Brian Sloan

Hurry Up and Wait

Wow, the last day was sure interesting. There isn't a lot that anybody can do about the weather that arrived in our area yesterday. Snow started before dawn falling and blowing on the wind all day and into the night

Today, nobody is going very far. It turns out that we have had more snow in the last twenty four hours than ever before so now we will have to wait for city plows to clear snow and ice.

This morning as the sun rises in the sky I think about trips to the woods with paints and boards to capture shapes and textures but that will have to wait. Without snow shoes travel in the woods would be impossible at this time. later I will work in the studio stretching canvas .

Changing Seasons

Snow banks are deep everywhere with more to come but as spring approaches my thoughts turn to painting on site. Over the winter I have relied on the car studio to fill the gap and it works well on cold or wet days but is a bit cramped.

In a nod to the old idea of spring cleaning, once a year, old frames are peeled and new canvas stretched and prepared. Painting supplies are also checked and renewed. I even turn my paint bag upside down and give it a good shake just to make sure all the stray bits actually make it to the compost pile or garbage bag before I repack the paint bag and leave it by the door ready to go. Having a packed bag by the door makes rushing out easier when the time to go comes along.

So all this spring cleaning got me looking at paintings created over the last few summers and before long work from one day to another was being compared to one another as well as comparisons from one site to the other. The painting of lady slipper plants is part of a larger series of paintings loosely grouped under the title "Ground Cover".

Revisiting sites and exploring new ones create opportunities for interesting changes in the work. I look forward to the challenge.

Digital Painting 2.0

The digital paint project has opened new doors. Digital Paint 1.0

Front

Reverse
It turns out that a painting like people and stories can have two sides.

Reverse

So it seems that with more play to come once again the sky is the limit.

Northern Landscape

There seems to be no two ways about approaching a frozen northern landscape. On first glance the land appears frozen and lifeless until light and shadow reveal a winter scene of water rushing to the sea. What at first seemed still now appears dynamic.

Rushing water has cut the ice and snow covered river surface while the first blush of spring colour appears as a rose coloured glow of trees lining the riverbank. It won't be long until the sap starts running and spring will be underway with fresh maple syrup on tap.