Tea with Emma

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard,

12 x 12'', 2010, #186

Continuing my authors series, I wish to shine some light on Jane Austen (1775-1817). Regrettably, I haven't been able to devote much time to reading in recent years, but my wife who is an avid reader has read a few of her novels. I have however seen several of the films that were adapted from her books. The first being Sense and Sensibility in 1995 for which Emma Thompson earned an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire England, the seventh of eight children. She was educated mainly by her father and older brothers, and began writing during her early teenage years with parodies and sketches meant for the amusement of her family. From 1811 to 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published after her death in 1818.

Finding desirable suitors (husbands) while maintaining social standing and economical security is a common theme in most of her novels. She died quite young at the age of 41 and ironically never married. The film, Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway explores her own journey of finding love as a young adult. At age twenty, she would have been romantically involve with a Thomas Lefroy. He had just finished a university degree and was moving to London to train as a barrister. However, he was financially dependent on an uncle, and since neither had money, their prospects were grim. Their plans to elope were shattered when Jane learned that his own family also depended on Tom financially. She would later receive another marriage proposal which she declined. Entering a marriage because of financial arrangements between two disinterested parties was an appalling concept for her. The parallel between the heroines in her novels and herself is that they would only marry for love. Her novels all have fairy tale endings. Sadly in her own life there were no Mr. Knightley or Mr. Darcy to sweep her off her feet.

She took a revolutionary stance when she said she wanted to become a writer. Employment opportunities were very limited for women at the time. Her first novels were even published anonymously, which spoke grimly of her own actual situation and for that of woman in general. Her books and film adaptations have all received critical acclaim. She appeals to Pop Culture and to the most serious scholars, because she understands human condition. They are eloquently written, witty, intelligent, articulate, melodramatic and of course sentimental and romantic. Her novels provide a biting social commentary of that era and are comedies of manners.

Last weekend as I painted away, the film ''Emma'' starring Gwenth Paltrow as Emma Woodhouse who thinks of herself as a romantic matchmaker, ran a total of three times during a 24-hour period on the Bravo network. This week, I rented ''Becoming Jane'' and listened to the director and producers commentaries describing each scenes as I continued painting. ''Pride and Prejudice'' a film I have viewed many times finished off my week. Keira Knightley gives a ''tour de force'' performance, especially in the scene when she first rejects Mr. Darcy marriage proposal( played by Matthew MacFadyen) .

The book in this painting was published by Barnes and Noble, with a Pre-raphaelite genre painting on it's cover entitled ''Il y en a toujours un autre'' (''There will always be an other''), 1882 by British artist Marcus Stone. It's unfortunate that the saucer covers almost all of the image.

When we visited the south of England this past spring, we had a chance to spend a few hours in Bath. A city she lived for a few years after her father retired. The photo on the left is of my son Jean-Luc at the front door of their house at 25 Gay Street. The photo on the right of my wife Suzanne a bit further down that same street at number 40, site of the Jane Austen Center. Due to time restraints on our bus tour, we only had enough time to venture off on our own to find these locations.

On a personal note, this painting is a tribute to my mother, whose name was also Emma. She died four years ago on November 17. Her beautiful spirit lives within me still. Her simplicity and gentile heart were her most endearing attributes and I loved her immensely. The tea cup and saucer (Windsor, fine bone china) belonged to her and was a wedding gift they received when she married my father in 1958. My own artistic abilities is a gift I've probably received from him. He had amazing manual skills and could practically do anything. It left an indelible impact on me. He preceded her to the grave in 2003.
Currently on exhibit at the Fog Forest Gallery's Christmas Showcase.
-SOLD

Red Current Jelly

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard,

14 x 11'', #182, 2010

This painting is a companion piece along with a smaller painting done in 2007, ''Un déjeuner sur l'herbe''. The photographic session was done a the same time, it just took a while to get back to the imagery which I was longing to do for a while now. This painting appears comptemporary, but could have been painted 125 years ago. Wilkin & Son started producing preserves in Tip Tree, a village in Essex England back in 1885. The Bordallo Pinheiro cabbage plate on which the jelly sits on is from a Portugal pottery house which started producing ceramics in 1884.

My first trip to Europe in 1986 included spending a few days in the south of Portugal. In the wake of my recent trip to the south of England, it seemed fitting to bring these two items together at this time.

About a month ago I was contacted by the Elliott Fouts Gallery requesting my participation in an Invitational group show ''The Still Life'' that is schedule to run from October 2 til November 5 , 2010 in their gallery located in Sacramento, California. It was an offer I could not refuse. Not only to have the opportunity to show my work across the continent, but among the other participants are four artists which I have been in contact with and are part of the artist links on this blog. It's a small world folk!

This painting is the first of three to be part of this show.

-SOLD

BBQ caddy

Acrylic on stretched canvas, #160

16 x 12'', 2009

Heinz Ketchup was first introduced on the US market in 1869. In 1909, it crossed north of the border and became available on store shelves for Canadian consummers, making 2009 it's centennial year. For this painting, I've recycled props from past paintings to create a new composition. The Coca-Cola caddy was featured in Empties, the salt & pepper shakers in Atlantic Salmon, and the red charcoal BBQ in a least five previous paintings. Have I ever mentioned that red is my favorite color to paint with, the more the better. Here, this painting gets the royal treatment. One of my rare paintings done on canvas.

Part of my solo show- Near & Far at Handworks Gallery- October 16-30, 2009.
-SOLD

Solo exhibtion - Near & Far

I am starting to post artwork that will be included in my solo show at Handworks Gallery in Saint John, NB. With a bit less that three weeks before the opening, I am currently working on painting number 17. I have started a series of smaller paintings in order to fill the space. With the exception of the two paintings above, the rest of the collection will consist of new works.

''Are we there yet?''- 14 x 20''

Acrylic on hardboard, # 142, 2008

-SOLD

I usually paint from photographic material that I find in my own surroundings. For this show, I have including imagery also found during my travels that still retains the same familiar attributes. I've decided to study the theme quite broadly, with acrylic paintings that makes references to consumerism and popular culture, while trying to create a narrative by linking some of the imagery together, either with subject matter, elements found within the artwork or cross references from my own life.

Handworks Gallery is located at 12 King Street, Saint John, NB.
To purchase artwork posted for this show, please contact the gallery.

Gallery hours: 10:00am to 6:00pm (AST) from Monday to Saturday

Telephone - (506) 652-9787, e-mail - info@handworks.ca
Artwork must remain in the gallery until closure of the show.

Near & Far runs from October 16-30, 2009

Vine-ripe tomatoes

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 11 x 15''

#83, 2004, Private collection

I am currently working on painting #10 for my fall solo show. In the meanwhile, I am posting a painting that was completed in the late fall of 2004. The image was inspired by the tomatoes themselves. It was about the time that I first notice that you could buy tomatoes that were not detached from one another but still on the vine as a grouping.

My mother-in-law was visiting us for a week. While we were at work, she had washed the dishes and did not know where we stored the 2-liter Pyrex measuring cup, so she left it on the counter, right next to the tomatoes.....and the conceptual idea was born. I added the knife as an element of transformation and to create tension. As Mary Pratt once said, ''What is art without tension''.

Cherries in Colander

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 6 x 6"

Painted- Oct. - Dec. 8, 2007, #140.

These type of Bing cherries, with a shiny skin, deep saturated color have a very meaty & juicy interior. Along with cultivated blueberries, are my favorite small fruits. During the month of June, we vacationed in beautiful British Columbia. During this period they were in season in the Okanagan Valley. We often stopped at road-side vendors or country store to buy some. When we got back home, Costco were selling them, I think in 5 lbs clear containers. Anyway, during this period I ended up eating many, many pounds.

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Visually, they also seem to be "objet de désir" for other Blog artists as well. Michael Naples, Jelaine Faunce, Mick McGinty, M. Collier, Otto Lange, Justin Claytor, John Beder, Terry Wagner, Paul Wolber and the incomparable Neil Hollingsworth & Linda Lucas Hardy are but a few who have examined these type of cherries and other varieties in which there are about one hundred. In my version, they are in our backyard in a small colander, sitting there in a large white serving bowl, waiting for me to eat them....YUM!

-private collection

Déjeuner sur l'herbe

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 6 x 6"

Painted Sept. 23-30, 2007, #134

This jelly is made in England by Wilken & Sons Ltd. It states on the jar that it is by appointment to her majesty the Queen Jam and Marmalade manufacturers. The whole time I was painting it, all I could think of was the green lawn and flower garden in the background and watching "Breakfast at Wimbledon" on the telly. The plate is my beloved Bordallo Pinheiro cabbage plate that I purchased during a boxing day sale at Winners in 2002. This is the fourth time it appears in a painting. I was not worried about the glass nor the stainless, but in order for this painting to work I needed to get the jelly on the teaspoon right. To be able to paint a blob that was semi-opaque, yet transparent, that reflected light from several directions and in different colors. I am happy with the result. For the title, I opted to go across the pond in France and borrow the title from paintings done by both Claude Monet and Edouard Manet. Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, which would translate to "The breakfast on the grass".

- SOLD

Tomatoes on a vine

Acrylic polymer emulsion on canvas, 16 x 12"
Painted - July 30 - Aug. 12, 2007 , #125

Since 1990, I have been painting with acrylic paints using a transparent layering technique. I have only painted on canvas once, opting for gessoed hardboard instead. I had a difficult time to make the paint stick if it was too thinly diluted. Ontario artist, Heather Horton wrote an article in Art Avenue magazine for their May/June issue of 2007. The article was an analysis of her painting process. Here, she mentioned that she applied two or three coats of gesso on the canvas with light sanding in between coats, "it helped to reduce the texture of the canvas and created a more even surface to paint on". In retrospect, the canvas I did paint on was pre-primed, it just needed more coats of gesso and sanding.When painting still lifes, the possibilities of subject matter is endless. With Tomatoes on a vine, the sunlight passing through the holes in this colander, the tomatoes being reflected inside the stainless steel vessel, the heavy contrasting shadows were the elements that inspired me to start with. I am very pleased with the outcome of this piece, and will paint on canvas more often from now on. Heather Horton has a very successful solo exhibition underway at the Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville, Ontario. She is a rising star on the Canadian art scene, and I am fortunate enough to call her a friend.

- SOLD

On the cutting board

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 12 x 18"
Painted May 22 - June 5, 2006, #102

Private collection - Québec City, Québec

This image is a result of happenstance. We were visiting Suzanne's sister Lise, and her family in Lévis Québec. Suzanne & Lise were preparing supper. Dicing up peppers and onions to garnish marinated beef & chicken skewers for the BBQ. As I entered the kitchen and saw what was in front of me, the only thing left to do was to get my camera. The light source is coming from the kitchen window. In the Pyrex measuring cup are onion skins, pepper seeds and tops. I like the way the light filters through the plastic cutting board onto the counter. Lise was a key figure in my growth as a painter.

When Sue & I got married in 1986, Lise was living in Vancouver BC, working for a firm where she did silkscreen printing and graphic art. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Université de Moncton. She was the one who introduced me to great artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Maxfield Parrish, Auguste Renoir.... My first visit to a major public art museum was in her company, at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1988.

Green Tea with Mary

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 12 x 10"

Painted- March 20 - April 1, 2007, #119.

In context that these paintings are all for a solo show, I am producing imagery that I hope will create a sort of narrative. Elements from one painting, may appear in another, either physically or thematically. Here, a tea cup is sitting on a Mary Pratt book entitled, A Personal Calligraphy. An art book with some of Mrs. Pratt paintings, chronicles, reflections and some of her published essays.

The light source above is coming from a Dragonfly Tiffany style lamp, a birthday gift from my wife a few years ago. I was fascinated by how the light and the stained glass shade played on the reflective surface of the tea. The cup and saucer are Royal Daulton.

- SOLD