“Drawing a Forest”

August 2023

I wanted to work in a tactile medium again so embarked upon a series of tree drawings and shortly into the series honed in on coloured pencils with their glorious rich and waxy vibrance. Trees are an endless source of magnificence, and since starting this series I am always eager to return to the studio, tea in hand, coloured pencils sprawled across the table, dog snoring on his bed, podcast on, and delve into expanding the drawn forest.

“Small Town”

Aug. 2021

My annual Gumboot Cafe Show is called “Small Town” It is a series of drawings from ambles around the community. Vignettes of small places that I pass by everyday that enrich my life in a big way. The Show is on for the month of August at the delightful and oh SO tasty Gumboot Cafe.

March birds

March 2021

As soon as March came along so did the birds. Thrushes, juncos, siskins, chickadees, kinglets, they are all busy in the laneways and trees around town and in the trails. I decided to draw one a day for the month of March, and by doing so am learning some interesting new facts about their behaviour and songs.

“The Game!”

August 10 2020

It’s August and time for my annual Gumboot cafe show so this year it’s about… the Game, and the characters and pieces involved. For example one might need a wizard and an ally, or a ferry, and a fighter, or a hideaway and a strategist. I love playing board games so I thought I would design the pieces of one. Each piece had a more elaborate image and a symbol to go with it. Lots of new ideas cropped up with this project.

Springish time, it’s a legendary spring so here is the beginning of the Legendary series..

March 28 2020

Now that it’s October…

Oct. 5 2019

..there are no longer lots of snakes on the path during the morning walk. They were nice snakes but now they are hibernating instead of levitating like this one. Pretty clever snake. Here are some chickens that were part of a recent commission, they are not hibernating.

Summertime!

August 10 2019

My Gumboot cafe show is on for the month of August and this year I have made a new calendar and series of cards.I haven’t made a calendar since 2002 so it’s time for new holidays and some moths and a pigeon and some hearty ants. There is a celebration of crunchy things as well as a strong coffee festival, so you might want to buy a calendar to remind yourself of these important holidays.

Also…..Moosie moose is back, this time in and on the water, which makes sense as it is Summertime!!

Moosie moose adventures

A new line of greeting cards is out featuring moose venturing about in BC -biking past cowsie cows, on the ferry to HBay, and in the Suncoaster bike race! Go moose go!

August 3 2019

‘Things that have been on the planet longer than humans’ - with new backgrounds

Digging through a collection of photography- mostly macro images, I realized that I can match my new images to their environments.

Nov. 15 2018

September is a month of working, and schedules, and new ideas.

Sept. 5 2018

Here is a hard working ant carrying a piece of cheese.

Here is my hardworking family, one going off to University

Here is Joseph Joe- Joey, ready for anything, especially marking territory.

Coming up is the Art Crawl- Oct. 19,20,21 -I’ll be at the Gibsons Public Market. A new line of cards is in the works as well as originals, and squirrel mobiles, because who doesn’t need a squirrel mobile hanging from their ceiling?

Barefoot days and ripening tomatoes - mid July

August 3 2018

queen alexexandria birdwing- largest butterfly.png

Sea life, moths fluttering against the screen door, and garden blossoms are a few of the 200 images for - 'Things that have been on the planet longer than humans (without any deleterious effects)" show coming up at the Gumboot cafe for the month of August. You can eat your spanakopita amongst many interesting species.

Lingering light, lakes, and loons

August 21 2017

Everything starts with a basic sketch- what the heck does a loon look like?

pencil crayons, thick blend markers, and then some tweaking on the computer.

Summer days are drawing to a close but the runner beans are still growing vigorously. Here is the evolution of the most recent card based on the iconic call that's often heard on those shimmering summer nights.

Snippets from a recent trip to Europe

July 23 2017

At the V & A you can go back 1500 years to the very inspiring designs from the Middle East .

Friendly seagull on the Millennium Bridge in London.

Blow drier display with ancient architecture reflected on a street in Florence.

I was especially inspired by a trip to Musee D'Orsay in Paris and seeing the works of Bonnard, Vuillard, Manet and Vlaminck. Post Impressionism strikes a chord with me as it captures the gist of the subject without fussing with detail. When making pots or painting it was always a balance of knowing when to stop before overworking a piece, that way it retains the energy of the maker. It was also fantastic to see the portraits in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The biggies are there, such as Bellini, Sanzio, Raphael, and Titian. In some you see an irreverence and mischievous glimmer inserted into the work, which seems quite bold considering that you would probably be boiled in oil for the smallest slight back then. Also the wrought iron work, carved doorways, and contemporary design stores in the Marais neighbourhood of Paris filled me with glee and food for thought.

The Evolution series

June 18 2017

The evolution cards started when I missed the process of making pots and wanted to use the slip trailing technique as it creates fluid spontaneous images. Instead of slip on clay I now use ink through a fine nozzle on a bottle augmented by the luscious colours of pencil crayons.

It made sense to start a new project by going way back in time. I've always been interested in natural history and especially amazed by the tenacity of some organisms that have been on the planet for millions of years without any deleterious effects.