Re-presenting

My new work presented in my last post finds its beginnings in past explorations. In 2008 I completed a body of work titled Remnants. A remnant can be so many things: vestige, residue, trace, leftover, debris, mélange, scrap, refuse, detritus, relic remains, fragment. It all depends on your personal take. Here's mine from a recent proposal for an exhibition of Remnants:


In abandoned or soon to be refurbished homes, in trunks and old boxes, in debris hidden in grass rests layers of history waiting to be uncovered and interpreted. While the place and time might be specific, the information gathered reveals universal truths. The examination of what remains provides a sense of the past and direction for the future. These pieces of history help to define identity and understand place.


Using various art techniques, I explore the themes inherent in remnants left behind. I’ve placed my family history within the process but extend the exploration to old houses, some abandoned and some in the process of renovation. While one of the houses has a personal connection, the rest I adopted as I came across them in my summer wanderings. The houses continue to come to my attention and I continue to document them for future works.

The peeling walls are metaphors for the lives lived within the houses and are similar in many ways to my early years. The beauty of the wallpaper patterns is in direct opposition to the basic work filled lives led by many of the women in these homes. Seeing beauty perhaps made their environment more aesthetically pleasant. Many of these woman created work by hand that adorned their home made furniture and children. It was the inside life of women while many of the objects I painted to pair with the wallpapers represented the outside life of men at that time: building, fishing etc. There was a strict division of labour and definite male and female roles.

These works are about my memories as much as they are about the objects that I have chosen to revere in the work.

As Estes notes in Women Who Run with the Wolves many of our memories are rooted in the body itself and need the merest touch to resurface.

"The body remembers, the bones remember, the joints remember, even the little finger remembers. Memory is lodged in pictures and feelings in the cells themselves. Like a sponge filled with water, anywhere the flesh is pressed, wrung, even touched lightly, a memory may flow out in a stream."

I became interested in the concept of sensual memory while writing my first artist statement. As I struggled to understand why I needed to work the way I do, I realized that my strong tactile style had a direct connection to the crafts I created in my formative years in rural Newfoundland. My hands have to create layers of meaning through the manipulation of materials. Paint isn’t enough; I need direct contact with materials, tearing and cutting fragments, applying layers, building up, patterning, hiding and revealing. I am building a network of connections in the content and the creative process just as my ancestors did as they created objects of useful beauty, without waste, from materials at hand.

My process itself is based on remnants created by tearing and rearranging image transfers. My new work has moved beyond some of the ideas explored in Remnants. Teresa said in her response to my last post ... "The first though that popped into my head was "haunting memories" in that it seems like memory born from a dream-like state". Haunting memory is definitely part of it, but the memories are born through the process of creating and layering. They are stored memories released through touch.

New work

Untitled so far (16 x 16 in.) mixed media on canvas

It's time for the great unveiling of my new landscape series. I will write more about my intent and thoughts in the next post. Right now I'm just throwing the piece out there for any response you might like to give. Enlarge it to get a close up view of what's going on. There's still some final shadows to do on the fishing box and boat but all else is complete.

More on image transfer

Image transfers usually make their way into my work (even when it doesn't look like they are there). Because I make so many I've had to find ways to perfect my technique. I've begun a new series called Re-presenting until I come up with something better and the image transfers are happening fast and furiously. I thought I would create a review post with some additional hints and pictures to add to my previous posts on the subject (see my sidebar).
I use an old shower curtain to lay out my colour photocopies that I want to create into image transfers. My all time favourite acrylic medium for this is Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. Apply four coats in alternating directions with drying in between, and leave overnight to dry completely. You can force drying with a hair dryer if you need one or two fast, but I don't do that as a rule.

When the papers are completely dry, soak in a bath of warm water for 15 minutes. I sometimes add Bounce or a similar product to the water to help release the paper. This is an old wallpaper removal trick.

I work on my kitchen countertop. Dampen the area with a spray bottle and place the image face down. Start to remove the paper from the centre outward with your fingertips with a delicate touch until you find out exactly how much pressure you can apply.

You will need to keep spraying the paper to keep it damp. When most of the layers are removed it's time to begin the finishing touches. I have two favourite tools I use.

The plastic scrubbie works very well and holds up for months. You can just run water over it to clean when you are finished.

I also like the combined sponge and green scrubbie. The positive for this tool is the sponge which can be used to remove all clinging bits at the very end of the process. The disadvantage is that the scrubbie side clogs up with paper over time and you can't easily remove it.

I give each finished transfer a final brush with a wet paper towel before I lay it to dry.


Let dry before use and then tear them up and re-organize to your hearts content. You can use gloss medium or matt medium to apply the transfers to your work.
I would be happy to answer any questions on the technique.

Next post ... new work. It's time to go public.

Making progress

My pattern and wallpaper obsession continues. Yesterday I completed stage one of upcoming image transfers in gel skin my new work. I have almost one hundred photocopies of wallpaper shots ready for their first coat of gloss medium when I get to my summer house tomorrow.

My fingertips are numb just thinking about rubbing off all that paper to reveal the image in the gel skin. To save my fingers, I've been experimenting with other "objects" to remove the paper. I'll write a post on what is working best when I return. Lately I've also been using direct transfer right on the surface as a beginning layer. This technique does not leave the built up edges you get from gel skin transfers. Sometimes I want that smoothness but the build up of edges makes the layers more prominent and reminiscent of the passage of time reflected in peeling wallpaper.

I have two weeks to paint to my heart's delight. I have one new work complete, one almost and one begun. I hope to come back to the city with four completed works. This series is on 16 x 16 canvas. My last two series have been on cradled panel. The texture of the canvas in the background seems right for this new work. Fabric like and pliable. All the reasons why I rejected it before. Here's a sampling of my inspirations...

Text will play a part in several of the paintings. At least that's what I think today. Who knows? All of these shots came from an old house in my summer community, Duntara which a friend of mine has since purchased and has dreams of having a small museum/ gallery there. This is a very interesting concept in a community of approximately 50 people.

It's the one in the middle next to the small red shed. I love the off center door and the blue green trim , a staple colour in the past for this community.

No contact with the internet for two week. Good bye for now.