The Sweater

This is a painting I finished a year ago but only just took a decent photo of it. 

One last semester to go.

February already.  This is my last semester at NIC.  Finally, at 51 I will be finished school.  I am looking forward to completing my BFA and working as an artist.  (As well as continuing in my regular job, of course.)  I am taking an online course – History of Canadian Design.  I am pleased to be taking a course with purely Canadian content.  We are such an amazing people, and my appreciation for this country increases with what I am learning.  I am also continuing with the second semester of GEVA.  My intent for this studio course is to create a group of paintings and to create a ‘contemporary’ work in Intaglio printmaking.  I will post pictures of my most recent paintings.  The printmaking process is sluggish at this point.  I have some zinc plates printed with spider webs and a few moths.  I have a 4×4′ piece of 1/4″ plexiglass.  This is as far as I have got to.  I am waiting for inspiration…………

A new semester at ECUAD – NIC campus

This semester I am taking GEVA 410.  Two instructors, and the idea is to create a body of work worthy to graduate with and exhibit.  I am enjoying the course and proposed for my semester to create paintings and intaglio prints.  I have been going great guns (not in any particular direction) when I slipped in the wet weather and broke my ankle and leg.

This means I stopped.  Everything.  I am beginning to paint again, (three weeks later) but find it laborious.  I plan to finish my explorations in etching spider’s webs in the spring semester.

This painting was done in the first part of this semester.  A group of turkeys.

Vancouver Island Music Fest Paintings

This past summer I was among some artists invited to paint at the Vancouver Island Music Fest here in Courtenay.  These are some of the paintings completed from that experience.

 

Compost paintings completed

I have finally finished the four ‘photo spot’ paintings for the CVRD.  I have already posted the spring theme for the Comox Valley Compost Education site. (see ‘compost painting’)  So I will upload the rest now.

Creating the world for CVRD

Last week I painted a 3′ diameter ‘earth’ for the Comox Valley Regional District.  This will be attached to a fence.  Going across the ‘world’ and along the fence will be footprints painted by children.  Sounds like it may look like the fish that are attached to school fences that you can see around here.  I will post a picture of it ‘in situe’ anon.

Socs 411 MOCL proposal images

These images are the ones I might submit to the Ministry of Casual Living artist-run centre along with my proposal for an exhibition of my work.

Compost painting

I am in the process of painting ‘cut out’ boards for the Compost Education Centers in the Comox Valley and Campbell River.  They will be painted both sides, one a spring theme and the other side a fall theme.  I have pretty much completed the ’spring’ side for the Comox Valley.  I will be making some slight adjustments to it this week.

Spring Cleaning

As far as actual cleaning, that will have to wait for summer.  I wanted to bring my “art” blog up to date.  I have successfully completed painting 310 with Scott Bowering.  This is my second painting class with Scott and I feel that I have had something of a ‘break through’ this semester.  Three of my paintings have something which I plan to continue to explore.  In each of these I feel that the subject is not overstated.  (Something I tend to do.)  In leaving large parts of the image unclear/ambiguous I am inviting the viewer to participate in interpretation.

I know it could be a bunch of hogwash but I think this is expressed most especially in the painting of the group of women.

Ted Hiebert at the CVAG

I went to see the Ted Heibert photography exhibit today at the Comox Valley Art Gallery.  I was impressed and inspired by the images.  The high contrast, black and white focuses the attention to the forms without the distraction of colour.  I like his interplay with blurred, moving forms and the concrete, accurate parts of the figure.  The balance between ambiguous and detailed visual information is something I am interested in exploring in my own painting.  The large  images worked well and I agree with a comment in the guest book that mentioned they would like to see them at night, billboard size, lit up with neon lights.