Early in the year I relocated to the VASA Studio on Perron Street. I have occupied an office area, the studio is open to the street so there is light, and you can see and hear people outside. It's much more inviting than Grandin Mall. I am continuing with my current series of abstracts in a restricted palette, black, white and one other colour.
Great news came in October, I applied to Daffodil Gallery at 10412 - 124 St. and was accepted for a one year term. They are now my sole Edmonton representative. Come on by and check out Edmonton's newest, coolest gallery.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
I am still influenced by my interest in city scapes but now I think they are becoming very minimalist. In Red 2 one can see skyscraper-like shapes, but they have been suppressed into the red shapes at the bottom. Black and white textural elements form a counter-point to the red.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
While not being a city scape influenced piece it is very urban, looking much like asphalt with lines. The challenge with a black background is getting the other colours to come alive, as the black tends to suck light out of the paint.
30x30, oil on canvas $750
Blue 2 is more of a departure from city scapes, while it has vertical elements they are much less apparently building images. I am experimenting more with heavy layers of paint and dragging it out or removing the centre to give depth and texture. The black and white checker was heavily influenced by Dan Naminga, a Hopi artist that I am particularly impressed with.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
This is another fairly free form gold painting, I've used some of my previous shapes and techniques but in a more freeform style.
30x30, oil on canvas. SOLD
This was quite a departure from my current series, although still sticking with the black, white and gold format. I thought this was particularly successful, having a sort-of space feel with a yawning void in the center.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
This was a bit of a return to a city scape abstracted feel. Rather than a single colour of purple I made shades of purple with red and blue, giving me more leeway to add blue and red tones. It took me quite a while after I finished this piece to decide where in my subconscious it had come from. I believe it is the ancient structures across the river from the Taj Mahal, at least according to the program I saw on TV.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
Green 2 has a more forest feek than an urban one. This is something that I tried to enhance with diagonal lines and the layered stripes in the corner. I can smell the fir trees and feel the wet shrubs around my feet.
30x30, oil on canvas. SOLD
Silver 1 is sleek, hard, and urban. Not sure where it came from or what it represents, but I like it's minimalist structure and sleek silver sheen. Ooohh, shiny!
30x30, oil on canvas. Gifted to a good friend
Here I am sticking with the metals, this is copper. I was coating the canvas with the copper paint and swirling it on with a brush. I stopped and looked over the marks and was inspired to continue with them. They give the minimalist structure of the painting needed texture. I cannot say this is urban inspired, I still harken back to Dan Naminga and his themes on Hopi culture, but obviously I cannot follow his path as I do not have his background.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
This was largely a pure, non-representational piece using yellow, white and black. Some of my previously used structures are visible, with thick layers, drag-outs, etc. with a unifying layer of white, that was then partially removed.
30x30, oil on canvas. SOLD
This painting painted itself, really! Three colours, alizarin crimson (a great, clear blood colour), black and white. I really liked this series, being limited to three colours it was challenging to get diversity, and design on the canvas. After it sold one of my artist friends liked it so much that I did a smaller version for her.
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
Facing another morning in the studio I decided on red. Okay, progress! Then I decided I wanted to do a very watery effect using lots of walnut oil and solvent. Great, more progress! Then I selected my tube of alizarin crimson, mixed it all up and applied it, added a bit of black for another tone and applied it, then a bit more black and applied it. Then I was faced with the eternal question: "What to do with white"? In a fit of inspiration I used a wide spatula and ran a thick stripe of white down the canvas, then another. Then I stared, had coffee, chocolate, put on some fast jazz, more coffee (my recipe for frenetic, subconsious, inspiration) and returned to apply the subtle white squares. They, amazing, bled slightly into the red for the effect. I'm still impressed with what my subconscious can do!
30x30, oil on canvas. $750
Well hey, I've used a lot of other colours, why not indigo? It's a curious colour, applied heavily it is almost black, applied light it is almost purple, but not quite either. Again, my initial strokes to colour the canvas gave way to a major theme in the painting and I left the swirls where they were. This one is, while harder to see, back to geometric, urban inspired shapes.
22 x 55, oil on canvas. SOLD
This painting is not at all in the current series that I did as a personal project. We were at the Whyte Avenue Art Walk and were really impressed with a large, flat glass piece that had a glue/green tone with gold flecks and highlights. However, as beautiful as it was we didn't have the necessary cash, so I was determined to attempt a simulation of the feeling of the other artist's work (my apologies for not buying your work). I think this is successful, especially as I sold it.
12x24x2 Paper collage on canvas. Gifted to a good friend.
This was a very unusual, experimental piece for me, using only papers that I had collected. I liked the outcome, but wasn't sufficiently stimulated to continue.
