Falling Water

This is another progression of a series of images of "falling water". The first one is a small oil done about a year ago. The second is an acrylic where I just felt like splashing and dripping paint on the canvas out of sheer frustratation and the last one is a combination of watercolour and liquid acrylics done on paper.

This is one of my more recent pieces of "falling water" that I worked on for a long time. It's smaller, 36" x 24", than I usually work and I spent more time on it than usual as well. I started with drippy liquid acrylics and then began to apply layer after layer of oils, scraping back and destroying and recreating over and over again. I like the end results, the colours are stronger and the application of the oils is more expressive of the turbulent emotions I feel roaring inside. I love the slashes of light that offer so much hope amidst all the dark, tumultuous shadows.

Roaring Inside my Head

I get awful, roaring, debilitating migranes. I am in the third day of one and can't do much, let alone paint or write.

This is a watercolour study of rock textures and colours. I like to play with these studies in between paintings or when a painting just isn't working for me. I move from place to place in my studio playing with different mediums and ideas.
Today I am considering working with some clay just for something new.

Expansion of an Idea

These are two watercolours of my favorite chunk of Laurentian Rock that I have painted over and over again. These rocks are part of the oldest mountain range in the world, they are ancient and powerful. They are constant and patient in an ever changing world. I love to be near them and feel their slow, steady vibrations.

This is one of my transitional oil paintings. I love the lucious, buttery paint but I want more energy in the brushstrokes to convey the rock's essence and energy.This is what I am working on now, a 40" x 60" canvas with an acrylic underpainting. This work is in progress and I will post the results after I have applied the oil layers on top. I love the drips and hope to leave bits and pieces showing through the oil paint to develop a multi-layered feeling to the rocks. I am now painting without reference photos but from memory and emotions. I want the painting to describe "rocks" as filtered through my emotions, imagination and perceptions about them.

Painting with a Tribe

I have been driving into Montreal once a week to paint with the artist, Harold Klunder at the Visual Arts Center. This has been an exciting and stimulating experience. The group that paints with Harold is an inspiring and dedicated group of artists whom have become like a inspirational family. Harold himself has been a gentle guide who has helped me make the transition from painting by observation to painting from the heart. I have learned so much with this group. This is the painting that is in the current student show at the Visual Arts Center. It is one of my transitional works. I started with a reference photo but did the painting from a drawing and left the photo behind.

Painting from the Inside/Out

I have been a representational painter for over 20 years, mostly watercolours. I have learned so much by observing and painting nature. However, it is no longer enough for me to paint from the outside-in. I now have a great need and desire to paint from the inside-out. This is a painting I have been working on for the last 8 months. It is unlike any of my other paintings and has transformed itself numerous times. I listen to music and allow whatever wants to come out of me to appear on the canvas. Sometimes it is just colours and shapes but two days ago this figure made an appearance. I enjoy having this ever evolving work beside me in my studio. I paint it just for me and will continue to paint over it time and time again. I like to know that there are hidden stories underneath the current image. It is very liberating not to focus on the results but rather on the process, internal and external.

Break Through and Break Down

This is me experiencing a roaring inside my head and heart. It is in this very photo that I made a tremendous break through in my painting. After 20 years of working as a watercolour artist while raising my two daughters, I finally started to paint from my heart which lead to a complete breakdown when my two worlds of mothering and painting came crashing together.

Now my art compels me to move deeper into my heart and
my heart compels me to move deeper into my art...I continue to expand as an artist and a mother.