You are part of the story - 2023 12 16

 




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Creative Works - 2025 01 24

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  Acrylic ink and brush, glass pen, pen and ink on paper 9" x 6" Last evening my neighbour, and friend, Louise, came over for a drawing session. For many years we have passed each other on the street, this was our first time sitting down together to draw. I laid out a selection of papers, brushes, graphite, glass pens, ink pens, and acrylic inks on the dining room table. We used a collection of glass shot glasses for mixing ink washes and tones.  We started at 7 pm and finally wrapped up at 10 pm.  I was surprised by the drawing I made. It is a combination of techniques I have been exploring since I first started drawing in my late teens. A descriptive, dynamic contour line giving a sense of the edge of form, giving definition for a form to emerge. Symbolic markings of triangles, circles and short lines. Organic tracings of splash marks, their reach extending into exploratory threads. Tonal washes that give substance to shapes and definition between the emergence of shape...
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Magic and Mark-making - 2025 03 20

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  Pencil crayon, pen and ink, acrylic ink on paper, 6 1/2" x 5" Last night I decided to stay home and work on my drawing instead of going out to take part in an evening with the Vancouver Folk Song Society.  It was hard to make the choice, because both of these activities are my contribution to the antidote for authoritarianism and feel equally important.  I had a key pattern in progress and I was ready to put the third, final layer of lines, colour and washes. I was curious to see how it would turn out and that is where I put my energy. In his book, "Celtic art: The methods of construction", George Bain has a chapter on Key Patterns. I have added information from his book to give background about the meaning and significance of key pattern design. Some Chinese key patterns belong to periods prior to BC 1,000. In the British Museum there is an Egyptian carving showing a key pattern and interlacing dating BC 3500 - BC 3000. Square and diagonal key patterns engraved o...
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Step pattern - 2025 03 04

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  Pen and ink, ink wash on paper - 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" The last time I worked with Celtic knots I was extricating myself from an abusive domestic situation. I was ending an eighteen year marriage to an emotionally abusive husband. I have been triggered by the current situation in the US and global geopolitics, especially Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty. Puzzling out the Celtic knot and step patterns helps me transcend a state of traumatic brain injury and shift my creative problem solving back into recovering the agency, autonomy and empowerment I possess. The step pattern provides structure and infinite variation in expression. The basic structure of the step pattern is a grid subdivided by a pre-determined number. In the case of this drawing, I was experimenting with the grid subdivided into increments of five. This resulted in the step pattern based on five shapes. In this drawing the grid has been laid out by hand. There is an organic variance...
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