I had to write a post today for dear Annemiek, who departed this world 12 years ago today. It’s the third actual anniversary. I decided not to dwell, and instead found myself singing Tori Amos’ Hello Mr Zebra. Gratitude.
Archive for February, 2012
Hello Mr Zebra
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012A Big One
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012Last spring I finished the largest painting I’ve ever done on canvas: 8.5 x 10 feet. The paintings were a commission for a lovely couple who have recently moved to a West Coast style home with a large, blank wall that needed some added “wow factor”. The field in the paintings almost looks as though you could walk right into it, the scale is so great. I hope they love living with it as much as I loved the challenge of painting it.
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!
Africa Sketchbook ~ Continued
Saturday, February 18th, 2012It’s around this time of year every year I grow nostalgic for the perspective-changing trip I took to East and Southern Africa in 1997. To continue with my earlier posts, I opened my dogeared journal today to see where I was and what joy or angst my young self was feeling on that day. It seems like navel-gazing, but I think these experiences shape who we are as people and as makers of things. This is what I found:
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.
New York + Art = Happiness
Monday, February 13th, 2012I was lucky enough to go back to New York this last December for a couple of weeks of wandering around, gawking at buildings, people, art galleries, everything. When in Rome…
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!
Argentina ~ Part Two: Gallery Art
Friday, February 10th, 2012In Buenos Aires, we went to the Malba, Museo de Arte Latinamericano de Buenos Aires, a ten year old gallery filled with contemporary South American art.
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.
Going Home
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
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 beforeGoing home
Without my burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without the costume
That I wore
Argentina ~ Part One: Street Art
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012It’s been ages since I wrote here, but I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina. What a feast of colour for a hungry artist!
Aquamarine walls and propped bikes.
'A gift'? Love the almost hidden figures in white. I didn't see them until I looked at the photo!
Peeling paint on Cinzano building.
The blondest blonde in El Caminito.
Blending In?
"I have a thing for taller ladies..."
???