connecting with and within the universe….a friend who took the time to post her thoughts with some clarity on the work……

Christine Stonehewer posted on Micheal Zarowsky Watercolours / Acrylics’s timeline

–     https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=696195390401932&id=108759625812181&aymt_tip=1

“I think these images of Zarowsky’s works are inspirational. He is willing to take on and convey the complexity of visual experience, a complexity from which he does not shy away. I look forward to seeing them on the original. ”

Thank you Christine,  blown away by your thoughtfulness. both in what you have to say and that you took the time to do so

All along, the focus, is a fresh original dialogue on the Canadian landscape, where the emphasis is on the process of discovery: that is, the creative interpretation of some aspect of the world – being coupled with a second process; namely, that of inventiveness – the personal expression of what is discovered

I paint light, atmosphere, the transparency of water. None of these can be painted directly. You can only paint the effects of light. the different values / intensities where there is no light appearing as shadows. / explore water through the very reflections that outline its movement. The reflected sky above reaching down, the bottom sand rocks and grasses all reaching up towards the surface, the changing colours of the forest edges trying to define, shape and contain it. I end up painting everything but the very thing I seek to paint.

(left) “pickerel weed with infinity rings” (7)  46″ x 30″  mixed media (watercolour / acrylic painted directly on gessoed birch panel) and (right)  “lilies with pine bough, brunel rd beaver pond” 22″ x 30″   watercolour on arches paper (click on image to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on another note:

Snowshoed my way into the new year well past the start of February, knowing while i could retrace my steps, i would not be able to undo the choices made, even though i could see the path worked out so far this year…

Snow came late this year, (although the whining about it from all the ‘tough’ canadians started early enough) but when it did the magic was all there again…

‘moments sin the world when everything is alright’  30″ x 40″  mixed media

Haven’t posted for what seems like along while, part of it being due to building a new website, setting up a blog on it, and expressing comments there…..do i need 2? It is not as if i posted daily or anything anyways….part of it due to near daily feeding my facebook pages…….spreading myself rather thin over too many venues…. .but mostly it being seeds of indifference sprouting into visual awareness here and there as regards continuing to paint…..

   daylight crossing paths with overnight snowfall draping eternities and distances  2013   20″ x 48″  watercolour painted directly on absorbent ground on gessoed birch panel

Karen, a friend and artist outside Ottawa, being snowed in today, appropriately sent along a link to an article on snow today;

http://www.theartistsroad.net/

I guess most of what they say has some merit….the article is superficial /  shallow / mere timely filler i suspect ……

Never thought / nor found colour of snow to be a constant / for me, snow is alive / fluctuations is colour and temp (much the same thing) are ongoing everywhere ones looks all the time / so yes i have painted everything from pink to black snow / really no different than painting waves –when i  think of all the colours in the refracted light of undulating water / i go nuts if i do not reduce / simplify down to a few stronger ones to carry the weight of it all.

Cold is a problem for most people because they fight /resist it / anticipate unpleasant experiences with it – i get just as cold as the next person  but i let it fill me / become one with it / not fight it and have no ‘stress’ with regards to being in it and i do not find it as cold in any debilitating way. Same with heat..  but then same as people stressing out over cold, i question why most painters of snow bother to paint it – i say this because i see no love of snow being expressed in their work – which leads me to suspect their motives for choosing this subject…i really like the stuff. If i had the springy spriteness of a dog i would just leap with joy thru it along side it…so when they talk about difficulties regarding “the intense light reflected by the snow” – that they have difficulty seeing in the snow, is simply because they do not realize they have to let the light come to them before they can understand it let alone paint it. (this lack of understanding is further illustrated by their resorting to posting timed photos of snow over the course of a day as if that explains their difficulties….pseudo science to the rescue)

I suppose i could go on and on – but things are rough here at the moment – the artist project was a bust –most of who i know there, like me, did not make booth fees –  i keep forgetting the organziers are only interested in boots on the ground and mail out to their one of a kind crowd which is not art buyers and then we just found out Wendy’s mums cancer has darker implications which will become clear on tuesday whether she lives or leaves the planet…