The first most immediate reward has been working on old grounds that I haven't played with for a while namely paper and cardboard. I almost forgot how much I love graphite! (Not really I have an astounding number of pencils lol.) The other ground I've been working on has been remnant fabrics from my days as an interior designer. The first couple of paintings (yes I'm not about to give up painting) this year were created on a beautiful upholstery fabric — cream coloured with a silver metallic ribbon through it. It is wonderful to paint on - the brush grabs the fabric in a completely different way than canvas does and it produces some interesting results. I have a whole slew of remnants from various projects over the years so I'm anxious to keep working them.

The other aspect of experimentation that I'm pursuing is installation - in addition to working on different grounds I'm exploring different ways to mount and then install the paintings - some frustration but lots of fun overall. The image above is the first piece I completed - it's called "I thought of you". Not every situation in life can be contained. In this piece I wanted the concept to go beyond the ground it was created on and zero in on elements of the painting rather than the seeing the whole image (although it does exist), and break the boundaries that a stretched or traditionally framed painting would give to it. 

It would also seem that I have moved away from working with a colourful and bright palette right now (could be I'm missing the sun and my creative retreats to warmer climates - could be? No. I am.) I'm okay with this — there are so many shades of grey and different blacks that it presents a number of other welcome challenges [much like relationships].

#creativeadventures #artistexperiments #Canadianwinters