the state of the studio

Yesterday I worked in the studio, mainly just prepping some grounds.  It is a low-energy time of year for me, so prepping grounds is the perfect activity: not too much energy required, just a slow repetition of colour and texture without any pressure to create "something good" because most of it will be covered up and transformed anyway.

At the end of the evening I had some leftover paint and so I touched on a couple of the small oil paintings which have been in progress for about 15 months now.

You know that thing that can happen when you're tired and you've been working all day and then, at the end, you do something almost in a dream state and it jumps over into another path of perception.  And then you love the work you did just there, not because the work itself is great (it usually isn't) but because some part of it contains a record of a discovery.

And then, exhausted, I slept and dreamt poems where it didn't matter whether or not I knew in which direction the stream was flowing.

Here in Calgary today will be 12 seconds longer than yesterday.  By December 31st the day will be just over a minute longer than today.

Happy Solstice, dear Reader!

Outside and Inside

outside

inside

some old, some new

Less words, more images

8x10 sketch

last night at the kitchen table

oil-based paint marker and gouache in 9x12 sketchbook

yesterday while working at the art supply store

oil-based paint marker and gouache in 9x12 sketchbook

yesterday while working at the art supply store

oil-based paint marker and gouache in 9x12 sketchbook

yesterday while working at the art supply store

Alberta Landscape #97: view

Alberta Landscape #97: palette

Alberta Landscape #97: oil on panel, 12x12 inches

6 weeks ago, near Black Diamond AB

Ink Cap mushrooms - they really do make an "ink" you can draw with!

8 weeks ago

From the Archives (2)

Every image has a story.  Here are some images containing stories about my life after I returned from Malaysia back to Canada.  

I got my first real artist studio!  What a fine feeling, to have "a room of my own".  Although still a shared space, this studio was a big step up from painting in the tiny galley-style kitchen of my (also shared) apartment.  First thing I did was to stretch and gesso a few canvases.

I got back into "real" life drawing - in Malaysia, officially a Muslim country, art models were clothed.  The frustration of the interrupted line when drawing may have been a factor in spurring me to get more serious in my figure drawing/painting explorations over the next few years.

link to figurative work on my website

One day on leaving my apartment I found a plant upside-down under its pot on the walkway.  How could I not rescue it?  After a bit of attention it began to thrive again, and I made a painting of it.  This plant lives with me still; it is commonly known as a fig tree.

blind line

Life has got very busy these last few weeks, and I continue along with the blind line drawings.  They have become a sort of meditation for me, an activity for which there is no hoped-for end result and therefore no pressure.

The drawings have morphed a bit over time, as my hand develops a memory for the shapes and lines.  Some of the coloured-in bits I can also now do without looking, an interesting development.  

Where will this practice take me?  For the time being I just keep drawing and watching and waiting.

patterns and people

I started my morning with a couple of quick sketches.  First an eyes-closed drawing (the colouring-in parts are done with eyes open) and then a portrait of my husband.  

Both done with Sharpie paint markers + watercolour crayons on 130lb paper, 9x12 inches.

Patterns and people.  A good start to this day.

From the Archives (1)

I've been going through some old image files...

I went to Capilano College in 1994-6, enrolled in the Studio Arts Foundation program there.  I recently discovered, to my dismay, that the Studio Arts program no longer exists at what is now Capilano University.

While at the College, I applied for and received an international study grant which allowed me to live in Kuala Lumpur and study Fine Arts at the Institut Seni Lukis Malaysia.  It was a grand adventure, both exhilarating and at times very difficult, as all grand adventures are.  

Among other things I made some portraits while living and studying in KL.

And I continued to make portraits when I returned to Canada.

 



















It's interesting to look through older work, sort of nostalgic and also affirming: I've been at this art practice thing for awhile now, getting on a couple of decades.

Sometimes I feel frustrated with what seems a lack of worldly success... but then I think about all the twists and turns a life can take, and I feel fortunate to have been able to persevere with making art of one sort or another pretty much all my life.

There are many more archives and I may post some more images over the next few weeks.  It seems like a necessary sort of grounding exercise right now.

Thanks for reading :)

travelling and drawing and painting

Staying entertained on an airplane is not too difficult when I have a sketchbook with me.  During each flight I decided to make drawings with my eyes closed, and I quite like how some of them turned out.  

These drawings were done in a 4x6" book of 90lb paper, using a fine-tip Sharpie marker and a gold Slicci pen:

I also made some portraits of fellow passengers during my flights.  One must be very surreptitious in order to avoid anyone realizing they have become an artist's model and so begin to "pose".  People who are just being themselves are generally more interesting to draw than people who are trying to hold still.

Finally, a few portraits of family members and friends which I made during my stay in Ontario.  These were done in a 9x12-inch sketchbook of 130lb paper, using the Sharpie marker, oil pastels and gouache paints in quinacridone red, raw sienna, pthalocyanine green and cobalt blue:

Whew!  That was a lot of art-making over the course of one week.  It's always exciting to be somewhere different, and I prefer drawing over taking photographs as a method of recording my experiences.  Drawing takes more time and so contains more feeling, and in that way is a more "accurate" record for me.

Returning home, I'll be teaching a couple of classes straight away next week and working a shift at the art-supply store.  

Then, finally, I will get back into the studio to install some lighting and finish painting the ceiling.  Have I mentioned that I am in the process of moving into a *new* studio?  My studio will now be in the garage instead of in the basement of our home, which is a great improvement.  Having a work space separate from the house - even if only by a few meters - feels so wonderful.  More on that in my next posting, if all goes according to plan.

:)

Ontario Landscape #2

This one was done from near the top of Harold Town Conservation Area.  Another gorgeous spot with lots of trails and varying topography.  After making the painting, I realized I had chosen a view that is similar to what one might find in Southern Alberta... with a few more trees.

the view

the palette

the beginning

the middle

the finish

the artist