Mary Weymark Goss

11 March, 2009

Growth 8

Growth 8
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Lately my mother and I have enjoyed looking through her sketchbooks. She keeps finding more...and she has a considerable number of them...and we pore over them, laughing and exclaiming. They are mostly filled with fish characters, designs and motifs. Some of them are whimsical, some extraordinarily beautiful. They spin around each other, changing into other things and back again, and she arranges them in complex patterns. Her sketches always fill my head with ideas, as my own characters try out some fish poses and fish ideas, waiting to take their places in my new paintings.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

10 March, 2009

Growth 7

Growth 7
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Here are the cancer cells again, seemingly under an impenetrable mountain. Yet beyond the burden and work of fighting this malevolence, a new world appears. The other side. Something to aim for, hope and light. And much nicer colors, too. Give me back my yellows and blues!

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 6

Growth 6
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Blessed cleansing rest, letting everything pour in and pour out. This is an important part of growth.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

26 February, 2009

A387 Token III (creature)

A387 Token III (creature)
8x10" acrylic on board
Private collection

Here the woman reaches inward, holding the creature that both torments and heals her. She recognizes and understands the process. It is another step forward.

Anomaly Series

25 February, 2009

A386 Token II (shell)

A386 Token II (shell)
8x10" acrylic on board
private collection

The woman is reaching behind her, listening to the shell of her past. The past whispers to her like a receding tide, almost overwhelming her with memories, and clouding her vision in waves. But she is already looking outward, glancing ahead with luminous vision. I believe she is pushing the past away, ready to approach her future, clean and unburdened.

Anomaly Series

24 February, 2009

A379 Visage One (bolt)

A379 Visage One (bolt)
12x12" watercolor on canvas
$90

Like a bolt, the flow of your world, the way you perceive your world, can change. And you are changed.

Anomaly Series

20 February, 2009

Growth 5

Growth 5
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

I was not going to exhibit this painted book, because the subject is so gruesome and personal. Cancer frightens everyone. But time has given me a different perspective. Now it all seems more symbolic than personal. In this image, I imagine myself reaching in, grabbing the cancer cells. An overwhelming urge to do something. And of course, throughout the entire process of diagnosis, surgery, chemo, testing, etc., you do feel as if you have lost control of your life. Or perhaps you are more aware of how little control you ever had.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

29 January, 2009

Growth 4

Growth 4
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

In Growth 4, my character receives the news, or maybe the news is just sinking in. It is entirely surreal, being told you have cancer, like something from a soap opera or B movie. I suppose some people break down into hysterics or cry for six months, or sink into depression. This character is just the one inside, the little child having a fit, while the outer me remains (fairly) stoic.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 3

Growth 3
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Growth 3 has more to do with the brain, the exponential growth of both normal and alien tissue, and the eventual return to normalcy.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

Growth 2

Growth 2
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

When I first was diagnosed with cancer, the whole idea of something alien growing inside me was disconcerting. I tried to imagine this new growth, the antithesis of positive development and change. In my sketches, I have been searching for a pattern to define it. Growth 1 is closer to the appearance of real cancer cells, but in this sketch I am imagining the vectors and entanglements of the changed cells.

Return to Painted Book: Growth

28 January, 2009

Growth 1

Growth 1
9x6" oil on PC Paintbrush IV manual

Growth is one of those double-edged words I like, both positive and negative. In one sense, it represents change and development. We leave behind the branching structure of our lives, and are pushed along on the growing edges of it. In another sense, growth means a tumour or malignancy. Sometimes such a growth is simply a flaw in us, sometimes a cancer. Sometimes it can be covered up, rendered benign, or removed. But there is always the chance it will return.

Return to Painted Book: Growth