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

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