Watching Ice Melt

The last few mornings I've been outside early in the blue glow of dawn, checking to see if the ice has melted completely off the pond. The snow stayed early this year, forming a pebbled crust and I missed seeing the ice forming, with its wonderful patterns of wings. I have been so hoping that the ice would melt and then freeze again before the snow came, but this morning there is a white blanket covering the pond.

Monday morning with a layer of water on the ice, Nov 24, 2014

Tuesday morning, Nov 25, 2014

Almost gone Wednesday morning but then it snowed, Nov 26, 2014

Across The Road

November is not my favourite month. I don't like the short days and the usually dreary weather, the loss of freedom of just walking outside without boots and heavy coat, but what I do love is its sudden bursts of drama. Finally the sun will come out and the studio lights up. The other day the light became an eerie dusty blue, almost electric, the trees shone. It was a fine show. And talking of shows, our friends Simone Schmidt, aka FIVER and Jeff Bierk are down from Toronto to give the 1st concert at Galerie Art Plus. What better way to spend an evening than listening to Simone and watching Jeff's projections. Hope to see you there. Info is on the bottom photo.

Across the road, 2014

November drama, 2014

Fiver, tonight at Galerie Art Plus, 2014

Procrastination + Fear

procrastination |prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən, prō-|

noun

the action of delaying or postponing something: your first tip is to avoid procrastination.

 I love dictionaries, I start looking up a word to spell and end up spending more time just reading definitions. This word has been important lately and I realized that what was happening was fear. That was at the bottom of all the procrastination. With that realization I could move . A few months ago Tamar sent me her domino for me to complete and start another to send to Martin [see link here and here] I had a zillion sketches but I never finished them until a few days ago when I could finally move beyond the fear of having to work on the same surface, actually beside Tamar's work and not mess it up. Plus, I wanted a conversation with her work, a dance where she takes the first step and I respond, then I take the next step and Martin responds. This is where I have ended up. And I can mail it off to Martin today. Yea!

Tamar Zinn to Liz Davidson, mixed media on paper, 6 x 12 in, 2014

Liz Davidson to Martin Scholte, mixed media on paper, 6 x 6 [12] in 2014

The Quiet World

The past few mornings we awake to an altered world, a quieter world in which a thin blanket of snow smothers sound. There is a feel of reverence in this world, we tend to speak quietly, almost whisper, as if in the knowing; this won't last. And a few hours later the snow has melted and the land has returned to November.

table top, 2014

the dock, 2014

Looking out, 2014

The pebbled surface of the pond, 2014

snow gathers around the spring in the pond, 2014

More Color

I'm trying a different medium to pour these pools of colour. I'm trying to find a mixture that will give me the wonderful rounded edge of the pool and yet thick enough to go from one surface to another. Maybe it's a good thing the studio is such a mess as otherwise I wouldn't have thought of putting the ink and the pours together.

Following the edge, 2014

a very wrinkled pour , 2014

to thin, but who knows if it will be useful, 2014

Looks like spilled milk, yum, 2014

Rosetta

J. and I had breakfast outside this morning, wearing our winter parkas, while watching the sun rise in a dramatic fashion. And as we looked into the distance, beyond the curve of Moose Back [the mountain] and into the far reaches of our view we realized again, it's not just a view, it's space; and at this very moment a washing machine sized space craft, is floating down to land on a comet. This thrills me, and I see studio time giving way to watch this amazing event. [You can watch it here, Link here]

Sun rising over Moose Back, 2014

Somewhere out there is Rosetta, 2014

Pools of Color

When I work, often the things I like best, or intrigue me most, are the accidents, or the things I had no control over; the marks left outside the paper, the drips on the wall and floor and maybe my most favourite is where I have knocked over a can of paint. I have wanted to explore these accidental marks so you can imagine my excitement when I discovered fluid acrylics. These works make me smile, actually they make me laugh.

Pouring the sky, the sun and clouds, dimensions variable, 2014

Pouring lines, 2014

Finally, A Hard Frost

It's been a warm fall but we finally got the hard frost that I long for. I love going outside early and seeing the grasses and plants and shrubs outlined in silvery white; it's a brief moment for as soon as the day warms up it melts and all the white lines disappear. I'm waiting for the first ice on the pond.

ribbons of frost, 2014

frost outlines the leaves, 2014

one last brilliant maple leaf, 2014

November's Light

I hung some shelves on the studio walls to see how some of the new experiments would look / work, and because it was in the afternoon the light was deeply slanted and dramatic. I need more shelves. Playing with the light and shadow has me excited.

Shelf light, 2014

More shelf light, 2014

Sometimes It Works

It seems to me that with all experiments some seem to work and some don't, and it's not always obvious which is which.

casting shadows with colour, 2014

lines of colour, 2014

the studio floor , 2014