It’s always nice to hear that someone saw my work and both liked it enough and was in a position to purchase it so they could take it home.

“Untitled (Layered Trees)” is one of two artworks sold recently at the Take 2 exhibition at Neilson Park Creative Centre, which has its closing reception this Sunday, 2–4pm. Click here for more details. (On a sidenote, the reception is also an early-bird opportunity to register in-person for spring courses!)

This photo-based mixed media piece is 8” x 8”, on a wood panel, and layers a mounted photo-digital print under an image transfer from a piece of film that I spent considerable time altering by hand before applying.

Trees are a recurring motif in my work now that began to appear regularly once I started my anatomical hearts body of work, because the tree branches are so beautifully analogous to the branching behaviour of veins and arteries. As so often happens, our inner world reflects the outer one, because branching behaviour is a fundamental design structure in nature; it's one that I have become enchanted by. 

I am drawn to the relationship between branches but also to the complexity, which reflects what I experience so often in my own mind and out in the world as I navigate a profusion of sensory inputs and relational ones as well. Complexity can become overwhelming, which some artists (eg Julie Mehretu) communicate (and create) very well.

It's interesting then that for this piece I chose to concentrate on editing the complexity, leaving only small touches of it in deliberate places.

Well that’s all very nice, but none of what I said really addresses the slightly tongue-in-cheek headline I gave this post! 

That headline is rooted in my realization this year that it sometimes isn't clear that my work is almost always available for sale. Some of the more unusual formats might require a little adaptation or customization for a new, permanent home, but most of my work transfers quite easily. 

It’s also true that sometimes when I’ve made a lot of new work for a show or event (like a festival) I’ve worked so hard right up until the installation that I haven't had a chance to work out pricing in time for the opening. So that can be another issue, but it’s only a temporary one :-) 

I’ve had enough people ask that I thought I should clear that up! 

​(Continues below...)

Instead of writing more in this second blog post about my installation at the In Situ 2018 festival, (to see part one click here), I will speak to you via the video below, shot and edited by my charming colleague photographer/videographer Nettie Seip, to whom I owe many thanks!

You'll see me on-site in the room during the early stages of installation as I talk about the work and my intentions for it. Then you get to tour through it at night with it fully installed while the festival was in progress.

​Please take a look and let me know what you think! 

Perhaps after the holidays I will put together some time-lapse video shot over the three nights I spent drawing the Hearts in Place mural in front of the festival audience. I will upload it to my YouTube channel – please click on the link and if you like it, consider subscribing :-)

OK Go is a band that does extraordinarily creative, innovative and powerful visual music videos like no one else – they are art forms in and of themselves. They pull off incredible feats without relying on the magic of digital effects, what you see always happened in real life and in real time.

Seriously, you need to check these videos out, no matter what your musical preferences are, those won't matter at all. Here are some I recommend (titles are links):

• Rube Goldberg Machine (This Too Shall Pass)
• Musical Obstacle Course (Needing/Getting)
• Zero Gravity (Upside Down & Inside Out)
• The One Moment (incredible synced slow motion)

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What these videos show is that these guys are masters at finding ideas. Extraordinary ideas. They also obviously have an amazing team and a considerable budget to pull them off, but plenty of uninteresting ideas have that and get made.

Below is a TED Talk they gave on "How to Find a Wonderful Idea". They point out that the usual approach of sitting in your chair (or other favourite thinking spot) and dreaming up an idea, then planning and polishing it before executing it is missing a vital step: the "sandbox" – that place where you play and discover or unearth your real idea, the wonderful one that the preliminary idea (which leads you to where the sandbox is) was just the seed for.

We had an enthusiastic group at Saturday's painting demonstration at Otto Art gallery in Toronto. I showed how I approach painting two series: my 'Aroundeds' and the 'Radiants' series that gave the show its title.  I will continue to work on the 'Radiant' demo painting and post photo updates here when ready.

Last week I gave a talk with a demonstration component to members of the Oshawa Art Association. My main demo was of the process I use to make my 'Arounded' acrylic paintings. A magical part of the process is watching the painting emerge as the paint dries.

At the talk I promised that I would share photos of the drying process because the changes are so dramatic as the gel portion dries, due to the nature of acrylics: when wet, the gel or mediums are milky white; they dry clear (more or less, depending on medium and other factors).

Spots with the very thickest applications can take a considerable time to dry fully. Extremely thick applications done all at once may never truly clarify.

Although there are small remaining gel "peaks" that are not yet clear, this sequence gives you a good look at the drying effects over time.