"Western Brook Pond"

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."

~Frank Lloyd Wright

"Western Brook Pond", oil on panel, 8"x 6" is the smallest painting for my upcoming Newfoundland Portraits exhibition. Details about the show can be found at the end of this posting.

I love small paintings. I think I have mentioned before that there is a certain irony found within them, well, in my own experience at least. I find that I have the most freedom within the smaller dimensions of a little canvas...when I am standing in front of a large surface to cover with paint, I tend to freeze up a little, to struggle more, to feel a bit intimidated. It is a happy paradox, this expansive freedom of working within small spaces. I am actually contemplating my next exhibition being something like 40 or 50 small paintings...I see a gallery of small but enthusiastically-painted figures, faces, mountains and mountain faces, anything that moves me. This show will certainly come after the Christopher McCandless exhibition but there's nothing like placing a seed within your mind that will slowly awaken at a later time.

This little painting is the result of a challenge I placed on myself. Challenges are fun, especially if you succeed at them! I decided to do three small paintings close to the exhibition date...to see if I could execute them well and quickly. I like to have a variety of sizes of paintings for people to see and enjoy. Besides, not everyone has the budget for a large piece, and the smaller paintings are within the realm of potential for many people. Plus, I had three ideas that had been fermenting in my mind since last September when I traveled to Newfoundland. This piece is the first one that I will post. The other two will come within the next few days so stay tuned!

"Western Brook Pond" is one of the most exquisite sites I have ever seen in my life. It can stand toe to toe with any snow-capped peak in Denali National Park as far as I am concerned. Both are regal and magical, both unique, and "Western Brook Pond" was certainly one of the highlights of this journey in search of future paintings. You can read more about this leg of my Newfoundland odyssey here, on my other blog, Paintings and Musings.

The impetus behind this little painting was to try to capture a small essence of the scale of this landscape on a tiny canvas. The cliffs are so high, so grand, and we human beings so small, it was one of those humbling moments where you stand agape and your mind balks to comprehend the enormity of what is all around you. Due to the small size of this piece, it really encouraged me to stick with careful brushstrokes and not get too fussy with details. As with most of my paintings the work should more or less coalesce as you stand back a bit from it. Up close you can see the brushstrokes pretty well delineated...it is deliberately executed. Yet this technique of brushwork has become unconscious. I don't think about it anymore. I just do it. Again, it is all about economy of brushstrokes, as well as a general philosophy about life too: less is more.

I enjoyed the large forms fading backward into the distance, to corners of the fjord that we had rounded in our small ferry, and well, painting atmospheric perspective is just plain fun. And it should be fun, as much that we do in our day to day life should be fun. If it isn't, we can always work to make it fun, or change what we do! It is a simple equation that we often complicate unnecessarily. Do what you love...and if you don't do what you love, there will always be a way to make it happen. Always.

Here is some information on the exhibition, the opening of which is one week tonight! I sincerely hope to see you there! Be well and have a beautiful weekend finding and enjoying your own happy paradoxes.

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." ~Pablo Picasso

Newfoundland Portraits

November 5-22nd, 2009

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm

Abbozzo Gallery

179 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Come out, see some artwork and listen to special musical guests

The Killin' Time Band who will be playing

some East Coast-inspired songs for your enjoyment!

Informal Artist Talk: November 14th, 2-4pm, Abbozzo Gallery

Speaking Of Art...

"Gayle With Sheet", Oil On Canvas, 30"x24"

"A good orator is pointed and impassioned"~ Cicero

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. I was asked to be a guest lecturer for the fine art student body and some faculty. It was exhilarating yet a bit terrifying as well...which I suppose is a good thing. Adrenaline can do such wonders for the mind as well as the body!

The purpose of this lecture was to discuss and talk about my background, past work, present projects, accomplishments and anything else pertaining to the life of a full-time artist that the students might enjoy learning about. I have included some images in this blog of paintings that I showed to the audience.

"Bed (head)", oil on canvas, 12"x12"

I had a lot of fun preparing the lecture, partially because I was able to use Power Point finally. It was so straightforward and I almost couldn't believe it was a Microsoft product! All bias aside, I had a great time organizing, planning, editing and honing the talk around slides of older and present work, a brief bio and selected quotations that keep me inspired and moving forward when there are inevitable but rare dips in enthusiasm about one's work.

"Coming", oil on canvas, 48"x36"

The talk went really well and I was quite excited to see that a total of about 115 people attended the lecture! All of the chairs were taken and people were sitting on the floor and standing at the back of the gallery where the talk was held. I had a microphone. I had a laptop. I was ready...so I dove in and began to talk about what I do and why I do it.

After some initial nervousness I settled into speaking earnestly about how I came to be a full-time painter: how in college a small group of us decided to embark on a more traditional route of approaching our work as we had a calling to do more studio/gallery work than commercial work...and the beautiful thing is that our instructors at Sheridan College supported and encouraged this rerouting of creative spirit. I will never forget that.

"Gayle (stool)", oil on panel, 48"x36"

The main point that I tried to emphasize to everyone listening is what we have heard time and time again: that anything that we dream of is possible, that we can do whatever we want with our lives, with our careers as artists and creative people, that the only limits are those which we place upon ourselves. I was pleased to see some people nodding their heads and some were jotting down notes too. I spoke of the value of discipline and most importantly, I stressed to the listeners to find out what makes each of them unique as creative people, what sets them apart, and to capitalize upon that. The key is finding that beautiful and individual ingredient within each of us...and cultivating it.

Below are some quotations from my talk that I wanted to share here. They resonate with me very much and I use them as touchstones when I need a little push of inspiration:

"Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life."~Confucius

"In the depths of winter I finally discovered that there was in me an invincible summer." ~Albert Camus

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." ~Henry David Thoreau

"The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave it neither power nor time." ~Mary Oliver

"The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~Sylvia Plath

"Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is."~Jackson Pollock

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" ~Vincent Van Gogh

"Gayle, Snowshoeing", Oil On Canvas, 36"x48"

Speaking to these artists was very rewarding. I spoke to a few people afterwards who wanted to talk briefly and I was pleased to hear that they enjoyed the talk and were inspired. There's no greater feeling than to inspire another artist to pick up their brush or approach the copper plate with more gusto! There was a certain bliss felt in that moment, in speaking and communicating verbally what you are compelled to do with your life and work. I look forward to doing more lectures and speaking engagements in the future!

I can hardly believe it but the Newfoundland Portraits Exhibition is less than three weeks away! I will be doing an informal artist talk on November 14th at Abbozzo Gallery from 2-4pm where I will speak about the creation of the paintings and the journey to Newfoundland. I hope to see you both at the opening and at the talk!

With warmest wishes,

Heather

Newfoundland Portraits

November 5-22nd, 2009

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm

Abbozzo Gallery

179 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Come out, see some artwork and listen to special musical guests

The Killin' Time Band who will be playing

some East Coast-inspired songs for your enjoyment!

Informal Artist Talk: November 14th, 2-4pm, Abbozzo Gallery

"Rebecca"

"If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint."

~Edward Hopper

"Rebecca", oil on canvas, 36"x36" was one of those commissions that came about very naturally and enjoyably. Perhaps it is because the composition and feel of the painting is similar to figurative work that I usually paint. For whatever reason, it felt like I was returning to the comfortable, the familiar.

My friends were fantastic about giving me the freedom to organize the painting according to what felt appropriate. They had a general idea of what they were looking for but gave me a lot of room to play with composition, lighting etc. This is a liberating feeling for a painter and is a great example of creative co-operation.

After working on Newfoundland paintings for over a year, and it has been an enjoyable year for sure, it felt good to deal with the figure in a way that I have been working for a long time. I love rendering sheets (I say that now, but it can be challenging!), and a figure in repose with lots of negative space and a muted palette are elements that really appeal to me. I love a limited amount of colour and then a splash of colour where flesh is....I think it serves to draw the eye in and adds focus and vibrancy in little pockets of concentration. The objective always is always to treat the entire piece to function as one narrative with all of the elements weaving together in a way that works.

When I work often I turn a painting on its side or sometimes even upside down. The odd canvas is intended to hang on the wall so that the subject is upside down..these canvases I usually paint right side up! The point is that how we perceive things varies greatly, even with a tilt of 90 degrees...I find that when I work on paintings and turn them periodically that I am usually happier with them when they are completed. Just as many teachers will suggest that you should occasionally look at your paintings in the mirror to spot inaccuracies, I think turning your canvas if you are able and working on it from different orientations only serves to benefit your painting.

One of the most rewarding elements as a painter comes with the simple joy of not doing the same thing two days in a row. Every day essentially is a new road that I go down, but with paint, rather than my little 1991 Toyota Corolla (who is running like a dream still at 225,000 kms). No two roads are the same, as are no two paths, nor two canvases...it is an aspect of my career that I appreciate and never take for granted. Plus, unveiling a painting for clients who are thrilled with it is a highlight too...it is one thing to be happy yourself, but when you love what you do that happiness comes across in the work and in turn others are filled with joy as well.

I will be speaking at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario next week as a guest lecturer. I am looking forward to this opportunity to speak to students enrolled in their Art and Design Fundamentals program very much. I will discuss my methods, body of work, past shows and upcoming projects as well as answering questions from the audience.

The opening reception of my solo exhibition is one month today! I really hope that you can make it out to the show. I will be giving an informal talk on November 14th as well from 2-4 pm at the gallery.

Have a beautiful day and share some happiness,

Heather

"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without." ~Cecil B. DeMille

Portraits Of Newfoundland

November 5-22nd, 2009

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm

Abbozzo Gallery

179 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Come out, see some artwork and listen to special musical guests

The Killin' Time Band who will be playing

some East Coast-inspired songs for your enjoyment!

"George Hill"

"Character develops itself in the stream of life". ~Goethe

"George Hill", oil on panel, 40"x30" is a portrait of a man who extended a helpful hand to me when I had just arrived in Newfoundland last September. I was rather bewildered and awed by the vast expanse of rock and sea all around, pinching myself that I was there and along came this gentleman with a big wave and a gentle manner to ease the transition into paradise.

I meandered up the hill to George, who was in the process of mowing his lawn (no easy task in Newfoundland as it is so very hilly and often marshy). I fell in love with his little shed with the low doorway,with his galoshes, with the character that flowed from him in his special place. I enjoyed the thought of painting the space between his teeth, his ruddy, windblown face, his humble demeanor. I gave my little introduction as to why I was there, and asked him if he would mind if I took some photographs of him mowing his lawn and also standing in his shed doorway. He was very polite and agreed to let me take some shots.

I painted George's house in a previous work, "Storm Over Wesleyville", which you can see here. His shed is the little building perched on the rocks on the right hand side, and his house is the larger white structure beside it. This gives the painting of George a bit more context.

I love environments that show that they have been lived in. George's shed does just that. Peeling paint, worn steps, wood smoothed and concave from thousands of steps that comprise our lives lived. This little place and the man who dwells there are great indicators of how each of us lives in a world that is permeable: there are the comforts of habit and our environments of security, but there are also people who flit in and our of our lives for a minute, a day, or perhaps they stay for years and inhabit our space with us. My limited but happy exchange with George left me with a wonderful feeling and I knew that the painting must be done for the show.

Sometimes ideas for paintings come to us in a dream, sometimes when we are at the grocery store, and sometimes they arrive right in front of our eyes, with no preconception of their existence until we see our subject, the composition, the painting itself in front of our eyes, just waiting to be painted. This is just such a painting.

From a compositional standpoint I liked the combination of vertical and horizontal lines that make up the angles of his shed. I enjoyed that the structure had warped a bit from time and weather. The darkness inside, subtly suggesting objects behind him, the contrast between the brightness of the shed and daylight outside also appealed to me. Plus, his stance, lowering himself to fit in the doorway, is one of my favorite elements of this painting. His galoshes, so ubiquitous in Newfoundland, are at an interesting angle. He was standing naturally, even though his stance seems a bit awkward to suit the low doorway. I liked that contrast and hope I have captured a bit of his spirit in this painting.

This piece is a biography too..it is a visual symbol of the history of a man and his life. From the lines on his face to the little shop in his shed, what is rendered on a flat surface is a small but eternal moment in time of George's life. Our lives are one long string of moments, some more profound than others, but this one exists simply as it is, as he was, and as he will continue to be captured in that moment forever. Thank-you George.

"Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face,

or what's behind it?" ~Pablo Picasso

The exhibition is only a few weeks away! Here are details. I hope to see you there. Have a beautiful day and share some happiness...

Heather

Portraits Of Newfoundland

November 5-22nd, 2009

Abbozzo Gallery

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm

179 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Come out and listen to special musical guests

The Killin' Time Band who will be playing

some East Coast-inspired songs for your enjoyment!

Success through learning from your "failures"

Climbing The Root Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”~C.S. Lewis

When is the last time you did a piece of art that you, upon stepping back from at its completion, did you really dislike? As artists and creatives, we have a tendency to be quite critical of ourselves. Mind you, being critical is GOOD as it helps us prune away the mediocre, shave off weak techniques and learn from them. We need to be critical to improve. However, what I want to address here is what we do with our "failures", our discarded paintings, and what we do with them in our minds too. Each is just as important.

I have an area in my studio where I have stacked paintings from college and one or two relatively recent pieces that I abandoned because I knew they would never be what I wanted them to be. I look back on some of those college pieces and think, hey, not bad! However, often I look back on them and want to burn them. But I don't. I keep them there and look at them when I pass...look at them as a reminder of where I have come from and where I am now in relation to that past "lesson".

What is it that makes you realize that what you are working on, be it a song, a poem, a sculpture, a symphony, is not working? Do you overwork the piece? Do they colours get muddy and the lines blur? Do you fuss and then cannot look at it without your eye immediately going to the area that you fussed with? Have you turned the bowl on the wheel and made it so thin that it has cracked? I say fire that cracked bowl still...because it is a lesson! It helps you evolve and learn what NOT to do next time! Now, I understand that much of the creative process is wrapped up in an unconscious state of flow, where your mind is somewhere else, absorbed in the work usually, and you almost cannot help yourself from doing these things..it is almost a compulsion. I urge you to stop and take a step back. I think that one, well-placed brushstroke can easily convey what you need to convey versus twenty small ones...BUT keep in mind I work differently than many artists...hyper realists for example, who paint within an inch of their life. Their work is sublime, but requires a patience and manual fortitude that I simply do not possess. So do what you need to do when you do your craft, but do it with purpose and intention, with mindfulness...yet do not be afraid to make mistakes too...it is a delicate balance!

Let's look at this from another perspective. If everything that we painted was brilliant, right from the start, would we appreciate it as much? Anything worthwhile and cherished requires a devotion of time and work to be successful. If something requires effort, we love it all the more because of what we learned along the way towards that achievement. So save your failures...they are not really failures, they are lessons that we have experienced that make us the stronger and more accomplished artists and creatives that we are today.

Have a beautiful day, and share some happiness!

Heather

“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.” ~Tom Krause

Quick update: There will be an article on my upcoming Newfoundland Portraits Exhibition in The Newfoundland Herald Magazine next week. If you happen to live in Newfoundland or have access to magazines there, pick up a copy!

The exhibition is fast approaching. Mark it in your calendar! :)

Portraits Of Newfoundland

November 5-22nd, 2009

Abbozzo Gallery

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm

179 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

"At Greenspond"

"Colour has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it. 

I know that it has hold of me forever...Colour and I are one.

 I am a painter."~Paul Klee

"At Greenspond", oil on panel, 24"x12" is all about colour.  I loved the interplay of oranges and auburns at the bottom and the blues and vibrancy of those watery hues at the top of the painting. The rock is an amalgamation of those to compliments, dividing its temperament between warms and cools. I was exploring the trails and rocks that met with the sea that day in the little town of Greenspond...large slabs of organic rock like frozen water, softened by countless waves and storms. 

With this painting I wanted to create a focus on the large rocks almost falling into the foreground. I saw in my mind a vertically-oriented painting, with heavy cropping and a small amount of water and sky. The skies are so clear in Newfoundland (when there isn't fog!), the colours so crisp and clean. It is very similar to Alaska, or probably anywhere that has minimal pollution. Everything is in sharp relief, no blurry edges, but each flower and rock beautifully defined. 

The land and the people in Newfoundland are genuine, the real thing, they exist closely with the land and are intertwined with it, live in close contact with it, cannot help but be shaped by it. The tidal pools that you come across contain little worlds of life ebbing and flowing, reliant upon the tides just like air into lungs. What may appear to the casual passerby is actually a complex ecological system of life and death, beauty, growth and decay that is continually changing right before your eyes. It is magical. The people too are dependent largely on what the land has to offer, from fish to berries, there are cycles to be seen everywhere you look. 

From a technical standpoint this painting was relatively uncomplicated and came together quickly. The water jumps out as it is so vivid there...a deep blue that is even purple in some places (I saw some in Cape Freels). My greatest challenge here was to convey the impression of the hardness and undulation of the rocks...the veins and organic patterns and shapes that twist and braid down the length of each rock. Certainly the most enjoyable area to paint was the burnt orange hues at the bottom where the rock has water on it and the minerals can be seen in an all together different light, darkened and brought to life by the water. 

Oftentimes after months have passed the beauty of a place starts to seep into your blood...like a trickle from a rock bed or the melting of a glacier....slow and steadily you find yourself romanced by a land that you dwelt briefly upon many months ago. The captivating part is that you are not even consciously aware of it. It simply is. I find myself being bewitched by Newfoundland all over again, each time I look through my reference photos to ponder the possibility of a painting here or there...each painting is a reliving of an experience, and in that moment all of the affection and wonder that you felt sitting on that cliff, speaking with that person, hiking down that trail, they all come back to you with an fragile intensity. Anything that moves us to that extent deserves our attention and we must embrace that memory so that we can share it with others, in the form of art, poetry, photography, music, or simply as enthusiastic anecdotes shared between kindred spirits. 

Be well, take good care, and share some happiness today.

Heather

"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." ~Claude Monet

Here is some information on my upcoming solo exhibition! 

Portraits Of Newfoundland

November 5-22nd, 2009

Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville, Ontario

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm

Chris' Pack, Stampede Trail

“Lara walked along the tracks following a path worn by pilgrims and then turned into the fields. Here she stopped and, closing her eyes took a deep breath of the flower-scented air of the broad expanse around her. It was dearer to her than her kin, better than a lover, wiser than a book. For a moment she rediscovered the purpose of her life. She was here on earth to grasp the meaning of its wild enchantment, and to call each thing by its right name, or, if this were not in her power, to give birth out of love for life, to successors who would do it in her place.”~Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago 

"Chris' Pack, Stampede Trail", oil on panel, 24"x36" is a painting that I knew I had to do as soon as I saw the initial photograph that Chris McCandless took on April 28th, 1992. The photograph was reminiscent of an Ansel Adams vista, the moody, low-slung clouds scuttling across the bleak landscape, the great contrast in value from the pack to the snow....it was all there. 

Chris was dropped off on The Stampede Trail April 28th by Jim Gallien, an electrician on his way to Anchorage, Alaska. He picked Chris up in Fairbanks and gave him a lift down to the Stampede Trail,  taking him as far as his truck could go along the snowy, slippery road. There is a photograph that Gallien took of an excited Chris, rifle over his shoulder, ready to embark on his odyssey into the wilderness, and then there is this photograph (and subsequent painting). Chris was finally, at long last, alone. His pack here represents himself because he was holding the camera. I have painted Chris' backpack before and you can read about that painting, "Odyssey By Train" here.  His pack went everywhere with him, was his home, his life, an extension of himself for those two rambling years of his odyssey. 

There is a melancholic quality to this painting. I have stood in this exact spot on the trail, but in August...with the changing leaves and plentiful foliage rolling out over the vast expanse of land in every direction. Here, however, the snow casts an all together different quality upon the landscape. This painting really is paradoxical in many ways. On the one hand it has a sense of wonder and potential...the trail ahead, beckoning, not knowing where it goes, a dotted line that wends its way out into nothing, a symbol of self-discovery and the culmination of his Tolstoyan philosophy.  On the other other hand there is the knowledge of what happened to Chris, and I am filled with a great sadness too. When I had the privilege of looking through his photographs, this one especially, jumped out and captured my heart immediately. I am glad to have finally completed it. 

From a technical standpoint I wanted to remain true to Chris' vision, as I am trying to do with each painting from his photographs that I have completed. I alter very little. His photograph was shot in black and white, and thus the painting is black and white too. I love mixing blacks, as their is so much beautiful variety in each one. No two blacks are ever the same. We were instructed specifically in art school to never use black out of a tube but learn to mix your own and therein you have more control over all of its beautiful, possible permutations. There's a deep green-black before seashells disappear into the Atlantic, a purple-black that pulls sunsets away into the night, blue-blacks that bring out the best in stars and ochre-blacks that hide in stalks of hay bales in autumn. They are all beautiful in their own way because a bright value is only as brilliant as the dark ones allow them to be. Without darkness, lightness loses its vibrancy and poignancy. 

I kept the brushwork very loose, especially in the sky. Often clouds have a very expressive, brushy quality to them and so I tried to not get too fussy with the sky. The mountains and surrounding landscape too I tried to not get too lost in but concentrated the brushwork more around the pack. Even though much detail in the pack is absent because of its dark value I love its simple, heavy shape sitting there on the snow. I like that you can see a little bit of his fishing net and his camera case which is lying to the right of the pack. There are tracks in the snow that continue up ahead of where Chris was standing, but for all intents and purposes he was heading into a place where no one had traveled before him. This painting is one small moment in that journey. 

"If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal, that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality." ~Henry David Thoreau

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In other art-related news I will be a guest lecturer at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario in October. I will be speaking about my work, process and projects for students enrolled in the Art Fundamentals Program there. I look forward to this opportunity very much!

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Here is some information on my solo show, Portraits Of Newfoundland, that is coming ever closer! I hope to see you at the opening. Please see previous posts on this blog that describe some of the paintings that will be in the exhibition.

Portraits Of Newfoundland

November 5-22nd, 2009

Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville, Ontario

Opening Reception November 6th, 7-10pm