I continue to paint moments from my semester in France and a 7-week art course I took in Florence, Italy a few years ago. I was inspired by the colourful houses, magnificent churches and historic buildings, and the Renaissance masterpieces held within.
My earlier oils and acrylics depict close-ups of Canadian landscapes, an aqueduct in Southern France, colourful skies and more experimental pieces. Click on any of these images to expand it and take a closer look.
Paintings
Bruce Wastle, Senior Engineer, was much more than a quickly scrolling name in the credits of a daily show. With this series I am paying tribute to my dad, who passed away in 2012. During his 35-year career at Crossroads/CTS TV, he worked in many European countries, helping ministries to run their own programming in other languages.
These five oil paintings present a concise narrative linking my dad’s business trips with my own recent travels to study art in Florence and Tuscany. Spending time in Italy, the country where my dad worked the longest, and where my parents had their honeymoon, birthed my desire to develop the series in this way. Although most of the paintings are composed like candid photos, I synthesized multiple images to form each symbolic composition.
On His Shoulders
Circles, curves, spirals and vibrant colors. When I think about spiritual transformation and our place in the universe, those are what come to mind. We can never fully grasp these concepts, yet the mystery is precisely why they can be so fascinating to contemplate. Objects vast and tiny form into spheres, a symbol of perfection. Meanwhile, here on this planet we humans try to make sense of unreachable galaxies and spiritual struggles.
These paintings of mine are an expression of God, His creation and his transformative power. I use the fluidity of diluted paint to make wavy, flowing strokes and emanating circles. For solid forms the paint is layered smoothly. I find a more complete reality by acknowledging both the abstract and the recognizable; warm, glowing colour and inky darkness; God and matter.
Spiritual Series
