Yoga, Art and the Spring Equinox

When does winter end and when does Spring begin?

Today I got up at 5:30 am and committed to an annual Spring ritual. A local yoga studio celebrates the Spring Equinox with a daily 7am morning yoga session.  I am NOT a morning person, I am a night owl, staying up into the wee hours of the night. However the morning always offers me a gift when I decide to crawl out of my warm duvet trailing dreamtime with me as I stumble around in the dark getting ready.  This morning's gift was the color of the sky, I don't think there is a word for the blue that I experienced this morning. I had to clean the snow, yes, MORE snow from my car and as I looked up, there was that sky! A blue so deep it was filled with the dreams of those still sleeping. My reward for getting up.

Rapture in a Mosaic Sky / 36" x 48" / acrylic on canvas

I was so happy to arrive at the yoga studio in this "in between time". It was still dark enough that I had my car lights on to drive and the yoga studio was lit with candles.

Presence

An exhibition of recent paintings that are the result of years of learning and growing and becoming. All the joys & sorrows from where the spirit meets the bone are in these paintings. Late night howling and mid day spirit-rides with the wind are all mixed into the pigment.

Five New Paintings

The Roaring Inside 2 / 28" x 22" / acrylic on canvas 

This one was done on a road trip across Canada. I stopped at "Shannon Falls" near Squamish, BC in the midst of a rain storm and those falls were roaring! A powerful and daunting sight to behold. Something about waterfalls that triggers a visceral response and echoes something from an ancient realm for me.

River Along my Path / 28" x 22" / acrylic on canvas

This piece is from the same road trip across Canada. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this river in British Columbia but it was majestically flowing through a deeply carved canon and took my breath away.

Warmth Video

Warmth
a midwinter collection curated and produced by Holly Friesen.
40+ Montreal artists, January 8 to January 20th, 2015

WARMTH

Stir it Up by Walt Pascoe

For the past couple of months I have been wearing my curator's hat. Having worked as curator for ArtBomb for 16 months I became acquainted with many Montreal artists and their diverse artworks.

Open Studio ~ Friday, November 28, 2014

There is so much great energy in the studio these days that I have decided to open the studio door and welcome in visitors from 3pm to 7pm on Friday.

Lots of new work and a great time to catch up with some of you!

Chaos Breeds Creativity

When I enter the studio I shed all my quotidian duties and enter the realm of the imagination. This is the place where rationality and pragmatism have little worth. My mind is allowed to slip into chaos, where everything is fresh and new and waiting to be born for the first time. In the summer I paint outside but I also take endless photos of everywhere I go...photos of colors, textures, shapes. I often leave these piles of photos lying everywhere.

 I have tried to organize the photos but they always end up in piles and boxes littered all over the studio. I use them as reference but not just one, all of them! It is their strewn presence that evokes memories, smells, sights, sounds and even tastes for me as I paint.

Sometimes I sketch from them and have many of these sketch books lying around as well. They are like notes to myself, or notes of a song that has yet to be written. I like having them around me as partially resolved ideas for paintings, nudging their way into my consciousness as I work.