What's this painting about?

I am often perplexed when someone asks me what a painting is about,
what it means, or what I am saying.  Just as the words I choose to express an idea will more or less frame and colour the fluid thought I have in mind, so they will be heard and interpreted differently by every listener, depending on context, history, perceived tone and expression; a myriad different interpretations.

And beyond that, other than direct illustrations in response to a concrete text, paintings which I create may begin with a line or shape and thereafter take on a meaning different every time I work on them and holding each of these references for me while perhaps having none of these for the viewer.

So unless we have a lot of time - and I mean A LOT - to discuss all these various themes, histories and nuances given the lines, colours and shapes that appear, go ahead and tell me what sort of response YOU have to a piece.  Really.  Go ahead.  No response is unacceptable.  And let's go from there. 

Home Stretch - Kensington Market Art Fair May 31

On my worktable just now... Countdown is in the final two weeks. This is when it is the MOST fun (until adrenaline takes over on the day of, at least) because in my mind, just at present, everything I dream I will do is still possible.  I have not yet run out of time to get every vision on to canvas and out the door.

All happening at once.  I can just imagine the conversations they are having when I step away for a moment.

Accumulation and Dispersal

My sketchbooks have been developing over the years; layers laid upon layers of thought as pages left unfinished are revisited and the progression of ideas slowly accumulate into an image.

I have long wanted to find a home for these ideas outside of the sketchbook; somewhere they could be seen outside of these pages, perhaps find someone who might want to take one home and live with it.  An art director asked for a few for a magazine a while ago now, but I wanted to see them in a home, breathing among someone's possessions, glimpsed in the busy schedule of other's lives and thoughs.

When a friend mentioned the Kensington Market Art Fair and its upcoming dates over this summer, I began to feel that this corner of the city and intersection of personalities might be a good place to encounter people who would enjoy these sorts of works.

So now I am engaged in making some pieces ready for printing while developing unique works from the ideas laid out in others.  I tend to work in black and white in my sketchbooks, so the question of colour is a big one.  The difference in voice from 17 inches across to 3 feet... An interesting series of options with which to wrestle.

If you happen to be in Toronto Sunday May 31, come down to Kensington and look for the babble, the white tents, see how the wrestling matches turned out.