Perennial Persistence - The Rites of Spring

After a long and sometimes boring winter, the hint of Spring gives us renewed energy (or at least that's what is supposed to happen - right?). A couple of weeks ago, I ventured down to Georgian Bay and climbed around on the rocks to take some photos of the Bay finally getting rid of the last vestiges of ice. Seasonal residents look forward to this time as they open their cottages for the summer season. I decided to paint the Bay in it's transition to Spring. It is pictured here and is entitled "Almost Spring".

Spring brings with it the chores of cleaning up outdoors. As I look out this morning, the garden calls me. The incredible perennials are poking through the carnage left from winter no doubt wondering when I'll get out there and help them out. What is most amazing is that no matter what I do or more importantly what I DON'T do, these little plants seem to soldier on, appearing like magic every April. I guess the least I can do is clear away some of the debris to make their job easier.

Bigger Not Necessarily Better

After reading this morning's Toronto Star and thinking about the Census results, one asks the question is bigger necessarily better both in life and in art? One one hand, for example, the City of Milton has grown so much since the last Census that long-time residents hardly recognize it. The simple convenience of grocery shopping has become a once a week journey on a bus to the "outskirts" instead of the leisurly walk to the one-time downtown grocery store. Some may call this progress, I'm not sure that progress is a good thing in this case. It is happening to small towns all over Canada - for better or for worse.

Such too is the case with much of the new art being produced. As an artist, do we produce a piece large enough to cover the walls in a monster-sized home or Condo, or do we produce art for art's sake and paint what we paint best? Much of the new art today is painted for the marketplace - by necessity in many cases. If you want to take that shuttle for groceries, you have to sell your art. Pictured here is the smallest of my pieces to date. I have a canvas 60 x 60 staring at me, beckoning me to deal with it's vast whiteness. I may just paint on it for the sheer joy of painting - if it sells, that's a bonus.

Art and Literature Interconnected

Travel and art and literature can connect in unexpected ways. I travelled to Havana a couple of years ago. While there, I took pictures of some of the historic buildings like this one I painted of the Cathedral of Havana. I also visited the Bodeguita del Medio, the old hangout where Ernest Hemmingway drank many a mojito. Little did I know that I would stumble upon a book of historical fiction, The Crook Factory by Dan Simmons. I have not finished the book but it tells about Hemingway during the early 1940's in Havana when he decided to do some counterespionage work for the U.S. government. Through reading this book, I've discovered the existence of Camp X which was at one time located on a farm between Whitby and Oshawa, Ontario. This was a place set up by MI6 (Great Britain) to train spies and both Canada and the U.S. sent people there for training. Ian Fleming (author of the James Bond series) was heavily involved as well.

If I had not taken such a liking to the history and architecture of this wonderful city, I would never have picked up this book and I would never have done a painting that will forever renew the memories of my walk in that Havana square.

Memories in the Snow

This past weekend we had a visit from our grandchildren. What was once pristine snow untouched by human hands and feet is now (as you can see) full of little footprints and intentions. I can see the place where my grandson started building a snow fort on our deck and the place where our granddaughter was valiantly trying to catch up to her brother in our front garden. No longer are the drifts undulating. Now, they are full of huge chunks of possibility. I went out to get our newspaper this morning, and I was able to re-live the wonderful memories of a winter weekend filled with tobogganing, skating and ice-fishing.