Studio

Sunday, 11th August 2019
is it drawing? It feels a bit like sculpture in a way when you are scratching into the surface. I love doing these scratchbord because it makes you slow down and really think about the little details. And the subject matter is always dear to me, coneflowers and happy bumble bees. What's not to love?

Friday, 26th July 2019
A little throwback to my thesis show, when I did a series of work based on the four seasons. I made a necklace for each season, a ring and a vessel best to express the season. This particular one I found some eucalyptus leaves, electro-formed copper onto the leaves, burned out the leaves and then carefully formed this vessel. And since its fragile, it represents the season of decay and slowly decomposing back to the soil, coming to a close of a cycle of its life. I will say that when I burned the leaves, the smell was wonderful.

Tuesday, 9th July 2019
After what started off to be a good year went downhill faster than Tommy Moe. (If anyone remembers, he won the gold back in 94). So, the art life gets put on hold while running to stay ahead of the onslaught of what felt like an never-ending tale of woe. . to sum it up, mom in hospital, comes home, gets better and then dad brings home bronchitis. mom back in hospital big time. . . mom takes six weeks to even get to a point she looks well again. today, we drove to grand haven and walked around a bit. my mom is back and i'm back in the studio, prepping for the first show of the year. Hopefully this week brings even more good tidings. In the meantime, I keep putting one foot in front of the other, back at the kiln, firing up enamels and making art.

Tuesday, 9th July 2019
a little inspiration.

Wednesday, 15th May 2019
Through my local art center, the Art Council of White Lake, we have put together these pet painting sessions. Some is for the humane society, some are private parties. I get a lot of photos of people's darlings and transcribe them to the canvas and the walk them through the painting process to create like this one, stunners. Almost all of them have never touched paint brushes and they come away with this. Winners!

Thursday, 19th July 2018
While spending most of the day teaching metal arts to high school kids at a fine arts camp, sometimes one needs to have a little fun. So the other instructors thought it would be fun to do some painting on velvet. I initially thought real velvet stretched on wood but we used velvet matte board instead. The others used acrylics but I opted to try out pastels. I had only 12 colours. But I learned a couple of things tonight. I enjoy plein air and I'm not too bad at it.

Wednesday, 28th March 2018
cranking up crazy style now. in between getting organized, the studio floor tiled (finally) and creating, its time to get moving, right? just adding enameling to my forte of ever growing list of things I know how to do. Its what keeps me on my toes, always learning new things. and I got all of my beautiful pastels organized in a nice drawer unit. that thing is super heavy.

Saturday, 17th March 2018
here's something new. scratchbord art. there is something very meditative about it and the finished work of art looks super cool when i'm done. measure 5 x 5.

Friday, 9th February 2018
for my birthday (last year, dec)i was gifted a beautiful colour canon printer. professional quality with the ideas to make my artwork more available. And in card sizes too, because we all still like to send each other notes the old fashion way. so. they will be made available for purchase soon!

Friday, 9th February 2018
Who doesn't like bees and butterflies? 4x5 cards

Monday, 22nd January 2018
it has been a slow winter with the onslaught of snow and the general need of some me time. That and the house needed some work and the studio had to be dug out from all the projects that were being worked on over the year. January is the month of renewal and rest, where introspection occurs. its vital to the longevity of the creative spirit. But I have not been completely slack in creating new work. I have branched out to include some quilting into my arsenal. lap quilts.

Tuesday, 26th September 2017
I have the opportunity to participate in a mini version of artprize, known as Grand Haven ArtWalk. This particular piece is hanging at a wonderful gallery of hand crafted jewelry by my friend, Julie Sanford. The frame was constructed from poplar using cabinet making skills and between my dad and I we decided to leave it natural, creating that sense one is looking out a window. This is lake michigan from Duck Lake park

Sunday, 24th September 2017
This is one of the dozen paintings I have on display at the LowellArts center in Lowell Michigan. We had an opening this past sunday, a lovely affair in spite of the heat.

Wednesday, 20th September 2017
So i have the opportunity to do something new. A mural. For a brewery in standale, mi. It is a learning curve, but this is good thing for an artist to always experience. To become complaiscent is to become weak and stunted in ones growth. I will say since dedicating myself to 2d art, the world seems to be opening up a bit more for opportunities. Met some lovely locals too. And the local meijers. Wowza.

Friday, 15th September 2017
Work in progress heading for Grand Haven artwalk. At JSD studios. Stay tuned for more

Sunday, 10th September 2017
My first ever award for my first outing as a painter. The universe must be telling me something... it was a beautiful show and day.

Wednesday, 16th August 2017
so, i have been carving into linos for the past two weeks in addition to teaching at an art camp. it was clear to me when i finished the second, this needed to be displayed as a trio. so, what should i do? a sunflower! viola! this is just a preliminary print to see how the carving went before i would do the final printing and maybe add some faint color.

Wednesday, 16th August 2017
I also finished this landscape painting of a field where the hay had been recently cut against a brooding sky of clouds. it was a frustrating piece because with pastels, you cannot mix your colours like paint, but overlap them in a way to create the illusion of the colours you want. i really love the trees though.

Friday, 4th August 2017
Yay! Finished carving, now to print tomorrow

Thursday, 3rd August 2017
A taste of Between Turbulence and Tranquility

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