Here are some work-in-progress images of today’s painting, Chorus Line. I’ve been asked about my process for this peacock feather-inspired series, and I think this collage sums it up.
As a painter, especially one who has a background in painting realism, the appeal of abstraction is the spontaneity of it. You have to surrender to the flow, live in the moment & really listen to your intuition. Depending on the artist, this can either be therapeutic, or terrifying!
Quite frankly, this method of pushing & pulling paint, building the image up in layers, is actually my natural way of working.
Except for rare occasions when the project calls for it, I prefer not to start with a precise drawing, but to lay in blocks of colour as I establish the composition. Then I refine & refine … and the longer I hang on to my reference photos, the more realistic the painting will be in the end.
If I’m feeling bold and confident, I ditch the reference photos earlier, and let the painting take me on a journey of discovery. I love ending up somewhere I could never have predicted … it’s in those exciting moments where you’re off the map – when you take on great risk (like when I glazed quinacridone violet over phalo green in the center image above) – that amazing, new things show up on the canvas.
There’s a painter’s high that happens when you paint intuitively, and it works out … that feeling of achievement, of having CREATED something original.
With realism, there is a smug satisfaction from having developed the skills to be able to translate a 3D image or even just a concept, into a 2D painting, using your brushes & paint. The longer you work at it, the better an illusionist you become.
But with abstraction, the lines of reality that you were clinging to to control the chaos, are no longer there … the safety net is gone, the boundries are gone … you can go anywhere!
The elements & principles of design remain the same, so if you have a firm grip on them, you can go back & forth between realism and abstraction at will, or by whimsy.
They are after all, just the alphabet of this language of painting … not the message.
I may not bring this painting to Art in the Park Oakville, I worked on my booth layout yesterday & this one did not make it in.
However, if you’re interested in it, let me know, I can always bring it along.
As a West Indian, the link between peacock feathers and Carnival is an obvious one to me. In fact, the 2015 St. Lucia Carnival parade was just a few days ago, and some people joke that the costumes these days are just feathers held together with string!
For both natives and visitors, Carnival is a big celebration, and some revelers see it as an opportunity to show off their hot bodies, especially if they have worked all year to achieve the look.
Others think of it as a time to put on fancy dress and go shake their tail feathers, to dance and sweat off the worries of the world. For a few rum-filled days they get to escape reality and get on bad with any and everyone. And regardless of what body type they are, those feathers are their passport to this fantasy.
This triptych is about that bacchanal, it is reminiscent of all the glitz & glamour of feathers, beads, rhinestones, body paint and just general decoration. And of course the movement, the rhythmic swaying, gyrating and grinding, that is integral to Carnival.
This is one of my favourite paintings right now, but I’m not sure you will get the full effect looking at it online. There’s more subtlety to it in real life, it is feminine without being obnoxiously so, and exudes a lush, luxurious and exotic mood.
There is something of all of that inherent in peacock imagery – long before I created this painting, pretty girls have been wearing peacock feathers to enhance their own beauty. However, for my peacock series I really am just taking the motif for a drive, with no particular destination in mind … trying to remain in the moment, painting intuitively. So I am as surprised and delighted as the next person with what evolves from these painting sessions.
There is a sensuous, erotic quality to this painting that I’ve never noticed in my work before (although, a certain St. Lucian artist-writer did touch on it when reviewing my solo exhibition “Floravision”), words like passion, seduction and warmth come to mind when I try to describe the mood.
Although it would enliven any room, for some reason I really envision it in a bedroom … which is why I just had to name it “Boudoir”. I think it will really appeal to someone who wants to create a romantic atmosphere, someone who would like to “feather” their nest, create a cozy nook full of inspiration and excitement, as well as comfort, safety and indulgence.
Ok, I know I’ve gone overboard with the adjectives in this post, but there is something about this painting that makes me want to gush …
The countdown is on to my first outdoor art fair, the 50th anniversary of Art in the Park, Oakville, ON.
It is so strange to still be a newbie, considering my first solo exhibition was in 1996, and I’ve exhibited numerous times in galleries & (indoor) shows in the Caribbean, Canada & even Paris, France since then!
However, it is true, although I’ve had a couple paintings outdoors before, as part of the Burlington Fine Arts Association’s tent during events at the Burlington Art Center (now the Art Gallery of Burlington) and even recently at Car Free Appleby, this is the first time I’ll have my own outdoor booth in an actual art fair.
The two biggest deterrents of course are the unpredictable weather (this same one-day art fair was hit with a bad rainstorm last year), and the tedium/hard labour of packing up kit & caboodle (what IS a caboodle anyway, and why does it always come with a kit?), unpacking at the fair (with a strict time limit) setting up, then repacking later to take home, & unpacking again when I get there. I think this gets easier once you have a few shows under your belt & have developed a system, but for now even just preparing for the event is a big deal, breaking into my regular painting schedule.
Part of that is all the research & shopping involved … I just ordered 3 table covers for my 6’x6′ table and that took all morning. An artist friend, Teresa Thompson-Martin (who will also be at Art in th Park Oakville) recommended this site, as she had just ordered black tablecloths online and they were at her door 2 days later. I wanted a plain white rectangular tablecloth, but they were sold out. After considering several alternatives, I decided to get a white fitted tablecloth.
At Car Free Appleby I used a taupe tablecloth from home, and I tacked my coroplast sign to it with small bulldog clips. At the end of the day, my husband went off to get the minivan & I packed up the artwork in a hurry so I’d be ready to just place them in the vehicle when he arrived. I put away a few small paintings that were on the table, and then lifted up the stand with the greeting cards … and the weight of the sign immediately started pulling the tablecloth to the ground. I quickly put a hand out to stop it, but a pile of newly printed postcards hit the wet ground (it had rained on & off all day)! Luckily the postcards were glossy, and even though I was only able to wipe them down when I was home (5 min away) and had unpacked the minivan, most of the cards were actually undamaged! Anyway, a fitted tablecloth should eliminate this from happening again.
I also ordered a black fitted tablecloth AND a royal blue one. Their royal blue is the same colour as the Pthalo blue acrylic paint I’ve been in love with for the last year or two. In fact when I did the Culture Days event last September, the City of Burlington had provided a canopy & table with a royal blue tablecloth & table skirt.
It was a great accent colour, and serendipitous – the colour of the peacock-feather inspired painting I started that day, “Flow”, and the colour of the sign I made for my business – Blue Roots Art Studio. So for now, my plan is to use the royal blue tablecloth. If it competes with my art though, I’ll have the more neutral white or black to fall back on.
The thing is, no matter how much research you do beforehand, it seems you still end up having to go through some trial & error, which is why most art fair veterans say that that this too is an “ongoing process”. I am wishing now that I didn’t make the last change to my order … from a regular black 90×132″ tablecloth to a fitted black tablecloth.
It turns out that the way you get into the fitted tablecloth to get to whatever you have stored under the table, is through the single slit which I was planning to place up against one of the tent walls … which might be awkward if there are people near the table, and things on it that might fall over when I move it away from the wall. It would have been smart to have had a regular black tablecloth as a backup. I was just thinking of how great the fitted tablecloths would look if I did an indoor event with just a table and a few grids. Then there’s the issue of signage … and the possibility of digitally printed tablecloths … you see, it never ends!
As it is, there is a slight chance that the tablecloths won’t get here in time (when you spend over $49., shipping is free, but it could take up to 2 weeks … I’m taking a gamble, I’m almost certain they’ll get here in time). In which case I’ll probably end up using my light taupe tablecloth, but at least I’ll be prepared for the next event.
Anyway, I’ve decided to post a new painting every day, from tomorrow until Art in the Park, Oakville on August 3.
I have been very silent on this blog for the last couple months because I have had a number of projects on the go, and just didn’t have the time to write about it, but I’ll be able to give more details in the next few posts.
If this painting looks a little familiar, it’s because it has evolved over the last year … it started as a demonstration, at a live painting event.
You can read about it in this earlier blog post, where I even created a video to show the process thus far! The initial inspiration was a peacock feather mask that I’d bought 10 years earlier, in combination with the live music … it was the first time I painted at a public event like this (Culture Days), and the energy was awesome.
In fact I had so much fun at Culture Days, I’m doing it again Sept 26 & 27 this year. More on that in another post.
In the Flow … wip
Although there was so much I loved about this painting, it just never felt quite finished … that could be because I’m accustomed to working a week to several weeks on a painting, so several hours of painting didn’t seem enough. And partly because although I’d designed the “eyes” as if they were notes on a music sheet, I just didn’t like the way they created a single line , pulling the viewers’s eye across the image and out.
I called the painting “In the flow” originally … and for some reason, it just seemed to remain in flux, there was always something more to do to it, so in between other paintings, I’d keep going back to it.
Eventually, in a new space, I decided to work on it to completion, and what emerged is this painting … “Flow”. In this version I really played on the aquatic tendencies of the original, and I’m quite happy with the result.
I will be bringing it to Art in the Park Oakville on Aug 3, my booth is #143, and I hope you’ll be able to come out and see it in person!
this weekend, and I’m happy to be included in the line-up of local artists and artisans.
I’ve selected a number of my smaller paintings that go with the Spring theme, as you can see in the collage above (individual images not shown correct to scale).
There will also be a variety of greeting cards – reproductions of my original acrylic paintings.
“Our curated contemporary pop-up art market features work from exciting artists, and makers within a 50KM radius of Burlington. A portion of proceeds go towards funding a large FREE public art event in downtown Burlington on September 18th called Supernova
We are only here for one weekend so you don’t want to miss us:
Friday April 17th: 6PM-9PM
Saturday April 18th: 10AM-6PM
Sunday April 19th: 12PM-5PM”
Flyer for Art in the Workplace, McMaster Innovation Park
If you live in Hamilton & surrounding area, then come join me at the wine & cheese art opening tomorrow night at McMaster Innovation Park!
This is the 17th juried exhibition put on by MIP, and several of the artists I know have participated before, and they’ve encouraged me to enter. So, I did, and I’m excited to see the following 2 paintings on display tomorrow, along with a great selection of art by a variety of local artists.
In 2009 I started painting a series simply called Hibiscus & Banana, and it all started with a close-up of a red hibiscus flower.
The image came to mind immediately when I tried to select a flower that represented St. Lucia to me personally.
Technically, and culturally, the rose and the marguerite are the National flowers of St. Lucia. However, they were not as abundant, and did not have as much of a visual impact on me.
In fact, the association may persist for me because my family has always grown hibiscus bushes in the garden, so I saw them every day as a child. However, they also grew profusely around the island in those days.
Here is my artist statement from an exhibition a few years ago …
Hibiscus, Bananas ‘n More
Summer 2009, I went home to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia in search of reference material for my latest series of acrylic paintings. I wanted to focus on what I felt were two of the most iconic images of St. Lucian plant-life … the banana tree and the hibiscus flower. As a child, the banana industry drove the local economy, and although tourism has upstaged it, the island is still covered in banana trees – farmed, wild and decorative. Islanders take pride in being able to eat off of the land, and most properties boast a variety of fruit trees. On the other hand, the hibiscus flowers were harder to find. In recent years many plants, including the one at the end of my parents’ porch, were lost to the pink mealybug, and drought. The best specimens I found were on the grounds of hotels and restaurants. In 2010, I travelled to both St. Lucia and Trinidad, and have since expanded the series to include croton and flamboyant images.
I paint living plants interacting with their environment, sun shining through the leaves, wind blowing the petals, other plants in the background adding contrast. I try to express the atmosphere, a specific moment in time, and my feelings about the place. Although my paintings are representational, my actual focus is on the abstract rhythms of Nature. I play with the organic shapes and vibrant colours to create uplifting and engaging images. I paint because I love the creative process, however it is my hope that the finished paintings bring joy and beauty into our everyday lives.
Although I have gone on to paint other imagery, every now and then I find myself returning to this motif. I just took a look at my records and out of the last 100 paintings I’ve done (not including small daily paintings), about 1/5th of them feature hibiscus flowers!
The interesting thing about hibiscus flowers is that I encounter them here in Canada all the time too … they can be found year-round in green-houses, or as potted house-plants, and in the warmer weather they are available as large flowering plants from anywhere that sell plants (even grocery stores!). And that’s just the traditional hibiscus, not counting the hardier varieties that are now available in colder climates.
I think the allure of the hibiscus flower is partly due to the bright colour … certainly that cheerful red is why I have been painting hibiscuses lately, as a weapon to combat the winter blues!
Subconsciously, I think we are also drawn to hibiscus flowers, like so many birds and insects, because of the erotic design. The generous petals open wide like out-flung limbs promising an embrace, but really are just there to draw attention to the pistil, to play their part in the survival of the species.
For all their glorious beauty, hibiscus blooms only last a day or two, and are delicate, which is why they do not show up as often in tropical bouquets.
In fact, hibiscus flowers are a common choice for tattoos, especially in women, symbolizing delicate beauty, fragility, as well as love, passion, and a laid back life-style.
I mentioned in my statement earlier, finding hibiscus flowers growing mostly at hotels and restaurants. That is because even during the dry season when the general public will hold off on watering their flowering plants, these businesses have to try to keep them alive. They help create “atmosphere”, and it is not just that they are decorative and make the place more attractive to patrons.
It also has to do with the connotation of rest and relaxation, “fun in the sun”, and everything else positive the world thinks of when they think of a tropical vacation.
Images of pretty girls with hibiscus flowers in their hair (which is only ever done when posing for a photograph), or as part of a pool-side scene with umbrella-drinks and lounge chairs.
I have painted hibiscuses in a range of colours – pinks, yellows, oranges, reds, and white, and I think of them as portraits. I try to paint the individual flower, or grouping of flowers, with its unique environment, rather than a generic, formulaic version.
While there may be stylistic similarities tying all my hibiscus paintings together, there are so many different kinds of hibiscus plants, and so many ways to present them – varying the positions, backgrounds, lighting, stage in cycle of life, painting techniques and media etc. – that I am sure I will return to this motif time and time again, and I will find something new to explore each time.
You can find some more of my hibiscus paintings here.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Here is a little something I’ve been working on, to show my appreciation to those who support me in this love affair I have with painting.
Hot off the easel … ok, on the easel right now. This painting, and a few others that I’ve been working on since my last post, will go to the photographer soon, then I’ll post the official photographs when he gives them to me.
As you can see, I’ve continued exploring the blue patterning that started out in my fernscapes and peacock abstractions. I’m having fun trying out different ways to incorporate it in my painting. In this case I started out just placing random strokes of blue, but quickly saw the potential for a floral pattern and so took it in that direction.
This is the first time the background is so separate from the rest of the image, but I’m enjoying the boldness of this painting, it’s strong, cheerful and romantic.
If you have fallen in love with this painting, and want to bring it home to live with you, be the first to contact me about it at donna@bluerootsartstudio.com.
Here is another painting I forgot to write about, I completed it just in time for the Art in Action Studio Tour. It’s another large painting – 4’x4′ – so far this one and Gemma’s Rose have just sat in my studio while I went about creating more paintings. I will have to see about getting them out into the public eye soon … but right now I have a number of other irons in the fire.
In The thinking place, you can see I was exploring the use of dashes of colour, like I used in my peacock paintings. There is just something playful about the juxtaposition of whimsical pattern with a realistic scene, that makes me happy.
I love the peacefulness of this scene, such a great place to sit and contemplate, either the real location, or just facing the painting. I think it reminds you to slow down, take the time to enjoy Nature, stare at the clouds, the ripples in the water, the beautiful flowers.
Let me know if you’d like to try this painting out in your house to see how it transforms your space. If you live nearby, I can bring a selection of paintings for you to choose from. With a small business like mine (one short individual wearing lots of hats), you are guaranteed the personal touch!
BLUE ROOTS ART STUDIO – acrylic paintings of Caribbean & Canadian landscape, flowers & foliage. Burlington, ON, Canada. 905-639-3419
