Silk Purse Gallery – All Together Now show

Thank you so much to Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver for hosting my solo show, All Together Now, from September 3rd to the 22nd. I showed watercolour and pen works as well as an art book.

The pieces explored the possible dualities contained within a person, playing with Carl Jung’s idea of the “shadow self” through visual metaphors and imagery. In a way this series was a kind of self exploratory therapy as I sorted through my own self definition, expectations left over from my youth, and definitions by others. My own departure from what I always thought (and was told) I should be, as well as the muddiness of figuring out what kind of person I was and where I fit as I struggled with some heavy feeling mental health issues, propelled me into considering what sorts of possible versions I (and others) might contain if we were not a fixed self.

I ended up with a kind of multi page self portrait that I also believe could mirror the experiences of others. It was nice to finally share this work in an exhibit format and watch people relate to the work, since I was hoping to illustrate states that would touch on the universal. Everyone feels disconnected sometimes, or fearful or trusting, generous or selfish.

I did one day of painting in the gallery, working on a sort of stream of consciousness abstract watercolour. I have been working on these lately as a sort of meditation, trying not to get too hung up on the end result.

fiction project- full version

It took an embarrassingly long time to figure out, but I finally got the images from my ‘fiction project’ off of the Brooklyn Art House Co-Op site to put into a gallery here.

p.s.- if you want to see the pictures full size, right click and pick ‘view image’

Recent ness

So, not too much new stuff has been up in my world, but it feels good to be finished a big project, which has a title now- “Violet and her Worries.”  I am trying to figure out the best way to get the story published. . . but in the mean time it’s freeing to not have to work within the guidelines of a project.

I am realizing that I really like water colours, especially with line drawings over top.  I am messing around with shapes and colours and lines, and it feels nice not to want things to look a certain way.  Although, things are feeling super wide open, in that I have no specific ideas about what I want to work on next.  I’m hoping it will become clear as I make messes.

Pikaland.com has offered lots of inspiration.  I’ve been admiring artwork that’s graphic with nice bold shapes and clean lines, like Alan Brown’s work:

http://pikaland.com/2011/11/17/buy-some-damn-art-alan-brown