A Brush with Life - Issue #14 West Coast Winter Paintings
What is a west coast winter like? Well, sometimes there are high winds, lashing and drizzling rains or fog and mist. Always, when you can see it, there is the low-angle of sunlight and on rare occasions snow - first in the mountains and then settling into the lower elevations. But since, snow is not
A Brush with Life - Issue #13 Step Into The Landscape
What is it like to step into our physical world rather than observe it? What is different? These are questions that occupy me almost daily. Partly, this is because when I step into my physical world there is limited language to express what I am experiencing. When I am fully immersed in natural surr
A Brush with Life - Issue #12 Cozying Up to Brushes for Winter Season
Long shadows stretch across the valley before supper time. A light is already on next to the table. The studio lamps remain set up, even for daytime painting. Our northern hemisphere winter season is upon us. This is always a time for review, reflection and development of a work plan for the year ah
A Brush with Life - Issue #11 North Country
Splashes of colours dipping into the deep greys or a sudden streak colbalt across the sky. “Late autumn” the landscape calls out... as a flurry of sparkling white starts to settle onto the frozen ground. We are already slipping passed the middle of October. As you are reading this issue, I am in the
A Brush with Life - Issue #10 Sit and Wait
An artist’s life is often filled with transitions, pauses, reflection and bewilderment. Where do I go from here? What is next? Is this the right path? These moments can create the most severe anxiety if one does not learn the practice of “sit and wait”. During these times I often ask myself - what i
A Brush with Life - Issue #9 Overlapping lives of Painters
Great art is the work of thieves! In fact, Pablo Picasso is attributed with saying “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” And, if he didn’t say this, he should have because he was a master thief as well as a great artist. So what is the difference between copying and the concept of stealing I am
A Brush with Life - Issue #8 Falling on Golden Light
September, with its golden light, breaks into dashes of warm hues that come cascading down through my imagination onto large canvases. I cannot stop them - even if I wanted to try which, of course, I do not! I will start teaching oil painting classes next week. The students are more than ready to be
A Brush with Life - Issue #7 Savouring Summer
Let’s break from routine and do an online exclusive show for newsletter insiders! Shall we? August and September are my personal favourite months of the year. It is a time of easy strolls and even easier laughter. It is also a time when melancholy is cradled close and comforted by the warmth of soft
A Brush with Life - Issue #6 Over She Goes!
Building, cresting and over she goes! Yes, more than ripples but it needn’t be much more, though often it is. The pounding surf of the sea causes me to breathe deep and exhale with a howl of glee just from the power in it all. A quiet ebbing tide can bring on the most profound sense of melancholy wh
A Brush with Life - Issue #5 The Sea And Me
Opening today in the Terrill Welch Galery is "The Sea and Me " - a solo exhibition of seascapes. Whether the crash of a humongous wave against the rocks or the slow ebbing of a slack tide, I belong to the sea and with my brushstrokes the sea belongs to me! Starting with the poster painting, let's go
