Oil Paintings

These panels are about our fickle emotional and physical existence marked by happenstance, circumstance and choice. They are records of various overlapping chapters of my life. The Letter was inspired by a series of emotionally charged letters, the circumstances surrounding the letters, and the feelings they evoked in all persons involved. The Handicap is a tribute to the 9-5 labourer. It is a satirical look at a job situation I was dependent on for a long time. The suction pit, lined with a safety net, in the bottom right, represents the conflict of choosing the promise of security versus the more liberating but financially risky pursuit of art making.

In 1987 I painted this series in the evening after I had put both my children to bed. I remember the glee with which I would carefully pull my palette down from its place upon the hutch near the ceiling where the children couldn’t reach even with the aid of a chair. Then I painted uninterrupted until I was too tired to risk not going to bed, knowing I may be woken at any hour of the night. These express a longing for emotional intimacy. In Ebony and Ivory zebras appear to be grazing together but each have their own territory that separates and distances them from one another. Warm Interior reflects the wishful absence of chaos. It is my living room painted from life, excluding the messiness. Winter Warmth emerged after receiving a pair of handmade mukluks from a friend. The interior is imaginary, but the outside was what I saw looking out the window. These became my first work to be recognized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery Rentals and Sales and inspired me to attend art school.