A Dose of Summer

A Dose of Summer

I love painting glass as much as I love painting flowers. The little blue 'Milk of Magnesia Bottle' is from my husbands antique bottle collection and the flower came from our garden.We've just had our first possible snowfall predicted here today. My annuals have succumbed finally to the frost and I found this little painting I did recently. Thought we could use a dose of summer as we face the cold months ahead.

Sign of the Dove

I haven't posted in awhile. Spring has brought many home reno projects and repairs which are taking up a lot of creative energy. Amongst them, I am also trying to sort through all the photos that we have taken on recent trips. In the process I came across this one. It was taken in Italy almost exactly 2 years ago now. The dove flew into my photo unexpectedly that day and I was happily surprised to see it there later. Today is Pentecost Sunday on the Christian calendar and marks the permanent arrival of the Divine Spirit, becoming available to everyone. It seemed appropriate for me to post it and in doing so, inspire me to begin completing some of the pieces that I've been planning in my head while my hands have been busy digging, scraping, painting around home!

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.