simmer dim

Months ago, after I returned from the residency, friends were kind enough to remove my painting  ‘Simmer Dim’ from stretchers (no easy feat) and ship it from Shetland to my Niagara home. I have only now unpacked it and just finished stretching/hanging. It feels strange (a good strange) gazing at it in this environment, so removed from that ever-changing sea and sky.

The work unfolded in the Sumburgh Head lighthouse over many evenings during simmer dim. Time was elusive because it didn’t get completely dark and I worked well into night. (From mid-May to mid-July Shetland enjoys the 'simmer dim' -summer twilight-when the sun only dips below the northern horizon for a few hours)

You can see this painting ‘live’ at the open studio on December 10. Other works from the residency, as well as Niagara Escarpment paintings, will also be up-and for sale. 

For more info: www.janyates.com

lights in the sky

many years ago child-spirits appeared in my encaustic work. i recently came across one 'in progress' while cleaning out the studio- embellished her with some new found hawk feathers and for some reason I want to call her a 'mirrie dancer', although if you read the description it's a wee bit gruesome:

'In Scotland, the northern lights were known as "the mirrie dancers" or na fir-chlis. There are many old sayings about them, including the Scottish Gaelic proverb "When the mirrie dancers play, they are like to slay." The playfulness of the mirrie dancers was supposed to end occasionally in quite a serious fight, and next morning when children saw patches of red lichen on the stones, they say among themselves that "the mirrie dancers bled each other last night". The appearance of these lights in the sky was considered a sign of the approach of unsettled weather.'  

 to be featured this Saturday @ the pop up show:
http://firecrackerfuschia.weebly.com/