A Balance Between Realism and Poetry
I’ve been working on my current series of floral still lifes for a year and a half now. They’re distinct from what I’ve painted before in a few ways. I’m finding a lot of different shapes and colours and this has come about because I’m using a grid method. For those of you who have followed my work for some time, you know that I’ve always used a grid. I used to spend a few days drawing the image out on the canvas, and then paint the areas of my drawing. A few years ago when I started painting fashion magazine covers and other figurative imagery, I decided to approach the grid in a new way. I start in the left hand corner, and paint square by square, without any underdrawing whatsoever, save the grid lines.
I started out allowing the grid to be more apparent, but increasingly, I’ve de-emphasized it. I’ve had viewers remark that my latest work has a higher level of realism than previous, but what this grid method has allowed me to do is think about the abstractions and poetic qualities in the brushstrokes.
In figurative painting, the question is, how do we see? How do we organize form on a two dimensional surface? Each artist is unique in this, finding their own touch and feeling for form. In painting, the tension is between the surface mark and the illusion of depth. How does one make a system of abstract shapes function to convey a level of realism, a level of poetry? I’m always modulating and making choices to achieve a certain balance between the realism and poetry of a piece, and this is what I think makes this body of work to be unique and somewhat different from the work I’ve done before.
I’m fortunate showing my work in galleries across Canada. I thought I’d show a selection of what’s available at the galleries I’m represented by.
This next painting is available in Montreal. The colours were quite unique — the purples, light blues, and the darker magentas. The differences between individual blossoms of the same type of flower is astounding.
I like the strong sculptural shapes of peonies and so this next painting is one of my favourite from this series. It can be found in Edmonton at The Front Gallery.
I’ve done a monochrome oil painting before as a commission for The Bison Restaurant in Banff of Robert Redford and I wanted to do another iconic figure using the same technique. Marilyn or Norma Jeane seemed the ideal subject. I titled this painting Norma Jeane because I wanted viewers to remember her given name, and I wanted to find the person beneath the glamour.
The following painting is available at Wallace Galleries in Calgary. I wanted to paint the sculptural shapes of the more closed peonies and then contrast them with the fullness of the David Austin rose which I found at our favourite local florist, Panda Flowers. The harmony of the pastel colours was just very pleasing and satisfying to paint.
The highest compliment an artist receives is when someone likes a painting enough to experience it in their own home and to want to live with it. Living with a painting, seeing it in the light of the morning, the afternoon, the dimming light of evening and in all the seasons is something that I very much enjoy and I hope those who collect my work do also.