Musing
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Thanks, but no thanks: applying to juried shows
We thank you for your application... Recently I got the dreaded thank you for your application email. You know, the one where there were a record number of applicants, thanks for a thoughtful submission, and we hope you’ll apply again next year… For artists of all...
Finding My Way: discovering my visual language
I don’t get to choose I don’t choose what I paint or how I paint it. Sounds odd. Let me explain. What I mean is that I don’t sit down and decide, “I will paint how I feel about the river—and I will use these colours and this kind of brushstroke.” I’ve tried being...
Immersion: getting in over my head
I’m crazy for water My first memory takes place underwater at Dixie Pool in Lachine, Québec. I slipped on the silver ladder and for a brief moment I saw a new world beneath the surface—my family’s legs and a distorted sky. (I was quickly rescued.) My parents were both...
Art in your home: it’s like living with animals
I’ll explain... After our cats died in ripe old age, we went catless for a couple of years. It was wonderful to head up north spontaneously without having to arrange a cat-sitter. I relished putting on a perfectly furless black sweater. We vacuumed less. But when we...
Working without expectation: exercises, experiments, and no pressure
If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed a change in my work. I’ve been creating large black and white (cream actually) drawing exercises on paper. The specific exercises come from Steven Aimone’s book Expressive Drawing. It’s a great book. My friend Marie...
Oil Curious: trying oil paint for the first time
Why did I want to try oil paint? Curiosity: oil is an important material I’ve never tried at all—which seemed like a major oversight, or gap in my art experience. Frustration: I have lots of great things to say about acrylics, but there are downsides—waste...
Everything is Changing: new address, new medium
“There is nothing permanent except change.” —Heraclitus THE SEASON IS CHANGING, my address is changing. Everything is in flux. It’s a bit unsettling and exciting too. Shortly after my summer art show closed, actually the day the online part of the show closed, we...
Pond Life: the inspiration behind the paintings
“I used to visit all the very gay placesThose come-what-may placesWhere one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of lifeTo get the feel of lifeFrom jazz and cocktails” —from “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn A FEW YEARS AGO, if you told me I’d fall under the spell of...
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