Blog

(posted on 4 Mar 2015)

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 7, 1 - 3 p.m.

Come and see the work of over 50 Okanagan Artists. My new
work exhibited there called "Sunshine in a Jar," is a still life of flowers that I grew in my garden in Okanagan Centre.

ARTIST STATEMENT: Painting this still life was a great exercise for me. First, I felt very connected with the subject matter that came out of my own flower garden. I intimately know the butter-coloured roses with their silky, heavy, fragrant flower heads. The Shasta daisies bloomed every year at the same time as the roses so it made perfect sense to paint them together.

Second, the painting support called “Terraskin” helped the paint to “slide over,” not “sink into” the coated surface. I enjoyed the feel of creating the petals by pushing the paint with the brush. This support also felt right for creating the watery effects in the vase as the thinner, wetter mixtures of paint blended together on the surface in blurry shapes.

Third, this still life painting was an exercise in “learning to see” more deeply and developing my painting technique. I focused on the arrangement – the shapes, colour, light, texture, and shade of the dynamic relationship. Sergei Bongart is known to have said, "Still Life is the best school, the best exercise for artists." The painting exercise was spontaneous and yet at same time very concretely connected to the subject matter as a whole.