“Our holiday food splurge was a small crate of tangerines, which we found ridiculously thrilling after an eight month abstinence from citrus. No matter where I was in the house, that vividly resinous orangey scent woke up my nose whenever anyone peeled one in the kitchen. Lily hugged each one to her chest before undressing it gently as a doll. Watching her do that, as she sat cross-legged one morning in pink pajamas, with bliss lighting her cheeks, I thought Lucky is the world to receive this grateful child. Value is not made of money, but a tender balance of expectation and longing.”

I looked at Facebook this morning, which I must say I rarely do, and someone I don’t know had written “I woke up today smiling.” I like that. My late Grandpa’s cousin, Les, passed away last week. He was one of those people who seemed to always be smiling. I didn’t see him very often, but I will miss him. I think the world needs more people like him, the ones who seem to look at the sunny side of things.

In progress. They were so tall, the only way to see them side-by-side was to prop them up outside!

The finished pieces.

Installed

Thanks to Bushby Photography

If you’re interested in commissioning a painting from me, (it doesn’t have to be huuuge), please feel free to email me for pricing and other information. Big thanks to Tara at Livtona Interior Design for the collaboration on this project!

I drew this at a large bench at Njaya House backpackers. When I was finished, the Australian across the table slid his journal over my way, asking if I could do a sketch for him. I ended up doing about half a dozen of them. It makes me happy to think that there are all these journals scattered around the world and that these people could be parents now, and tell their kids about their adventures in Africa.

I’m still blown away to think that when I went, I didn’t have an email address, I used film in my camera (and took too few photos), and my family and friends wrote letters to me and sent them to Poste Restante general mailboxes, hoping I’d come across them when I passed through.

Travel seems to have lost some mystique since the interweb. Now we can go on Skype and be shown around Sydney Harbour on someone’s phone! God, I sound old. It’s amazing though.

The scale is just breathtaking.

I was so excited to see that the Met has acquired a piece by one of my favourite painters, Jenny Saville. I fell in love with her work in 2001, when I found a few paintings in a book while I was attending NSCAD. Though some of the pieces are a bit grisly in subject matter (my sister said “Ugh, I don’t like looking at that at all!”), it’s all that luscious paint and fleshiness that drew me in. I’d never seen one in person until the Met, though. The piece is titled Still, from 2003. It reminded me of Willem De Kooning saying “Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented.” Absolutely.

Monet's waterlilies are just so meltingly beautiful, it's impossible to avoid gushing.

I know how long it takes to build up a surface like that. Again, gush.

...and an old studio friend. Almost ten years later. Thanks for the date, Jane!

Great hall at the Malba

Loved this crazy wooden bench by Pablo Reinoso. You can see the tendrils climbing down the walls in the previous photos.

Nelson Leirner (worth getting 'spoken to' for sneaking a photo!)

Antonio Berni

Dos hombres de pie con zapatillas rojas, by Ricardo Garabito

I kind of fell for Senor Garabito’s work. They are strange paintings, to be sure, but the drawing is so gorgeous, and I love the awkwardness of them. Why this skiddy guy, repeated, with no pants on? Why not, I guess.

and of course, Frida Kahlo's Self Portrait with Monkey and Parrot.

Some gorgeous drawings by Leon Ferrari

Remedio Varo, Icono 1945

What a lovely little world he created here. I stood and looked at this one for a while.

Last night I heard a new Leonard Cohen song, Going Home, on the radio. I had to share some of  it here. It’s the chorus that did it for me, so beautiful and sad and honest. Classic Cohen, to be sure. Here’s a link to the song itself on Youtube. I think it’s best to hide the visuals and just listen.

Going home
Without my sorrow
Going home
Sometime tomorrow
To where it’s better
Than before

Going home
Without my burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without the costume
That I wore

This year I have two pieces in the Sooke Fine Arts Show, which opens this Saturday, July 23 at 10 am, and runs until August 1st.

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