Mixed Media & Collage
Garden Tangle Drawings
Ingersoll Commute (selected work)
Ingersoll Commute
(selected work)
For many years I have driven from Woodstock to Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre on my
favourite back roads. Ingersoll Commute is a series of paintings created from memories and
impressions of moving through that space. Rather than seek the specifics of any one view or
place I have let the work lead me to these stored interior landscapes.
My paintings continue to evolve and emerge from the multiple layers of marks, scribbles,
scratches and collage. Although collage is not new to me for this series I have used saved
pieces of past work created during the years of the commute further unearthing memories of
that time and space.
Home
Home
I started this small series in late 2019 as an experiment in mounting
semi-transparent Mylar layers on board. The house shape which is placed under the
top layer suggests to me a safe place to live, grow, love and create.
The work soon took on a life of its own reflecting the current stories of historic
floods, fires and masses of people seeking asylum. Perhaps the piece Neighbours at
Night foretold of the isolation we would experience in 2020.
Birdsong (selected work)
Birdsong
(selected work)
My little garden is like a private oasis bordered by a thick barburry
hedge and curved flower beds surrounding the bird bath and feeder. It's heavenly
to sit in my favourite corner; my book punctuated by the starting and stopping
of the singing birds. The hedge can host two or three choirs at once. Other
feathered friends call out from on high in surrounding trees. The Bird Song is
almost constant; sometimes with loud chatter, tiny chirps, or a solitary
melody.
This series of drawings/paintings is a celebration of their gift of song which
reminds me that my world is teaming with life.
Go Figure (selected work)
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Go Figure
(selected work)
The opportunity to use photographic images of Bruce Flower's
figurative sculptures opened a new world of exploration for me. I
have long admired Bruce's dedication to his work and his mastery
of drawing which is clearly evident in his sculptures.
His images capture a moment in time but the emotion they express
is far from static. This feeling lead me to free them from their fixed
position "on the wall" thus having the figures moving, floating,
dancing or flying in a mysterious, spiritual or dreamlike plane of
existence.
As I studied Bruce's images during the months of work I was more
and more deeply touched by the human tenderness and caring he
expressed. I was inspired to surround his figures with drawings of
joyous, angelic moving figures of my own.
Drawing with Photography (selected work)
Drawing with Photography
(selected work)
My use of semi-transparent mylar is central to the layered creations
of this series and to my work of the past few years. Drawing the
viewer into the mysterious layers creates the experience of
searching and discovering something almost out of reach.
Photographic images can be seen from under a layer of mylar.
Veils of colour and drawing marks on the mylar surface often hide
most of the image. The act of erasing, scratching or sanding
exposes the hidden images. Reworking often takes place until I
intuitively reach a completion.
MEMORIES: China Marker on Photography (selected early work)
MEMORIES: China Marker on Photography
(selected early work)
I began this series of tiny "intimate', work because I
found myself for a time without my studio space but not
without a strong desire to continue making art that leads
me to myself.
The combination of china marker drawing on my own colour
prints has been fascinating to explore because I am intrigued
by all types of mixed media and because I could include
representational elements of patterns and my favourite things to look at and still satisfy
my desire to spontaneously search with scribbles.
Although most of the objects photographed were not with
me in childhood, something mysterious about them and the
finished drawings, has almost tapped memories from some other
time.