On Fire for You

I found myself wondering this morning if there is any noise on the sun as it generates all the tremendous energy that gives life, or is there utter silence.  Silence is interesting me a lot lately. In my studio I usually have music playing or often when I am painting outdoors I will have the iPod playing my favourite tunes but lately I been opting for silence.  I am trying to function in silence, including quieting my sometimes rather active brain.  You know, we all struggle with a noisy mind and isn't it wonderful when we can silence that static and be at peace with ourselves.  Painting in this kind of silence is very meditative for me, I like the results, which often surprise me. I offer the painting above, which I have titled "On fire for You", as a homage to the Sun.

The Silence

The Pond

After quite a respite from plein air painting I finally had a bit of time to get outdoors to paint a few days ago and this is the result.  The scene is a small pond at the head of Wellington Park, here at Manitou Beach.  It was a lovely morning, quiet except for the sound of geese, pelicans and other birds on the move.  What is silence anyways?  It has been said that if a human can get out into the outdoors on a regular basis, and I mean somewhere away from man made noise, their auditory sense expands exponentially. The silence of nature is quite noisy, but an enjoyable noise that has many different levels to it.  Consider how a prehistoric man would react to life in a big city, I am thinking he would go mad.  Unfortunately there are very few places left in the world that could be classified as truly silent.

Shellmouth Group Shot

I came across this great shot of Shellmouth Artist Retreat gang.  Missing from the photo are Gerald Dressler and Miriam Koch.  Can you tell we all had a great time?  The paintings behind us were done by Mabel Mund.  Shortly after the photo was taken we were treated to a musical show that was performed by Jack and Sandra Hollenburg and Jessica Stacey and her group. I had the pleasure of pretending I was performing with Jack, maybe next year I can play some blues with him!

What is Art?

I recently came across a wonderful quote by a kindergarten student.  The teacher asked the kids on the first day of class "What is Art?"  Here is one of the responses.

"Art, oh that's when you make something beautiful out of paint or even recycled materials. Sometimes it looks like what's in your head and that's good. Sometimes it doesn't and then you change what's in your head. If it still doesn't look beautiful, you just take a deep breath."

Antonia, age 5

One of my favourite activities in the spring is going to the Mendel Gallery in Saskatoon, SK to view the K-12 Art display.  Although all of the Art is breathtaking I particularly am drawn to the K-3 children's work as it seems to embody all that is good about Art.  I think that many mature artists long to get back to the child in themselves when creating.  The painting above is a somewhat whimsical piece, I leave the definition up to the viewer!

After the Rain

This oil painting, which was painted at the 2012 retreat in Shellmouth, is titled "After the Rain". I don't think the photo does it real justice as the paint texture is quite pronounced in places. It was inspired by one of my many walks in and around the community of Manitou Beach. I had quite a bit of fun with it and think that it expresses my sentiments on that particular day.  Close friends commented that they saw elements of the late Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. Your comments are always welcome.