23 December 2016

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.

sound studio oil paintings in progress a record of a discovery

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!

15 December 2016

some old, some new

Less words, more images

sketchbook drawing / painting
8x10 sketch
last night at the kitchen table


portrait drawing and painting in 9x12" sketchbook
oil-based paint marker and gouache in 9x12 sketchbook
yesterday while working at the art supply store

portrait in 9x12 sketchbook
oil-based paint marker and gouache in 9x12 sketchbook
yesterday while working at the art supply store

portrait drawing and painting in 9x12" sketchbook
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

verna vogel landscape oil on birchwood panel 12x12 inches
Alberta Landscape #97: oil on panel, 12x12 inches
6 weeks ago, near Black Diamond AB


ink cap mushroom drawing
Ink Cap mushrooms - they really do make an "ink" you can draw with!
8 weeks ago




03 December 2016

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.



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.