murmuration

 

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly

they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,

dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,

then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can't imagine

how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,

this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;

I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

"Starlings in Winter" by Mary Oliver, from Owls and Other Fantasies

   Murmuration,  encaustic on box, 6x4x11in, 2012

Murmuration,  detail on box lid

murmuration, detail on box side

current forecast

In light of the current forecast, (first snow of the season) I thought I'd post this plein air study. It was painted last winter during a snow storm where I took cover in an old shed.

February, Niagara Escarpment

oil on canvas, plein air, 8x10in

                                

  available for auction :
http://openstudiolive.blogspot.ca/

Open Studio`LIVE`

Between teaching, building a new website and attempting to paint the odd masterpiece, I have also managed to upload work to the Open Studio`LIVE` site. 

The third annual online art auction is now up and running (more than I can say for me). 

I will be shamelessly flogging it  by posting featured images. 

February, Niagara escarpment
jy14

encaustic on canvas

16x20in

BID here

art-making and tools

Tools are an important, and personal, part of making art. Our attachment to them is so interesting-we all have our favourite brush, knife etc. Any time that I introduce a new tool as part of my process I will try to use it -and only it- in the initial stages of a  painting's unfolding. I want to not only push it, but I want it to guide me in order to explore new possibilities. This is emphasized in my classes but I am planning to introduce a new workshop that will focus entirely on tools in making art. stay tuned.

 November, Niagara Escarpment, oil on canvas, 20x30in, 2012, available

 Other than laying in an initial  thin under wash with a large house painting brush, the image above was rendered with one brush- a number 12 bright.

Unfortunately I was too impatient to put another coat of gesso on the canvas before starting. It's been sucking up the thin layers of paint so there will be a few areas to be touched up, but I will stay with the same brush size.

sweetness of solitude

When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts have been dwelling elsewhere, I bring them back to the walk, to the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, and to me.                                                                                            MicheldeMontaigne                                                                                                          

 Fall (into place) 
October, Niagara Escarpment
 oil on canvas, 20x30in
 2012, available