This Painting Is Good

Horned Lizard acrylic on canvas 12 x 12 x 1.5 inches 2016

My painting of a Horned Lizard (featured above) will be making it's American debut soon!

bG Gallery

3009 Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica CA 90404

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 14, 2018

Show will be up until May, more info at http://www.santamonica.bgartdealings.com

I hope to go so maybe I see you there.

When I'm not painting I work as a community visiting nurse in the downtown core of Toronto, ON. I work part time and I just hit my 3 year mark, small pickles when you consider I've been painting for 10+. However, when I'm not working on priceless original works of art I'm saving lives, solving problems, meeting interesting characters, gathering ideas and looking for parking spots! It's something to be proud about and I should give myself more credit. 

On the art front I'm hard at work here in the temporary studio art residency while my own studio apartment's getting some much needed renovations. My favourite thing to do when I come home from painting break is getting right back into painting. Here I am filling out some 3rd and 4th coats to the giant goose painting, you can see I've started adding some shadows and textures as well.

I've been getting weird dreams about my life being scattered about, maybe to do with living between 2 places right now. I worked the evening today so in the afternoon I power napped and dreamt all my belongings were scattered about on Spadina Ave. I was running late for work (as always in my dreams) and worried about making sure no one steals my precious things. Although I'm not sure why anyone would want my nursing scrubs, very disorienting.

Here's a framed print of my Flamingos In The Bathroom Painting someone bought. People at work really like to talk about my artwork. Like when I show up at the group meeting or the office, everyone's always asking how the painting's going and passing my emails around, it really catches me off guard sometimes because I'm there to stock up on medical supplies, sort out client problems and cash in my expense reports and in that moment I kind of forget this whole other self until I am definitely reminded of again. Aw everyone's so supportive, we really are a TEAM. Sometimes I'll arrive to a patient's home and that'll ask about my painting to which I reply, "SOMEBODY'S been gossiping about me"..

Anyway, below is the original, I don't know what it is with flamingos but every month (at least) somebody somewhere brings up this painting in my everyday conversation. I painted it in 2014 when I was looking for my first nursing gig which was sort of a hard time for me, I don't like job hunting, I don't deal with uncertainty well. Anyway and there it sat in the corner of my room with a pile of stuff and I wondered whether or not I was wasting my time until someone bought it for auction 2 years later. Now I've sold prints and towels and shower curtains of this thing and people love to bring it up. Whoever has it is a very lucky, lucky person. My only regret, I didn't take more pics before we parted. I wish you could know how could a painting is while you were painting it. Regardless, painting it was a terribly fun time. I love the shades of grey and white and how the pink and blue stand out from it and the use of light and shadow. I'm a big fan of the Vermeer dutch golden age on top of Magritte surrealism. 

Did you know? It took 200 years for Vermeer to finally get recognized?! They say he died of exhaustion in a time of war and left his family in debt. Even in a time of shitty circumstance, one beyond his control, he found the light and painted. After death he was known locally but it took a couple of decades for him to find status beyond that. Today people line up everyday to see his paintings. He must have known his paintings were good, I hope.