This piece is an exercise in experimentation. It’s about ten inches square, made up of twenty five small pieces of wood. I originally was picturing something much more even and regular. Twenty five squares that fit together to make one big square. I found that such small pieces of wood didn’t break very evenly, though, and I didn’t end up with a very regular shape.

At first, I thought I’d have to scrap it and start over to achieve my “vision,” but I kept plugging along and eventually realized that the haphazard shapes added to the overall charm of the piece.

I’m also using an acrylic glazing liquid here, which allows the paint to be applied in translucent layers. I’m interested in how this adds to the depth and dimension of the inherently flat painting. It also allows for very subtle variations in the colours, creating a richer palette.

More experiments to come!

Every year I donate art to a few fundraisers. The piece above was sent to Ontario to be a part of OCAD’s Whodunnit fundraiser, an event that sells work anonymously. Student work is mixed with alumni and professional artists, but the buyers don’t know what they’ve purchased until it’s a done deal.

Although I forgot to bring my camera to the exhibition opening, I made sure I got some pictures of the gallery before my work came down.

It’s amazing how different these paintings look in a gallery setting with proper lighting from sitting in my cluttered studio. Suddenly, new relationships become evident. You can see the interplay between the colours in each painting and the different sizes of works. While hanging the paintings, we moved things around a lot and it’s surprising how different a painting looks depending on the painting it is beside.

The best part of this show was the lighting. The spotlighting really highlighted each painting, letting them exist as individuals as well as part of the entire show. It was also great to see the shadows these works throw.

All in all, I think this was a very successful show, despite some minor construction issues!

Once again, this piece is the first in a series of four. I like working in series. It gives me a chance to work with different ideas simultaneously within a similar framework. This lets me see the effects of my decision making while I paint.

This series is based on monochromatic colour. The original concept was that by painting the surface of the painting in a single hue, I could emphasize the white underneath and between each square, which would in turn emphasize the construction of the painting.

At first, the piece was a single turquoise/blue, which I then decided was too intense. I began painting out single squares with a darker shade, realizing partway through that the two-toned colour was really working. It’s hard to explain how important that realization is to me. Several years ago I probably would have painted over the entire piece, once I’d made the decision to do so. Learning to step back and assess my art while I paint has greatly changed the way I work. I’ve come to realize the importance of seeing what I’m doing rather than planning it in my mind.

This painting is 11×11″ with wood panels on three levels. Individual squares have also been popped out to create a greater sense of depth.

25 Squares
FINA Gallery, UBC-O
3333 University Way, Kelowna
September 12-24, 2010

All four paintings centre around a red, yellow, blue palette, but of all of them, this piece is closest to the basic primary colours. For this reason, it reminds me of one of my favorite artists, Mondrian.

One of the fascinating things about Mondrian’s paintings is that although he works with red, yellow, and blue, none of his colours are completely pure or “straight from the tube.” Each hue is intentionally mixed to create a very subtle palette.

I was definitely considering this as I mixed my own colours for this painting.

That “intentionality” is present in the other areas of these paintings as well. By that I mean that every element of this painting is intentional, from the precise shade of the colours to the arrangement of the shapes. Even the few areas where paint can be seen on the wood background have been left intentionally.

The proces by which I create my paintings causes random elements and “mistakes,” but the way these elements and mistakes are used is entirely intentional.

This piece is 30×30″ and 7″ at its deepest point. Incidentally, it also reminds me of legos.

A contrast that has been becoming more apparent to me is the contrast between the clean, sharp, almost pristine painted shapes and the ragged edges and construction of the wood pieces. I paint and repaint the edges of each rectangle until it is smooth, straight and linear. I like the implied struggle between the very different handling of the paint and the wood.

Another contrast, and a main theme in my work, is that between flatness and depth. The canvas is flat, the wood is flat and the painting is flat, but the way it’s put together is anything but. The layering of flat materials creates depth and dimension.

I see each layer of my paintings as hovering on its own plane, separate from the rest but simultaneously connected. The planes are parallel to each other and when seen together, they create the painting. This is an “illusion” I try to create by using spacers between each layer to create space between them.

This painting is just over five inches deep all together. The frame is four inches deep, as opposed to the two inches of the previous works. Again, the painting exists on three levels, but each level is even more spaced out than before.

The third in my set of red/orange paintings, this one uses two shades of blue with a light green to compliment the red.

It doesn’t get much more traditional than paint on canvas, but these pieces are far from traditional.

While I call my works paintings for the sake of convenience, they are probably better defined as constructions, or even just art objects.

One of the by-products of this type of process is creating a new language for art. I didn’t set out to find a way to push the boundary of the traditional picture plane, but that is one of the things that is happening in this series. Here, the picture plane is literally destroyed. The painting extends beyond the frame of the canvas, which creates tension. Each fragment is precariously bound to the edge of the picture plane. But are the fragments coming together or flying apart?

These are some of the things I ponder while I work. There are no answers, just questions, and that is the beauty of it.

This piece is the second in a set of four that began with the same colour. I started with the red/orange and, knowing I wanted to use blue as a contrast, worked with a variation of the colour scheme from the first painting. I used a lighter yellow and a deeper maroon to offset the dark blue. This piece went through many stages of painting and re-painting as I tried to find the right colour combination.

Two inches deep, this abstract is 30×30″ and has three levels of wood fragments.

This painting is the first in a set of four that started with the same red/orange base colour. Each of the four has a completely different colour scheme stemming from the original red. Working away from the red/orange on the colour wheel, I went with a deeper, cooler, maroon and a warmer, paler yellow. Then I choose a very pale sage green to contrast with the reds.

The painting is about two inches deep, with layers of wood on three levels. The bottom-most layer is flush with the back of the frame, the middle layer is flush with the top of the frame, and the bottom left corner is raised above the frame. On top of that, individual squares of canvas project off the picture plane as well.

When constructing these types of paintings, I spend a lot of time arranging the wood pieces into just the right composition. These pieces are kind of like puzzles, but I don’t know what I’m making until it’s all finished. Sometimes I spend an hour finding the perfect arrangement of shapes. Throughout this process, I’m looking at edges and colours and the way the shapes overlap.

I’ve been working on a new series of paintings that are becoming more and more sculptural.