Artscapes Canada

There is an exhibit and book launch this week (Thursday 23 August 2012) in Edmonton, Alberta, at the Winspear Centre. It is called "Artscapes Canada" and is the culmination of a project that I have been working on for the past three years with other artists from across Canada. As the artist representing Prince Edward Island I have two paintings in this show and in the book. The project is explained in the link. These paintings are part photograph by Ray Belcourt and part painting by me. (The photographs have been digitally altered, enlarged and printed on a canvas) The first one is "Potato Fields of Prince Edward Island" A very prosaic subject indeed but to speak of Prince Edward Island without mentioning potatoes and red soil is nearly impossible.

Prince Edward Island Potato Fields, 2010

  Part fiction, part fact!

The second canvas in this show is called "Cavendish Winds". The theme is the north shore of Prince Edward Island, the old sandstone cliffs, the dunes and the incredible blue of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Cavendish Winds, 2011

I have been exploring the themes in these paintings with other works over the past three years, one of which is entitled "Free Range Fields" that I wrote about in May 2012.

Reluctant Spring

Feel the spring in a maritime landscape. It creeps on shore much like fog, or mist. There are glimpses of the warmth beyond the snow-melt, beyond the grey sky, beyond the wet, damp earth. These appear ever so slowly, agonizingly slowly, it sometimes seems.

Then the greening begins and with it the world.

Arial

The mysterious place. Not Aerial nor even Ariel. Neither soap powder, nor typeface; neither looking down from a flight, nor even Shakespeare or the ancient name for Jerusalem. Just a fullness of life-giving greens and indeterminate blues. The forms and origins are as unknown as the source of the movement in this place, to and from this mystery.

It leaves me wondering why I titled it that if it is not that, and if not that, then what? No, in its essence it is Arial; that was and is its name. Persistently so, annoyingly so. It insists on it.

Looking West

The end of the day.

Such a farewell.

Breaking Free

Are all the parts desperate to break away, or merely disparate bits of paper? Is it host to them or might this be no more than a paper chase? There is a sense of fumbling around here, without direction but with mistakes. How do we get from there to where we are?

Once the path becomes clear it all swoops away, released, like a swallow.

This is one of the pieces in my new show at Howes Hall Gallery, 24-30 July 2012.

Chef in Action

The title suggested itself; the circle became a head and the upward and downward movement in the centre of the piece represented the flurry of activity that is at the heart of the culinary profession. The Chef is multi-tasking; chopping and rolling and dicing, seasoning, tasting, trimming, sharpening and  yet staying calm

 -- all that fine stuff that goes on in kitchens.
This is one of the pieces in my new show at Howes Hall Gallery, 24-30 July 2012.

The Guitar Player

"The Guitar Player" is one of the few paper collages that began with something that wasn't an abstract form. I cut out the shape of the guitar and placed it on the paper. The head followed, as did hands, arms and feet. The hands then had to move with the strings on the guitar and the feet had to stomp and tap.

It had to vibrate with its own joyful sounds. It works because of the simplicity and plays for itself.
This is one of the pieces in my new show which will be held from 24-30 July at Howes Hall Gallery.