cold wax painting workshop & Ireland

                     

  

Annaghmakkerrig, oil/cold wax on canvas, 6x6in, 2012     

copyright Jan Yates, 2013

I am excited to introduce a Cold Wax painting workshop at the Burlington Art Centre,  January 12 & 19, 1 - 4 pm.

 

Black 47, oil/ cold wax  on canvas, 8x10in, 2012

                         copyright Jan Yates, 2013        

                    

for course description and to register please visit here. 

This is a really fun and versatile medium and lends itself to both abstract as well as representational painting. Featured  are some cold wax mixed media works made during my Ireland residency last year-

 

a pretty good day so far

After  adjusting to  the quiet at Annaghmakkerrig-no tv or radio- I have tried to stay in that mode since coming home. But yesterday morning I turned on the radio and in 5 minutes heard about the horrific massacre in Syria, a porn star dismembering a body and sending parts to Canadian politicians, and a young  family found by the side of a Saskatchewan road, apparently a murder suicide.

Feeling helpless, I turned off the radio and went outside

 May (a pretty good day so far) oil on canvas, 24x24in, available for sale

I love these words by Loudon Wainwright and, although they are about war, I find them to be optimistic and somewhat reassuring. They make me think about the quiet in my life. I won’t take it for granted. ever.

a Pretty Good Day

I slept through the night
I got through to the dawn.
I flipped a switch and the light went on
I got outta bed
I put some clothes on
It was a pretty good day so far.

I turned the tap
there was cold there was hot.
I put on my coat,
to go to the shop.
I stepped outside
and I didn't get shot.
It was a pretty good day so far.

I didn't hear any sirens or explosions,
no mortars coming in from those heavy guns
no UN tanks
I didn't see one.
It was a pretty good day so far.

No snipers in windows taking a peek
No people panicked running scared through the streets
I didn't see any bodies
without arms, legs, or feet.
It was a pretty good day so far.

There was plasma, bandages and electricity,
Food, wood, and water,
and the air was smoke free.
No camera crews from I-TV.

It was all such a strange sight to behold.
Nobody was frightened, wounded, hungry or cold.
And the children seemed normal,
they didn't look old.
It was a pretty good day so far.

I walked through a park
you would not believe it.
There in the park there were a few trees left,
and on some branches
there were a few leaves.

I slept through the night
I got through to the dawn.
I flipped a switch and the light went on
I wrote down my dream,
I made it this song,
It was a pretty good day so far.

Loudon Wainwright