Photons and pixels

‘A and shadow’, photograph 2023.

Photographs, just for themselves.

---

Hydrangea in the snow.  Soft focus. 

---

Ice Y photo.  I took this photograph of frozen lake ice near the art gallery, in Peterborough. 

I had a print made to hang in the bathroom.

A stone Y photograph. Taken at my cousin’s cottage in Bracebridge.

---

Curled shell on a black volcanic sand beach, in New Zealand.

---

Shell, Saona Island, Dominican Republic.

---

Cactus flower, Dominican Republic.

---

Leaf, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

---

Peeling paint, Fenlon Falls.

---

Door on a chimney, Oshawa.

---

Door, in Paris, Ont.

---

Chris and Dot.

---

Peony, Oshawa.

---

Reflection on the wall.

---

Sepia Lily, Paris, Ont.

---

'Blur', car wash photo.

---

A photo from the '70's.

---

An icicle over a sign, in Paris, Ont. 

---

And another one.

---

Toucan, Costa Rica.

---

Quetzal, Monteverdi Cloud Forest, Costa Rica.

---

Flower, butterfly conservatory, Monteverdi Cloud Forest, Costa Rica.

---

Flower, butterfly conservatory, Costa Rica.

---

Birds on a chain-link fence at the Canadian Tire, Paris, Ont.

---

Leaves, Costa Rica.

---

A rogue iris that bloomed in the front flower border.

---

I got a crystal ball to photograph things with for Christmas. This is my dragonfly stained glass window photographed through it. It looks great.

---

One of my Tiffany lamps photographed through the crystal ball.

---

My illuminated globe photographed through the crystal ball. So cool.

---

England, from the illuminated globe, through the crystal ball.

---

Tide Pods in an old Mason jar. This might make a good painting.

---

A day lily in the back yard, with the sun shining through it.

---

I took some pictures of the lilies in the back yard, at night, with a flash. I like the way they look.

---

Another night lily photograph.

---

My hat, on the bench in the front foyer, with light coming through the stained glass dragonfly window.

---

I took some photographs of some green peppers from my neighbour’s garden.

---

Single green pepper photograph. Could make a good painting.

---

Single reclining pepper.

---

I did my name in peppers. Just for fun.

---

More peppers. They’re pretty.

---

Two hot peppers. They look like roses to me.

---

I got this pear with a large X on it. It would make a good painting. The image is a bit blurry. I took it at night in the kitchen with a flashlight for the light source, and a high contrast setting on the camera.

---

I took a couple of photographs. They always look like women to me.

---

These are growing in the neighbourhood. They’re pretty, but I don’t know what they are.

---

I love the shape of this gourd. This would make a great painting. (I’m doing it now, April 2021).

---

Gourd bottom. I like the colours and the shadows.

---

The amaryllis I got for Christmas. This would be a great painting. (Done).

---

Snow on the magnolia tree next door.

---

Snow on the magnolia tree next door, two.

---

Three.

---

---

Peony and ant. This would make a good painting.

---

Another great peony photograph for a painting.

---

A single large peony. They’re so pretty.

---

A peony, shot through a magnifying lens.

---

Peony bouquet.

---

Leopard spots painted onto a pear.

---

…and tiger stripes.

---

A photograph of the cover for the small barbecue. It would make an interesting painting. Add it to the list.

---

Amaryllis.

---

In the beginning...

This is an older work.  I've experimented with different formats for putting poetry and images together to make one work of art that serves both forms.  If the poem is short, then I can get it onto a canvas without it becoming too large.  So far, the largest works have been 36 x 36 inches.  If the poem is longer then it becomes difficult to get the whole thing on a canvas, with images to go with it.  I started by doing collages in the computer, then cutting them out and gluing them to the canvas, and painting the background.  They're interesting close up, but I don't feel they work as well from a distance.  My next solution was to pick one verse, and enlarge one word or phrase in the verse.  This produces a better image from a distance, but then you're not getting the whole poem.  My next solution was to write a book, and have the paintings beside the entire poem.  I'm still working on that.  It's like juggling chainsaws.

  About the writing:  I started out by writing verses, and counting the number of syllables. 

It took me 190 poems to figure out why this worked sometimes, and didn't work other times.

The basic idea is that you're singing, even when you're speaking.  Every syllable is a note.  You can play the words, syllable by syllable on a piano, or other instrument.  Unfortunately, I'm not very musical.  I wrote one verse as musical notation, for the book 'dancing down entropy street'.  I had to get a music writing program for the computer.  I got a free version of Forte.  It was a struggle to do it, but I managed to write a couple of bars of music to go with a verse from the poem 'mechanical failure.  I'd like to read a poem, and have back-up vocalists, like back-up singers, who say one word or one line of the poem at the same time as I do.  I think it would sound interesting.  I'd like to make a one-verse video, where you can read the verse, hear the music, and see the music written as a score.  This could take some time to research, but as they say, Google is your friend.

---

This painting/collage is called 'anchor'.  It's about my mother, Trudy Small, who was a great artist.  There are only 8 verses.

---

'She moves like the world leans hard to the right',

the first line is about the day we were out for a walk, and she started leaning to the right. 

I didn't realize she was having a stroke.  It took several hours before I finally figured it out.

---

The heart-shaped stone came from a beach in New Zealand, also called 'the land of the long white cloud'.  The photo is of her as a bridesmaid at her friend Frankie's wedding.

---

---

The central heart is an air-dried sculpture I made, and painted, then photographed.  The bones are real chicken bones, photographed.

---

'She slept with her head at the foot of the bed',

She was weak on her left side, and couldn't get in and out of the bed in the bedroom.  There wasn't room to turn the bed around, and it was too hard to walk around the bed, so my dad put the pillow at the foot of the bed, and she slept upside down on the bed for the next four years. 

---

This is the verse that goes with the central image of the skeleton dancing in high heels. 

---

She lost years worth of memories when she had her stroke.  This verse is about that.

---

This is a photograph of an anatomical skeleton from the dollar store.  The verse is about the idea that there is an afterlife, which I actually don't believe in.  It's wishful thinking.  Voodoo.  But all things are possible in art.

---

This is a close-up of the skeleton.  It's going to be the cover of my book 'dancing down entropy street'.  I started off with a red background, and painted the vines in reverse in black, on top of the red.  It's harder to do, so more fun for me.  The nightgown was an old curtain, which I sponged painted through, on top of the painted skeleton. 

---

This is a verse for a poem called 'the unspoken language'.  It's a small collage.

This is a small collage, with one verse, and attachments added to the bottom of the canvas.

They're beads, a chicken bone, a styrofoam moon with textured medium and pearls, and found objects.

---

I wake in a room, where time has no meaning,

confused by the look on your face,

you look at me like

you've never seen beauty,

shiver in the devil's embrace.

---

Close-up of the collage.  I printed the images, then tore them out, then painted the background and edges, then collaged them onto the black canvas.

---

'seaglass'

This was another solution.  One verse per canvas, and the whole poem painted.  I need better photos of this.  They're only 8 x 10", so they were faster to do, but hanging them was a problem.  It was hard to get them to hang perfectly level with each other.  Also, they took up a lot of wall space.

---

---

This was version two of 'seaglass'.  All the verses on one canvas.  There are beads attached to the canvas on top of the collaged verses.

---

This was the form I finally settled on.  One verse, with one word painted larger.  I'm still printing the text on the computer and cutting it out and collaging it onto the canvas, which I've decided I don't like now.  I have hand-painted all of the text, but that's a lot of work, and time consuming, but it makes a cleaner image.  There's also a lower limit to the size of the text I can paint that way.

---

'the circus of the walking dead'

This is the painting with the text hand lettered.  I like it.

---

I also do very small works, sometimes without a verse of poetry, just a few words.  This is an altered corned beef lid, with a recycled tube of glue, a spring, beads, wire, and a magnetic poem words 'drink' 'me', and beads with lettering 'now'.  It's about Alice in Wonderland's bottle that said 'drink me'.  They're fun to make, and they don't take long to do, which is great if you're the kind of person who likes to finish things. 

---

weeping for a crow

This will be the last painting I have to do for the book I'm working on.  I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with the word processing program.  It's too late for Christmas, but at least I'm making progress.  The poem is called 'weeping for a crow'.

---

The clouds release their sorrw

in a scattering of snow,

he sways,

like he's a cradle rocking,

weeping for a crow.

'weeping for a crow'  #339 verse:21

---

As you can see, I haven't got very far, but 3 a.m. is as late as I want to stay up.

---

Painted the base coat of colour on the bones. 

---

Close up.  It's fun to paint bones. 

---

Finished painting the skull.  Started working on the left elbow.  I like high contrast images.  The text will be painted next.  It's drawn in pencil, but it doesn't show up on this photo.

---

Added the dark crimson halo around the skeleton, and behind it.  Not finished yet.  How is it that every painting I work on is my favourite?  Until the next one...

---

Another layer of paint on the bones.  I didn't have time to do the skull.  3 a.m. is late enough.

I'm happy with the way it's going.  I always want to finish, so I can see what it looks like.

---

Pink over the red background, text.  Saving the crow for last.

---

Added a nest to the inside of the torso.  A bit of light hit the canvas from the window.

---

Close-up of the nest. 

---

Pink over the red background, with a few lines of red left as a design element.  Not finished yet.  I still have to do around the lettering, and paint the details on the crow.

---

Painted the pink around the text.  That just leaves the crow to finish.

---

Changed the crow.  Not sure if it's finished or not.

Close-up of the crow.  One layer of blue on the black, I think it needs another one.

---

Cockroach painting for the book 'Dancing down entropy street'.

---

Layer one.  I'm getting to the end of my book, but I have a few images I need to do for it.  I'm having some technical difficulties with the word processing program that I'm trying to resolve.  I had hoped to have been finished by August, but now the new deadline is Christmas.  If I don't make that, then sometime in the new year.  I have one more painting to do after this one, for the poem 'weeping for a crow'.  I have lots of poems I'd like to include, but I'm up to 125 pages now so I think I should stop.  I can always make another book, right? 

---

So, a few more layers of paint, and it's almost finished.  I have to refine the yellow haze around the cockroach.  Is it weird that I like him?  The poem that goes with this image is called ess oh ess.

---

insidious (for the poem mobius)

Layer two.  My aunt asked me why the poem was about Kapuskasing, and what it was about.

I wrote back that it was Kapuskasing, because I needed a four syllable word, and the only other place name I could think of with four syllables was Albuquerque, but then I thought of Kapuskasing, and I decided I'd rather have that because it's Canadian.  I also said that the poems are musical, you can play each syllable on a keyboard.  I then said I was trying to do that with an on-line keyboard, but that it didn't sound the way I wanted it to, so I was going to have to find a better site.  I'd like it if I could write the music down at the same time.  Something else I don't know how to do... (I did find a program that did it all for me, at the same time, you hit a key, it plays a musical note, and writes the music at the same time, it's called Forte.  It took me a while, but I eventually got the hang of it, and I'm not very musical).

---

Changed the phaser, and I'm going to redo the right hand.  Still a long way to go.

---

Another day, another layer.   Repainted my right hand, and added more rust to the hood of the car.  The whole top of the car has to be done next. 

---

Painted the top of the car, and the sky.  I like the rust.  Still have the back window to do.

---

Added the clouds to the background.

---

---

The pattern was based on a photograph of some coral.  There are begonias with a similar pattern.

---

Right?

---

And for my next feat of prestidigitation, a cockroach in a box...

Eye glass case, Tea Bag Tag Clips, x files

I bought a new pair of drugstore magnifying glasses, but I didn't like the case that came with them, so I made one out of canvas, then painted it.  I ended up lining it with some black felt, which feels nicer.

---

My name, stenciled in gold and red on brown/black painted canvas.

---

The back of the case.  My favourite number.

---

A case for my sunglasses.  Front.

---

The back of the case, with the number 666 in red/orange, over the stenciled word Paris.

---

I made these from place card holder teapots and beads.  You clip them onto your tea bag tag to keep it from getting pulled into the tea pot or cup when you pour the boiling water into it. 

I like the skull one, of course.

This was my first Tag Clip, with a teapot charm from Michael's.  Jo Forrest 2018.

---

I kept losing my plain boring eye glass case, so I collaged an image from the ‘dancing skeleton’ painting on to it, and painted around it. I added a heart rhinestone to it. Maybe I’ll be able to see it now.

---

And the other side. From a photograph I took of some hologram glasses I got at the dollar store at Halloween.

---

the never-ending peach painting and four peaches on a striped background

Thirst is a cup with a hole in the bottom,

hunger's an inch out of reach,

stretch out your hand and caress the astonishing flesh

of the edible peach.

'a door through which all things must pass' #441 verse:17

---

---

Added some turquoise...not sure I like it.

Took out the turquoise and added some more dark red.  This is better.  Still not finished.

---

Love is a garden of ripe ready peaches,

sweet is the flesh on the bone,

you follow along in the footsteps of sorrow,

but it's better than being alone.

'the devil sheds one golden tear for the end of the world' #480 verse:2

---

---

From a photo of some strange squashed peaches I got from the store.  The text is done in Lettraset, without the customary single word or words done in a larger text painted onto the canvas.

---

Close up.  I like it.

Venus de Milo

the twilight of longing#501verse:24

I'm dressed as the sculpture of Venus de Milo,

the tears of a mime on my cheek,

born in an age of belief and denial,

my fingertips bleed when I speak.

Photo from the internet for my next painting of me as the Venus de Milo.  I bought black leotards at the thrift shop in Paris to make sleeves for my arms.  I am going to have my hands floating in space, as if they found the hands, but not the arms for the sculpture.  I might change the position of my left arm.

I had a thought.  I thought about making the front half of the torso in paper mache so I could wear it for the photograph.  I'm not going to do it, but it was an interesting idea.

In the meantime, I'm working on layer 20 of a painting of a peach that just won't end.  I've also done a painting of 4 peaches from a photo I took, and it turned out fine.  I don't know why it's easy sometimes, and hard other times.  I think I'm still working on it because I can't start the other painting anyway, otherwise it would still be sitting there tempting me to paint over it and start from scratch. 

---

O.k. this is what I did.  It's hard to photograph yourself.  I had to flip it to get it the right way round.  I wasn't happy so I took some more photos.

---

I liked this better.  Soft focus on the camera setting to smooth out the wrinkles.  I shot it in the shower with the softer light.

---

Left hand, cropped.  High key setting on the camera.  Images shot in the mirror.

---

Right hand.  Taken in the mirror.

---

This is the canvas.  I tinted the gesso a kind of light ochre colour.  I printed the text in reverse on plain paper and laid it face down onto another fresh layer of the gesso.  I rubbed it for a few seconds, then removed it.  It did a reasonably good job of transferring the text.  I'm going to paint it in by hand later.  The "s" at the bottom right was a test.  This might work better with a photo paper, instead of a plain white paper.  Some of the paper adhered to the canvas, which I didn't want. 

---

This is the first layer of paint on the left hand, holding the apple.

---

Right hand, layer one.  I'll have to reshoot this one.

---

The text at the bottom of the painting.  Layer one.

---

The whole painting, such as it is at the moment.  The hands are floating in space, as if they found them, but not the arms.

I really didn't need the black sleeves, but I liked the idea.

---

First layer of paint on the background, and the torso and face.  Lots of layers left to do.  I like the little bits of yellow and pink.

---

A bit more work done on the first layer of paint.

---

Close-up of the upper half of the painting.

---

Close-up of the left hand.  Needs at least 2 more layers of paint.

---

A bit more work done on the torso and background.  I might change my mind about the background and paint over it.  I'll do a bit more and think about it.

---

A couple of images I found on the internet.

---

---

And now for something completely different.  Not quite what I want.  Too much yellow on the right hand side, but I like it around her face.

---

Reduced the yellow on the right and did layer 2 of the brown background.  Getting closer to what I want. 

---

Did another layer of brown on the background, with a darker brown halo around the shapes on the right hand side.  Close, but not quite it.

---

A bit less yellow.  Still needs more paint on the background, and the face needs more work. 

---

Changed the face, changed the right hand.  Still not finished. 

I went on a studio tour here in Paris, and really enjoyed myself.  I wish I'd done it last year. 

I met some great artists in my neighbourhood, and I'm thinking about joining for next year. 

I enjoyed seeing their studios.  It gives me ideas for mine.

---

Added a layer of red to the background.  Needs another one.  Still not finished the torso.

---

Red paint over the brown paint for the background, then red abstracted floral shapes over that.

Still not finished the torso.

---

Blue background, red abstracted floral shapes.  Yes-sir-ee.

---

Changed the face to look more like me.  It's getting closer to what I want.  I think it needs a bit more work. 

---

Close up of the face.  Needs to be softened a bit I think.

---

Photo for face for painting.  I know, I could have brushed my hair...

---

Finished at last.  Well, it needs the rest of the text, but I still haven't found a way to do that that I like.  Lettraset works o.k. but it's a bit tricky to apply to a rough surface. 

dancing down entropy street - the book

I've started a book, through Amazon.  So far all I've done is the cover.  I used one of their templates, but as an ex-graphic designer, and obsessive, I found it a bit restrictive.  I've been trying unsuccessfully to import a photo of myself from another file, but that seems to be above my pay grade.  I'll keep working on it.  This could take a while.  I was hoping to have it done for my birthday, at the end of August.  I had to read most of my poems to try to come up with a short list for the book, I was hoping to find 25 good ones, as an arbitrary number, and came up with 60...so I have some editing to do.  Not all of them have images to go with them, so that's a challenge.  I don't have time to do that many paintings in time, and I'm not sure I want to do a mixture of paintings and photographs.  I guess I'll start with the ones I do have paintings for and go from there.   This is the cover painting.  It's a close up from the poem 'anchor'.  

---

She moves like the world leans hard to the left,

her bones tumble out of their grave,

they dance with the devil on seven-inch heels,

since this is how bad bones behave.

anchor #185 verse:7

---

Well, I know this took far longer than I thought it would, but I can finally say, with much pleasure, that the book ‘dancing down entropy street’ is now available on Amazon. Today, November 26 2018 would have been my brother Howard’s 61st birthday. It wasn’t planned that way, it just happened. I’m very happy, and relieved that this part is over. Now I can reconfigure it for an e-book, and I want to sell some of the images as prints on Amazon. Two more projects to keep me busy. The iris painting is going to have to wait. I also made a piece of stained glass for the window in the stairwell, so there’s that too. I ordered an artist’s copy for myself today, so there’s my first book sold. Ha. It might be the only book sold…but that’s not the point. I just wanted something to exist in the world that as many people as possible could see.

---

Added a short bio to my Author’s Page on Amazon.

---

Got my author’s proof of the book in the mail today.

---

The cover. It arrived two days earlier than the tracking email said it would, which is great. I’m going to go through it very carefully to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. There are a couple of layout issues I had when I uploaded this, that I’ve since figured out how to fix, but they’re minor problems. I’m still working on the ebook. It’s done, now I have to convert it to a file format that Amazon likes, and upload it. I’ve been trying to figure out how to sell ‘archival quality prints’ on Amazon from images from the book. I find most websites are like some kind of a Stygian maze. I keep ending up back at the same place I started from.

---

This is the author’s proof I ordered for myself so I could proofread it, and make any corrections. I found it hard to learn how to use the Word program on my own. It’s like trying to catch eels in a bucket.

---

This is the book, on top of the original painting. The painting is for a poem called ‘anchor’.

---

The book, opened to page 6, with the image for the poem ‘dancing down entropy street’. The photograph on the right hand page at the bottom is of a see-through doll I got at the thrift shop. I don’t know who he’s supposed to be.

---

I’ve been trying to do an ebook version of the paperback book. I managed to generate a table of contents that connects to the poem titles, but then it wouldn’t upload… Things are never easy. They sent me instructions, but they seem a bit above my pay grade, so I’ll have to seek technical assistance.

---

Brenda’s copy of the book.

---

My friend Carol with the pink poodle painting, and a copy of the book.

---

Harris, with his copy of ‘dancing down entropy street’. Dec 25 2018.

---

Brenda, with the book, in front of the original painting.

---

Me, with ‘anchor’, the painting/collage with the image I used for the book, at the Lindsay Art Gallery.

Also, the painting/collage ‘the unspoken language’, behind me.

---

I had to change service providers to get a faster uploading speed, so I could finally upload the e book version of the book. I can’t believe it took me this long to do, but it’s done now. I am greatly relieved. I’m sure there are some layout issues I’ll have to tweak, but it’s basically done. The next step is to order a copy for myself, so I can see what it looks like on a tablet. My next venture is to have individual prints for sale from the book. I have at least a dozen I’d like to have available. I have some photos in the book too, my favourite one is of a shell on a black sand beach in New Zealand. I have a framed photo in my bathroom and it looks great. I like the ‘ICE Y’ photo too, taken in Peterborough, Ont. I also have a large framed print of that, in my other bathroom. The room is painted grey, so it looks great hanging on the wall.

---

Sending a copy to the library in Gibsons. It’s true home.

---

This is the shell photo. Available on DeviantArt.

---

This is the ‘Ice Y’ photograph. Cracked ice on the lake, Peterborough, Ont. Available on DeviantArt.

---

sermons of redemption #486 verse:33

His eyes were calm with purpose

but his heart could not be found,

he's out there in a state of bliss,

just walking it around.

---

Layer one.  Didn't have time to finish the face. 

---

Layer 2 of the yellow.  Left some of the first layer showing through as a kind of reverse shadow.

---

O.k.  This is more like it.

---

Hand and torso almost done.  It looks like muscles without skin.

---

Hand.  Needs a bit more work.  From a photo of my own hand, taken in a mirror.

---

Close up of the new background colours. 

---

Torso finished.

---

Recalculating, recalculating....  Legs done, and the pink background behind the head.  Now I have to do the blue.  Ha.  I see I missed a spot.

---

More turquoise background.  Slowly, slowly.

---

Left side done.  You can only paint for so long.

---

Almost finished.  Worked 'til 2 a.m. then called it quits.

---

Finished the background.  Working on the text now.  I painted another layer of white on the lettering, and I'm going to remove the green space around it.  The word 'just' is already done.

Finished the lettering (not shown), and now I'm adding a darker border around the whole painting.  I think the pink circle needs a bit of work still too. 

---

Slightly darker blue border.  A bit too much shine from the lights on this photo.  I'll have to take another one.

---

Close up of border.

---

Added some veins to the heart.

---

the graveyard of the moon #499 verse: 14

Time adds pain to observation,

beauty does the math,

I saw you with your hair on fire,

floating in the bath.

---

Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40", unfinished.

Me in the bathtub, layer 1.  Bottecelli's Venus as inspiration for the hair.

---

Layer 2.  You can see the ghost of the word 'floating' at the top left side of the canvas.

---

Adding flames to the hair.  This is going to take a while.

---

A bit more work done.  Still a long way from finished.

---

Close up.  Getting there.

---

Added some pink to the skin. 

---

Darker pink. Some dark grey.  I still have to do the top half of the painting.  The text will be last.

---

Did the text, another layer of lighter pink, and the inside top of the tub.  I'm happy with it now.

I'll probably do a bit more before I say it's finished.  I have two good ideas for the next two paintings.  I can't wait to start them.  One of them involves me, dressed as the Venus de Milo, with my arms painted black.  The other one is the devil, my favourite metaphor.

---

Changed the colour of the text, added a few more details, the blue area behind my head isn't finished yet.  Added little flickers of flame.  Getting there.

---

Decided the background needed more detail.  It's not finished yet.  Also, the text needs a little something.

---

One more layer.  Added little white dots to the lettering, but I'm not sure that's enough.

---

Outlined the lettering in black.  Did some more on the blue area.  I've attached the tag to the back of the painting with the text, and signed it, so it's either finished, or very close to it.

---

Bottecelli's Venus.

---

Original photograph.  Set the camera, get in the bathtub, pose, get out of the bathtub, set camera, get back into the bathtub...repeat 30 times.  Do it again the next day with water in the tub.  Discard all of those ones. 

the circus of the walking dead #240 verse:1

---

---

The psychopaths are in control,

we follow them like sheep,

but we have vengeance in our hearts,

and promises to keep.

---

The psychopaths are in control,
we follow them like sheep,
but we have vengeance in our hearts,
and promises to keep.

The circus clowns jump through the hoops,
(the tigers are extinct),
(though no one wearing tiger skins
admits the two are linked).

Women dressed as butterflies
ride horses painted blue,
chained to love’s continuum,
their dreams are coming true.

Underneath the glitter
is an underwire bra,
we all obey the gravity
of Newton’s second law.

They draw attention to themselves,
the better to be seen,
it’s hard to blend into the background
wearing neoprene.

We’re mesmerized by naked flesh,
we won’t pretend we’re not,
desire’s soft albino skin
replaces conscious thought.

The acrobats will not perform
without a safety net,
we complain, but for a dollar,
this is all you get.

The smell of popcorn fills the air,
we lick our fingers clean,
words slide sideways off your tongue,
but we know what you mean.

Virtue wears a human face,
it’s guilt that wears a mask,
whether we’re possessed or not
depends on who you ask.

The Circus of the Walking Dead
suspends our disbelief,
they violate their own commandments,
much to our relief.

Contortionists turn inside out,
their scarlet hearts revealed,
and though I know the secret codes,
my ruby lips are sealed.

The belly dancers raise the dead,
it’s what they’re born to do,
we’ll all be dancing with the devil
by the time they’re through.

The fire-eaters don’t inhale,
the smoke is thick and sweet,
even Satan’s frozen heart
is melting in the heat.

The television’s black and white,
the rabbit ears are bent,
every night we watch the man without a tongue
repent.

He waits behind the velvet curtain,
smoking cigarettes,
I tell myself that this is as
chaotic as it gets.

The tent folds up into a box,
by morning we’ll be gone,
we’re naked and invisible
without our faces on.

We navigate the labyrinth,
they tell me love is blind,
the man behind the curtain breaks my heart,
but I don’t mind.

My head is full of cotton candy,
bubbles and champagne,
there’s nothing so impossible to live without
as pain.

---

mt forest

2017

#240

---

"the circus of the walking dead" was a response to the prevailing political climate of the times.  I wish we could choose our leaders with a bit more common sense.  The text was inspired by Frost's 1923 poem "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening".  "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep".

please stand by...

"the paper mausoleum" #496 verse:3

A china doll with missing eyes

lay naked in a box,

who am I to argue with

the gravity of clocks?

---

Step one.  This is a painting from a photograph I took of a doll in an antique store.  It didn't have any eyes, which I found interesting.  June 3 '17.

---

I stayed up 'til 3 working on it.  This is the start.  It's 30 x 40", on a deep stretcher.  I stretched the canvas myself, and mixed some burned umber paint into the gesso to tint it.  The lines for the arm, and the nose are all that you can see of that now. 

---

Layer 3.  So far, so good.  I'll lighten the cheeks a bit on the next layer.  The lips look better here than they do in real life.

---

Up 'til 3 again.  I like the cheeks, even though they're more abstracted than the photo. 

---

Second layer on the cheeks.  Looking better. 

---

Added the text, and some blue to the eyes, and pink to the body.  Gettin' there.

Added another layer to the box.  I'm going to say this is finished.  I went to Michael's and bought a new canvas, so that's a good sign.  I've initialed the side of the canvas, but I normally sign the back, which I haven't done yet. 

---

A few more small changes.  Maybe now it's finished.

---

This is the original photo I took.  I wish here eyes were lying beside her in the box.  Hmmmmm.......

Welcome to the machine

Hi,  Here are a few of my paintings and poems.  I have been thinking about doing a website for a couple of years now, but kept putting it off because I thought it would be a bit too difficult to do.    I decided to go ahead and do my best anyway.  I will add more images as time goes on.  At the moment I'm doing a painting of a burned out grain silo, from a photograph I took of one, just down the road from me.  I take photos of the painting every day, so I can catalog the process.  This is step one:

---

and step two:

It takes at least 3 or more layers of paint for it to look good.  Sometimes I do a lot more, because I change my mind part way through. 

The text reads: "but love will fade away, away, it that's all dreaming does".   I experimented with doing some of it in Lettraset, which is tricky to apply to the uneven surface of a painted canvas.  (Not shown in this photo).  The larger text I print from the computer and trace onto the surface, then hand paint it.  It's slow, but I like it.  The next photo will show the grey wall behind the text altered to go around the word "if" better.  Sometimes I can do a painting in 3 days, sometimes it takes 3 weeks.  I have one painting of a peach, which you would think would be a relatively simple painting, but I've done multiple layers, and I still don't like it. 

I'm interested in the process of making art as well as the finished project.  I watch every program on TV I can about the artistic process.  There's a good one on now, on PBS, called Craft in America.  I am always inspired by seeing work that's better than I can do.  I watched a show on an American photographer named Vivian Maier, which I liked.  Talk about obsession.  Last night there was one about a Toronto photographer named Barbara Cole.  She does fantastic photographs of people underwater.  Truly amazing. 

Right, I'm off to make another chair cushion for the dining room.  I have to change the fabric since I painted the room blue.  I did one yesterday, and that was enough sewing for me for one day.  5 more to go.  Stay tuned for more images of the burned silo.  Thanks for listening.

---

Layer 3.  There's going to be a bit of thrashing around here, I can tell.  Some parts I like, some parts I don't.  I just keep repainting areas until I like them, then move on to the next area.  I find it hard to paint the same way from one day to the next sometimes. 

---

Layer 4.  I simplified the middle bit and added a second layer to the dark side.  The top still needs more work.  Sometimes I only work for half an hour or so, so not much gets done. 

---

May 9th.  I started out late last night to just paint one small section, and finished at 2 a.m.  The problem with painting is it's addictive.  If I like the way things are working out, then I just keep going. 

---

I added more grey paint to the rock walls.

---

This is a close up of the added grey...no, still not right.  The black structure is actually an old burned bed frame, and some metal piled up together.  The yellow and blue are just for fun.

---

This is more like it.  Up 'til 2 a.m. working on it, but now I'm happy.

---

Layer 2, turning up the volume a little.

---

The left side, not finished, but it's a start.  Up 'til 3 a.m.  Wrote 'til 4, finally went to bed.

---

Added a small flame and some smoke to the top of the silo. 

---

The walls, and the added flame.  Still not finished, but it's slowly morphing into something I like.

---

Up 'til 3 working on the bottom left side, and the sky.  The bottom left is still too busy, so I'll have to simplify it some more.  I like the sky. 

---

Did some more work on the sky, not finished yet.  I don't like the white wave thing at the bottom left.  It's getting there though. 

---

Close up.  The spiral is a tornado, seen from above, or below.  I've always been afraid of them, since The Wizard of Oz movie.

---

I think this is probably finished.  I have signed the back, so that means I'm pretty sure I'm done.

---

On second thought, the left side still needed some work.  Still not sure if it's finished or not.

---

O.k.  Maybe this is it.  I bridged the two rock walls at the bottom and added a few small details.  I'll have to sit and look at it for a while to spot any areas that don't look right.

---

This is the original photo I was working from.

Artist's statement #1

Art is the emotional, made physical

by this,

time, and objects made of bone,

and death's immortal kiss.

the sentimental object #242 verse:12

---

The original photograph of the deer skull for the painting "bones don't lie".

Artist's statement #2

---

Mixed media collage.  Small oval recycled frame from the thrift shop, glass glob, photograph of my eye, old map from a calendar, paint.

This is the victory of time over memory,

Leonard Cohen's right, poems should be sung,

they should be celluloid ghosts trapped in amber,

Call Tim Burton and k.d. lang,

tell them I'm coming.

Listen,

even when you speak,

you sing.

---

mt forest.

---

Artist's statement #3

---

Mixed media collage in the lid of a corned beef tin.  Found objects, glass glob with photograph of my eye, tag, beads, paint.

Memory is a celluloid ghost trapped in amber,

time wears a crown of dinosaur bones,

victory burns the book of the dead,

words are satan's voodoo dolls,

death counts backwards from ten,

love is a satellite in a decaying orbit.

I sing like a machine,

heavy...

metal.

---

mt forest.

---

Artist's statement #4

---

They're weapons, if they don't draw blood, they're useless.

---

Forgetting is impossible,

but memory is not,

we ravel up the tangle,

but the devil ties the knot.

---

It doesn't matter how we die,

it's how we live that counts,

time is measured out to us

in very small amounts.

---

Our skeletons will disappear,

their shadows will remain,

architects of symbolism

in the house of pain.

(the house of pain #224 verse:16) 

---

mt forest.

---

Mixed-media collages

Altered dolls.

Altered doll.  Cheesecloth, gold thread, beads, curtain tie-back, shell, bone, pearls.

---

Altered doll. Air-dry clay, gold paint, beads, wire, found plastic wings, gold foil.

---

Mixed-media collage.  Wooden box, anatomical model, paint, texture medium, wooden blocks, text, beads.

---

"Has outrageous buttocks".  Mixed-media collage on found wood.  Watch parts, beads, text, acrylic paint, copper, plastic skull.

---

My husband is making wooden plugs to cover the screw heads on the new front porch. He was going to throw the bit of wood with the holes in it out, imagine that. Wood, stones, shells, plastic clothes peg from the beach in New Zealand, glass marbles, odd bits of metal, bones, text, chandelier parts, fairy pin.

---

This is a small assemblage made from discarded bits of drilled wood, wooden letters, a twig, a plastic eye, and a bottle top I found on the road.

---

I call these bottles, memento vitae. This one is from Long Point, Ont. I got the wine carafe from the Keg. The top is a lens I got from a store in Wincey Mills, in Paris. I printed the tag.

---

Sand, glitter, shells, bone, butterfly wings, beads.

---

'the book of the dead, volume 2'

 'the book of the dead, volume 2'.  Mixed media collage, acrylic paint on photo album. Moose vertebrae, plastic dollar store skulls, found objects, shelf, board.

Honorable Mention, Lindsay Gallery, Annual Juried Show, July 2013.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---