Blog

It's taken quite a while to complete my latest painting; in fact, it's not yet done!  i'm just putting the finishing touches on a picture called "Coastal Fog".  I was inspired by a recent exhibition of Impressionists' works at the AGO - called Impressionism in the Age of Industry.  I love the use of dabs of paint, where it is easy to see the impression that the artist wanted to convey - very direct, almost aggressive.  Acrylic is made for that kind of style, where you can dab away and continually add to quick drying areas of the canvas.  My painting, while not being exactly impressionistic, nevertheless uses a similar approach to conveying a place and point in time.  Fog over the cliffs as viewed from Icart Point.  Coming soon to a website near to you- this one.

I just received confirmation that I am now a member of the Central Ontario Art Association (COAA), and I have added a link to their website.  I am very excited to meet the other members and I plan on attending their next group show, which is at the Dundas Museum & Archives, 139 Park Street W, Dundas, Ontario.  It runs from April 9 through to June 24. I only wish I joined in time to be in the show - next time!

When I was recently in Guernsey I dropped off three new original acrylic paintings to Hayley and Graham at Sula Gallery.  If you are in the island then please drop by and have a look.  The three are: Water Lanes, Ruette Tranquille (yellow), and Sunset and Sea. 

All of the paintings are fairly large, at 24 x 36 inches.  They would look effective on a good size space. All three paintings are ready to hang and do not require a frame or glass cover.  However, Sula can certainly provide a frame if that is your preference.

You could not find friendlier people at any gallery, and they will gladly give you the benefit of their extensive knowledge of art and framing.      

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas season.  I can't wait for 2019 to see what is in store for us all; let's remain optimistic about the future, because that is what will keep us young.  Only old cynics consistently remain sadfaced - and who wants to be considered old?

I plan on doing lots of art in 2019 so please visit my site often and perhaps we will be able to explore some new ideas together.  I am in Guernsey in January so what a great way to start the new year and to look for inspiration.  In the meantime, take care over the holidays and see you soon. 

The Guelph Studio Tour was last weekend.  I hope you had a chance to visit some of the many artists who opened up their workplaces for the general public.  What talent exists in my home city: Janette Hayhoe, Laurie McGaw, Scott Abbott, Helen Hoy, Grazna Adamska, just to name a few. 

Well worth the walk or drive around town.  If you missed it then put it on your calendar for October 2019.    

It's time to put some ideas onto canvas and paper. The canvas will be an acrylic painting of fog off the cliffs of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, while the paper will be closer to home - a pen and ink drawing of some activity in Stratford (Ontario, not England).

It's been a while since I did a black and white picture, so I'm looking forward to it.

Updates and WIP pics soon. 

My partner and I watched the Guernsey Literary film on Netflix the other night and were pleasantly surprised at its quality. The production quality and the acting were first class.  It's surprising how the story is still so relevant, all these years after the end of WWII.

The only negative is the fact that Guernsey is not represented geographically, seeing as it was filmed in the south of England. I thought, at least, there would be establishing shots of the harbour, or the cliffs. It was interesting how the film transposed a German observation towel onto a Devon cliff - so at least the construction was authentic.

Here's my drawing of the real location (real in the original book) of the society meetings, the house in St. Martins called La Bouvee:

It's so nice to see that the long awaited film of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has been released in North America.  It's a shame that it's not on the big movie screens, but then again, Guernsey looks just as good on a modern TV.

It seems like years since I traveled the island with my sister, tourism brochure in hand, taking photos of the locations mentioned in the original book.  We found that I already had photos of most of those places in my artist archive files.

I took all of the new photos back to Canada and spent a number of months turning all my pics into black and white drawings in pen and ink.  Prints of all of my Guernsey drawings are available from the Sula Gallery in Guernsey, or directly from me on-line.  They are available in multiple sizes and can be viewed on the Gallery tab on this site. 

You can contact Hayley or Graham at Sula, or me directly, using the Links tab on this website.

I do hope you enjoy the film, and I also hope you'll want to have a print on the wall to remind you of the good feelings generated by such an enjoyable movie.

I've just completed a painting that shows the setting sun over the rocks and the sea, with a few waves to add a bit of movement.  I'm in the process of getting it photographed so I can organize some prints.  I hope you like it.

So far so good for the Guernsey Literary Society film ... and my mother liked it when she went to see it at the Mallard.  Her only regret was that more Guernsey locations were not actually shown in the film. If you liked the movie you may appreciate a pen and ink drawing to remind you of the experience, or to remind you of a particular location (even if it was filmed off island!).  Drop by Sula Gallery, at L'Islet, and ask to see some of my drawings; they reflect many locations in the original book.  I've been drawing scenes in the island all my life, so there was bound to be a lot of overlap between the book and my drawings.  And congratulations to Molly Bihet for her always enlightening expertise, something I'm sure will be limited only to the Guernsey film-going experience.