A New Thing

I recently had the unique experience of spending four weeks in a new place: St. John's, Newfoundland. While spending my weekdays doing work-work, I also took so many pictures and of course made a ton of sketches. If you follow me on Instagram, maybe you saw some of my sketches or some pictures of boats and new landscapes in my stories.

Lately I've been thinking about how my work consists of sketching on location and experiencing places through sketching and through various actions - like walking or swimming - and then my oil paintings come from a combination of the sketches and the experiences. When I paint, I think about how well I can get to know a place through these actions – how it feels, the energy of the place, the sounds, sights, smells, solidity or airiness, wind, rain, cold and heat - and the sketches contribute to getting to know the shapes and lines that go with it. So, the point is to connect with a place briefly, so that what I paint comes out abstracted or flattened or with unlikely colors or patterns, but the feeling of the place is there.​

But now I get to see what it's like to make work about a place where I didn't just pass through. Where I stayed for a little while, but still experienced through sketching, walking, climbing hills, driving, sleeping (there was an amazing view from the bed and I was always aware of it), and taking a boat and a ferry! 

​Now I'm back in my studio and, of course, I plan to use these activities and sketches and pictures to capture the feeling of the place. And I'll be sharing here to help myself work it out. What did I learn? What has changed in my art? Will the paintings be different because I know the place better? Do I want them to be?