is a state-of-the-art gallery with exquisitely designed moveable gallery panels and even clear lighting. The exhibition's Vernissage showed 42 artists on Friday, August 5 and there was a great buzz in the room. The exhibition takes place until Sept. 8 so drop by if you're in Brockville.

The artists' theme was centred around a chosen quote from one of my mentors, Emily Carr. She said "If spirit does not breathe through - it is lifeless, dead, voiceless - the Spirit must be felt so intensely that it has power to call others in passing..."

I selected Barnes Creek, South Branch River for my submission. That evening I received an Honourable Mention for the work from three possible accolades that the committee had chosen.

You'll also see it in a shared exhibition at ArtScene on Sunday, Sept 4. from 1:00-3:30 p.m. where Arlene Hare and I will have a Vernissage.  ArtScene is a great art collective at 11 Spencer Street in Spencerville, On. Hope you can make it if you live around North Grenville.
Here is a sneak preview. . The name of the show is called Sacred Places.