A Very Happy New Year To You

Thanks so much everyone for a wonder filled year, for the meeting of new friends, for joining me on the journey, for making me use spell check, which you may have noticed but have been far to polite to mention that I sometimes forget to use it, for leaving comments, for making me laugh and think, for expanding my world in ways I never dreamed of, and especially a huge thanks for providing a place for my work. So here is a toast to you all, with all best wishes for 2016, and some of my favourite words that I have written around the kitchen window....


Deep peace of the running water to you,

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,

Deep peace of the shining stars to you,

Stars and moon pour their healing light on you,

Deep peace of the light of the world to you.


A Gaelic Blessing

Boat [for the New Year], oil on panel, 16 x 20 in, 2015

boat supported, oil on panel, 16 x 20 in, 2015

Happy Solstice

This is my favourite day of the year; I've always thought that today should be called New Years Day. Today the sun will rise here at 7.25 am and set at 4.10 pm, tomorrow the day is a minute longer and so on and so on. It really is amazing to think of us twirling through space at a speed of 1000 miles an hour and now we start to tilt back toward the sun, I love this. And as we speed about the universe I've been watching the pond freeze and thaw, frozen at the moment and reflecting glittering light. Welcome back light.

Sunrise at the pond, 2015

trees and sky reflections, 2015

glittering light on the thin ice, 2015

a beam of sunlight on the ice, 2015

More Wonderings

I’ve run out of my favourite charcoal and so until I can get some more I’ve been playing with the drawings on the computer. And as I was working "The Diamond Sutra” kept popping into my mind.

From Thich Nhat Hanh

Opening Gatha

How may we overcome the fear of birth and death

and arrive at the state that is as indestructible as a diamond?

What way can direct us in our practice

to sweep away our thousands of illusions?

If the awakened mind shows its compassion

and opens up for us the treasure store,

then we may bring into our lives

the wonderful diamond teachings.

And goes on to say

All conditioned phenomena

Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow,

Like dew or a flash of lightning;

Thus we shall perceive them.”

Dream 9az, from the charcoal drawings, digital image, 2015

Dream 8a, from the charcoal drawings, digital image, 2015

Dream 9a1, from the charcoal drawings, digital image, 2015

Dream 9abc, from the charcoal drawings, digital image, 2015

Wandering

As we head towards the shortest day of the year and the world is filled with more darkness, charcoal has re-entered the studio; deep, velvety charcoal that I push into the paper with my fingers and the palm of my hand.

Dreaming deep #1ab, 22 x 30 in.,  digital image on paper, 2015

Dreaming deep #1a, 22 x 30 in.,  charcoal on paper, 2015

Dreaming deep #2, 22 x 30 in.,  charcoal on paper, 2015

Dreaming deep #2a, 22 x 30 in.,  digital image on paper, 2015

Dreaming deep #16 22 x 30 in.,  charcoal on paper, 2015

25 Years Later

Today is the 25th anniversary of what came to be known as "The Montreal Massacre", when 14 women lost their lives to a deranged gunman. And after the last few weeks, months and years' events, and the despair that fills me re our crazy love of war, death and destruction, there was a note of hope this week with the Quebec Government bringing back the Long Gun Registry. I created this work "The Singing of the Stones" in 1997 to commemorate the lives and spirits of the 14 women murdered on this day, December 6, 1989.

IN MEMORY OF

Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Marie Klueznick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne- Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte

"The Singing of the Stones" [Link]

14 stones, 7 women, music, video, poetry, tableau vivant, installation

Fortunae, [Stations of the Cross ], 24 in x 18 in x 3 in, Mixed media, 1996-7

To see a video clip from the performance of The Singing of the Stones,  Fortunae, click here


And if you have problems with that link here is a direct link to YouTube.

To see the whole performance here is the link.

Found

Searching through my flat files the other day and found these collages from the big studio clean up of the spring. I thought I had put all the bits and pieces that were torn up in the trash, but somehow these were saved; actually I was glad to find them, I just need to take better photos.

broken / enclosure 1, 30 x 22 in, ink on paper, 2015

broken / enclosure 5, 30 x 22 in, ink on paper, 2015

broken / enclosure 6, 30 x 22 in, ink on paper, 2015