Monthly Archives: May 2009

Venice…sometimes you just have to go for it.

 
 
Some times you just have to have faith that you will somehow be guided through the creative process by powers beyond your control. Maybe that is what inspiration is? Today was one of those days. I knew I was going to really tackle and change the painting today. I knew colour, expression and vibrancy would [...]

Posted in Arts, Work in progress | Tagged | Leave a comment

Venice….listen….can you hear it speak to you?

To those of you who are artists and/or the creative types and anyone else, I pose this question to you.
Can you see what I am seeing and where this painting will be going? Can you hear Venice speaking to you yet?
 Today I really felt the painting speak to me. I have been working on trying [...]

Posted in Arts, Work in progress | Tagged | Leave a comment

Angel in the Forest is home

Angel in the Forest, a large 16 ft x 7ft canvas, was on display at Metropolitan United Church, the historical Toronto landmark church, as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of Doors Open Toronto. It was the first public showing of this beautiful and ethereal painting. Over 2,000 people came through the doors of the [...]

Posted in Arts, Events (arts) | Tagged | 3 Comments

School art sale no cure

School art sale no cure
The Toronto District School Board has a fine collection worth $7 million, so use it don’t hide it
By MOIRA MACDONALD
20th May 2009
The only shame in the debate over the Toronto District School Board’s art collection is that it is still languishing in a secret vault.
Let’s get that art out, let’s get [...]

Posted in Community, Education | Leave a comment

Venice…..the fog rolls in?

Creativity and inspiration occur in the oddest ways. I finished the painting today on a very positive note, finally getting a sense of where the work may be going. Just after I stopped I was up in my bedroom taking some random pictures of my backyard. The flash kept bouncing off the glass and created [...]

Posted in Work in progress | Tagged | 1 Comment

School Board’s treasure

Toronto Star EDITORIAL
 
May 18, 2009
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/635686
Toronto’s public school board has been so preoccupied lately by the future of its unfunded swimming pools that another of its legacies – a remarkable but unheralded collection of Canadian art – has languished almost forgotten.
Last week, the Star’s Kristin Rushowy gave readers an exclusive glimpse of the treasures locked [...]

Posted in Community, Education | Leave a comment

Schools hoard $7M in art

Schools hoard $7M in art
 Autumn Scene by Tom Thomson is valued at $1.5 million.   Jobs are being cut and pools are on the chopping block, but Toronto’s public school board says it would be a ‘mistake’ to sell its secret vault full of valuable paintings
May 15, 2009 04:30 AM
Kristin Rushowy
Education Reporter
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/634694
The Tom Thomson [...]

Posted in Community, Education | Leave a comment

Venice…….oh so vulnerable

 
I had my first one man art show in a Toronto Gallery in the prestigious Yorkville gallery district over 20 years ago. I was in my late 20’s and on top of the world creatively, so I thought. It was a reasonably good show, I sold a few works and I thought I was on [...]

Posted in Work in progress | Tagged | Leave a comment

Venice, a golden dovecote by the water…

Inspiration comes in many ways.
 As I do every morning, I have a prescribed routine I follow when I paint as I am sure most everyone does when they go to work or start their day. I make my coffee, get the newspaper, check my emails then I go down to the studio, where I put [...]

Posted in Work in progress | Tagged | Leave a comment

Venice – the subtlety of colour……of touch….

 
 
Colour to a painting is like touch is to the skin. The subtlety can be electrifying, sending sensations through the body as the colour slowly meanders across the canvas. Finding those hidden areas that call out for colour, for touch, is an artist’s desire, deciding on that exact tone, exact mixture of touch, of pressure, [...]

Posted in Work in progress | Tagged | 1 Comment