Despite the turmoil in Ottawa, my latest paintings have safely arrived and are available from Koyman Galleries. Ottawa is located on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence reaches back to time immemorial.
The figures in Ladybird (the British name for lady bug) notice small details as they inhabit an undulating landscape in greens and violet. In the lower left hand corner of the canvas, a young figure in a hat is surrounded by green foliage. A central figure stretches out the to the viewer’s left, over the fence line, beside them to their right, a person lounges in pale pastels. Three figures lean into each other viewing the sites in the foreground and are mimicked by a small group of three above them in the background having just crossed the fence. A frolicking young person tips off the side of the canvas to the viewer’s right. The title Ladybird was inspired by the accents of red that are leading the viewer’s eye throughout the painting. And is also the title of one of my favourite coming of age films Lady Bird.
Two figures are immersed in flowers and large blooms in Walking Through Flower Fields. The central figure photographs the scene, while the figure to the viewer’s right pauses to caress a rose-like bud. The flowers dance in a and out of the fence in the middle ground. On the horizon line, to the viewer’s left is a silhouette of a cluster of houses in deep violet and sitting in the background are green farm fields and stands of trees. The fence line meanders across the canvas in the shape of a gangly figure eight on its side like an infinity symbol. This past summer I had the opportunity to walk and paint in my friend Tish’s flower fields located in Guelph on the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. She grows stunning flowers and their colours and shapes have seeped into many of paintings. You can find her on Insta at May Moon Flowers.