The Incoming Tide – Masks

Masks have been on my mind. I poured the painting to the left -The Incoming Tide – some time ago and decided to pick it up again. Sometimes images jump out at me from the poured paint but on this one there was nothing obvious. When I started work on it I was listening to a podcast by the Jealous Curator with sculptor and jewellery designer Debra Baxter. I turned back to the painting and there it was, as clear as day, a mask, less than 10 seconds later Debra Baxter talked about her wish to create a stone mask, my jaw dropped. Debra had been talking about the kind of mask we are all wearing now to stop the spread of Covid19 but I have been thinking about their relevance right now.

Masks are being worn to prevent the spread of disease and at the same time masks are falling away. We are openly talking about racism and our complicity. The mask of politeness, not wishing to offend our opinionated relatives or clients, and the mask of silence is being removed. Seeing the mask in the painting in its watery setting also made me think of Edward Colston the Bristol Slave Trader whose statue was tossed into the water and how it had been swept there by a tide of anger at the continuation of the kind of injustice his ‘benevolence’ was built on. I know this is just the beginning but I feel excited about the possibilities for all the empty plinths that are left behind. This is a unique moment for cities and towns to build something together in equality, art that is relevant to this and future generations.

Staying Connected

I hope this latest blog post finds you well or at least coping. I am used to spending a lot of time alone as I work from my home studio so that hasn’t been a problem for me, however my husband is also working from home now, so I actually have to get used to having more company than usual. There are a few things I miss – going out for coffee, the cinema, restaurants and seeing art in person and not through the screen. Believe me, I am very aware how I lucky I am that these are the only things I miss. I have been making time to get into the studio and I have been working in my sketch book. It took a little while to get into some kind of routine though.

Real life has gone virtual and like millions of others I have learnt to use Zoom so I can catch up with my Thrive Art Studio group, it is really nice to check in with them and hear how they are handling this time. I have also discovered that Youtube has life drawing sessions online which is awesome to get some practice in. As all of the summer art events are cancelled or postponed, online events and exhibitions are set to be the norm. The Victoria Arts Council is sharing local art through a new online magazine called ‘Until’ and instagram accounts like Quarantonics and the Quarantined Art Gallery have emerged to help artists share their work.

I love how artists are looking after each other right now – sending each other art postcards, selling art to support other artists or turning their skills to making masks. Even just being open and honest about feeling crappy or unfocused can help reality check the expectation that this is the time to be super productive and write that novel or learn a new language. I am really grateful for my online art community and I feel like connections are being reinforced. I hope that this is something that continues when we get to the other side of this, in the meantime, take care of yourselves!

Hit and Sunk

Just over a month to go until my show ‘Hit and Sunk’ opens at Xchanges. I have been working steadily towards my goals and it has been good to paint consistently on a daily basis. Things are a little out of balance in my life as I am in painting mode and some things have had to slide but I know it is only for a set period of time and I can correct it soon.

In the show I plan to explore our connection to our subconscious side and the internal struggle between who we are and who we think we are using the theme of twin film noir detectives and the game of Battleships. The idea to make a series of paintings with the detectives had been bubbling away for a while and is a departure from the animal theme paintings that have previously occupied me.

Check out my Instagram for progress and process shots in the run up to the show.

In The Studio

Right now I am busying away in the studio, working on a series of paintings for a show I have coming up at Xchanges in October. The theme for the show involves using twin film noir detectives to explore the duality between the known and unknown self. I am steadily making progress towards my goal of finishing 8 paintings before the show – two done and I start my next one today. My goal for this project is to make a series of paintings that all look and feel connected, I have a tendency to skip around with color and ideas so I am working hard to make a cohesive show. I am really excited about what I am working on but also nervous because this will be my first solo show in a gallery. What makes me most nervous is the opening but I am trying not to think too much about that at this point. Do you get nervous about openings? I would love to hear your experiences and any tips you might have for maybe even enjoying it!

Last week I went to Andrea Soos‘ and Natalie Brake’s show Coastal Inclinations at Fortune Gallery. A beautiful and really vibrant collection of abstract art inspired by the coast, it is a bolt of sunshine in this so far wet and grey July. The show runs to July 31^st.

Now, to the studio…..

Sketchbook Project – This One Thing

I finished another sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project! I managed to keep to one theme this time (instead of meandering all over the place) – beach pebbles. I will be signing up again for another book towards the end of the year. I enjoy working on these so much I am sad to let them go, so that is why I made the video. I hope you like it. The Sketchbook Project Library is in Brooklyn, NY, so If you are in the area stop in and check it out, they have a collection of over 40,000 sketchbooks, you will leave inspired.

The Doors

Door 84 – Dorothea Tanning (1984)

“This is the strangest life I have ever known.”
― Jim Morrison, The Doors

This Spring I went home to visit my family and managed to squeeze in a couple of days arting in London and St. Ives. There was crazy wind and rain on the South West Coast but I got to spend a few hours at the Anna Bohiguian exhibition at the Tate St. Ives. I wish I could have stayed longer there was so much to take in. It was inspiring to see her sketches and characters freed from the page to take up various positions around the gallery.

In London I spent a day at the Tate Modern, taking in Pierre Bonnard, Dorothea Tanning and Jenny Holzer. I loved Bonnard’s use of colour and space. As a viewer I felt like I was in the room with the subjects of the painting. Windows and doors were almost life size and I had the feeling that I was being invited to step through into the painting. Windows and doors marked the separation between an interior and exterior world. The tranquil and predictable interior home life and the external wildness of the garden.

The theme of doors continued in the Dorothea Tanning Exhibition. People pulling against a physical door separating two canvases; Subjects hiding behind doors and doors leading to rooms in an unending pattern. Tannings doors take us to the unknown rooms of the subconscious and there is a strong sense of an unknown otherness in all of her work.

On Day two I got myself over to Brick Lane for The Other Art Fair I got to see the art work in person of some artists that I follow on Instagram which was awesome. I also discovered a few new artists whose work I really enjoyed, you can check them out on instagram @spiralwonders @georginawaltonartist and @altaberri

Lady (P)arts

Please join me for the opening reception of Lady (P)arts, held at the Victoria Arts Council Head Quarters May 10 from 5pm – 8pm. The show will run from May 10 – May 31.

One year ago I joined the Thrive Mastermind program. As part of the Thrive group I attended monthly group meetings for one year. We united to support each other, share knowledge, humour and give accountability in our art practices.

Originally started in Vancouver, THRIVE Mastermind is a community of local and online artist groups who believe that “thriving artists must make art, meet the people and do the work”. Gender inequality in the arts has been highlighted again and again over recent months with many major art museums re-visiting their collections and starting to address this imbalance. The Thrive Network provides a powerful platform for female artists to connect, share their experiences and raise each other up through community, in a non-competitive environment.

Free and open to the public, Lady Parts is our first show together – a celebration of the art and camaraderie that brought us ‘to the table’ over the past year.

Artemis Rising

In Conversation III – Poets Write, Artists Respond will be at the Coast Collective Gallery Apr 3 – 14*meet the artists-and-poets reception 1-3 pm Apr 6* Please stop in and say Hi!

My painting ‘Artemis Rising’ and was inspired by a poem titled ‘Advice to a Poet’ by Susan Braley. The painting and the full poem will be on display at the show. Artemis is the Greek Goddess of the moon and the wild places. I felt that the poem represented a thorny and dark state of mind that must be travelled through to reach the vulnerable place where creativity happens. There is also strength in vulnerability and I imagined the wild and ancient Artemis finding this strength and herself again in the painting.

Library Heaven

This summer I got to go to Brooklyn with friend and fellow artist Marisa Tsikitas to visit our sketchbooks at the Brooklyn Art Library. It was such a cool place with so many amazing sketchbooks, we could easily have spent all day there?. Art + Library = Heaven! I gained so much by participating in this project that I signed up again for 2018/19. I am posting pictures of my watercolour rock gardens for the 2019 project on Instagram if you want to follow along.

Little Gems Show and Sale

Little Gems

“Letters of Gold” – will be going up the VACs Little Gems show and sale at 1800 Store Street, Nov 28 – Dec 21.⭐ To celebrate Victoria Arts Council’s 50th anniversary there will be 50, 10″ x 10″ canvases all priced $150 on the theme of GOLD ⭐ Happy Anniversary Victoria Arts Council ⭐

Studio Journal