‘Crows are fastidious,
dangerous birds,
you spoke to their wildness,
wasting the words’.
‘pearls before swine’ #865 v:24
assemblage
‘burning chair’.
Burned mechanisms from the fire.
One of five rescued mechanisms. Just laying out the possibilities at the moment.
Mechanism number two. Some previously made objects, made from recycled watch parts, and an eye, made from a plastic eye, and a squished bottle top I found on the road.
‘Towering inferno’, photograph of burning cupboards from the garage, an image for a painting?
‘hu yu’? Assemblage of chair swivel, rescued from the fire. Scrap wood base. Not quite finished, but I like the antlers, left for me by the house’s previous owner.
‘snafu’ assemblage, deer antlers added. Not quite finished.
'nosferatu - the vampire's circus' exhibit
‘nosferatu - the vampire’s circus’. I hung the paintings and collages up in my new studio. I’m going to invite a few people over for a small Halloween-themed show, on Sunday Oct 29th from 1 - 4. I’m going to hang a few paintings up in the empty guest room too, for fun, since it’s unoccupied at the moment. I still need to paint it, but that will have to wait.
Capt'n Jack Halloween mannequin
Capt’n Jack, my Fortune Teller Pirate mannequin. I still have to find my crystal ball.
I found the crystal ball, and a few other skulls and things. I want to make a sign now.
Capt’n Jack. I’ve made a ‘fortune teller’ sign to go behind him. I painted it on a large sheet of cardboard I had left over from the move. I’m gluing a backing to it to make it hang flat. I can’t wait to see it up.
Capt’n Jack, with the fortune teller sign. I like him a lot now. He’s not creepy anymore.
I’d like to give him a hat, and long dark hair, but I haven’t found a pirate hat or a wig yet. I might have to make a hat.
'war and truce'
‘war and truce’
‘There’s war’, said the man with the pale apparition,
‘and truce’, said the man with the fists,
‘peace is a concept so foreign to power,
that we’re not even sure it exists’.
‘war and truce’ poem #858 v:18 October 2023 c jo forrest 2023
Powell River B.C.
‘nosferatu - the vampire’s circus’, hung on the wall in my studio in Powell River. I’m thinking of opening my studio on Sunday October 29th for a couple of hours in the afternoon, like my own personal art crawl. More info to follow.
‘nosferatu - the vampire’s circus’, hung on the wall.
‘nosferatu - the vampire’s circus’, some hand-painted collages hung on the wall in my studio in Powell River.
‘nosferatu’ collages, Powell River studio.
I’m going to go down to Gibsons for the Art Crawl, if I can. Or not, a bit busy at the moment.
I hung the ‘starfish’ painting in the front entryway. I think it works here.
Photo for painting? Reflection of the old pulp mill on the water.
studio move
Packing up the studio for the move out to B.C.
Empty bookcases.
Violins from the thrift shop for a future project.
Painting the studio white. I’m going to try to leave this large wall empty, so I can put a collections of paintings on it. I’d like to do a Halloween show, if I’m ready.
The far wall. I’ll need new blinds, instead of the dark blue curtains that were here. I need as much light as possible.
‘laughing mannequin’ painting. I’m trying to make this into a 16x20” poster. I did the first one, but it needed cropping and it needed to be brighter, so I did it again. I tried to upload it the other day, but it didn’t work, so I’ll have to try again. ‘nosferatu’ collage/painting and poster, and two mannequin paintings. I’m still unpacking and moving things, but it’s getting there.
'bouquet of flowers' painting
I finally made up my mind which flowers I was going to buy to do the next painting from. I bought these from the dollar store. They look surprisingly good, considering how inexpensive they were. I’m doing this so that I don’t frighten anyone who comes to look at the house when we list it. The vase is one my mother gave me years ago.
A book of flower paintings my friend Deb gave me.
‘orchestra with blast tuba’ painting, and ‘bouquet of flowers’ set up in my studio, for the next painting.
A closer look. I like the colours and the shadows. I also like anything with a black background.
I’m doing the perimeter of the painting, so I can see what the flowers look like against the black background. So far, so good. The gesso has a little grey tint to it, so I can see the white petals when I paint them.
The upper right-hand side. A closer look at the flowers. I like a bright, high-contrast image.
The photograph I’m working from, printed on 4 sheets of paper, then taped together. I need to see what I’m doing.
Up late, trying to do as much as possible.
A closer look. It looks pretty good for only one layer of paint. At this stage I’m just trying to figure out which colours go where. I’ll add more details with the next layer. This is kind of the map. Also, painting white flower petals on a grey background is very satisfying for some reason. If you paint white paint on a white canvas, it looks the same.
All of the flowers and the vase with the first layer of paint on them. I like it more than I thought I would.
I painted the black draped silk background, layer one. Now I can go back to the beginning, and paint the second layer. I do like it a lot.
Most of layer 2 done. I still have to do the background.
Self-portrait with flower and hat.
I took a photo I liked, but it was blurred, so I got my husband to take it again. Could make a good painting. I was thinking about the 1971 Long John Baldry album cover when I did this.
'orchestra with blast tuba' painting
The finished painting. I entered another painting into a show recently, and had to write an artist’s statement. I googled ‘famous artist’s statements’, to see some examples of some good ones, which helped a lot. It’s hard for me to write something coherent in only 100 words. I wrote another one, for another painting, just to see what it would sound like, and I think I’m o.k. with it. This is the statement for this painting.
‘orchestra with blast tuba’, painting on canvas. The verse that goes with this painting is:
The tuba blew a sour note
of hot volcanic air,
the sound and fury bellowed out,
and knocked me off my chair.
I wanted to represent the sound of music visually, and saw an image of a lettuce, or bok choy on the internet, and combined it with another image of a tuba/machine/thing I found. I did the collage in the computer, then transferred it to the canvas. I altered the colours to make it brighter. It’s about making the invisible, visible.
97 words, mission accomplished. Does it add any understanding to the experience? I hope so.
‘The choir has blast tubas
curling the air with tight vortices.
I can’t tear myself away from the slow-motion crash.
The beginning of the next painting, ‘orchestra’. From a collage of a head of lettuce, and a musical instrument I found online.
It’s hard to see the pencil drawing of the lettuce coming out of the trumpet thing.
The lettuce image. Or maybe it’s a bok choy.
The whole collage. It was too tall for the canvas, so I cropped it, and flipped the lower part.
I added some typewriter keys to the left-hand side. I just drew them onto the canvas with a pencil. I had an inspiration photo, but I just winged it. I like the music/smoke/air coming out of the two small pipes. I painted over the sepia areas on the right and simplified it.
A closer look at the typewriter keys.
My Remington typewriter. The Smith-Corona beside it. They both still work.
The typewriter keys inspiration photo. It’s a sculpture by an artist who makes things out of old typewriters. His name is Jeremy Mayer.
I painted the background black. Now all I have to do is finish the lettuce/bok choy music coming out of the tuba machine. Then I can do the second layer of paint.
I’ve almost finished the lettuce/bok choy/music blast thing. It was late, so I went to bed. I’ll work on it today.
Working on the lettuce/music part of the painting. I like it so far, but the bottom half is going to need a lot more contrast.
I’ve repainted the bottom a few times now. I think it’s o.k. now. Not sure. It might need a bit more light grey.
Still trying to paint the furnace ducting thing at the bottom of the painting. Maybe it’s better now? We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
A closer look at the bottom of the painting. I do like it better now, but maybe it still needs something. It’s weird how the simplest things can go wrong. The rest of it was easy.
Waiiiit, waiiiit…maybe this is it.
‘Wrinkles’, at the bottom of the bend in the tube. I think I like it. It only took 10 layers. Now I need to do the other bends.
Yes sir. That’s what I’m talking about.
A close-up of the bottom. Finally. Why did this take so long?
A couple of layer later. I still have to do another layer on the black background. I added the letter ‘J’ to the right-hand side of the painting, for my initial, just for fun. I sign the sides and the back of my work.
'abstract' painting and 'pink cloud' painting
‘storm’, acrylic on canvas, John B. Aird Gallery on-line show, September 2023 to November 2023 www.airdgallery.org
I repainted the small spiral shape on the lower right hand side. I like it better now.
‘the pink cloud’ painting. Acrylic on canvas, 20x24”. I changed the colours in the rainbow to be more accurate. I like it better now. I entered this into an online abstract show, and the original ‘storm’ painting. Maybe it will be accepted.
The finished painting. I like it. I’ve wanted to do something like this for at least 2 years. I don’t know what took me so long. I altered the rainbow after I took this photograph.
Step 2 of the experimental abstract painting. I did the 4 small rectangles last night, then I taped them off and did the black cross shape. Now I need to figure out what the overall design is going to be. I can cut stencils with my Cricut stencil cutter if I want curves.
So far, so good. I see a totem pole, a tornado, a crow, a horizontal cross and the letter ‘A’. None of this was intended. It was just supposed to be a random painting of squares and geometrical shapes. It’s really fun to do though. I love different colours of paint swirled together.
The surface covered in swirled paint sections. Fun, but chaotic.
Painted out some of the background with white paint. And then…
I painted it blue. I went downstairs at 11 a.m., no shower, no COFFEE, and worked until 4:30. Forrey brought me a cup of tea. I had dinner and watched TV, then went back and worked for another couple of hours, until 3 a.m. All this, and I’m not even sure I like it yet.
I added another ‘t’ shape to the center of the painting, then scratched the paint with an exacto blade. At the end of the day, I like one part of this painting, so I’m going to do another painting, just of this part. I changed the title to ‘storm’. Acrylic on canvas, 20x16”.
This is going to be the next painting. I have a canvas primed and ready to go.
The ‘storm’ abstract painting, and the ‘pink cloud’ painting. I could hang them together.
One layer of paint on top of a layer of grey paint, and a layer of matte medium. I like it a lot so far. Layer two will smooth the colour out and make it more even.
The finished painting. I changed the rainbow, and took it outside in the sunshine to photograph it. I love it. I seem to be getting mixed reviews though. Most people like the other painting.
I bought this painting by Alexander Thomas @Thecreativebuffet on the Paris Art Crawl today. I love the texture and the shapes.
nosferatu - laughing mannequin painting
‘laughing mannequin’ art poster, 16x20” available through ‘new products’ on the website page.
The finished painting. I really like her, I can’t believe I found a mannequin to photograph.
‘nosferatu - laughing mannequin’ painting. This is the photograph I took of a laughing mannequin. I really like her mouth, and this painting will look good with the other two mannequin paintings I did. I did the drawing last night.
I started the painting. This is going to take a really long time. I found an old ‘diamond’ necklace to use as a reference for painting diamonds. It used to belong to my friend Brenda’s great grandmother. I’ll put it on and take a photo of myself in it for fun. I started with a pink tinted gesso for the painting. I projected the image onto it, then did the pencil drawing, and then started painting it. I also work with a printed reference photo. I like to exaggerate the colours and make it a bit more like a painting than a photograph. I love colour.
Finished the necklace. I might add a bit more to it.
My friend’s grandmother’s diamond and pearl necklace. I wanted to look at it for inspiration while I was painting the mannequin’s necklace.
Me, wearing the earrings and necklace.
It took me an hour and a half to paint a few feathers. This is layer one, so I’m going to have to do another layer on top of this one, or maybe two layers to get it to look good.
Working on the background now. It’s slow, but I like it. The feathers are taking a long time. They’ll have more detail on the second layer. I’m just trying to paint the areas the right colour at the moment. The drawing is detailed, but vague at the same time. I have to constantly refer to the photograph to figure things out.
I finished the first layer of paint on the top of the head, and I did some more of the background on the right-hand side. Lots to do yet. I tried a few sequins to see what they were going to be like, and it didn’t seem too bad. There are just a lot of them.
I did some more work on the feathers and background on the left-hand side. I wanted to finish them, but it was 3 a.m. and I was tired, so I stopped. I’ve started a small swirled abstract painting as an experiment. I like seeing two colours swirled together when I’m mixing paint, and I like the way it looks.
The top part is finished, now I can finish the sequins at the bottom. Then I can do the second layer.
I finished the sequins at the bottom of the painting. I’ve started layer two on the right hand side at the bottom. I like it so far.
I did another layer on the hat, and I started the second layer on the top of her face. I’m going to keep going, and work my way down.
I painted all of the skin. I just have to do a bit more on the sequins, and the feathers, and she’s done. Then I can start the ‘opera singer’ nosferatu painting.
Paris Independent
'nosferatu - opera singer'
‘nosferatu - the opera singer’, finished painting. I’m looking for a verse to go with it now.
‘My heels left dark calligraphy
across the marble floor,
it’s a message for the future that
the world cannot ignore.’
poetry in motion #832 v:2
Artist’s statement:
I combine poetry with painting because I want people to slow down when they’re looking at the painting. The art illuminates the poem, the poem narrates the art. I started with a collage of four images done in the computer, then I projected the image onto the canvas and did the painting. In ‘opera singer’, the purple smoke-like form coming from her mouth represents breath and song. I wrote a book with one poem, called ‘nosferatu - the vampire’s circus’, about a world where everyone was a vampire, like it was normal to be strange. I do like the nightmare-like quality too.
The rough collage done in the computer for the next painting, ‘nosferatu - the opera singer with the octopus skirt’.
I decided to make the octopus skirt bigger.
‘nosferatu - opera singer’, from a photo from the internet. I think I’m going to project this painted image onto a canvas and see what it looks like. If I like it, I’ll do a painting of the painting. I’m going to do a left arm as well. The purple vapor is music and breath. This is at the sketch stage, just to see what it looks like. It’s a problem for me to work with other people’s photographs, but I’ve never been to the opera, and I’m not sure they’d like it if I took photographs anyway. I wouldn’t sell this. It’s just for me. Is it o.k. to publish this on my website? I don’t know.
The beginning of the painting. I love her so far…
A closer look. This is 30x40”, but I think I would have like it much much bigger. Her face is really small, even at this size. It’s pretty much the upper limit of what I can do in my studio. The ceilings are low, and I hit the ceiling if I have a big canvas. The biggest I’ve done is 30x50”. I want to set up a still-life painting at the same time as I’m doing this painting. We’re putting our house on the market later, and I don’t want to scare anyone away. Ha.
I started working on the octopus dress. I like it a lot so far.
A close-up of the skirt. It’s an image of a vampire octopus. Of course.
The curtains take a long time. I’m finished the first layer on the right hand side, now I can start on the left hand side. I also repainted the ballet shoe on her right leg. The original photo had a deep shadow, which made the foot look much bigger. I like it better now.
I finished painting the curtains, layer one done, now I can start layer two. I’ve done her face and upper body so far.
I started the second layer of paint on the skirt. I’ve repainted the left shoe to make it look more like she’s on her toes. I love the colours.
An image I found on Pinterest. I love the colours and shapes, it reminded me of the octopus skirt.
The ‘vampire octopus’ photo from Pinterest.
Layer 2 mostly finished. The drapery needs a bit more work. I like her a lot. I love the orange octopus skirt.
a dulcet sparrow calls my name
Collage, paper, acrylic paint on 12x12” canvas. Step one. From the poem by the same name.
‘A dulcet sparrow calls my name,
there’s fury in the sound,
a year from now you’ll find the mottled feathers
on the ground.’
‘a dulcet sparrow calls my name’ #835 v:2 Feb 7 2023
The finished collage, after a bit of painting things in and out again.
paint skin collage
Recycled paint skins, collage, acrylic paint, texture medium, on canvas. I’m still working on the background. I’ve had these for a while now. I keep the skins when I clean out my paint containers when they dry out. I hate wasting anything, and I like the way this looks.
A closer look.
The white paint skin cross shape at the center of the collage. I love the 3D shape, and the contrast with the red circle. I used Polyfilla for the background circle shape. Next time I go to the art supply store I’ll get some texture medium. I did have some with flakes in it, which I used on the circle in the bottom left hand side of the collage.
I added some more detail to the background. I’m going to do a layer of spray varnish maybe, then I think it’s finished. I could do small individual ones too. Add it to the list.
Ouija board
Ouija board ‘qwerty’ layout. Just for fun.
Ouija board assemblage for ‘the fat lady sings’ book.
watercolour dahlia
The photograph.
The set-up. I do a good copy of the photograph on glossy photo paper, and then I do another one on thin regular printer paper to use for transferring the image onto the board. I traced the bitmap in CorelDraw to simplify the drawing. I like watercolour paint. It’s so clear and bright.
The painting, so far. I like it. It’s only about 7” square. Most of the rest of the background is going to be dark green and dark grey.
I started the black background. I think the flower needs more definition.
The flower, and the paint.
The inspiration photograph and the watercolour. I added some white to the lower petals to see if I liked it. It adds more detail to the texture of the petals, so I think I’ll add a bit more. The middle of the flower still needs work.
I added some acrylic paint on top of the watercolour to add a few details. I like the leaves and the dark background.
I did some acrylic highlights on top of the watercolour. Not sure it’s finished yet. It might need some more white. I like the leaves the way they are though.
'the unspoken word'
Glass sphere, cube, photograph. For the next book, ‘the unspoken word’.
‘go/no go’ assemblage. Wood scraps, wooden letters, beads, dice, scrabble letter, acrylic paint.
Glass cube, for the poem, ‘go/no go’.
Mirror image hologram glasses.
‘glass cube, carved hand, heart ornament’, photographed in my light box.
Carved hand, heart ornament, photograph.
‘coral, stone, carved stone heart’, photograph.
‘Jo’ - old photograph.
I drop the forgotten umbrella and
twirl,
you, the unbearable terrible man,
and me,
the invisible girl.
'nosferatu - the vampire with the morel hat'
‘nosferatu - the vampire with the morel hat’, collage, acrylic paint on canvas. This is just the first step in the collage. I saw the image of the morel mushroom and thought it would make a great hat. The ‘heart’, is actually a large image of an inner ear. It looks like an ancient nautilus to me.
I added a moon, and painted some flames for a wing, but I don’t like it, so I’m going to paint over it, or something. I like the rest so far.
I did some more work on the collage. I still have a lot to do to finish it. Looking for the imagery is fun.
I’m doing a layer of red on top of the black background. Not finished yet. I added a collaged bee to the left-hand side to balance the moon.
I added some curlicues to the fire/vapor/words coming out of the vampire’s mouth, and I painted a layer of colour on top of the moon. I also repainted the flames/wing, and added some black outlines to the heart/ribs. Maybe it’s finished, maybe it isn’t.
mannequin paintings
‘I tuck in the extra fabric,
sewing buttonholes,
polka-dots and stripes
mixed up in the dark,
scissors trimming the tatter’
‘skin’ #811 v:39 May 16 2022
‘mannequin’, photo for painting. I took this one night when I was in Paris (Ont) walking around doing another photo project. I like the black and white polka dots and the red jacket together.
The image and the canvas. I couldn’t help myself, I had to paint the lips.
A close-up of the lips. Just the dark crimson, and the red, so far. I just like the colours, black and white and red. I have two photographs, the other mannequin is wearing a striped jacket.
The second mannequin. Paris, Ont.
A unicorn mask in a store window in Woodstock. This will be a painting at some point too.
The first layer of paint. I did it faster than I usually do. I mixed the colours, then painted over top of the projected image, mostly to figure out where the shadows and highlights were.
I did a bit more work on the face and neck. I did more this morning, before I’d even had any coffee. Photo to follow.
I did some more work on the face and the top. I like the shadows.
Working on the jacket now. I don’t imagine it’s going to take me long to finish it now.
Changed the lip shadow, and did another layer of cranberry on the jacket. Is it finished? I think so. I have started the next painting, so probably. I usually look at it for a few days and if nothing bothers me, then I say it’s finished.
The drawing on the next canvas.
The photo for the next painting.
I started the next mannequin painting last night. So far, so good.
I finished the first layer of paint. The face is mostly done, but the nose still needs work. I like it so far.
My studio with the two ‘mannequin’ paintings.
I’m still working on the bottom right-hand side of the jacket, but it’s looking better now. I still need another layer of black on the background too.
The next ‘mannequin’ painting, from a photograph I took at a cool store in Port Hope.
3/4 view of the mannequin. I love the open mouth.
Trying to finish the ‘mannequin’ striped jacket painting. I’m working on the shadow on the right hand side now. I still need to do another layer of black on the background.
I did some more work on the right sleeve, and added another layer of black to the background. It could be finished. I’ll sit and look at for a while and see if there’s anything that bothers me.
I think I’ve finished painting the right hand sleeve, and the face. I’m going to look at it for a few more days, but it’s 99% there.
I decided to do some more work on the face and neck areas. I like it better now.