August 26, 2023
Dear Art Friends,
Almost!!!!
Well, here is the 1st glimpse of my 3rd “Loves of The Gods” painting. I’m half thinking of calling it “Known gang of irritable Canada Geese heroically save Leda from an aggressive swan who claimed to be the god of thunder.”
More a newspaper headline, than painting title, I guess.
I thought I’d post this 1st image now because some amusing aspects in process are showing up that could entertain the layperson.
Normally I start with the main, or central image, which is how I compose the piece, as well as block it in. But as I started the preliminary colour field painting, the darned paint kept dripping. This means that eventually the main section, if I work on it 1st, will have to be repainted, and one could lose the painterly spontaneity that is so lovely in a work this size.
It's dripping because, a) the canvas is large, 48” X 48”, and I’m the only human in the mix, so I must reach across. (Dealing with gods is always a problem) and b) over the past several months I’ve developed a growing difficulty with my right bicep. According to YouTube doctors I have either bicep tendonitis (which I’m going with) or something called a ruptured bicep. Well, I can still move and use my arm, so it’s not really a problem except when doing housework (;-))) like none, okay?) or reaching across a 48” canvas with a brush full of loose paint.
(This is a shortened version of my LinkedIn post.)
Dear Art Friends,
Well, I started the 2nd work in "The Loves of the Gods"
I'll put the finishing touches on Europa over the next week or so,
Starting a new series is always a risk, but I feel this one
Enjoy this wonderful weather.
Well, here we are at last. The eighth, and final work in the “Topics of Cancer” series will be called “Agatha c. 2022”
Agatha, like most modern women, has given up the idea of virgin martyrdom, and has chosen a more inclusive life for herself. Looking an awful lot like me during my recent medical procession, Agatha appears to have been set afloat on an arctic ice floe, but fear not, this is merely a painterly illusion. She has, however, drawn an amusing line between the massively intimidating Linear Accelerator, found in the radiation treatment unit, and the Ancient Egyptian sun god, Ra. This idea will amuse her for a few days whilst she ponders the planning CTs used to programme the same machine for her radiation treatments.
The image just under her hand is of my own chest, taken about 4cm below my nipple, facing from my waist up towards my head. The area around my incision is circled in red, and the track of the machine is in yellow. A second image is the last image in the pile. It shows my right breast. Again, the incision is circled in red, and the track of the accelerator is in yellow. I only actually saw the 1st image, but it seems pretty basic, so I made up the 2nd. In the 1st the orbit of the machine was a half circle left to right around my torso, and in the 2nd it was from my head to my waist, my body having been moved in between needless to say.
When it stops at the waist and stares you in the face, the tendency is to close your eyes, but what good would that do against radiation? If one meets the machine eye to eye, you can observe the digital pattern of the radiation that has been programmed. This changes shape, as well as colour, until it disappears. Very interesting.
August 29, 2022
May 8, 2022
Dear Art Friends,
Well, my radiation therapy is over, and now I await the burning. My breast started letting me know it was not happy with this radiation business on the 1st day of the schedule. There was burning, and throbbing, though entirely bareable. That’s what comes of my DNA having lived in the fog, and mist, of the west coast of Ireland, and France, for several hundred, if not thousand years. Thankfully the doses were limited, so I fear not, neither do I weep….yet. After all it’s my own damned fault, being so fair, and well, just being, I guess. Always the optomist, I anticipate only good things; still, I don’t want to be without a supply of extra strength Ibuprofen for the next few weeks. Apparently the radiation pain starts about now, and will grow for 2 weeks, and then diminish. Everyone tells you this, having first turned their backs to you, or diverting their eyes. As the new arrival to Hell once said, “How bad can it get?” I’ll let you know, but do know that I am as prepared as I can be – Celtic skin and all.
In this painting, the 6th of the surgery group, to be called “My Aurora Borealis”, I am relating the wondrous Northern Lights to the lights, lasers and radiation beam of this treatment. I have my favourite 4 legged wild one, the Canadian moose, by my side. We are ready to float through a starry Ontario night. The lights on my chest are used to arrange my body to suite the static/rotating position of the radiation beam. So, no, I’m not a new member of some weird cult. The red light is a ruler, and the green lights come from static fixtures in the walls of the room. I am the only thing that is moved about. It takes 2 people to work the regulators that allow the movement, because they are several feet away from each other. Quite cool really.
I’ll
be doing 2 more for this series, I think. St Agatha, or Ste Agathe, is the
patron saint of breast cancer patients. We see a lot of St Agathas in
Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art. There’s also a Sainte Agathe-des-Monts,
in the Laurentians, in Quebec, where my grandmother used to spend the odd
summer in her youth. The current plan is to do a martyrdom of Ste Agathe c. 251
(the year she died, apparently), and one more modern image c. 2022. Perhaps. We
shall see. Hmmmm… When
the paintings are done the finished product will be posted on my website as well as Saatchi. Though, if you arrange the pick up yourself, my studio prices
are about half.
Dear Art Friends,
This is the 5th painting in my surgery series. It may be called
“Connecting The Dots: Bear With Me”.
Just adding a total eclipse of May's Blood Moon, as well as the alignment of the 4 planets from last week: Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.
I have been given 4 small tattoos, in preparation for my radiation therapy. My 1st tattoos ever. My dermatologist always advised me never to tattoo my skin, as it was too sensitive. But now I have four, or one, depending on one’s viewpoint.
They’re tiny, and I assume the ink didn’t contain any heavy metals.
I suppose, with this painting, I’m trying to see the bigger picture. I’m filled with misgivings at the moment. The post-operative regime seems more frightening than the operation itself.
I won’t go
into my concerns; they were summarily dismissed.
Have a lovely day. Spring will come.
My trip to the plastic surgeon’s office to have my melanoma excised was the 1st step on what has become a more than 6mos journey. But, as I have said before, it’s nothing compared to what so many people endure. I’m not just lucky, I’m creative, productive, and feeling terrific. A little over a month after this event I received my breast cancer diagnosis. The 1st 3 paintings are about that.
My childhood memories of living in a home where cancer was king dwelt heavily upon me that day, but my doctor was calm and considerate. The melanoma was very tiny, but quite near my eye. A local anaesthetic was used, I didn’t feel a thing. My main concern was keeping still, so I grabbed my arms in a pseudo hug, and didn’t let go. It wasn’t long – less than half an hour.
I think about my father a lot these days.
I’ll explain a few things if you like.
The painting shows the ultra sound lead needle biopsy used to
confirm that my little tumour was cancerous.
Faustina is the name of Tintoretto’s wife, and possible model for
Venus in his wonderful painting, “The Origin of The Milky Way”,
a reproduction of which is perched behind the smaller ultra sound screen. I’m channeling her….get it??? My breast, via the ultra sound screen, is therefore reproducing a digital Milky Way circa 2022, and cardinals are a favourite winter song bird in my house. Hope you can all get your proverbial heads around that.
Thank you, and have a nice day;-)))
oil on canvas
30" X 40" X 2"
January 9, 2022
Rabbit Hole
From my new series "Superficial Concerns"
Oil on canvas. 36" X 36"
December 20, 2021
Brand New Work!!!
"Waiting"
From my new series "Superficial Concerns"
Oil on canvas, 30" X 40"
February 1, 2021
"Great Bear Sky"
from my
"Messengers During A Time of Pestilence",
It is 6ft X 5ft, oil on canvas.
February 1, 2021
Notre Dame Burning: Pythia & The Great Red Dragon
6ft X 4ft
I am so close. Stand by
I'll keep you posted.
September 6, 2020
This baby is done!!!
Messengers During A Time of Pestilence: MooseMan Spirit
6ft X 5ft
Working hard and trying to stay healthy.
Please do the same.
"The Tempest: Pythia, Katrina & The Furies"
Working on the storm, and Pythia, who presents herself to us as "the woman clothed in the sun". I'm having a wonderful New Year's Day! Played a few little Chopin ditties, a prelude and a waltz, this morning. Getting my musical mojo back into shape....I'll attack the nocturnes later this week, and move on to Rachmaninoff once my fingers get back into shape. Don't you just love the feeling of rejuvination that the New Year brings.
"Pythia and The Christmas Eve Baby"
oil on canvas
48" X 60" X 2"
Theodore is now one year old!!!
"Miss Pythia in Paris as The Seine Breaches Its Banks" (work in progress, very close to done)
oil on canvas
5ft X 5ft
Working on the text engraved on the bridge, which BTW,
is from a Pablo Neruda poem.
Figuring out Pandora and her "chaos in a box" difficulties.
Added some scarlet tanagers leading the rowboat.
My mother's favorite birds, also BTW.
"A Musk Ox Dilemma: What Time is it Mister Wolf?"
oil on birch cradle, 37" X 48"
My new painting, which will be done shortly, may be called Ophelia Passing The Children, or perhaps
Ophelia's Lament as it has a certain operatic feel to it, in my opinion.
It is oil on canvas, 48" X 72" (4ft X 6ft).
It's very hard to photograph - either the bottom half is clear or the top half is clear.
The little dots and dashes are fireflies.
Did you know Ontario has had particularly splendid firefly colonies this summer?
(oil on birch cradle, 104" X 64" X 2") Is about half way done.
At this point you can get an idea of where it is headed. This is the second large work about the lose of the natural/traditional habitation of Canadian bears.
It'll be done in a couple of weeks.
July 19
I've added a blue jay and some racoons to the picnic because they are urbanites,
just as the bears are becoming.
are symptoms of global warming? Normally they would not occur in the Arctic.
Work in progress.
The first painting from my "Canada 150 Series" is called "Blue Flipping Whale".
It's 47" X 37" X 2". It's certainly not done, but it is starting to take shape.
Work in Progress
"Origin of the Northern Lights: White Buffalo Calf"
45" X 65" on very heavy handmade (in a field) irregularly shaped paper.
Yesterday & today I worked on the winds faces.
The 3 text sections are: Verses from Mon Pays, by Gilles Vigneault (the best & most accurate description of the Canada I know & love), references to the Aurora Borealis from Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden & Homer, and an excerpt from Dr John Rae's letter describing his search for the bodies of Franklin's crew.
"Moose #6: The Christmas Painting" is starting to take shape. It's oil on birch cradle, 2 panels, which together measure 5ft wide X 4ft. Still a while to go yet, but should be done in a month or so.
Started the White Buffalo Calf yesterday. A New Year's Eve painting-very auspicious wouldn't you say? Now the buffalo painting is going to be a lot of work...there are 2 of them... mom & baby. Madonna & child. AND they will be beautiful. It's on that giant hand made paper I bought in Paris - like my last moose. The featured map that I will be using was created in 1618 by Domingos Sanchez.
Life is good don't you think? Back to my painting. Busy....busy...busy... oh BTW... Happy New Year everyone !!!!!
 |
| "Moose #6: The Christmas Painting" (work in progress) |
 |
| "I have called you by your name: You are mine" 45" X 65", mixed media, 2016 |
"Moose" aka "I have called you by your name: You are mine" will be going to the framer's first thing tomorrow & then to his new home. He's big, my Moose - 48" X 68" in the shadow box frame, which is an architectural delight.
August 22, 2016. Things are going swimmingly. Close to being done. Sometimes I have to work flat so I put it on the bed-I don't have 6 x 5 feet of clear unencombered floor. I had this paper - the largest handmade paper in the world, I am told - sent to me from Paris. It's over 5ft wide and 4ft high. So far it's dry pastel, acrylic wash and charcoal. The map in the background is a loose rendition of a 1722 map of Nouvelle France. The moose is piebald, part sacred sprit moose and part run of the mill, hanging around the garden moose. A bit like most Canadians I know, don't you think? I love this moose.
Moose By Moonlight
48" X 62"
pastel, ink & acrylic wash, on vintage map of
First Nations, & Early European settlements, on Fabriano paper.
June 10, 2016 - This work is currently featured in The Guardian. There's a link on my Home Page.
 |
| Moose By Moonlight, 2016 |
Spirit Moose: Ghost Forest
36" X 48" X 2"
oil on birch cradle
and Dremel tool engraving
April 24
Still almost done...
Soon....
Blue Moose: I Saw You Standing There
36" X 36" X 2"
36" X 36" X 2"
oil on birch cradle
 |
| Yellow Road Series VI "Listen. Snow Flakes Falling", 2015, 3ft X 3ft (N/A) |
 |
| "Yellow Road: Faraway" 2014, 4ft X 5ft (N/A) |
 |
| "O the mind, mind has mountains" 2014, 4ft X 5ft |
| O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall | ||
| Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap | ||
| May who ne’er hung there. | ||
| Gerard Manley Hopkins 1918 | ||
The top one is "Heat Waves: Sun Spirals", 12" X 48" X 2"
The bottom one is "Blue Remembered Hills:Sun Spirals", 12" X 48" X 2"
They're both the same size. Oh, but you can see that for yourselves....;-))
 |
| "Cremation of SM: Northern Lights" 2013 12" X 48" X 2" |
 |
| "Blue Remembered Hills:Sun Spirals" 2013, 12" X 48" X 2" |
 |
| "Heat Waves: Sun Spirals" 2013, 12" X 48" X 2" |
 |
| Sun Bolts: Chalk Cliffs 2011 12" X 48" oil on birch cradle |
 |
| Storm Over Blood River 2011 12" X 48" X 2" oil on birch cradle |
 |
| After The Fire: Burning Bush: Smoke Serpents 2011 16" X 64"X 2" oil on birch cradle |
 |
| Where Amber Mornings Break: Fire Fight 2011 16" X 64"X2" oil on birch cradle |
 |
| Meteorite, February 15, 2013, Chelyabinsk, Russia (35.5" X 76" X 2") |
 |
| "The Eye of The Sahara", 37" X 47" X 2", oil on board, 2013 |
 |
| Spiral Jetty: On The Eigth Day", 37" X 47" X 2", oil on board, 2013 |
 |
