a path no wider than a pencil stroke

shift

2011-03-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

36x36", oil/acrylic on canvas

upturn

2011-03-12T20:40:00.002-05:00

36x36", oil/acrylic on canvas

my friend told me that to her, this looked like somewhere in Greece, and she imagined that people were throwing their beds out the window. I liked that.

ready for winter to end...

2011-03-12T20:21:00.003-05:00

renewal

24x24", oil/acrylic on panel

january

24x24", oil/acrylic on panel

ready for hibernation

24x24", oil/acrylic on panel

jigsaw pieces

2011-03-12T20:19:00.002-05:00

jig-saw

20x10" ea., oil/acryl. on panel

October show at Muse Gallery

2010-10-31T09:32:00.004-04:00

look up , 60x48", oil/acrylic on panel

_______________

foundation construction, 48x48", oil/acrylic on canvas

_____________

some thoughts from my desk, 24x24",oil/acrylic on panel

the show at Muse Gallery in Toronto until nov. 4

http://www.musegallery.ca/

In this series of paintings I was aware of how much I was influenced by my surroundings - my neighborhood, my daily walks to the studio taking narrow back alleys, the view from my window of the Jacques Cartier bridge and la Ronde, and the industrial landscape along the St-Laurence river. I am especially drawn to othe way things change after dark, where a lot gets edited out and only certain details are highlighted with the streetlights or in windows. That's similar to the way I work, where I start out with more information and then edit a lot out.

Here's an article in this week-end's Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/rm-vaughan/anne-laure-djaballahs-painted-pileups-depict-sparkly-urban-landscapes/article1778179/

Part of my current show

2010-10-31T09:23:00.003-04:00

climb, 36x36", oil/acrylic on canvas

245 terr. jacques léonard, 36x36", oil/acrylic on canvas

upstairs neighbor, 48x36", oil/acrylic on canvas

Here are some pieces that are showing at Muse Gallery, in Toronto, until nov. 4th.

www.musegallery.ca

new

2009-10-18T11:53:00.001-04:00

20x16"

getting ready for a show that will be at gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto

in the month of december

Exhibition at Muse Gallery, in Toronto

2009-09-09T14:59:00.003-04:00

la petite souris (the little mouse), oil, acrylic on canvas, 72x48"

Showing new work at Muse Gallery, in Toronto,

from sept. 10 to oct. 1st,

Opening reception : sept. 10, from 6-9pm

(a bit about this series is written down below "A Little Girl I Know")

Sneak Out Plan B

2009-09-09T14:57:00.000-04:00

sneak out plan B, oil, acrylic on canvas, 48x36

bibliothèque

2009-09-09T14:54:00.002-04:00

bibliothèque, oil-acrylic on canvas, 48x28

Flying Machine

2009-09-09T14:52:00.001-04:00

flying machine, oil/acrylic on panel, 36x36

Tomato Red

2009-09-09T14:51:00.000-04:00

tomato red, oil/acrylic on panel, 24x24"

Tumble

2009-09-09T14:50:00.000-04:00

tumble, oil/acrylic on panel, 24x24

Upcoming show "A Little Girl I Know"

2009-09-09T14:44:00.003-04:00

ready for school, oil/acrylic on panel, 24x24"

A little girl I know:

Her name is Bernice.

She is four and a half.

She is good at making treasure maps,

good at taking care of her grandpa,

and good at doing math tests.

And she has the fastest running shoes.

She would like her room to be painted white and salmony pink.

Also,

Going down the stairs

On her tractor
She can fly.

What I have been most touched by recently is the way in which the presence of a little person (in my case, my niece) brings about a new way of seeing the ordinary, and a much greater appreciation of imagination and mystery. Also, how by her not quite knowing what is impossible, sometimes allows for its possibility.

With these latest paintings, I mostly began with images of children’s rooms, continuing my exploration of spaces; our ideals vs. the actual lived in space. These starting points for the paintings were gradually transformed by editing out some elements, covering up, messing up, or scratching away to get some things back, and allowing the paintings to take on a life of their own. With this way of working, the ending point is usually a surprise.

The process relates to the way in which we can have an ideal for a child’s room, more like a showroom, and the contrast with the actual inhabited one, where the presence of a child transforms it completely, bringing mess and life and magic into the space.

Gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto, nov. 6-29

2008-11-01T11:28:00.006-04:00

Souvenirs adoucis

36"x36", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

Tangling and Untangling

Lines evoke several metaphors for us: following the line of a story, hanging by a thread, connecting the dots, tying up loose ends. Continuing to explore lines—whether drawn or painted, made of wire or thread, tangled or sorted out, or formed into a grid. They create a rich contrast as they interact with the solid squareness of the boxes and panels.

Gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto, from nov. 6-29

Reception: Sat. Nov 8, 1-4pm

Hours Wed - Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat 12 - 5pm or by appointment

http://www.129ossington.com/Galleryat129Ossington_AnneLaureDjaballah.htm

aerial view

2008-11-01T11:20:00.002-04:00

Retracer ses pas / Retracing My Steps

42"x48", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

Some people noticed how this one is different from a lot of the other work, and I think it is partly from that is doesn't really have a lot of gravity, like the view from above rather than one with a horizon line - more of a diagram.

It will be showing at the gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto, for the month of november.

how to give structure to memories?

2008-11-01T10:49:00.005-04:00

4"x4" sketch

Sortir par la fenêtre

24"x12", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

How it is so easy to change the way we frame a memory , after it happens, a week later, a year later - always needing to give it a more definite shape, or window frame to isolate it from all the other moments that come before and after.

These windows of moments, where the element that stands out most clearly afterwards is the line that creates a path, which moves on into the next moment and then another, and in time forms the arc of a story - the one we chose to tell about ourselves.

ce qu'on oublie

2008-09-21T22:27:00.004-04:00

48"x36", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

on the surface of things and what's below

une histoire qui se forme et qui s'oublie

2008-09-21T22:19:00.002-04:00

36"x36", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

I didn't expect this one to form a pair with the one below until they were placed side by side, and then I saw just how the black block on the left was answered back by the black in "clarté". I had initially intended it to be a pair with the one above.

Snapshots from different stories, and as the frames get shifted, the story becomes harder to read, and it becomes more about the movement, the way things are still connected, but no longer in a straight line.

Clarté

2008-09-10T22:50:00.001-04:00

Clarté, 36x36", oil/mixed media on canvas

Exposition à la Galerie Dentaire

2008-09-10T22:39:00.001-04:00

Échapper aux habitudes, 42"x48"

Fils interrompus et chemins retracés

Trait dessiné, ligne pointillée, fil à coudre ou fil de fer ; la ligne relie un élément à l'autre, suggère un trajet, crée un récit. Elle raconte une histoire.

Lines, broken up, tangled, linking the dots, drawn by hand, made of paint, thread, string or wire, the line connects one place to the next, suggesting a path, and telling a story.

Exposition du 3 septembre au 15 octobre 2008 / Exhibition from September 3rd to October 15th, 2008
Vernissage le samedi 13 septembre de 17h à 20h / Opening on Saturday, September 13th, 5-8pm

1239, rue Amherst, Montréal
514.523.5535

Rebuilding: Show at Muse Gallery, Toronto

2008-06-22T22:17:00.003-04:00

Leaving Well

24 x 24", oil and acrylic on panel, 2008

Taken by the Hand

24 x 24", oil and acrylic on panel, 2008

One Small Piece

24 x 24", oil and acrylic on panel, 2008

Rebuilding;

Thoughts on falling apart and putting back together

Scenes of buildings, mostly houses, have prompted this series: homes that have been destroyed by fires, hurricanes, flooding, even roofs caving in under the snow, and houses under construction. I used these images as platforms from which to explore the process of rebuilding after the loss of a home, be it a physical one or a metaphorical one.

These 3 pieces are part of a show continuing until June 27 at Muse Gallery, in Toronto.

Thoughts on falling apart and putting back together

2008-06-15T11:33:00.001-04:00

Rebuilding, 38"x38", oil/mixes media on canvas, 2008

Lately, I have been fascinated by buildings, mostly houses, ones under construction or ones that have been destroyed by disasters - fires, flooding, hurricanes, and roofs caving in under the snow.

This winter’s heavy snowfall created a whole new landscape. Visually, snow simplifies, "minimalizes", the view is reduced down to the bare minimum, down to bare geometry, or flattened. Colours are at a minimum on a white ground and almost white sky, and what so what stands out most is the lines, such a richness of lines, as if drawn on paper.

This type imagery is compelling at another level also. Home disasters make visible and public what we normally keep as private, hidden "behind closed doors". There is no more boundary separating inside and outside. The construction or rebuilding of homes allows us to see the skeleton of the house, normally kept hidden as well.

In visual terms, both create stark contrasts (light/dark, inside/outside = public/private, surface/underlying structure (house’s skeleton), accumulation/simplicity).

I have responded to this imagery from different angles, using them as starting points from which to explore the question of what we do with the loss of our place of stability and security. Some of the paintings are more like diagrams – a way of laying out a situation abstractly in order to sort things out, to try to see them more clearly. These ones are more map-like. Others use the structure of a home, or building under construction. And then some play with indoors/outdoors, where the initial image underneath was based on an interior, and as that image was destroyed, small windows or shadows of what was underneath still remain.

I have a feeling that whether it’s the loss of a physical home or one’s emotional home/family/place of centering, stability, love – how one deals with the situation can be similar, the only difference is that one is usually kept private, whereas the other is public, often shared by a larger community. There is some freedom in no longer trying to keep up the exterior appearance of order and hiding the private messes.

2 Red Blankets

2008-06-12T11:54:00.000-04:00

36"x42", oil/acrylic on canvas, 2008.

Shifting

2008-05-15T11:56:00.000-04:00

48"x36", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

Morning Soon

2008-05-15T11:51:00.000-04:00

42"x42", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008.

stable

2008-05-15T11:48:00.000-04:00

42"x42", oil/mixed media on canvas, 2008

preparations

2007-11-27T11:11:00.000-05:00

preparations, 36x36", oil/mixed media on canvas

New piece that I have been working on. The idea was to have a piece relating to winter for the Ossington group show, but as I went along I realized that the colors I was using were more spring-like. (was thinking of colors that you seen in snow and sky during sunrise or sunset, but then I began to use turquoise, and it was mixing with yellows to make light greens, really losing that winter feeling). I see it as preparing for winter, getting ready for it by putting away all the good weather and greenery and freshness in storage boxes to be ready for next spring.

I was going to say that I had been tugging and pulling at it, but really I feel like it was tugging and pushing me, and just frustrating me. It is funny how once you photograph it, reduce it in size a bit and see in on screen, you can see it more clearly, get a good overall picture and can forget about the little bits that kept annoying you while working on it. It has been handy to have a camera and computer for that, because before I used to just set a piece aside for a few months till I forgot about it, and then would be able to go back to it with fresh clearer eyes.

plans

2007-11-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

plans: organizing

plans: fix

plans: steady

plans: hanging

plans: in stages

These were all 2x1ft, on canvas. They have been the closest that I've managed to get to doing a series of paintings. Usually I get started on 3 or 4 that I intend to go together, but then somehow they end up straying off in different directions and end up as pieces that stand better just on their own. Maybe the small size helped with this - although I didn't really work on them side by side, but just as a group, going back and forth between each other. Probably having a tight deadline to finish them helped me to keep to one main idea also.

The process of painting, for me, is one of trying to reorganize, figuring out relationships between different elements, detecting patterns that I find in different types of situations, and trying to understand them. It is a good way for me to process my thoughts, and have them be mirrored back to me. I called these paintings my plans, because while they aren't plans for any one specific project, they are about my plans and also how I go about planning (in real life, I'm terrible at planning things out well, in detail, broken down in steps - this series represents well the way I plan things).

conversations (yellow)

2007-11-15T01:36:00.000-05:00

conversations, (yellow)

20x20", acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2007.

available at the gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto.

I've been thinking of lines/threads as metaphors for communication, not so much in the technological sense, but in the various often complicated ways that we communicate with each other. Meanings and intentions often get tangled and do not connect, can be delicate, subtle, or loud and obnoxious, and can also be connected to colors (funny connection too, with how we use the term "tone of a conversation" in the same way that we can talk about the tone of a color

I think this painting got a bit lost during the show, because most of the pieces had strong darks or bright reds, whereas this one was quieter.

more window boxes

2007-11-12T23:47:00.000-05:00

It's more recently that I started using thread with small nails inside the boxes, some of them remind me of a connect-the-dots puzzle.

some boxes in the window

2007-11-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the boxes in the window at the Gallery at 129 Ossington.

I should have taken some photos at night, but forgot. It was fun, while I was hanging them they kept rotating around, and so you could just stand there long enough and see everything, but eventually, a few hours later, they stopped moving.

my opening tomorrow!

2007-10-31T21:44:00.000-04:00

opening, slowly 36 x 36", oil and mixed media on canvas, 2007

Showing: Nov 1 - 24 2007
Reception: Thur. Nov. 1 7-10pm

Site: Gallery at 129 Ossington, Toronto, Ontario

Hours: Wed - Fri 11am - 5pm Sat 12 - 5pm or by appointment

Exploring the relationships between threads and drawing, between painting and wall, between 3D and 2D, between tentative traces and bold marks

Lines and colour, suggestive of familiar landscapes and cityscapes, paths once traveled on, or perhaps of the places not yet reached,…

This work is about striving to find order in mess, a way of creating structure in the chaos, and exploring new possibilities that emerge from this process. In this context, moments of beauty are discovered, found in the little things we usually overlook.
1) the lines: thread-like or wire-like, linking one element to another, creating a story, suggesting a journey taken or path to follow
2) the boxes/grids: a way to put structure in constant accumulation (of mistakes, messes, things to get rid of), to categorize, and to create a system where everything is organized. The box can also function as shelter (home), or can be a means of isolation. At times the boxes become windows, offering a view into another world.
.

The paintings are related to the found objects; using boxes, wire, string, natural objects and other collected rusty bits I attempt to create a context for the paintings, a place where they connect with the space.

patterns 36 x 24", oils and mixed media on canvas, 2007.

to laugh 36 x 24", oil and mixed media on canvas, 2007.

I spent most of today hanging everything, and there are only a few small details left to take care of. I'm looking forward to going back to see the space after I've had a good night sleep, and can take some pictures of the installation. The fun part was finding how my little boxes work perfectly in the front window, and are at a nice eye level for little people too. The hanging ones twist and turn, never totally still. It was also nice to watch people walking by stop and take a closer look at what was sitting on the ledge.

More pictures to come!

little bit

2007-10-17T00:23:00.000-04:00

detail of work in progress

more thread and wire

2007-10-15T23:05:00.000-04:00

tracing paper drawing

trying to put things in order

2007-10-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

Had a bit of a blog-vacation, after the Gladstone show it felt like I needed some time to process things - words are exhausting at times. I unexpectedly got the opportunity to have a show in November, with about 1 month to prepare. I've been working on paintings, many of them at a time, all progressing at different stages (I counted 7 today that are being worked on). It's a funny way to work but I think it keeps me from overworking a piece, although at other times it can make me feel like I'm losing my mind, because everywhere I turn there's another painting that needs something to be figured out, and so it can feel overwhelming too. I'm also trying to work out how things will connect together, and trying to be more deliberate in how the boxes will be part of it, and also wanting the paintings to look like part of the same family.

My next show will be at the Gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto.

November 1-24

box lids

2007-09-24T21:29:00.000-04:00

some of the small paintings that I had at the Gladstone show. (each one is 9x6")

It was fun to see how certain pieces really connected well with specific paintings, even though they weren't done with any connection in mind. Playing around with connecting threads or wire and nails right into the painting has gotten me to think that I should maybe start doing that on my larger paintings, perhaps. They're a nice size to experiment with.

I'm finally back in Montréal, and excited about being back in my studio, even just to tidy up. I think I also have renewed energy - I guess getting to show work in person and the interesting conversations and questions that come up has helped me to get a better perspective, see things from new angles, have more distance from my own work.

Gladstone Hotel Show

2007-09-18T12:38:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos from the show at the Gladstone Hotel this past week-end.

I ended up not using a lot of the tracing paper drawings, one in the window (but the bright light washed it all out) and another one that I didn't get an image of. It was a good experience to see how the elements all worked together and whether the boxes or small paintings would get lost alongside of the larger paintings. I ended up using nails to visually link up the smaller paintings with the larger ones and with the other boxes, and threads also helped to lead the eye from one element to the next. I started to get new ideas for my show next spring, and I have a better idea how many pieces can fit in a certain size space without looking too crowded (I think I could have had more space between the paintings). The setting up was a bit stressful because there wasn't a lot of time, but otherwise the show went well.

studio walls

2007-09-09T21:52:00.000-04:00

Studio walls, where I often clean off my brushes, and then when I find myself stuck with a painting I start messing around with walls instead. It's nice to feel the freedom that comes in doing something that has no purpose, that isn't meant to last or be sold or anything.

almost drawing on the wall

2007-09-09T20:58:00.000-04:00

For a long time a big question for me has been how to show my work - to show more than just paintings, because it feels like they need to be placed them in a context, otherwise I always feel like there is something missing. Also, it can be a sort of explanation without having to use words.

For next week at the Gladstone Hotel http://www.gladstonehotel.com/doit2007.html, I had been planning to show them alongside and among boxes of found objects, but this summer I didn't end up getting as much time to work on that as I had planned, so I was trying to come up with some way to not have the small pieces seem out of place, or just get lost, next to the larger paintings (without having enough of the smaller pieces). I thought about how I'd have liked to paint or draw directly on the walls to connect it all together, but wouldn't have the time for that, and then I started drawing and taping onto tracing paper, and realized I could do those ahead of time and it would be the closest thing I could come to actually drawing and painting on the walls.

I've been making a few other drawings, still hard to see how it will all look once it is set up in the space, but I'm excited about some new possibilities that this is beginning to open up.

what it's about

2007-08-29T23:31:00.000-04:00

something I'm currently working on

detail

I have been trying to come up with an artist statement or some easy way to define my work, and I keep changing it around, never finding that I can quite get to the core of it, whether I should try to talk about my work in terms of my process, or my purpose, or what. And then I start thinking about how I should be working things that are more useful, that deal with the bigger issues going on today...

I read something in Canadian Art Magazine, by Roger Buergel : "Aesthetic experiences do not offer us a poor foothold, they teach us how to endure tension and complexity. And they can teach us how to utilise the desire which stems from the realization that this bottomless expanse of aesthetic experience is again holding all our expectations."

I was also reading about Louise Bourgeois (Sculpture magazine 7/05), and she talks about art as restoration: the idea is to repair the damages that are inflicted in life, to make something that is fragmented - which is what fear and anxiety do to a person - into something whole. She also describes her drawings as a journey without any destination in sight. "With the sculpture, I know that there is something I want to express and I have the confidence that I will eventually get there. Sometimes I finish a work, and it is only then that I have an idea about what it's about."

It is helpful to remind myself of these things when I start questioning too much.

my stir stick

2007-08-26T00:19:00.000-04:00

I had doodled on it at a coffee shop, then it was sitting around my studio so I cut it up and then while I was talking on the phone, not realizing what i was doing, I started pressing these used staples into the wood (that was super soft), so they just went in easily, and I didn't really notice what I had done till I got off the phone.
Somehow though, I still keep the idea that I have to push myself harder, even when I find that not pushing myself at all seems to give better results.

precarious

2007-08-22T20:52:00.000-04:00

detail

precarious, 36"x36", oil, mixed media on canvas

here, the finished piece now, that was on the previous entry

It ended up not changing much in the end.

Working on it was kind of like the reverse of building, where I was cutting away with the black, finding the shapes, and removing little by little. I guess more like carving. Partly it was an attempt to find/create something solid (even the square itself is essentially the most stable shape), though the blocks are rather precarious, and lines and string that are fragile and maybe more like cobwebs, very temporary.

A couple weeks ago my studio got broken into (I think they came in through the window), and while they only stole one thing, they inadvertently started a fire by leaving a towel covering a light bulb. Luckily someone was in the building at the time, and managed to find where the smoke was coming from and put out the fire. Somehow I think this painting is about that, although it wasn't my conscious intention. (like now, if someone were to ask me to do a painting of what happened, I'd probably do this)

on my walls

2007-08-07T22:13:00.000-04:00

new idea

paint scraped off my palette - for a while I had been collecting the leftover paint and putting it in a little plastic box but then I thought of wrapping it with string - I'm kind of excited to have these little bits of line and color to hang around.

tangles piece (reworked), oil, acrylic on canvas, 20"x20", 2007

available

box on my wall

(detail in the black doesn't show up, I think because it's so glossy)

8"x5"

work in progress (36"x36") still figuring out where it needs to go

not yet titled

2007-07-30T23:57:00.000-04:00

36"x36", acrylic, oil, various crayons on canvas

a full view of the painting, detail shots below.

Since last week when I painted this, what has been catching my eye is photos of bright lights at night, as well as just driving at night in the city and seeing the way lights seem to link up, as though they wanted to be connected.

There really is a reciprocal relationship between seeing and painting; you paint better when you take the time to look, but also painting helps you to see better and notice more (I've known that in theory for a while, but it still surprises me a bit when I find it happening to myself in such a straightforward way).

until something becomes clear

2007-07-29T23:20:00.000-04:00

"...but things are so complicated and tangled together. I can't seem to seperate them out and do one thing at a time. I don't know how to untangle things."

"Start by thinking about the simplest things and go from there. You're are not in a hurry to decide anything. It may be tough but sometimes you've got to just stop and take time. You ought to train yourself to look at things until something becomes clear."

- extract from The Wind-Up Bird Chroncile by Haruki Murakami

I have never read Haruki Murakami, I just came across this quoted by someone else, and it seemed to describe perfectly how I've been seeing things lately (or been unable to really see them) as well as the reminder to stop rushing things.

I know this to be true for art, somehow it's harder for me to believe in other aspects of life.

red and white

2007-07-18T00:45:00.000-04:00

8"x5", acrylics, oils

This began with acrylics, I then used self-levelling gel, then a few weeks later used white oil paint over top, and it started crackling almost right away. Someone told me that it often happens if you try painting overtop self-levelling gel, not sure why it does, or whether it will keep getting more cracked and just all come off or what.

I think these are some images that have been sticking in my head, and so eventually found their way out. You can see them at : http://redredday.blogspot.com/search/label/wire

I finished this and was looking at it on the wall and those wrapped forms came to mind, then I also noticed to colors, white on red. funny.

petite boîte avec photo de livre en accordéon

2007-07-15T10:05:00.000-04:00

enmeshed

2007-07-15T09:09:00.000-04:00

20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2007.

new hanging boxes

2007-07-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

I've had these boxes for a while now, working on them bit by bit in between other things. The shallowness made me want to set them up differently than the deeper ones, and so I tried first setting them up on the ground, like dominos, but then they weren't very stable, and in fact when one tipped over they all fell down (kind of funny when you aren't expecting it, the wind from the fan caught one). I like how they are set up now, because you can see them all from the sides and they are more like solid blocks, but then each one can be turned so you can see the front of it too. They sort of sway a bit too, never perfectly stable.

At first I only used the thumbtacks to test it out, and was going to switch to nails, but then I found that they sort of fit in, with smatters of paint from previous work, and add little touches of color.

I realized that it's become almost book-like - I haven't made any small books for a while, and had been wanting to go back to them. Part of why I like books, especially small ones, is that they are more private - one viewer at a time, and it's only those who want to take the time to stop and open it up (very different from oversized work, where it grabs your attention, forces you to respond one way or other). In a different way, by in bringing the viewer up close, the small book or other tiny object can end up becoming a whole world to enter into, and your attention is taken up as much as with a very large piece, but in a more personal way.

FIMA

2007-07-02T11:55:00.000-04:00

Cette fin de semaine j'ai eu le grand plaisir de participer au Festival international montréal en arts (FIMA). Merci à tous ceux qui sont venus voir mon travail, vos commentaires et votre intérêt m'encouragent tellement!
Un GRAND MERCI à la Galerie Dentaire, at aussi Georges Laoun Opticiens, pour le privilège de pouvoir exposer chez vous!
J'ai aussi eu un très grand plaisir de rencontrer d'autres artistes et de voir tant de travail inspirant, j'espère garder le contact avec plusieurs d'entre vous (Kathleen, j'ai tellement aimé partager la tente avec toi :) ).
Je suis désolée qu'en ce moment mon blog et mes photos sur flickr soient seulement en anglais, mais j'espère bientôt avoir mon site terminé, qui sera bilingue.
Vos commentaires sont bienvenus (si vous ne voulez pas vous inscrire pour pouvoir laisser des commentaires, il y a toujours l'option "anonyme". Merci!

collected bits

2007-07-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

front

side

2"x1"

nature morte

studio stuff

2007-06-30T04:49:00.000-04:00

messiness

2007-06-24T18:15:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about lines, why I'm attracted to certain lines and shapes, and how these particular types of lines have been preoccupying me lately. I'm attracted to tangles, threads that are knotted up and seem impossible to untangle.

Maybe it is partly cathartic to see it on paper. I don't experience any kind of release in making lines or messes, (like how some people use art as an outlet and channel negative feelings into their art) but maybe I have a need to see how it is possible to take an impossible mess and find an order hidden somewhere inside, a pattern or path that just needs a little bit of work to be cleared out, and something beautiful come out of it.

It's also related to why I need to have many layers of paint, and why I work better starting out with a mess, or something I think is ugly, and then gradually find order in it. I love to look for the structure that seems to be hiding beneath the surface, and then to draw it out and remove what is superfluous, like cleaning up. And in the end it doesn't feel like the mess was a waste of time, because there are little traces that are left behind, and that keeps it all from being too sterile and lifeless.

some detail shots (simpler is better)

2007-06-19T21:43:00.000-04:00

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If it were just a work on paper I'd be tempted to cut the painting up, because I like these details just as they are on their own.

Yellow and white are 2 colors I've been wanting to work with again - I the contrast isn't light/dark but more cool/warm.

in progress, white

2007-06-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

this was one of the white tangles paintings that I had been working on that I realized needed more thickness to it, it was bothering me to have the texture of the canvas show. I think it will return to white again, but in the meantime it's fun to play around adding and removing.

I noticed a funny thing too, about how with all the verticals it no longer seems square.

box/window

2007-06-17T01:03:00.000-04:00

40"x30", acrylic on canvas, 2007.

This painting began as a simple house form, and gradually got taken apart, but now I see that the blocks form a sort of divide between 2 different planes, almost like the side of an apartment building with balconies. It plays with the ideas of windows/boxes and in/out.

The picture below was the painting at various stages. I had started it in February maybe, and would leave it alone considering it finished, but then something would pull me back to it to work on it some more.

I find boxes to be really rich metaphors. A comment a couple posts ago, about how boxes are meaningful as receptacles got me to think more about the various meanings contained in them. They can protect things that are private, a place to confide secrets, or fragile treasures, a bit nest-like. Boxes contain things, keeping order, but then they can also be a way of isolating or boxing in things better left out in the open.

Visually, I've found it interesting to play with the connection between boxes and windows, where you can't really tell if you're looking into a box or looking out from inside.

andré, finished

2007-06-16T23:34:00.000-04:00

this is the finished one, which I had forgotten to take a picture of last time

I'm quite happy with how it turned out

Someone commented that it would work well as a very large piece, and I think that could be a good exercise for me to get me to keep things simple instead of always adding more and more that then gets removed. The only thing is, I find that it's in the build up that you get a richness that doesn't come when you've set down your plans right from the start and just stuck with them.

new children's rooms, small

2007-06-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

these were all done on shallow box lids or bases, 8"x5"approx.

I might end up using these as sketches that I'll work off of to create larger paintings later, and these I'll have available at the outdoor show.

It's nice to work on a lot of them at once, and I think because they're small it's easier not to overwork them. If I get impatient or annoyed I can just move on to another one.
With the children's rooms I will try to keep one toy-like object in each picture, even if it gets so abstracted that nothing else is really recognizeable.

reworked Issé, children's rooms series

2007-06-09T23:16:00.000-04:00

18"x12", acrylic on canvas

I took out the chairs, I had it out for almost a month, and it never felt quite right. I only did this tonight, so I don't know if it will change yet, but I think it's better now. Maybe the problem was that I only had elements that were too small and detailed for the size of the canvas?

stuff on the floor

2007-06-09T01:41:00.000-04:00

I noticed that as I leave my boxes around my studio, hanging or lined up along the floor, they are showing up more clearly in my paintings.

small agenda painting

split into 2 parts

I want to have some smaller work available for sale at the outdoor show here at the end of the month. The problem with a lot of my little agenda paintings is that there is work on both sides. I've been trying to think of how to display them so that both sides could be seen.

aerial shots

2007-06-07T07:18:00.000-04:00

my floor

a few more boxes

2007-06-07T07:05:00.000-04:00

was using some classified ads (apartments for rent) in these ones.

other white tangles

2007-06-06T01:13:00.000-04:00

work in progress

I've been reading a book on Louise Bourgeois. In an interview, she talks about art as restoration: the idea is to repair the damages that are inflicted in life, to make something that is fragmented – which is what fear or anxiety do to a person – into something whole.

I found a quote I had written down from somewhere, speaking about Cy Twombly's work, as lines of tension, wiry, “electrified”, often retaining the vestiges of handwriting seeming to struggle towards verbalization.

one foot in front of the other

2007-05-25T23:12:00.000-04:00

details from sketchbook

tangles, white one in progress

2007-05-25T00:40:00.000-04:00

detail

36"x36", work in progress

I have 2 of these squares, that I'm working on at the same time. After the past couple days, I felt the need to have more tangles, and the 2 canvases that were already ready were both squares, which I think are better suited to more abstract work. I want to build this one up more, thicker paint, maybe use oils to give it a richer texture.

I still plan on continuing my children's rooms series, but I always seem to need to have 2 different themes from which to go back and forth. It sometimes feels frustrating, because it feels like I'm being less productive, but I think I just need to accept that it's the way that I work.

some agenda collages

2007-05-23T22:45:00.000-04:00

a couple small collages/paintings done in my agenda

I still haven't decided if they will stay there or if I will try to find a way to display them, since they all have work on both sides. They are a lot like sketchbooks, except that most of them have many more layers than what you can usually put on sketchbook paper.

for children's rooms series, work in progress

2007-05-20T22:42:00.000-04:00

detail

work in progress, 18"x12"

The top image, with just the detail from the lamp, is what I like best. I'm still not sure about how I want to leave the rest. I find the composition is interesting, but I think I might try to simplify a bit. I have been thinking about babies, baby rooms, and what things they are visually stimulating for them. I think bold or bright colours are good, but it could also use some stronger darks.

red, falling

2007-05-20T22:41:00.000-04:00

48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2006.

available at the gallery at 129 Ossington, in Toronto

One of the hanging/falling paintings, connects with the 2 child's room paintings, with the red hanging bits. I think I work in cycles. I wonder if it is not partly related to the time of year, where I have more windows/boxes during the winter.

children's rooms

2007-05-07T20:38:00.000-04:00

detail

48"x24"

almost finished I think - I think this will be the first one of a series based on kids rooms. I found this book that shows rooms of children of designers that I fell in love with. Especially with the very small children, the rooms tell more about the parents, and what kind of world they want to have their child experience, or the rooms they would have ideally had. Then as the children get older they add more and more of their own touches, and the rooms become less and less minimal and more quirky.

The other thing that drew me to the images were all the different mobiles and other hanging things. For a while now I've been attracted to suspended things.

weblike threads

2007-05-03T09:40:00.000-04:00

Some small drawings of web-like threads.

fell

2007-05-01T23:51:00.000-04:00

falling, yellow

48"x24", acrylic on panel

This is one of the pieces I worked on today. I was working on a couple other ones, and not sure where they should go next, and for a long time this one (below) bothered me because it seemed to not belong to anything, and not belong to me. I might bring in a bit more red, but otherwise I think it's finished. I'm thinking of calling it falling or fell. I find that the lines on the lower part are like cobweb threads for catching what falls, and there's just enough color showing through from what was underneath, layers of tangles and drips.

vancouver grids

2007-04-27T11:52:00.000-04:00

searching, detail

searching, 48"x12", acrylic on panel, 2005

pathways, 36"x24", acrylic on panel, 2005

rain, 48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2005

rain, detail
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underneath, 24"x20", acrylic on panel, 2005

patch-work, 24"x36", acrylic on panel, 2005

available
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These paintings were all done during my last year in Vancouver. I was using more often the grid, trying to put order in my thoughts. It was a pretty rainy winter, and I think the kind of light on grey days really brought out the reds well.

pink

2007-04-27T08:20:00.000-04:00

The images above and below are of the same painting at different stages. The one below connected with the pink painting that i had done over a year earlier, and I like the images when I see them on screen, but because of the size they never really worked in real life. Had it been 48"x48" rather than 20"x20" it would have worked well. (It's now one of the chocolate milk coloured squares, and pretty hard to tell which one. I'm sad that I wasn't able to have a little bit still show through at the end.)

20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2006

The white blocks that I was working with then have now turned into the dark ones, I think it's the influence of the boxes I have lined up along the floor of my studio.

pink series no.1, intro, detail

pink series no.1, intro, 48"x12", acrylic on panel, 2005

available

The first of 4 pink ones, that eventually got separated and in the end worked better on their own than together. I think the format lends itself to work that is more diagrammatic, like with the squares.

another pink

2007-04-27T08:15:00.000-04:00

pink series no.2 (sinking), 48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2005

available

other pink one

2007-04-27T08:13:00.000-04:00

pink series no.3, 48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2005

pink series no.3, detail

bernice

2007-04-27T08:12:00.000-04:00

growing up (bernice), 24"x24", acrylic on panel, 2007

My niece (Bernice) calls this one baby pizzas. She's also the one who inspired it. It's about celebration, but I have a hard time just leaving something as purely celebratory.

I think of pink as a celebratory color.

white-out

2007-04-27T08:06:00.000-04:00

white-out, 48"x24", oil on panel, 2005.

I think this painting is one of the first ones where the boxes really started becoming more window-like, showing what had been painted underneath. The white came out of frustration with what I had been working on underneath, playing with these bright fuchsia dots in rows, and it was all getting too dark, so it sat like that for quite a few weeks.

It reminds me a bit of laundry hanging out on the line, more of the cleaning-up idea.

Seeing this one reminds me that in some cases, acrylics just can't do what oils do.

agenda drawings

2007-04-20T22:40:00.000-04:00

each drawing aprox. 5"x7"

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These are drawings done with pen & ink and acrylic washes done over top of things-to-do papers. (They don't show up so well on this page, but you can see a larger image by clicking on them).

I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted to show them. Initially I thought I would make them into a book, but then thought that it seemed better to keep them as individuals. I didn't want to use normal frames, and wanted them to be hanging, but I still thought they needed some sort of frame, since they are fairly small, so I've hung them on the undersides of canvases and among stretcher bars. Drawing is a way of working through questions for me, a way to process ideas. So it's playing with ideas of what is the finished work and what is the preparatory sketch.

comfortable

2007-04-18T10:44:00.000-04:00

a new kind of comfortable, 12"x10", acrylic on canvas, 2007

available

This is another small one I worked on yesterday. It's a size that I've avoided for years, and the canvas was just sitting around bothering me. Working on the squares has made me think more about sizes, and how the dimensions and proportions affect the work. Now I'm seeing these sizes as little challenges - how to surprise myself while using over-used sizes. It's pretty fun.

At different times I've worked on pieces where elements are hanging and the piece is top-heavy, but it still works. However it seems that when a piece is abstract, the brain wants to turn the piece upside down to have the elements be rooted instead. It might have something to do with humans being comfortable with gravity. I don't know...

The title relates to how by putting something just a little off balance, you sometimes come up with interesting solutions. I've also been thinking about ideas of purposely taking small steps just outside the bounds of what is normally comfortable.

tangles and boxes

2007-04-18T08:06:00.000-04:00

tangled (threads) no.2, 20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2007

This is one I was working on yesterday. It goes with the tangles one posted below ("new colour scheme"). I'm still curious about that chocolate milk colour, and having solid blocks of color which contrast well with the more detailed texture.

Also, I've been haging these squares on my walls where I already had boxes hanging, or sitting below on the floor, and they go together quite well. Partly I think it is because the rectangles/boxes in the paintings have similar proportions to the ones on the ground, and I think it has helped to go back to using some really dark brown, which matches the tones of the boxes but also brings nice contrast to the painting.

more threads

2007-04-15T16:26:00.000-04:00

yellow, detail

yellow, 20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2006

available
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threads no.3, 24"x24", acrylic on panel, 2007

available

threads no.4, 24"x24", acrylic on panel, 2007

The thread-like lines are ways to mark paths travelled. They also show the connectedness of things. They get tangled and are hard to keep straight, but also hold things up and keep them from falling.

I've begun to use string or thread more deliberately with my boxes, having them link one group of boxes to the next. I envision a whole web of tangles to connect them together, which I have yet to work on once I find the space. I'll post more pictures of the boxes.

threads

2007-04-14T11:07:00.000-04:00

threads (knots) no.1, 24"x24", acrylic on panel, 2007

available

up and down

2007-04-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

where next

48"x14", acrylic on canvas, 2007
available

Ascent

30"x40", acrylic on canvas, 2007

available

threads (knots), 24"x24", acrylic on panel, 2007

buried
48"x12", acrylic on panel, 2005

digging up

48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2006

Purple

2007-04-14T09:33:00.000-04:00

a little one

2007-04-13T18:54:00.000-04:00

a little one, 24"x18", acrylic on canvas, 2007.

This is another one I worked on this week (same muted tones as the square one below which I rarely use) - on a canvas where I kept just a few little spots of the painting underneath. It's not a deep canvas frame, nor is it a size I usually like (I think this size has become really hard to use to make a painting on - it became too standard or something), but I had recently been thinking about why with certain paintings it felt ok to have them be on the thinner stretchers, and I think it's the ones that are more like drawings.

I worked on it mostly by thinking about it more as a drawing, and as something not important, or not meant to be a part of body of work in particular - although now that I look at it, it resembles other paintings of mine. (I think I had been purposely avoiding or removing elements that looked particularly like plants or flowers, but for this one I didn't really care... why I was avoiding plants or flowers is a whole other question... )

New color scheme

2007-04-13T18:40:00.000-04:00

Untangling, 20"x20", acrylic on canvas

available

I've been missing just plain drawing, and I think it shows in this one. Partly it's the background color, that reminds me of pastel drawing paper.

This square has also been reworked many times, and color-wise goes even less with the other ones. I kind of surprised myself with the chocolate milk color, and then noticed that it has a similar color scheme to the painting below (Montreal apartment), that was done in oils a while ago, and then not long ago I took it out and added the strong darks (it had lacked contrast, and had sat around for so long with me never being quite pleased with it, though not having a specific reason). Now I like it. I think it would be good if I had a few 48"x12" of similar color schemes to go along with it, other more representational ones of tall buildings.

I'm still trying to figure out how I want to display the paintings and boxes together - this painting would work well in that.

Montreal apartment, 48"x24", oil on panel, 2007.

Orange square

2007-04-13T18:23:00.000-04:00

20"x20", acrylic on canvas

This is another square that I kept re-working, and still am not quite sure about it. I liked the contrast of the turquoise square with the yellowy-orange. I think this is a painting that I'll have to put away for a bit and then decide what I think.
One thing is that I'm not sure I like how it looks next to the red/orange ones, and I wanted to have them work as a group, like blocks that you could rearrange. It might work if I have another square that somehow links the colors from each of them.

squares

2007-04-08T19:21:00.000-04:00

travelling, 20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2007

available at Canvas Gallery, in Toronto
Travelling - This painting was one gone over a ton of times, for a long time seemed like an underwater scene and was always too dark. It also provided a key for me in understanding how to treat the small square shapes that I had struggled with since last sept. Covered in solid orange, it was forced to flatten and to become more of an object, a geometric shape, like a block that would make sense with other blocks of solid color (however it hasn’t been as easy to make other solid blocks of bright color…).
I was mostly concerned with how the shapes affected the overall composition, and I used strong contrasting tones (and warm vs cool) rather than worrying too much about light and dark. I also like the very flat rectangle responding to the larger rectangle on the opposite side (one a lot of depth, the other totally flat).

Trying to use the same technique for other squares hasn’t worked – I’ve had to treat them very differently as their underpaintings are all quite different. The one that I’m happy with that really goes with it is the traveling to piece (the house one I’m not yet sure of – I think the white area might be what’s bothering me).

house, 20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2007

available.

travelling to, 20"x20", acrylic on canvas, 2007

Travelling to - This one surprised me a bit. I managed to keep what was essential from the initial painting underneath (I guess that’s my goal when I paint over a work, to not just paint over everything but to find certain elements that need to be brought out, not just wipe everything out completely, because then it seems that I might as well have just used a whole new canvas or something).
I like how there is some depth with the green rectangle but overall it is a pretty flat piece.

This one got painted over, and still not happy with, I wonder if I shouldn't have left it as it was... it looks nice with the other ones in this group (as well as the painting below).

some detail shots

2007-04-08T16:13:00.000-04:00

These were some detail shots of the construction painting before it turned dark. I did like a lot of little bits in it, but it had sat like that for almost 2 months and kept bothering me.

some city lines

2007-04-08T15:53:00.000-04:00

agenda painting, detail

agenda painting, approx. 8"x5", acrylic

agenda painting

Vancouver, downtown, 36"x48", acrylic on canvas, 2005

construction, 40"x30", acrylic on canvas, 2007

This one has just been worked on, part of a new group of paintings that are predominantly dark blue-brown. I think that with the darks, having a strong bright solid color in one area helps to make sure it isn't too dark and lifeless. Using the bringht yellow with the almost-black is an unusual combination for me, (especially because it's a brownish black, and I'm not sure if the turquoise is enough cool tone to balance it out for me).

This was the same painting earlier on. I liked it but I found that the top part had gotten too picky. I think it would have made a good drawing on paper.

construction - earlier version

Easter

2007-04-06T12:45:00.000-04:00

Here are some paintings that were inspired in the spring, most of them in Vancouver where blossoms and green is everywhere, and finds its way into my work. Here in Montreal at the moment there is still snow - I wonder if once it starts to warm up and colors come back whether my boxes and windows will turn into more organic lines and shapes. Spring doesn't have the same striking effect here as it does in Vancouver. I think it's more of a gradual change here, where the city-ishness doesn't really go away.

city garden, 48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2005

looks like roses, 48"x18", acrylic on canvas, 2005

springtime, 48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2005

growing, 24"x24", oil on panel, 2004

Montreal apartment, 48"x24", oil on panel, 2004

the garden, 48"x24", acrylic on canvas, 2005

analyzing grass, 24"x20", oil on panel, 2004

some boxes from the Nests series

2007-04-02T22:46:00.000-04:00

a box

2007-04-02T22:13:00.000-04:00

About the Nests Series: Paintings as Maps

2007-04-02T21:53:00.000-04:00

restless search for the ‘ideal’ place, repeated attempts at trying to create it, moving around from house to house, from city to city, not being at home at one particular job, church or school, not feeling at home in one’s own body, …

My work is about the traces that we leave behind; recorded footprints and the landscapes upon which these are mapped.

This series was shown at the Lookout Gallery at Regent College, in Vancouver.

It dealt with ideas of journeying, and more specifically, about repeated attempts to create spaces of rest, shelter, and nourishment; a place that feels like home. There were assemblages shown among the paintings, along with small books that dangled from the ceiling. Now that they are finished, I see that the paintings act as snapshots of landscapes, showing the nests in larger context.

autobiography - Buechner

2007-04-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

“God speaks to us through our lives, we often too easily say. Something speaks anywise, spells out some meaning to us through the alphabet of our years, but often it takes many years and many further spellings out before we start to glimpse, or think we do, a little of what that meaning is. Even then we glimpse it only dimly, like the first trace of dawn on the rim of night, and even then it is a meaning that we cannot fix and be sure of once and for all because it is always incarnate meaning and thus as alive and changing as we are ourselves alive and changing.”

Frederic Buechner, Telling Secrets

Nest Painting no.18, rest

2007-04-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

rest

24"x48", oil on panel,

2003.

Nest Painting no.17

2007-04-02T11:28:00.000-04:00

36"x60", oil on canvas

2003

Nest Painting no.16, Jenny

2007-04-02T11:27:00.000-04:00

48"x24", acrylic on panel, 2003

Nest Painting no.15, Montreal

2007-04-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

Montreal

48"x24", oil on panel

2003