Sneaking Out!

Creeping in the File Folders,

she knew there was a way out of this flat life.

Facts

"Now, what I want is, facts.... Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else... Stick to Facts, sir!" Dickens, C. (1854). Hard Times, p.1

Collage with ink (6" x 4")

Forget that!

Echoes of Movement

Mercurial changes happen all around us - we pivot, we pirouette; we return to the uncertainties of life, the ambiguities of physical, spiritual and intellectual geography.

Acrylic on paper (16" x 12")

The centre must hold though we spin off the page.

Moody November

Dreary is the month and gray, sometimes grey, sometimes really, really grey. It can't make up its mind. Mist and fog, rain and chill greet the days. Sunlight beguiles on occasion as the Winter Solstice nears and the reality of a long, cold winter grips our minds just as it cautions against the cold.

Acrylic on canvas, 1993 (24" x 28")

Leaves have blown away, geese have flown away and the sun is busy elsewhere.

The Storm (the Gathering Clouds)

It comes swiftly, without warning unless you've been watchful. Dust and debris swoop down filtering an eerie light from a veiled sun.

Acrylic on board (14" x 11")

The thought that all is temporary pervades all senses.

Essence of Spruce (a study)

Shouting, "See? Look at me" -- always clothed, unless dead.

Acrylic on paper

Sculpted and brilliant against the sky. Proud and perfect; it is an exhibitionist, a dresser, a looker.

It's the scent, the posture and the attitude.

Essence of Spruce (Study #3)

Proud and perfect; it is an exhibitionist, a dresser, a looker.

Acrylic on paper (15" x 11")

Shouting, "See? Look at me" -- always clothed unless dead.

Essence of Spruce (study #2)

It's the scent, the posture and the attitude; it is playful.

It bends and twists always ready for a dance with the wind; it sways.

Acrylic on paper (16" x 12")

Proud and perfect ; it is an exhibitionist, a dresser, a looker.

Coast and Sky

Storms unceasing, the coast battered by wind and salt spray.

Acrylic on canvas (30" x 24")

The rocks appear and disappear in the ebb and flow of the tidal swell eroding the ground we stand upon.

Accidents -- the Oops of the Unforgiving

I take note of accidents, those slips of the pen, with inner annoyance and silent curses; those unintended lines; the "unforgiving" part of working with black ink on white paper.

Ink drawing (8.5" x 5.5")

Ink drawing (8.5" x 5.5")

"What has happened?" I exclaim (not so silent after all). Is it catastrophic? Is salvage an option for a fumble, for butterfingers? Can it be saved from destruction, saved from a wreck? Perhaps though the fumble is the solution?

Timeless Passing revisted - a Triptych

Time passes, endlessly.

It passes in sunsets, each the same, yet not the same. It passes in the moonrise, in the full moon, in the new moon, in the stars forever shining. Streaming.

Timeless Passing Triptych (3 panels 16" x 12")

Time passes marking its way in the ebb and flow of waterways in constant motion; the water of yesterday, the water of today in a cycle that continues unceasingly. The centre, extended to the left and to the right, or perhaps to the north and to the south or to the east and the west. Will it hold?

Tai Chi

That hand motion -- closing and slightly twisting at the same time.

Ink drawing (7.5" x 5")

It's in the stance, the motion, the movement, the stillness, the grace.

Steering By the Stars

Polaris, the North Star used by the ancient mariners to bring them safely to harbour.

collage with ink (6" x 4")

It is the brightest and closest star in a constellation pointing to where the North Pole should be; a guide, a lodestar, changing over time. 

collage with ink (6" x 4")

 We are always slightly off course then, needing to get back on track, always looking up, seeking guidance, seeing stars in the night sky when all is dark.

Rock Country Storm

Rock Country, that legendary place of highest tides and fossils that pre-dates pretty well everything.

acrylic on canvas (24" x 30")

Washed by the tidal bore, swift and dangerous, and when that storm passes through, it takes all comers by surprise.

Imagine that!

Drawing and skeletons

"Drawing is the bones of thought" says Dorothea Rockburne, in an interview for MoMA exhibit:

Dorothea Rockburne: Drawing Which Makes Itself (September 21, 2013-February 2, 2014).

"...the bones of thought"-- it presents an interesting image.

A skeleton then, in homage to the idea itself.

Ink drawing (6" x 4")

Is is true they have cut drawing from the core curricula of Fine Arts degrees? Boneheaded decision?

Still Life = Nature Morte

"Oh", he said, "still life?"

"Hmmmmm" I thought, "abstract still life?"

Collage with ink (8" x 6")

Still, there is life, so if it is still life, why is it not lifeless or dead -- like it is in French -- "nature morte".

Free Range (Upton Farm) study

Fields and tree -- roaming freely; is it the same tree?

Acrylic on paper (22" x 15")

Like our thoughts on a summer day; are they the same thoughts?

Busy Lives

Getting up and going places, intersecting with worlds, other worlds, other places and other spaces.

Ink drawing (6" x 4")

Sometimes colliding... 

Ink drawing (6" x 4")

Energy unleashed.

The Cape

Veiled, yet strangely porous, it permits light to pass.



Ink on paper, 6" x 4"

 

It is a disguise.

Ocean Life -- a Tall Tale

The lore of the sea spins itself in fishing and sailing, of whaling and sealing. The catch of the day on the menu with

tales of modern sea monsters.

Ink on paper (6" x 4")

Modern monsters on modern paper. Paper monsters!

No map here! No sailing date either.

Escaping the Page

Lunar phases circling with regularity; the tides moving with them on a daily basis. We question the pull that orients the flow, that causes tidal bores and storm surges.

Ink on paper (6" x 4")

Waxing and waning in crescents and orbs, craters rotate in view of everyone.

Then there is the light!

Not to mention the cheese!

Climbing

Stalks, stems and leaves moving upwards. Marking progress they ascend in growth thereby proving the benefits of rain and sun.

Just growing up.

Beyond

Beyond, beyond words, for example -- what is there to say in words?

So black and white, so finite.

See, see beyond.

Planes of Green, nos. 1 & 2

Movement unbounded; trees fly across the universe in a rush to get where they should be.

Choose your mode of transport.

 

Skateboard or ladder?

Cover Versions

There is a different feel about being published; different from finishing, showing and/or selling. A new book of poetry called "Walking on the Waves: Poems" by Jackie Mehrabi has on its cover a reproduction of a painting of mine called Cypresses in Yellow.

The original painting, finished in 1998, was an expression of the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa.

Other posts expressing other reflections on that mountain, on the heat of a summer's day are

Urban Trees I Have Known and Under the August Sun.

Dawn Rising

Dawn slowly creeps over the horizon allowing a dimly perceived yonder, the beyond. Streaks of sun and light heralding the new day.

That break of day that signals the end of the night; it appreciates.

Showing now at The Dunes Studio Gallery & Cafe (May 2014)

Sailing Revisted

“Blown away on water the colour of warm places, feeling the undertow, the pull of the tides lifting us out to sea, we live on dreams on cold winter days. On the solstice, close to either pole there is comfort in this”.

 (See 21 June 2013 post "Sailing")

The solstice returns, the same sun back in a show of strength.

It's time to set sail again; to sail to the land of two moons on leeward winds.

The Shouter

What motivates this?

Such a display!

Traversing the Universe

Looks easy.

So, let's go!

The Vase

Ornamental, some of them -- a receptacle and a container for all kinds of things, sometimes. Practical for flowers though, or olive oil.

Olive Oil, 2004

The Vase, 2007

 Down through the ages, the vase has traveled with us.

2013

2009

 Hollow but not empty.

Dynamics of Movement

Drawing to capture the dynamics of movement and keep it  coherent is the challenge. It is two dimensional after all; its reality is static with the appearance of depth and dimension.

There is surprise for there is movement here and there is depth and coherence. Simple then?

Tradition

Tradition -- it is so transitory.  It is illusion, something ephemeral and, measured in centuries, it is a fleeting memory of something that has already gone.

(c)L.Mould, 2013

Although there is tradition in non-traditional expression.

(c)L.Mould, 2013

Is it only a concept then? Like emerging technologies, ever emerging, ever changing, in a line that is ever moving.

Timeless Passing

Time passes. No matter what situation you are in; time will pass. Today you are comfortable, at home, at ease; tomorrow you are traveling, perhaps delayed, inconvenienced, put upon, perceived as a "widget" because of some business class (no, not that Business Class) wherein is explained how to squeeze the most out of the least. Hmmmm.

Timeless passing -- a part of the natural world; that world that we are so divorced from that we rarely notice its passing. It passes in sunsets, each the same, yet not the same. It passes in the moonrise, in the full moon, in the new moon, in the stars forever shining. Their light streaming but not in real time.

Timeless passing then marks the ebb and flow of waterways. The water of yesterday passes, yet it is the water of today.

At the Well

Source of water, we draw from a well. It sustains life. It is like a spring that seemingly renews itself as it gives, without asking why, its most precious resource.

Going to the well is "women's work".

Show and Tell

Currently there is a show in Toronto at the Praxis Gallery in which are hanging four of my paintings and I have been reflecting on other shows in other places at other times since the opening last week.

Praxis Gallery, 2014

Praxis Gallery, 2007

The buzz of anticipation, of excitement, of happiness raises the decibel level at the opening as friends and strangers come in and create a crowd.

    

Howes Hall Gallery, 2013

It is as though the paintings speak to them of their own visions and this is a conversation that the artist is intensely interested in.

Kier Gallery, 2008

Kier Gallery, 2008

To choose, to present and show the work -- this is the final touch. This solitary journey in which we mostly find ourselves focused alone, attempting to bring something into being, is shared. We find ourselves at one with the process -- this makes it complete.

Kier Gallery 2008

Kier Gallery, 2008

In all the shows over the years, solo or group, juried or not, the event of the opening is so exciting. The venue becomes alive with discussion and the cross-fertilization of ideas. 

Praxis Gallery, 2007

We discover parts of ourselves in the show...

Praxis Gallery, 2014

... and the show goes on. 

Continuing to the 20th of February, Praxis Gallery, 1614 Queen Street West, Toronto.