This is going to be a painting for sure.
The inside of the pepper.
Rude pepper, red background.
The inside of the pepper. This would make a good painting too.
Eyes from Michael’s. Cut pepper face. I like the seed ‘teeth’.
all those kleptomaniacs #659 verse: 4
I gave them maps to travel by,
and shoes to fit their feet,
the vagabonds, the dark avengers,
dancing down the street.
I had this idea of putting maps on the insides of a pair of shoes, and on the soles. That way, you’d never get lost, and it might make you want to travel. I got the shoes at the thrift shop, and I printed the map from an image I had. The flag is a New Zealand flag.
The bottom of one shoe, and the inside of the other one.
I had a good time photographing them on different backgrounds. I was thinking of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, if she’d had shoes with a map, then she would have known how to get home.
barbiedoll fairy queens
Barbiedoll mermaid fairy queen. Recycled barbie doll, pre-mixed cement, glitter, chain, bead, soldered crown, pearls, stained glass wings, tail.
Side view.
Rhino fairy, glass wings, plastic toy from the thrift shop, in a bag with the two sheep I wanted for a painting, and two goats, because that’s a natural combination.
The first barbiedoll fairy queen. Glass wings, tulle skirt, amber heart necklace, glitter, rhinestones, pearls, plastic leaves.
New crown made from solder for the skeleton fairy king.
The start of the next project, the Rapunzel barbiedoll fairy tower. I have to cut out the window. That should be fun. Metal furnace pipe, metal cone Christmas decoration roof, covered in premixed cement.
Making the roof for the small turret. I got a small styrofoam cone from Mary Maxim’s. I don’t know what it’s supposed to be used for, but it was the perfect size for the smaller turret. It’s covered in premixed cement from Canadian Tire. I glued it to the top of this plastic container to work on it. The rocks are for weight at the bottom so it wouldn’t tip over.
I attached the roof of the small turret to a cardboard core from some wrapping paper and applied the premixed cement and stones to it to make the smaller turret.
Flagpoles made from small skewers and soldered copper foil. The finials on top are lids from bottles of glue, and beads painted silver.
The wig I got from Value Village, washed and drying in the sink.
Rapunzel barbiedoll. Hair extensions, dress. Fabric scraps, sewn, glued. Still needs wings.
Rapunzel barbiedoll fairy in her castle, in the garden, with the flying fairy barbiedoll. What should I do next? I have a red-headed barbie doll…Little Red Riding Hood?
I got a plastic tiger at the thrift shop to photograph with the day lilies for a painting, but then I thought I should make a fairy tiger, so I went to the glass store and got some orange glass. The pattern is just laying on the glass. I have to glue it down, then cut the glass. He’ll go outside with the fairy rhino I made.
Flying Tiger. Plastic thrift shop tiger, glass wings.
The waterglass wings cast a striped shadow.
The Battle Cat plastic toy, with his new wings, for the fairy garden.
Both of them together. I need a unicorn, and a wolf, and a horse.
a wolf among the darling lambs
Two plastic sheep for the painting ‘a wolf among the darling lambs’. Value Village, in a bag with some goats, and a rhinoceros, because that’s a natural combination.
Layer one of the painting. Tinted gesso background. I really like it so far.
Close-up of the sheep painting. Painting on the coloured background is nice. The paint doesn’t look thin, the way it usually does.
Lots of in between stages to get to the final version. Add some detail, take it out, add some more, take them out. In the end less busy is better.
June 10th. Had some light oval shapes in the background. Decided I didn’t like them, so I painted something on top of them, then decided I didn’t like that, so I just painted them out.
Another previous incarnation. Trying to balance the light and dark.
The eighth circle of hell.
Cleaned up my studio painting storage area. You can see the floor now. August 2022.
Studio, cleaned up. Paintings stacked against the wall. De-cluttered.
Got 3 cabinets from Ikea to hold my stuff.
Magnetic lettering.
Beads in a drawer.
Studio painting.
Curled leaf painting, still unfinished.
Studio. ‘floating’, and shark-puppet-barbiedoll paintings.
Studio, new Ikea cabinets. Four peaches painting, ‘shadow’ poodle pepper shaker painting, collages.
‘Miss America’ painting, shelves.
I cleaned a space in my studio (gasp), and put the wire shelf in from the dining room. Let’s see how long it takes to fill it…and go…
…mission accomplished.
An image from Pinterest. I seriously want a case for my skull collection.
Curled leaf painting.
Some leaves fell off my poinsettia plant at Christmas. They dried up and curled, so I took some pictures.
This is the painting so far. Layer 2 of green on the leaf. No text on this one.
April 16th. More green, and Titan Buff on the background. I’m mixing the purple, since I don’t have any.
April 20. More work on the leaf and the shadow.
May 10th, painted some detail in, then painted it out.
George Machin, boxer painting
A painting from an old promotional photograph of the boxer, George Machin.
Layer one, just started this. The original photo was in black and white.
The original photo.
The finished painting. I might tweak it a little. I’m writing the poem that goes with it now. I’ve never written about a boxer before. This is my husband’s sister’s husband’s father. Got that?
Re-painted the shorts, and added a death’s head moth in the upper right hand corner. It’s varnished now, so I guess it’s finished. The poem is called ‘the boxer of the year’.
Dragonfly window
Started the next stained glass window. This one is for the front foyer. I still need one piece of glass, but it’s too cold and snowy to go out.
I know there was a big gap in between the previous photograph, where it was just a drawing, to this, the finished panel, but it doesn’t really look good until it’s done. I like the way it looks. I’m painting the outside came black, then I can install it. I’ll take more pictures then. It will look the best with light coming through it.
This is the whole panel.
Installed, with light coming through it. Needs some wood trim, the house leans to the left a little.
The whole window. It has a nice Art Deco vibe.
A better picture of the dragonfly stained glass window.
lily, lily, rose
Tell me every flower that
your secret garden grows,
it’s all about the sweet carnation,
lily, lily, rose.
lily, lily, rose poem, #605 verse:20 Jo Forrest.
Original photo for the painting.
I’ve been watching a series on the Knowledge Network about the Tate Gallery Walks, with Gus Casely-Hayford. I saw the program about John Singer Sargent twice. After the second time, I wrote the poem ‘lily, lily, rose’. I have to do a painting to go with it, and this is one of the photographs I like of the lilies in my garden. I’ll probably buy some white ones, and some roses and carnations, all white, to do another photograph to work from. That’s a few projects from now though. I have a few other things I want to do first.
Tinted gesso background. Layer one of the flowers. I’m putting the paint on in a thick layer, instead of my usual 3 thin layers, (or more). I’m not being too fussy about it. I like it, and it’s quicker. The background is going to be all dark green leaves on a darker green background, like the few off to the right. That’s going to take some time.
Close-up of the background leaves. Lots more to do.
Full view of the leaves. I’m only going to do one word for the text, instead of the whole verse.
More work on the background. This is going to take a long time. Up ‘til 3 again…
Working on the background first. It’s more fun than I thought it was going to be, but it’s taking a long time.
Still have the leaves to do. It’s comin’ along.
The finished painting. Varnished and signed.
Started the next day lily painting. I think it’s going to be a good one.
A bit more of the background done. I like the high contrast, and the light.
I did some more work on the background. I’m really looking forward to seeing it finished.
Layer one, all the leaves done.
Working on the petals now. It’s coming into focus.
Almost finished. Needs a bit more work here and there. I like it. It took way longer than the other one.
Rose stained glass window
Drawing for a CR Mackintosh rose window for the window on the stairs. Now I have to see if I have enough glass.
Ground, waiting to be foiled.
Foiled, waiting to be soldered.
The finished window, installed. I like it.
The window in the stairwell.
Taken from outside, at night, with the lights on inside.
Me, in a straw hat with a very large flower. Just for fun, although it might make a good self-portrait.
Photographica
I got Forrey to take this picture again. The selfie I took was blurred.
I was thinking about this Long John Baldry album cover.
I picked some peonies from the garden and put them in a vintage jug.
The jug of peonies, with the peony painting.
Amaryllis photo.
Amaryllis, blooming. I’ll take more pictures as it blooms. I might do a print of this for the wall.
Closed sign, Stratford, Ont. This might make a good painting. I like the pink text and the pink flower. Sept 2022.
Nasturtium, Stratford, Ont. Also a good image for a painting.
An old bicycle in the Avon river. Stratford, Ont.
Jo, Stratford, Sept 2022.
Jo, Lavenham, England. 2018.
Felixstowe, England. 2018.
Port Colborne, Ont.
Leaves in the back lane. A clear blue sky, with a few inches of snow on the ground.
My glass skull, and black obsidian skull. I’m calling them The Shadow and the Ghost. This might make a good painting, to go with the poem of the same name.
The glass skull on its own. This would make a great painting too.
I got a crystal ball for Christmas. I went around looking at things through it. This is an image of one of my Tiffany Lamps.
My stained glass dragonfly window taken through the crystal ball lens.
Green pepper photograph.
Three green peppers.
Three green peppers, standing up.
A big butterfly flew into the addition. I had to catch it and put it outside.
Blue/red walls.
Yellow fireplug.
My name in dried peppers. I like the shadows.
I got this pear from the grocery store, with a large X on it. I thought it would make a good painting. I took the picture at night, with a flashlight, but it’s a bit fuzzy around the edges. I should have got a peach, ha.
The same pear, lying down.
Two blue pears, one standing, one lying down. They just look like women to me.
And of course, three blue pears. Well, the light is blue, that’s why I’m calling them that.
I got 3 great squash from the farmer’s market. They’re so sculptural. I had to leave before I bought the whole box.
Two squash together. They look like swans.
The shapes are fantastic. This would make a great painting.
A black and white self-portrait of me in the snow. Could make a good painting.
…and the painting.
The light purple iris in the back flower border. The same one I did the iris painting from.
My rose/gold irises that my friend Sue gave me years ago. They’re an unusual colour. This could be a good painting.
The iris in the rain. This could become a painting too.
A tarot hand I got at the dollar store for Halloween. I put it on the windowsill in my studio with my collection of assemblages and objects.
Me, neon lights filter on my camera.
Me, black and white filter on my camera.
Another black and white photo of me, taken with the filter on my camera.
Wolf skull taken with the ‘bubble’ filter on my camera.
Pear, with the bubble filter.
I took a couple of photographs of the sun coming in through the blind. I liked the shadows.
My bouquet of flowers for my zoom class. My first time doing a floral bouquet, and a zoom class.
The finished bouquet. I enjoyed doing it. I think it looks good for my first time.
Ornamental cabbage, sunflowers, small pumpkins, salal and huckleberry leaves from B.C., asters, an artichoke, some sea thistles, and two acanthus leaves. There’s one thing I don’t know the name of.
The bouquet from the side. Nice flowers, and some additions of my own. I added some glitter pumpkins, of course, and some maple leaves I picked up on our walk around the neighbourhood.
My new (old) Smith-Corona typewriter. Ma ma ma my corona.
Miscellaneous things, painted pottery, three small paintings for the kitchen
‘the face in the window’, collage, paper envelope, printed image of a face. Unfinished. Sept 2024. It needs to be painted, and ? We’ll just try things and see how it goes. I originally wanted to do just an eye, so I might do another one. Just for fun.
‘the face in the window’, image, altered envelope, stencil, collage, text, gold foil. Finished? Not finished?
I painted a Pegasus pattern onto a terra cotta flower pot, just because I liked it.
I did a Pegasus design on a piece of broken pottery, just for fun.
Pegasus pot, plate, bowl.
A woodblock I got from the thrift shop. I painted it white, then painted the raised parts black.
It looks good hanging on the wall.
I collaged a print of my ‘dancing skeleton’ painting onto my boring eye glass case, then I painted some gold paint around it. I really like it now. I’m going to do the other side now. I did it because I kept losing it. It was so nondescript it kept fading into the background. It should be easier to see now.
Glitter ‘eye’ pins, just for fun.
A fortune teller’s hand, with an added eye. I might add a bit of sepia paint to age it.
The first of three small paintings for the kitchen. This is from the plates I got at the thrift shop. I did a letter ‘T’ painting with the same pattern for the kitchen wall above the sink. I need something else on the other side of the clock to balance it out.
The letter ‘T’, painted with the same pattern as the dishes.
Layer one of the painted bird plate. One or two more layers to go. I like the colours.
The second painting is going to be of my favourite mermaid mug.
The third painting, from a photograph I took at a tea shop a couple of years ago.
The bird plate, the cup of tea, and the mermaid cup of coffee paintings. Layer one of two or three. The teapot and tea cup painting needs something on the right hand side. I’ll probably do some text or something to fill in the empty space.
‘bird plate’ painting. It’s finished, I just have to hang it up.
I finished the ‘mermaid cup’ painting too. That just leaves the ‘high tea’ painting.
I am grout.
Iris painting
I decided to do something a little different from the shark-head-puppet/barbiedoll paintings. An iris grew in my front flower border this year, this is from the photo I took. It's not finished yet.
Finished the first layer of paint on the background. Two more layers to go. This doesn't have any text to go with it. It's from a photograph I took of an iris that bloomed in the front flower border. It's overwhelmed by the other plants, so I think I'll move it later.
Layer 10. Still not finished. First it's too dark, then it's too light...at some point I'll find the middle ground.
Several more layers on the top part of the iris. I still don't like it.
I really didn't like it. Plan B.
Painting blue around the existing shapes. Maybe I'll like it now....
Several layers later. I like it a bit better, but it still needs a bit more contrast. I really don’t know why things don’t work sometimes, and other times, it’s three layers….
Oh oh oh, I like one square inch of the upper petal, on the bottom right hand side…..
O.k. It’s better now. I did a black outline on all the leaves, and the flower. That adds a bit of separation to the shapes. I think it might work out.
Finally finished it. I had to stop to do a couple of other things first. I like the way it turned out.
Paris Painted Rocks
People in my neighbourhood have been painting rocks, and putting them out for other people to find, photograph, and move to a new location. The pictures are posted on the Facebook page Paris Painted Rocks. I didn't think I was going to do any, but I found a stash of rocks beside the house, so I decided to paint a few and see how it went.
This is one of the skull painted rocks.
Close-up of a few of the painted rocks.
A plateful of painted rocks. I'm now making an Egyptian mummy skeleton fairy, with a backdrop and a sarcophagus...if I can find the cheesecloth. The Egyptian eye rocks can go with that.
The face rocks are modeled from air-dry clay on top of the rock.
Skull painted rock. I put all the ones I'd painted in the narrow flower bed beside the house, and they'd all gone the next day. I'm working on the second batch now.
Another skull painted rock.
The moon.
A few skull rocks.
Kind of Australian colours.
More rocks. They're so much fun to do.
An Egyptian painted eye rock in front of the pyramid.
King Tut Fairy Skeleton Egyptian Pyramid, and painted stone.
A few more painted rocks. I like the earth and moon in space rock the best. Acrylic base coat, acrylic design. Golden Acrylic paint. I’m spray varnishing them now.
Three gold faces.
Face, painted rock.
Union Jack painted stone, Julian’s grave, England. 2018.
I painted some skeleton rocks for Halloween, and one pumpkin, and one Egyptian eye.
I painted two rocks with watercolour paints over gesso to see if it would look good. I drew around the holly with a gold marker, and painted the background with black acrylic paint. I sprayed them with a gloss outdoor varnish to finish them.
‘moon moth’ painted rock. Acrylic paint, silver paint.
The back of the ‘moon moth’ painted rock. Moon and star image.
sharkpuppetbarbiedoll
I bought a shark headed puppet at the dollar store. Then I bought a couple of dolls. This is what happened next.
This reminds me of the painting I did called 'the former Miss America', for the poem of the same name.
The former Miss America
ate all her dinners raw,
tucking every extra morsel, bloody
in her bra.
Bought a shark puppet from the dollar store. Took some photos, put them on Facebook. Someone said something, and I said, 'you're lucky I didn't buy a barbie doll'. So I did.
Shark head puppet painting, from the poem 'this is the realm of the wild remora'.
Shark head puppet redhead barbiedoll in the bath photograph. Then I said, 'I should put them in the bath', so I did. Jo Forrest 2018.
Shark head puppet blonde barbiedoll in the bath. Jo Forrest 2018.
Shark head puppet blonde barbiedoll in a pink tutu, in the bath. Jo Forrest 2018
I filled the bath with warm water and took these photographs. I'm going to do at least one painting from them. The fun you can have from two items from the dollar store, and the thrift shop.
Shark puppet barbiedoll painting, day one. For the poem 'this is the realm of the wild remora'.
Coughing up bones,
we expel our emotions,
love-sick for blood
in delirious oceans.
#509 verse: 17
Shark head puppet red head barbiedoll painting, day two. Up 'til 4. Too damn late. Fun though.
Layer one of the red hair painted, teeth, gums. So much fun.
Shark head puppet red haired bbdoll painting. Light on the water. Still needs more work, but it's getting there. The text will be last.
Did a bit more work on the blue edge, and added some white highlights to the patterned background. The text is next. That will take some time to do.
Text added.
Coughing up bones,
we expel our emotions,
love-sick for blood
in delirious oceans.
Shark head puppet blonde barbiedoll painting, day 2.
Bubble-gum pink
in the moon's cold aurora,
this is the realm of the
wild remora.
Jo Forrest 'this is the realm of the wild remora', verse: 11
Painting number three. Blonde barbiedoll, shark head puppet. Unfinished.
Got the text done, which is the hard part. Had to change the hair and the text at the bottom right. The shark is next.
A bit more work done.
More work done on the hair.
Finished. Started the next one. Well, it is shark week.
Shark head puppet blonde barbiedoll. Wrote a new verse to go with it.
Swimming with sharks
is a lesson in pain,
these are the only words
spoken in vain.
'this is the realm of the wild remora', #509 verse:18
Almost finished. Things got a little out of hand, maybe.
Shark-head-puppet blonde barbiedoll painting number four. I think I've overdone it. I might repaint parts of it out.
I sway in the current, my heart in a rapture
of ecstasy, giddy and sweet,
sharks chase their tails in a cruel choreography,
looking for something to eat.
‘the compass heart’, #675 verse:17
the blood pear
the blood pear verse:19 and 35
Your shadow bowed its curtain call,
it left for parts unknown,
I struggle on to catalogue the universe,
alone.
You taught me truth from razz-ma-tazz,
for that, I'm grateful too,
for all the words, the images,
the memory of you.
for Anthony Bourdain.
The last iconic drop of water
overfills the cup,
the dead are lost to silence but
you just can’t give them up.
Twisting turns the mechanism
clock-wise to the day,
you offered it a dollar but
your shadow walked away.
I cuddled up against your spine,
you’re belly-soft and round,
you won’t be so euphoric when
your bones are in the ground.
Beauty fades, but bone endures,
we’re all the same to Death,
I shucked my shoes and ran until
I ran beyond my breath.
I left you smudgy fingerprints
and reliquary bones,
the this and that, the why and how,
the sickly pheromones.
I left you pain and endless cups
of chamomile tea,
I left you in the dark beside
the empty skin of me.
There is no grief beyond the heart’s
ability to bear,
the seeds acquire memories
inside the bloody pear.
No resurrection ghost will come
to haunt your murky dreams,
the widdershin machine is less unstable
than it seems.
It’s slow, by any measure you could
quantify by tears,
overhead and underneath,
the music of the spheres.
In between, the spinning poles,
the arc of bluest sky,
the shadow laying on the ground,
the solitary fly.
There isn’t time to count the dead,
their numbers multiply,
too much time makes anything
complacent to the eye.
Bubbles form in brewing blood,
the sugar turns to sap,
blunt your former pearly teeth,
the bones will not unwrap.
If only kissing brought you back,
then Death would turn his cheek,
you and I would find the warm entanglement
we seek.
Your bones will brood eternity,
I’ve seen them bend and brawl,
you’ll rarely see them moving in the darkness,
if at all.
I hear you breathing in and out,
the mechanism speaks,
I promise you, I’ll study your collapsing star
for weeks.
Your skin will lie abandoned
like a dream you can’t recall,
joy is coddled sweet and raw,
but suffering is all.
You’re sweating, I can taste the ocean
cooling on your skin,
every heart that beats for love
is clock-wise to the spin.
Stars implode and gravity
curves bones into a sphere,
matter turns to energy
a billion times a year.
Your shadow bowed its curtain call,
it left for parts unknown,
I struggle on to catalogue the universe,
alone.
Fusion takes the place of love,
we glow the white-hot heat,
we dance the shoes right off our small
incendiary feet.
We tick-tack-toed across the floor,
the air was blue with smoke,
we haloed them with roses as
the mechanism broke.
Your shadow left before your hands
could button up your shirt,
we eye the world with wary eyes,
but beauty is inert.
Your shadow curled around me like
a secondary skin,
a week, a month, a year from now,
the dreaming will begin.
Why would I accept my heart’s
miscalculating eye?
I’d pierce my skin with rusty blades
if I thought I could die.
I’d rearrange the day’s events
to give you time to waste,
I’d cook your alter-ego’s bones
and grind them into paste.
I’d spread it thin beneath the sun,
the bitter parts consumed,
by us, I mean the torturers,
the chosen ones, the doomed.
I wove a nest around your bones
to help them feel secure,
helpless in absentia,
I’m drawn to their allure.
Knowledge passes skin to skin,
it’s best to break the rules,
beneath a swollen sullen moon,
the remnant body cools.
Beauty speaks an ancient language
no one’s ever heard,
I see why you, the traveler,
thought sorrow was a bird.
Its voice was high and musical,
you loved the awful sound,
you packed your bags and left for greener pastures,
homeward bound.
We cried the night the moonlight died,
your shadow flew the coop,
I dreamt your resurrection in
a never-ending loop.
Waking is the hardest part,
we all know dreams aren’t real,
I know it’s wrong to love the moon,
but this is how I feel.
Underneath, we’re lonely too,
there’s little to deny,
there’s more to life than beauty but
it hastens from the eye.
This is what the bones believe:
it’s better to forget,
it’s better to remember things
that haven’t happened yet.
You taught me truth from razz-ma-tazz,
for that, I’m grateful too,
for all the words, the images,
the memory of you.
Cast away your heavy heart,
its need outweighs its worth,
ease your tired bones into
the sympathetic earth.
The body shrinks around its core,
there’s time for beauty yet,
its time to write the story in
another alphabet.
The body wears its history
for everyone to see,
the Buddhist master said it best,
‘to be is not to be’.
jo forrest 2018
the six-minute night
This is the way to the end of the rainbow,
the road winds away through the fields,
down came the boys from the cold side of heaven,
to carry us home on our shields.
mt forest #546 verse:10 the six-minute night 2018
'boom the rain'
Moose scapula, acrylic paint, beads, wooden tags, crystal chandelier parts.
The elephant's graveyard
is a myth.
They die where they fall,
like any other
sole
survivor,
like any other ghost
born of memory,
like any other
amnesty
of remembrance.
We're the ones
who make
windchimes
from the burnt
bones.
mt forest.
Back of moose scapula. Wire, beads, collage, acrylic paint. April 2018.
The girl in the kitchen is skinning a rabbit,
she staggers down memory lane,
she looks through the window and watches the devil,
dancing with death in the rain.
dancing on entropy's grave #481 verse:23
For the poem 'dancing on entropy's grave', for the book 'dancing down entropy street'.
Acrylic paint on paper, cut paper.