I have been working outside all week on some larger paintings. It is important for me to paint in the same light, so they are not yet finished. For a ‘quick fix’- a wee field painting...
For the past decade, in all weather and almost every day, I have documented the seasons of rural land where I live on the Niagara Escarpment (a UNESCO world biosphere reserve). These paintings are ‘grown' primarily with oil on canvas and I am struck by the common elements between my own art practice and the seasons and cycle of harvest. Each must have faith in what the land will give. When I am out painting in the land I am surrounded by new growth as well as the old and dying. All have grown from the same place and all go back to the same place: "each seed according to its own kind.. each one knowing what to do, each one demanding its own rights on the earth..." - Emily Carr.
Painting plein air is immediate and intuitive and is affected on a daily basis by what cannot be controlled- climate. Through direct painting from nature I engage in an intimate dialogue with the land and I am developing a deeper understanding of the environmental factors that determine our world's future. What I also find enlightening in painting on open land is that I am in the midst of so very many creatures ‘unseen' -their continued presence entirely dependent on our Eco system. Protection and the importance of maintaining ecological integrity concerning protected land informs my work.
Studio/ Home Exchange I am interested in trading places with other artists - locations of interest are coastal areas of Scotland, Ireland France--or anywhere..Closer to home, the east or west coast of Canada. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY clickhere
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