"Wyll, Madison Avenue"

"My friends are my estate"~Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson said it best. As a reclusive woman, her friends were very important to her. As an only child, my cousins and friends are my siblings. 

"Wyll, Madison Avenue", 2009, 12"x16", oil on panel, is a painting of one of my dear childhood friends who I have known since grade 7.

I have painted Wyll three times over the years, and I have included these paintings below. 

True friends are separated by neither time nor geography. They simply are a part of you, and you of them. True friends are weavers; when you meet after a long absence the threads of your lives are quickly woven together so that soon your dialogue flows freely and your only enemy is the clock, indicating when you must part again. 

There's a certain comfort in spending time with someone with whom you share a history. Its like a secret that you both carry with you as you walk along the street, as Wyll and I did leading up to the reference shots for this painting. It is as though your combined force can take on the world, that this bond is greater than the relationships of the multitudes who pass by on the street.

Wyll and I used to work on a ranch together, leading trail rides and relishing our time with the animals there. We worked for nothing, simply the freedom of having our own hour of time at the end of the day to ride whichever horse we chose. Money was irrelevant.  We were young, fearless and acutely alive.

But here we are now years later, in the depths of winter in Toronto. We walked up a side street off of Bloor and I took some shots to consider for paintings. I edited out some elements that I did not want to paint in the finished piece. It was freezing that day but we were warm, and the energy from our conversation over lunch sustained us, keeping the cold at bay. 

I used a lot of blue in the rendering of the snow. I paint rather expressively in that I have not the patience to render each window, each brick in the distance, each blade of grass,  but prefer to capture the value, shape and impression of the landscape while focusing with more detail on the figure, the subject of the piece.

Wyll is brilliant. She is someone who listens and gives beautifully insightful advice, provides inspiration to me as a person and artist, and truly makes the world a more beautiful place with her in it. I am thankful to know her. We are both only children and solitary by nature, yet this fact strengthens our kinship. We have a silent symbiosis which is rare and I appreciate deeply.

Here are two other paintings of Wyll I did in 2005. I will write about them individually at a later time but it shows how people and artists change, how technique shifts and personalities coalesce. Friendships, like everything in life, constantly evolve, so that, as T.S. Eliot once wrote "we shall not cease from exploration, and at the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." 

  

"Bloor Street West Café", 2005, oil on canvas, 10"x30"

"New Place", 2005, oil on canvas, 16"x20"

Here are some snippets of paintings that will appear in my solo show on Newfoundland in November at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville, Ontario. I am working steadily on new pieces each day. It will be an exciting show! You can find out more information about the exhibition on my website here. One of the paintings has already sold and the show is still 10 months away! If you are interested in seeing the pieces please contact Abbozzo Gallery. 

On another note, Bravo! Canada filmed a special profiling my work in 2007. It will be airing on Bravo! Channel all across Canada on Monday, February 9th at 8:30am Eastern Standard Time. I hope you are able to catch it! It is on at an odd time but thank goodness for PVRs.

Have a wonderful day,

Heather

"Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself."~T.S. Eliot

Creative Kibbitzing

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~Margaret Mead

I love to be alone. I am an only child but was rarely lonely when growing up. I need to recharge frequently and this entails returning to my home and removing myself from society for a time. However, being alone can be a blessing and a curse. I have chosen a vocation that invites and appreciates solitude. Therefore I make a concerted effort to get out and be active socially, visit friends and cultivate relationships that are meaningful to me. Nevertheless the work must be done and any activity requiring concentration takes energy and necessitates time away from others.

When working I get into little habits...ways of working that seem practical and work for me as an artist. I delight in finding out how others operate. It is a little peek into their own private realm of creativity. I understand that no way is correct, that all of our paths diverge in our own unique woods and we can take whichever paths we want to reach our goals.

I was talking with my friend Alan the other day and we were discussing how we work. I like that as artists we create in very different ways...each to their own end, with their own set of guidelines and tried and true methods. I enjoy the process of evolving as a painter...of the trials and errors, of finding out neat little shortcuts that can help streamline the process. Really, this diversity of individual approach is what lends another interesting wrinkle to the finished piece that we look at on a wall in a gallery. It is the culmination of all of the effort invested in the process.

Getting out and immersing oneself in a social network or activities is so important. My family is very small and so my friends really are my family. I am not involved in an art "scene" per se, but I do know pockets of artists here and there, along with other friends and colleagues of similar disciplines with whom to share work-related information. A community of like-minded individuals feeds the soul and provides an opportunity for inspiration. Often it can be a new member of a discussion who intrigues me and I want to paint them, or visiting a new environment that invites the idea for a new painting composition. It is a fantastic side benefit I find, being out with folks to help stoke the creative fires in the studio.

As human beings, as the most devoted hermit can probably agree, we form opinions about ourselves and who we are from sounding off of others, of living with others for a time and then going off to wherever we choose to go. We are shaped by our culture, our geography and a host of other external and internal variables. The benefit of community and a group of friends who share our passion for something, be it art or anything else, is important and undeniable. It could be a quick ping or an in-depth conversation, but those with whom we choose to surround ourselves are really an outward reflection of a bit of our inner landscape. We are all intrinsically and undeniably connected, whether near or far away.

Listening to: Strawberry Swing by Coldplay
Reading: Cabin At Singing River by Chris Czajkowski
This is a beautiful account of one woman's goal to build her own house with her own two hands in a remote area of the British Columbia interior.

"Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine." ~Honore de Balzac

How Do You Define Success?

How do you define success? A friend and I were discussing the concept the other day. It really is the ultimate subjective question...which is why I love it so much. Success, as society would have us believe, is larger this and more of that. We really are a consumer society and many of us have been brought up to equate possessions with success. Also, there are vocations which seem to be indicative of success...the list goes on and on.

Suffice it to say I had pause to think about what success means to me. Living a meaningful life is a top priority. This entails showing compassion towards others, being there for friends and family and celebrating all of the wonderful components that make up this fragile gift called life. If I am able to make others happy sometime, to encourage someone to laugh, to cry with happiness, to inspire them creatively, to make themselves the best that they can be-that is living a happy, successful life to me.

It really is amazing how wrapped up we can get in the hustle and bustle of life. The unconscious voice that tells us to acquire, that owning things equals happiness...it is a fruitless endeavor in the long run. You can't take it with you, as they say. Material possessions are like biting into a chocolate Easter bunny that is hollow on the inside...outside it is sweet and tempting, but it leaves you empty and wanting something more substantial. Now when I say substantial I mean fulfilling to the soul, not something to put on a mantel of opulence.

I met some new friends today. I am doing a commission for them. This is one of the many joys of being a painter...meeting wonderful individuals who become friends. They are terrific people; so generous and thoughtful. Sitting having tea with them behind their house made me realize how the best things in life really are free. To share a meeting of minds, opinions on what makes the world go around or thwart it's progress, these moments are ones to hold close and cherish. It is times such as today that my inherent cynicism begins to abate....I learn to have some faith in humanity that such lovely people are everywhere-that the world is not necessarily going to hell in a hand basket.

My upcoming trip to Salt Spring Island is drawing ever closer. I have rented a small cottage on the ocean...a beautiful place from what I have seen. I plan on visiting the entire island, including the market in Ganges on the Saturday, Ruckle Provincial Park and all points in between. I love the idea that Salt Spring is an artistic mecca, with lots of working artists with open doors to their studios, ready to welcome the casual passerby. I can only hope to get a few quality paintings out of the excursion...from a portrait of a local baker to the profile of a nearby mountain, all make up the quality and uniqueness of that time and place.

Pet Peeve of the day: People who insist on traveling at the exact posted speed limit. Please. Speed limits are posted knowing that the average person will travel 10 kms faster than the posted number....and of course, these staid drivers are always on two lane streets or roadways...where overtaking them is a hassle and a hazard.

Listening to: "What Ever Happened" by The Strokes

"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." ~Bob Dylan