Work in Progress

I don't have a lot of time or space to work on really large paintings these days like I used to when I used to rent 2 small studio spaces- one for my clay work and one for painting.  Since I needed more space for clay work last year I pulled everything into one studio with high hopes of being able to pull out some paintings a few times a month to work on it. Unfortunately I haven't made a practice of doing this and frankly- clay dust and painting don't really work together really well.  So I've started to do some painting at home on my desk. Just some small watercolours.  Just for my own sake, when I can fit it in, sometimes in between school pick ups or when the boys are in bed for the night.  Sure beats watching TV or doing laundry:)  It's got me all inspired to do more.  The photograph of the 'look-out tower' was taken recently on a visit to my sister's in Nanaimo.  I love that in paint you can re-arrange and change things to suit your composition or painting.  Usually I take a photograph of something I might use in a painting.  Other times I paint purely from memory of a place or a moment in time.

watching paint dry and other studio mischief...

So, I'm working on a ton of stuff for my new show coming up on September 24th- October 22nd at the North Vancouver District Hall called "At Home in the City". I'm really excited about some of the work coming out of the studio these days, partly because I've really expanded my size this year and am working on larger canvases. This can be challenging as there is a lot more space to work through and every corner of a painting needs to be considered. However, you can also have some lovely mellow spots where the eye can just rest for a while before moving on to more interesting parts of the painting. My current inspiration has been my route to the studio and the buildings and the way light is cast on the city as well. My work is moving a little closer to landscape these days, which is something for me to get used to. It is exciting to be engaged in consistently working out ideas visually. Mentally, I need more time to do this than with my ceramics, which is more of a physical process. Ceramics is all about moving through the motions of clay in the right time to have an end product.
Speaking of which, there are some glimpses of poppy bowls that recently went over to the BC Gallery of Ceramics! I happened to be on Granville Island today with the kids and some friends from Germany that are staying with us for the weekend and it was great to see one of the poppy bowls at the top go to a new home while I was there! I'm glad people are enjoying my work as much as I am enjoying making it!