February 27 – March 10

At the Gage Gallery Collective, 2031 Oak Bay Ave

Join us for the opening reception

on Thursday August 18th, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Why the name Playlist?

Naming the show Playlist acknowledges the random nature of the art in this show. Here you find my current curiosities, experiments and creations along with some of my favourites from the past. I have been painting this year for pleasure and peace.

I’m noticing that 2018 is a time of listing: best movies, favourite music, recommended books so why not favourite drawings and paintings. Think of the Gage Gallery as an ART destination featuring my top tracks and popular hits. Each piece has its own story to tell and a melody to do the telling. In this collection, paintings and drawings are original ‘songs’ sung in colour, line, texture and form using a variety of tools, materials and supports.

Where do you paint?

I paint in my studio. I might draw or doodle anytime or any place and on any thing but I paint in the studio usually with acrylics and often on canvas. Acrylics are messy and I am messy so keeping the mess in one place makes sense. Also, it is quiet in the studio, so peaceful. People hesitate to disrupt me there though they feel free to disrupt me any other place. Sometimes they bring me food.

How do you plan your paintings?

A plan: Choosing the size, the support, (canvas, board or paper) and the colour… that is my plan. I don’t usually paint from a photo or real life or in themes, though I have done that. I just love abstract painting, creating and putting together a harmony that has never been seen before. However, my work is informed by my doodle drawing, what I notice around me and images that I love.

After I the support and size are selected I decide on tubes of colour. Usually I think in threes plus white to start. Choosing the colours first is a discipline I set myself because if I don’t I will use way too many. I make many colours mixing the 3 to each other and white. That makes many subtleties and a more interesting painting. My other colours are still an option if I decide to use them but the rule does slow me down.

The Painting part is the best part. Once I get started I am gone. I am in a focused space in the painting. Everything else is not present, the worries, the jobs, the demands are just not there. I am in a painting meditation. When at work my awareness is caught up in the questions what is next, what is needed, what has to go, does that make sense. I come in and out of that state to put the work on the wall. Then I just look and look and look. Then back to the work.

I believe all creative practice is meditative and intuitive. Immersing myself in my practice is calming, healing and out of the critical, crazy neighbourhood of my mind. Time flies by. Painting happens. In the painting changes happen, areas are added, deleted, eroded, decorated, scratched, stencilled. All is worked together to make sense, to look right. I was going to say balanced but sometimes it is the unbalanced that seems right. Right for me, that is. This is my work and only I am able to know what is right for me.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the beautiful and the unusual and deep feelings and ideas. I am particularly attracted to colour, pattern and decoration. It is everywhere so noticing is easy. And the noticing is a happy thing and it piles up in my memory, sometimes in my doodles. If I paint people it is a reason to play with all those fun things. If I paint flowers it is a reason to play with all those fun things. If I paint strictly abstract it is a reason to play with all those fun things.

How long does it take?

It takes as long as it takes. I can tell when it is finished because it is over. It is like coming to the end of a book or a song. It is done. I have paintings that live in the studio for years. Some died there and, currently, there are two that may never escape. They just don’t seem to get finished and I do work on them.

Thank you for visiting my website and viewing my Playlist. It is a pleasure to share what I love to do.