Transitions

Autumn Abstraction Oil 12 x 12 in.

Its that kind of a day, transitioning from autumn to something that is approaching winter. I was out in my flower garden reluctantly pulling out flower plants and moving them to the compost pile, a sad time but optimistic about the spring.  Planted some tulips in a pot and set it out by the entrance to my studio, again looking forward to their happy colours in the spring of the year.

And the Children will Play

And the Children will Play

Oil on Canvas

This painting started out in one direction and stayed that way for 75 per cent of the time, then it took a left turn. When I was a young boy a bunch of us would play in the school yard with a Catholic priest by the name of Father Henry. I remember he had an old CCM bike with a big wire basket on the handle bars. Father Henry would often bring a kite with him and we would spend hours flying it. I bet he had someone in his life that played with him in the same manner. A wonderful man, I often remember him when I see a kite soaring up in the sky.

Fractured

Fractured (First Day of Spring) Oil on Canvas

Crystal and I are back from my opening reception at the Shurniak Art Gallery in Assinaboia, Sk. We went down on Thursday with 28 of my paintings, arriving around noon.  Bill Shurniak met us and we had a lovely lunch with him and his staff.  Unfortunately he was feeling a bit under the weather, his doctor diagnosing acute bronchitis and probably a touch of this horrible flu that is going around.  Despite that he was the perfect host as usual and made us all quite comfortable and at ease.  After lunch Gail, the general manager of gallery, and Sandra helped Crystal and I get going on hanging the paintings.  Once they saw we getting into the groove of it they left us to our own designs and we managed to hang everything in an appropriate manner.  Hanging a show is an Art in of itself we found out!  Friday afternoon at 3 pm the reception got under way.  My friends Kevin and Michele Ackerman provided wonderful music with compositions for guitar and flute. The music set a wonderful ambience to the whole affair, thanks you two! Good friends Dean and Barb Bauche showed up a tad late but their  presence was greatly appreciated.  We estimate that around 80 people showed up for the lovely reception, which featured a wonderful variety of pastries and refreshments, something that never goes unnoticed by yours truly.  I managed to sample every delicasy at least once.
I am told that my paintings made quite an impression on the public, many people commenting on the colourfulness of the show.  I cannot say enough about the uniqueness of this world class gallery in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairie, Bill Shurniak has accomplished a wonderful thing here and I encourage everyone to make an effort to get down there and visit the gallery.  Thanks Bill for this honour of "hanging out" in your space!

The Colours of Autumn

This painting is loosely based on a previously posted image.  It was largely painted with a 12 inch wide drywall tool and finished up with progressively smaller tools.  I had great fun with it and I'm looking forward to doing more with this type of paint application.  Currently I'm looking for a supplier of Oil paint that can sell me quantities in quart and gallon sizes as this technique can really burn up the paint! The German painter Gerhard Richter had a hand in this, my hat is off to him.

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.