finding my place....

One of the most difficult things to do is go back into the studio after an absence, for whatever reason, and begin the work again. It has been almost two weeks since I actually painted and nearly four weeks since I have worked in my own space - finding my place again was a real challenge this afternoon - I'm still very tired and playing a huge game of catch up, but I really needed to get back to work - so in I went - puttered around a bit and then I just had to start - paper was the nearest, so clip, clip onto my working piece of cardboard, ink, ink, mark, mark, brush paint and then turn the piece - do it again! and again! and on and on - I disappeared for about two hours and this was the final result - whew!




this is mixed media on paper 24x17 - hope you are all gearing up for a wonderful holiday weekend!

goodbye Southampton

It's my last night in Southampton Ontario. Tomorrow night at this time I will be home. I can't say I'm not ready to go home, but the three weeks I've spent in this community have been an experience I will never forget. Every night I would sit here on 'my perch', the arm of an easy chair, in the second floor apartment above the studio, my laptop sitting on the windowsill faced directly at the art school office across the courtyard - sometimes I get a solid internet connection and other times I don't - tonight I have a connection so I thought I would try a quick post - as I sat here each night I began to see patterns - the same couple walking their dog, the girls across the street leaving their jobs at the little hole in the wall family owned diner, the young boy cutting through the courtyard delivering his papers, the lone woman walker, the 8pm man who walked to the payphone the same time each night to make a call, the yoga class on Tuesday nights going into the gallery for their Tuesday night yoga workout, the seagulls on the top of the tower opposite settling down for the night, and listening to the chimes on the tower clock opposite my window as it strikes the hours - the town has been quiet for most of my stay, but this weekend is the annual celebration of people coming to open their summer cottages - the quiet has gone and a party atmosphere has taken it's place - the high season is starting - of the twelve paintings I was able to complete while I was here, I was able to get two strong ones - both of them will be staying here - they found homes and I'm thrilled.....I can't believe that I actually got them to upload....



this one came first - it's mixed media on board and I really like it....



this one came later and I think is the strongest work I did here - again, mixed media on board......

now let's hope I can publish ......see you all next week

a couple of images.....

Hello all - I've finished teaching my second class here in Southampton and have one more week and class before I head home - I have not been able to visit your blogs very much because of the erratic Internet connection, but will catch up when I get home - just wanted to stop and say hello and pop up a couple little paintings to give you an idea of the work I've been doing - I'll be hopeful I can stay connected long enough to post -

hello....

Hello from Southampton Ontario - this is a quick post - I just finished facilitating a week long art intensive here at the Southampton Artschool - I worked with three amazing artists for 5 days - the photo below shows us on our last day - from left to right - Patty Gilhooly, Diane Kramer (behind me) and Carol Wiebe - we worked extremely hard staying in the studio into the evenings - each of these artists came with their own unique style and it made for a very interesting and eclectic mix - Patty is a potter and textile artist and her work includes a great sense of play and fun - Diane is a sculpture and her translation from that form into 2-D work was powerful and exciting - Carol is an emerging painter and also does an amazing art form of quilting on paper that she is going to be teaching - I am working on a series of figures while I'm here. That's a short look at what I'm up to while I'm in residence here - I have two more weeks and two more classes to teach -

this is us parked in my work station for a last day photo....


and here is a peek at some of the work I'm doing here....hope this finds all of you having a wonderful weekend - more from here later in the week.