Still Standing

Still Standing

A friend is getting married. She is so happy and the future is so bright. She asked me to paint this for her a few years ago when things were not so certain in her life. This tree stood near her home and when she decided to move asked me to paint it for her as a souvenir. I pointed out that it had been hit by lightning and instead of painting out the damage, I would leave it in as inspiration. The tree had recovered and kept on growing a beautiful crown heading for the blue sky above. I don't paint landscapes but trees 'get to me' for some reason and I think of them more as portrait pieces. I think she may have put the painting into a back corner somewhere but the image still carries the memory and the meaning of growing through the storms.

Late Spring

The 'Remember' Tree

Another week of rain. A psychologist on CBC radio today is talking about the weather and how adversely it can affect 'us Canadians'. I've been so looking forward to seeing some colour that I've given up on blue and green and decided to feast my eyes on ochre and sepia and burnt sienna and how they glow against blue grey skies and sepia tree skeletons. It's painted in encaustic (wax) and includes a photo of an elm.This tree is one I pass by very often and feel is quite beautiful in relief against the sky. Maybe the rain is getting to me after all...

Happy Easter!

This is the piece as it appeared on Easter morning. Hope you are celebrating the rebirth of hope where ever you are.

Good Friday

This is a piece I created a couple of years ago for the period of Lent, preceding Easter in the Christian calendar. It was commissioned by a local church and hung above the altar. It's constructed of rolled aluminum sheeting, cut by hand (by me). I used a rivet gun to place the pieces on the circular frame before painting.  The styrofoam nail was painted and attached and wrapped with red and black ribbon. It was no small feat to suspend it from the ceiling but once there it served as a reminder of the perfect sacrifice made for each one of us by the King of Kings.

Reflections on Nesting

I recently painted this and put it in a local show near where I live. I didn't offer it for sale as it's one of those pieces that I can't let go of just yet. I found this little nest, egg included, at the end of the fall last year and it got me thinking about how fast life goes. My sons, aged 20 and 22 are testing their wings and flying further away each time so 'my nest' is nearly empty. That little egg never got to hatch and served as a reminder that our hopes and dreams are sometimes like that. My sons have begun in earnest, the process of redefining or setting aside some old dreams and dreaming some new ones. You never know which ones will hatch so you can't limit yourself to just one. That's a comfort to me now at this stage of my life. There's still some dreams incubating that promise to open at just the right time.

My muse

Great Grand Muse

Being Different

This is something I started before I had learned about anatomy, or oil painting. I picked this big canvas when I had never done anything like that before and I made lots of mistakes but boy did I have fun! I have this teeny tiny picture of my great grandfather, J.N.Sprague. It's the only one I have and he lived in England painted  watercolour paintings  in the early part of the 20th century. The few stories I was told about him were all about how much he was loved by his grandchildren. I have one of his paintings, very old and faded but it inspires me to  'keep it in the family' for the next generation. I've learned a lot since but can't bring myself to finish this or start another one...just yet.

The second little painting is about being 'different'. The most colourful ones always are.

More Water Under the Bridge

Fall Fashions

Bowl of Encouragement

These paintings represent the beginning of my change to oils. 'Fall Fashions' is painted on watercolour canvas and 'Bowl of Encouragement' is painted on paper but with the influence of all those academic drawing classes I realized that I wanted to see the vibrancy and detail that could be had more easily with oil paint. This was the last watercolour I did before taking the plunge into oils.