FH398 Four Horizons VI (change)

 FH398 Four Horizons VI (change)

10 x 14" acrylic, ink, collage on canvas

Private collection

FH398 description
Four Horizons Series

FH391 Four Horizons II

FH391 Four Horizons II

12 x 12" mixed medium on panel

Private collection

Four Horizons Series

FH397 Four Horizons V (bird & scrolls)

Fh397 Four Horizons V (bird & scrolls)

1200 x 900 pixels digital painting on photo

Four Horizons Series

FH396 Four Horizons IV (fish & leaves)

FH396 Four Horizons IV (fish & leaves)
640 x 480 pixels digital painting on photo
Four Horizons Series

FH395 Four Horizons III (Companions)

FH395 Four Horizons III (Companions)
3000 x 2400 pixels digital painting on photo
Print available: 20 x 25" giclee on stretched canvas $195

Four Horizons Series

They gather together their art and writing

It turns out that Mary has many years of writing that she has neglected to edit.  Numerous uncatalogued drawings turn up, as well.

On the other hand, desean has all of his art and writing neatly organized on his laptop, and he has already done the layouts for two or three books.  It is quickly decided that Mary will be in charge of  Data Retrieval and desean will be in charge of Development.

They settle down with Mary’s documents, and discuss the best way to organize them.

They drink many cups of coffee, and eat a lot of peanut butter.

flutterbirds

Vision 17

Vision 17
8 x 5" coloured pencils on old textbook

Our bodies bind us to the transient world
But our minds are free to experience the infinite

A Vision of Being

Vision 16

Vision 16
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

The marriage of two Souls
Is a union worthy of Love

A Vision of Being

Pattern 1 Enchanted

Pattern 1 Enchanted
6.25x4" watercolour & markers on primed pamphlet

One of my favourite sketching exercises is to make two or three bold lines…which I think of as vectors…and make my characters and objects fit into them. For this little painted book, I decided to use watercolours on the primed pages, filling my large shapes with colour. Using various markers, I used patterns to create texture and shading.

Filling in certain areas with unlikely patterns, such as the scales on the character’s body and the watery stripes in the sky, creates a sort of mysterious tension that I enjoy immensely. Often on my walks I am surprised this way; a leaf will be mottled like a rock, or a tree trunk will be scarred with dots and dashes. These unusual patterns make me pause and look again, enchanted.

Patterns

A394 Token VII (bowl)

A394 Token VII (bowl)
8x5" Prisma Colour on panel
$60.00

An experiment using coloured pencils on a primed panel.

Anomaly Series

Pagescape VII Playing

PageScape VII Playing
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

Themes and messages in art are always a controversial subject among artists. The artists who paint what appeals to them often have their work labelled as ‘just pretty paintings.’ The artists whose main work is fraught with poetry and meaning often just want to paint a pretty picture, and not have to explain it. Meaning can be painted into a picture, or an originally simple painting can take on great significance later. The actual methodology happens somewhere in between. An artist should (probably, some of the time…but I confess I usually don’t) have something in mind when beginning a work, but it’s a good idea to leave room for change, random ideas and visionary moments that may plop down in the middle of the canvas unexpectedly. As much as we like to feel we are controlling things, inspiration is a pretty wild ride. Good pictures can be ruined. Bad pictures can become masterpieces.

My own method involves playfulness. ‘Let me not take myself too seriously,’ I admonish the air, as I reach into the coloured pencils and grab three colours at random. Hmmm. Not my usual colours, that’s for sure. But wait! I’m drawing in a recycled hardcover novel with black primed pages. Definitely nothing serious going on here. I make some shapes and colour them.

Smile.

Pagescapes

Pagescape VI Reflecting

PageScape VI Reflecting
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

It was another hot day, though there was a breeze rustling the leaves and stirring up patterns in the lake. Deb and I sat in the screen house, sketching and talking about the ever-shifting shapes of our lives. Every day, something changes, and our perception changes. And some days, our understanding of things completely starts over.

The lake so familiar to us changes constantly, subtly, reflecting the myriad transformations around it, sky and forest and little people living on its shore. Light flashes off the water. For a moment, we are not sure what we see.

Pagescapes

PageScape V Connecting

PageScape V Connecting
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

While my friend and collaborator desean was visiting, we had many discussions about our work processes, and especially how we work together. As soon as one of us mentions an idea, the other makes a connection, and from there we branch off in many directions, embellishing and refining, frequently returning to the original concept. Sometimes we begin with words, other times with images, weaving the two together into ideas for artwork series and books. Even when we are not collaborating, we often find ourselves making connections between our individual works. It is a meeting of minds, an artistic synthesis.

Pagescapes

Vision 15

Vision 15
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

How carefully we attire and adorn ourselves
But the mind is the true clothing of the body

A Vision of Being

desean flies in from Vancouver

desean and Mary have corresponded and collaborated on art projects for many years. They decide it is time to gather their drawings and poems and art and writing together and turn it all into books.

desean flies in from Vancouver and arrives at Mary's house in Moonbeam with his computer and camera under his wing. It's a fancy red wing, as you can see.

flutterbirds

A393 Token VI (caregiver)

A393 Token VI (caregiver)
10x8" acrylic and prisma colour on board
Private collection

The Token theme is about the almost magical moments and events in our lives, often repeating, that can become symbolic to us. When a crisis arises, these tokens seem to fall from the sky; someone takes care of us, or something or someone suddenly appears to make us smile. Something special happens, or something doesn't happen (also gratifying, in some cases). Sometimes we don't notice them, little golden bits in almost every day. A smile. A word. The plaintive song of a bird. Moments of peace.

If we were to make a pile of all the little tokens we have ever received or found and count them, it would be shocking to see how many we collect in our lives, and how easily they roll away to hide in drawers or under other things, how easily they become tarnished. But if we all made a stack of them, if would be a mighty tower. It would make us look up.

Anomaly Series

Vision 14

Vision 14
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Whatever Life serves us, we should feast upon
For are we not glad to see the sun rise on a new day?

A Vision of Being

Vision 13

Vision 13
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Art animates our minds and hands
And brings joy to our solitude

Painted Book: A Vision of Being

page eighteen

A Book of Complaints

A392 Artist & Anomaly V

A392 Artist & Anomaly V
24x18" acrylic, pastels, pencils
private collection

This is a lost and found work. I did not have it recorded in my catalogue, and had not taken a picture of it. One day my friend Deb visited, and she brought the picture with her. I had given it to her daughter and then forgotten it completely. So here it is, slightly out-of-place, since there were no other numbers available for it, and I can't quite make out the date. The picture surprised me...what was I thinking when I did it? I think I was simply enjoying the shapes and colours and patterns. Maybe it's my child artist, surrounded by her creative aura.

Anomaly Series

PageScape IV Discerning

PageScape IV Discerning
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

Another morning of sketching with Deb. We discussed the idea of discernment, really looking and focusing, as a path to discovery. Painting and writing help to crystallize ideas, giving form to what we can only sense.

All is hidden for us to find. And each discovery leads us, if we are discerning, to another.

Pagescapes

page seventeen

A Book of Complaints

A390 Token V (speckled bird)

A390 Token V (speckled bird)
10x8" acrylic and prisma colour on board
Private collection

The speckled birds appeared in a vivid dream after I finished chemo. I (dreamed I) was lying in bed, peacefully free of care and pain. A flock of colourful spotted birds sat on me and the blankets, cooing and chirping softly. It was just me and the birds, suspended in a blissful dreamscape.

Anomaly Series

PageScape III Crossings

PageScape III Crossings
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

The ice began melting in the lake today, as the sun warmed the countryside. Deb and I sat out on the deck with our coloured pencils and books, talking and sketching. A breeze moved the trees gently, and stirred the patterns in the ice. Our conversation drifted, ideas crossing and shifting.

Pagescapes

Growth 17

Growth 17
9x6" oil, marker on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Ever since I had been in remission, I have been thinking about a creature to represent new growth. I thought I would try out a little lizard-like character, cheery and fluid and gorgeously-patterned. Some of these creatures can grow back limbs and tails and such, and similarly, as I recover, my fingers seem to be coming back to life. Suddenly I can draw details again. I can feel my designs once more, and draw with my finest pens just for the joy of it.

Painted Book: Growth

PageScape II Unexpected

PageScape II Unexpected
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

I began painting on old books and manuals as a way to move my smaller works, sketches and paintings, away from standard formats, and contain them in a 'package'. Of course a book is a package that can contain many things, all presented in order, and portable. You might think a nice new blank sketchbook would do the job nicely, and more reasonable artists have been quite satisfied with just that. But as I paint and draw over the printed pages, words and images stand out, then vanish under layers of paint and pencils. Sometimes the words are reused, as the book pages are recycled, turned into something else. The drawings are small, spontaneous, and do not have the burden of being studio pieces or series work, nor are they numbered in my catalogue. They are just pages. That is the pleasure of making them.

And that is why unforeseen things happen. Unexpected forms appear.

Pagescapes

Vision 12

Vision 12
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Our companions ease our burdens
And help illuminate the Way

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

PageScape I Escape

PageScape I Escape
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

The wind blows, and everything changes. I can hear the birds, but their shapes merge with the shifting landscape. Even the trees are trying to be something else. It makes me feel restless, exhilarated. I escape into a little drawing, that belongs only to this moment. No rules, no plan...

Pagescapes

Vision 11

Vision 11
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Are we not enlightened particles
Obedient to the force that draws the circle?

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Vision 10

Vision 10
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

We look inward,
and find understanding

We reflect,
and stretch out our hand

Return Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Vision 9

Vision 9
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

The mirror shows us something
That is more than this world

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Vision 8

Vision 8
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

And however darkness overcomes us
We cannot fall below the wings of Light

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

A388 Token IV (fish & raven)

A388 Token IV (fish & raven)
12x12" acrylic & prisma colours on stretched canvas
private collection

The idea for the token sequence of little paintings began with a casual challenge from my mother. We were looking at her sketchbooks, in particular the pages of medallion-shaped designs, which she originally intended for pottery. I said that I thought they would make wonderful paintings. 'Show me how you would put a round design on a square canvas,' my mother said. I made a quick sketch similar to one of her designs, and liked it so much that I
decided to paint it.

Anomaly Series
The raven is one of my familiar old creatures, and the fish is one of my mother's favourite motifs.

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Vision 7

Vision 7
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Take thought, and think again
For our next act is our future.

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Vision 6

Vision 6
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Let us empty the chaos of our souls
And be filled again with Light

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Vision 5

Vision 5
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Nature:

Yet we cannot fully know ourselves or the Design,
Only that it is our Alpha and Omega

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Growth 16

Growth 16
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Impending. Most of the time I avoid thinking about it, but from time to time, my upcoming cancer test results blanket my brain in a white fog. Pending. Coming soon. I scribble in the fog, over and over. Every time I sketch and scribble in my painted books, I find myself laughing over something...fat birds and rubbery characters, or strange, unintentional shapes. Here, my little worries become a Marie Antoinette hairdo, a Cool Whip turban. Just a momentary lather. Or another kind of Growth.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 15

Growth 15
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

On a glorious sunny day, with my joyful bird characters twittering in my mind, I just paint and draw for fun.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Vision 4

Vision 4
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

If the world is a reflection of us
Surely we must strive to be our best selves.

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

page sixteen

Return to Book of Complaints

page fifteen

Return to Book of Complaints

Growth 14

Growth 14
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

After a critical period in life, we all change in some way. The renewed woman has grown spiritually: she gratefully cradles the bird, which represents the gift of life. She dwells in this one moment, content.


Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 13

Growth 13
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

The sun came out today. Recovery. Warmth and sunshine. A flower blooms unexpectedly. I have been using up old tubes of paint for these pages, and this ancient crusty cadmium yellow was full of lumps. Even my chemo-numbed fingers can feel them, scattered like a code or a lunar landscape. Texture=Sensory Input, an artistic process that is felt, like the quick gestural image.

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Vision 3

Vision 3
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

How can we abuse the world
While its Creator looks on?

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Vision 2

Vision 2
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Of the countless leaves written on,
How many have we turned over?

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Vision 1

Vision 1
8x5" coloured pencil on old text book

Awareness:

Into life we come and soon are gone,
But what do we know of ourselves and the world?

Return to Painted Book: A Vision of Being

Growth 12

Growth 12
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

A quiet dream. Gentle ideas flutter about, and remain.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 11

Growth 11
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Chaotic growth. Brilliant intrusion, the beginning of something new.

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Growth 10

Growth 10
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Growth 10 about dichotomy; after illness and trauma, the brain divides in two. One part carries on as normally as possible, avoiding the thoughts of the other part. Cancer is always there in the other half, waiting to reappear, and potentially treacherous cells hover in between, waiting to change. You are always waiting for the next test. You are always in your little world, thinking of other things, normal things.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 9

Growth 9
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Somewhere in the new green growth, an idea is forming, still vague and distant.

Return to Painted Book: Growth