Ice Patterns

 



A few days ago while watching the ice surface covering Springfield Lake a visual delight played out in front of my eyes. The day was cool and the sun was out while the temperature was just about zero. As the wind blew across the lake snow was moved off certain areas revealing patterns of ice and snow. I was reminded of a painting Foxy Loxy created a few years ago after watching a fox sitting and then running on lake ice. While making the painting I became as interested in the patterns of snow and ice as the fox itself. Now is a good time to revisit the surface of the lake.

Sketching the Bay

Allowing time to breath the air filling the space of any particular site seems very important to the production of a site sketch. The breeze and the sounds that move through the space become as important to the work as the site itself. As the visual framework resolves on the panel the unseen become secondary within the process while somehow instilling themselves into the work.

While the winter studio moves along work seems to be reflective of warm air and sunshine.  Painting has the unique ability to transport the artist and the viewer through time and space if you give it time.

Sweet Dreams

Dreams seem to lay somewhere between two worlds. I say this remembering a dream from many years ago that literally moved between the two spaces. The horrific events of the dream seemed to reference the printed pattern of the sheets I slept between. After waking there was no similarity but in moving from one space to the next the visual dream transitioned directly into the pattern before my eyes. Each informed the other.

White + Black Surprise

Imagine my surprise when I looked through my image library and discovered a reverse or negative image of the drawing Typewriter in the catalogue. Because the actual typewriter is painted in black enamel paint the reverse image seems in some way closer to reality, Drawings are full of surprises.

Halifax Harbour Sketching Two

The waterfront around the city has changed so much in just a short time. The two paintings at Fairview Cove are a simple reminder of the speed of the change. When I first started sketching the harbour vacant lots with views of shipping activity were a easy to access. The particular view of the container pier was available from the parking lot of an abandoned hotel on the hill overlooking the cove.

I made a few sketches from this site over time and one day a car rolled up beside me. When the passenger got out she asked about my work before I asked about hers. It turned out that she was a reporter working on story about the site. She told me that during the demolition of the hotel native artifacts had been discovered. She also added that the cove was believed to be the site of a native camp. My imagination swirled at the thought of everything between what was and what is.

Hooked

My mother was a hooker and proud of it. I think she came from a long line of hookers and knitters and stitchers. People who worked with their hands. She lived in a time when spending time making things was necessary. Both my grandmothers also worked at hooking and stitching and always had a bag of cloth or wool ready to be used on the next project. Current small projects always followed them around in a bag.

The bags of wool they used were filled with beautiful colours. I was often recruited to turn the scanes of wool into balls or to cut cloth pieces for the next quilting bee. One project after the other overlapped from medium to medium. Cloth and thread turning into quilts and mats, hats and coats, functional items and occasionally just for fun. Looking at their work now I can see they were really good at their work. Maybe watching all this creativity take form in so many ways allowed me to consider working as an artist. Spending more time making art is something worth considering.