Sometimes the studio offers up more then just the finished canvas. These are pictures of the walls and floor after the canvas was complete

Venice Rising, late August, 2009

It has been over 4 years since I walked the streets of Venice where I took that panoramic picture on top of San Marcos square overlooking the city. It has been almost 5 months since I began this painting from that picture.

 

Each morning when I enter my studio I spend a few minutes and sometimes hours reflecting on the journey that the particular canvas I have been painting has been on. Venice Rising has indeed changed and evolved dramatically over the days and weeks, layer upon layer, colour upon colour.

 

When I close my eyes I try to remember what the city gave me those few early summer days, the impressions that were left, I keep coming back to the colours. The colours of the streets, the buildings, the water, the shops, the glass, the carnival, the atmosphere, the taste….

 

What I wanted to create in this painting was the memory of a feeling or experience, not a depiction. It wasn’t about creating a representational view of the city rather it was about a process of layering and blending of colours that would achieve the glowing richness that the city embodies. Maybe the years have blurred the lines that have defined my vision of the city, and maybe not.

 

According to Lodovico Dolce, (1508/10-1568), an Italian painting theorist and humanist, Venetian artists gradually softened their colouring until their manner equaled nature. Rather than beginning with careful drawings, Venetian painters often worked out compositions directly on the canvas, using layered patches of coloured brushstrokes rather than line to define form. Venetian drawings show an interest in how light will affect a body and how colour will describe it in a painting.

 

It is in those interactions or explosions of colour that have defined the painting now that the canvas is almost complete.

 

Venice Rising, August 2009, detail.

Venice Rising, last week of August, 2009

Venice painting in progress, April 6

The innocence and honesty of children can be so refreshing at times. My 14 year old daughter came into the studio the other day and I asked her what she thought of the painting of Venice? Well, that was a loaded question!! Her comment to me was, where is the city? “I liked the painting when I could see Venice, Dad.” “Why do you always paint over the good parts of a painting”? Yep…kids, but she does have a point. She is not the first person to ask that question. I do it every day.

I am not trying to paint a picture that looks like Venice. That’s too easy, too predictable, too safe. What I strive to create is a painting that embraces what Venice is and what I felt when I walked those narrow streets that early summer morning.

The beauty…the richness… the starkness…the smells…the taste… the colours…

No matter how dark, cold and grey the city could feel at times, the colours, vibrancy and vitality of life always shone through. You could just feel it!!

You tell me? When you look at the 2 pictures here, which one feels more like that town Venizia?

Venice Rising, detail, August 2009

detail, almost actual size.

Venice Rising, August 2009

Venice Rising, late August 2009

As with any creative process it is always good to take some time away to relax, recharge and to refocus. I took a few weeks off this summer to travel, unwind, get new ideas and to take some time away from the painting. After dozens and dozens of hours working on Venice I knew I needed some time away. In late August I finally went down to the studio with a goal of finishing the painting. I wanted to “git er dun” as the saying goes. The problem was I wasn’t too sure how to get there.

I gave myself the week to finish the painting. Sometimes deadlines, even self imposed can put on enough pressure. This post along with the next 3 or 4 posts will show the progression to the finished painting (yes it is finished but I need to build up the suspense and anticipation)

Venice Rising, detail

Venice Rising, detail

detail showing colour and texture, close to actual size

progress as of June 10, 2009

I have had a number of people ask me if the painting is finished yet, to which I said to myself out of complete dismay, “Can’t you see it is not!!” I realized that it is very difficult not only for the viewer to be able to see when a work is finished but also for the artist. Add on to that my process of applying dozens of layers; I guess I can see how difficult it is to know when I am finished a painting.

I am now at the stage where I am starting to think that the painting is almost done. I have cropped it to look more like a finished piece. I worked on it for about 7 hours since the last post and as you can see it has changed dramatically. In the studio it looks pretty good, but on the computer screen I am not too sure.  The subtleties in the white and pink areas don’t show as well, nor do the splashes of pure colour but it does give you a better look at the overall structure, much better then when in front of the actual canvas.

I would really appreciate any comments, criticisms and suggestions.

This is the stage where as the artist you need to be very critical and honest about the work. I can remember critique day at university, when the entire class would get together and criticize the art works. Those were hard days. You may think the what you created was good but in fact it was actually really bad and believe me, people (and especially the professor) had no problem telling you it was crap. The criticism was very constructive for sure and  it taught you to have a good critical eye.

So the question is, is Venice finished?

progress as of May 29, 2009

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 be a part of it. The difficulty is, once you start you can’t go back. Sounds simple but believe me it is not. What you see is the result.

I will need to contemplate what I painted for a few days to see where the canvas goes next. The challenge is now to bring the two distinct sides (left and right) of the work together. The softness of  the infused light on the left and the chaotic explosion of paint on the right.

progress as of May 27, 2009

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 to resolve the left side of the canvas, working on this fog, cloud thingy that is still floating on top of the canvas. I am not as much concerned with this looking like “whisps” of cloud flowing over the landscape as I am the feel of this mass of colour, texture and tone.

Today the canvas spoke to me .Today I heard what it has been desiring to tell me and has been craving for me to do. I had originally wanted to create a painting that felt like Venice on a cloudy overcast day. The blues, greens and greys of a misty morning walk. Today the painting told me that is only one part of Venice. Please, please don’t forget the bold and vivid colours of Venice, when you walk the streets, the store windows, the glass, the Carnival and the excitement and the true passion of Venice.

I am almost ready to begin the next half (right) of the painting.

 

Detail of the fog and cloud

 

 

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 10^th 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 church and saw this magnificent work of art. The painting couldn’t have been in a more appropriate setting.

 As one viewer commented,

“We dropped by to see your Angel yesterday at Metropolitan United Church. The Metropolitan Silver Band was performing and behind them was your magnificent Angel. They played a beautiful arrangement of Amazing Grace. When they took a break we went to have a closer look at your Angel – The subtlety of light captured behind bold drippings of pure colour, hanging there on the altar!  It is truly amazing!”

The work will be on view at the Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen Street East, Toronto, for the remainder of the summer months.

The painting “Angel in the Forest” has been both a work and a life in progress for artist Crawford. In her early days the Angel sat, always poised but alone and vulnerable on the new canvas. Her classical features spoke of timeless beauty. Little did anyone know she would become lost in layers of life, colour upon colour, running, flowing, changing, blending, and clashing. Little did the artist know it either.

Now she stands complete, as all angels do, a little hidden, a bit obscure, and always mysterious. It is deeply pleasing to know she is there among the challenges of the wilderness. We all experience her occasionally, when the undergrowth chokes and the trees bend with menace. Yet, as living beings we all carry stories of new hopes, miraculous encounters, and changes of heart.

It is said that symbols still choose us, so, when we see the Angel in the forest we recognize in it.  We see ourselves, our situation, and the nearness of our rescue. The colours are right, the constriction certainly feels real, and the lady herself is as full of grace and truth as any dear friend we might meet in the clearing of our dearest longings.

photographed by Ian Levack

Angel in the Forest at Met

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 it up and let the TDSB start making money off of it.

I broke the story in the fall of 2007 that the board had been quietly fanning staff out to retrieve some 7,000 art works from its schools.

The works were put into a vault for safe-keeping and restoration until the board could figure out the best way to use them. Using the works for the benefit of students’ education — a good artwork holds lessons that go on for a lifetime — and securing their longevity were priorities.

So tonight, when a motion by trustee and artist Gary Crawford to hire a curator for the collection goes to the board’s finance committee, let’s get off this Philistine argument of selling the art to the highest bidder to pay for things like pools and support staff.

A liquidation sale would be like hawking your great-grandmother’s wedding ring just to keep the lights on a few more months — when what you really should do is get your household budget and spending in better order.

We are talking about a collection of paintings and sculptures amassed over the decades through private gifts and small purchases by the TDSB’s six former “legacy” boards. Once the collection was gathered in 2007 it was appraised at $7 million — the bulk concentrated in about 20 “top-tier” art works, including Tom Thomson’s Autumn Scene, which Riverdale Collegiate would understandably love to have back.

The value — both financial and cultural — of these works is a key reason Crawford and others were getting nervous about continuing to allow them to hang all over town without any concerted plan for protecting them.

A pair of Japanese prints worth at least $20,000 were on the verge of being thrown out before they were picked up in the TDSB’s great art haul. A Fred Varley — one of the Group of Seven — was found leaning against a principal’s desk on the floor.

All systems are go to establish a reference group of people from Toronto’s art world, business and the board to come up with a go-forward plan including ideas on protecting the collection and marketing it, while giving students access to it and tying the art to their curriculum.

Crawford hopes a board committee tonight will agree the board should earmark $65,000 to hire a curator for a year. That person could provide credibility to the art community that the board is serious about managing the collection professionally, while also taking care of the administrative necessities to getting the collection out of the vault and available for teaching purposes.

A curator “would allow us to get the works out of the vault much quicker,” than trying to do things in-house, Crawford told me yesterday. He also believes the position could pay for itself. The curator could help the board apply for government art grant funding and better position it to leverage the collection to pay for its upkeep through print productions and partnerships with other cultural agencies.

LOST FOREVER

History shows our legacy to future generations is often in the stuff that enriches life rather than what’s necessary for merely plodding along its path. Yes, we need decent buildings for students to learn in — and too many don’t have them. But that’s not because the school board is clinging to an art collection that would pay to keep pools open only for another year or two — while the art would be lost forever, probably to private collectors, now hovering in the wings to scoop them up.

When we say get creative about money, that doesn’t mean hawking a cultural legacy for short-term solutions. Let’s find a solution that lasts even a fraction as long as the Mona Lisa’s smile.

MOIRA.MACDONALD@SUNMEDIA.CA

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/moira_macdonald/2009/05/20/9508811-sun.html