Welcome to the 2021 Personal Reflection Show

I am an explorer. I have always been an explorer, even if, as a young child, my travels were only in my own neighbourhood. Since then I have visited over 30 countries, always taking my small set of watercolour paints with me to sketch as I go. A photograph does give you a moment in time, but the lens often separates you from the moment. When I sit and sketch, I am in the moment, breathing the scent in the air, the warmth on my skin, and observing small details that escape you when you hurriedly snap a photo. In this time of COVID, explorations I have planned have been postponed. So I am returning to my sketches and painting my memories in larger form, reliving my travels as I go. This night in Venice we were walking home on a warm, perfect night, hours after most tourists had returned to their cruise ships. When we emerged out of a narrow alleyway we came upon this romantic little “birraria”. A glass of wine and cicchetti were essential. Painting this scene now, during travel restrictions, has allowed me to relive the experience, and dream of a future time when travel is possible again.

I start my day looking up at the sky viewing what Mother Nature has created for me. The sky is a big canvas of natural art that we should be grateful for because it helps us appreciate what a wonderful world we live in. 

Watching the sunrise gives me energy and inspiration to start a new day.  Watching the sunset gives me time to reflect and appreciate what I have accomplished on that day.  As the sun goes down, it gives me time to calm down and look forward to what is in store for me on the next day.

For my painting technique on this painting, I started using a palette knife, and suddenly, my inner self urged me to use my fingers and I had a lot of fun doing it.

During these times of uncertainty, I find that being one with nature gives me peace within.
That being said, I find hiking has become a way of life for myself and a small group of like-minded women.
Being together and sharing in the beauty of our surroundings brings joy and lots of wonderful conversation. I usually set the day, time and research which trail we will embark upon and we are off.
We talk, we laugh and we eat.
A little like EAT, PRAY, HIKE!
The best part is we get to lose track of time and forget the world and what’s happening for just a few hours.

Living in a rural area, nature and the animals completely grounded me throughout the pandemic. Something in how nature was oblivious to a world wide pandemic and just carried on. I never saw so many calves born as I did last spring. It was a reassuring sign to me.

I completed a series of self-portraits after participating in a virtual artist gathering. The exercise was to explore creating a portrait by only feeling your way around your face with your non-dominant hand while drawing what your minds sees with your dominant hand. This was only meant to be a warmup exercise, but I explored it in detail in the weeks following the session. This exercise allowed me to connect with the depths of me. I imagined the events and people that had put the lines on my face. I connected with the slowing down of time as I travelled my face with my fingers and hand. It allowed me to look inward and forget about the outcome of a painting. As to whether it looks “good”, “beautiful” or “finished”. Painting allows me to escape my everyday reality and wander through a beautiful garden of colours and shapes. Painting is a solace. I leave my anxiety and depression at the door to my studio. I step into a world where I can be happy and without worry for a few hours at a time.

Lost in a pleasurable past and not todays’ turmoil. Imagine the bygone Days, when Life was carefree, and Ladies strolled along the beach breathing in the fresh Air and showing off their colourful Parasols.

What is important to me…I find great pleasure being able to go outside and walk everyday. Living by Sunset Point is a blessing.  I am able to immerse myself in the surrounding ever changing nature.

For over twenty-five years creativity has been my physical balm as well as my emotional and spiritual booster.  For seventeen of those years, our two dalmatians, Geoffrey and Rilke lent their love and support to the process by lying under the table where I painted, sometimes adding a paw print to the work in progress.  When I knew that their lives were coming to an end, I poured an intuitive watercolour for each of them.  “Hand, Heart and Soul” is based on the painting I poured for Rilke where the heart held by the hand is transitioning into the soul. By continuing to create and having both of their paintings nearby, the weight of challenging times grows lighter. I completed this painting on November 27th on the twelfth anniversary of his passing.

The Worrier”.  When I was a young girl, I would worry that I might forget my homework or be late for school. Every other Saturday, I was terrified that my Grandmother would not be there to meet my West Island bus at the downtown Montreal Atwater Station. I have spent my life creating back-up plans in fear of an unexpected, unanticipated and often improbable change to my schedule. 

And then came Covid 19. I live alone with my dog. I have no family in Collingwood. I have not felt the touch of another human being since March 2020. I long for a hug.

Nonetheless, I am also blessed without the care of aging parents or financial insecurity. I love to paint. I have good friends.

As for an actionable, step-by-step “back-up” plan for a global pandemic?  I have yet to devise one. When anxiety and worry rages, my strategy is to visualize a calming situation and meditate. For the painting, I created a breakfast vignette at sunrise.  I love solitude accompanied by a good book/magazine, a cup of hot tea and my loyal Pandemic companion, Linus.  

“Worrying is praying for what you don’t want”. Focus on what brings you joy and it will come to you. Live in the moment. Stay true to yourself.

I do not believe there is a “back-up” plan for the global pandemic. There is only your faith in your “God” that you and those you love will survive it.

Many of us seek a place of peace in these tumultuous times, I find that long walks with my dog are the answer to getting grounded and finding peace of mind. Technology, keeps us to well informed and on edge. Distance is the key, and communing with nature, getting back to basics and remembering what is important to us.

While painting this small studio sketch it brought me back to a place I visited on an annual excursion up to northern Ontario in the Fall.  The location is called Rosseau.  I went there once in 2014 and another time in 2018.  The water in this piece also serves as a metaphor for reflection in these times.