A394 Token VII (bowl)

A394 Token VII (bowl)
8x5" Prisma Colour on panel
$60.00

An experiment using coloured pencils on a primed panel.

Anomaly Series

A393 Token VI (caregiver)

A393 Token VI (caregiver)
10x8" acrylic and prisma colour on board
Private collection

The Token theme is about the almost magical moments and events in our lives, often repeating, that can become symbolic to us. When a crisis arises, these tokens seem to fall from the sky; someone takes care of us, or something or someone suddenly appears to make us smile. Something special happens, or something doesn't happen (also gratifying, in some cases). Sometimes we don't notice them, little golden bits in almost every day. A smile. A word. The plaintive song of a bird. Moments of peace.

If we were to make a pile of all the little tokens we have ever received or found and count them, it would be shocking to see how many we collect in our lives, and how easily they roll away to hide in drawers or under other things, how easily they become tarnished. But if we all made a stack of them, if would be a mighty tower. It would make us look up.

Anomaly Series

A392 Artist & Anomaly V

A392 Artist & Anomaly V
24x18" acrylic, pastels, pencils
private collection

This is a lost and found work. I did not have it recorded in my catalogue, and had not taken a picture of it. One day my friend Deb visited, and she brought the picture with her. I had given it to her daughter and then forgotten it completely. So here it is, slightly out-of-place, since there were no other numbers available for it, and I can't quite make out the date. The picture surprised me...what was I thinking when I did it? I think I was simply enjoying the shapes and colours and patterns. Maybe it's my child artist, surrounded by her creative aura.

Anomaly Series

A390 Token V (speckled bird)

A390 Token V (speckled bird)
10x8" acrylic and prisma colour on board
Private collection

The speckled birds appeared in a vivid dream after I finished chemo. I (dreamed I) was lying in bed, peacefully free of care and pain. A flock of colourful spotted birds sat on me and the blankets, cooing and chirping softly. It was just me and the birds, suspended in a blissful dreamscape.

I think of those birds often. And now they have settled comfortably in my paintings.

Anomaly Series

A388 Token IV (fish & raven)

A388 Token IV (fish & raven)
12x12" acrylic & prisma colours on stretched canvas
Private Collection

The idea for the token sequence of little paintings began with a casual challenge from my mother. We were looking at her sketchbooks, in particular the pages of medallion-shaped designs, which she originally intended for pottery. I said that I thought they would make wonderful paintings. 'Show me how you would put a round design on a square canvas,' my mother said. I made a quick sketch similar to one of her designs, and liked it so much that I
decided to paint it.

The raven is one of my familiar old creatures, and the fish is one of my mother's favourite motifs.

Anomaly Series

A387 Token III (creature)

A387 Token III (creature)
8x10" acrylic on board
$60

Here the woman reaches inward, holding the creature that both torments and heals her. She recognizes and understands the process. It is another step forward.

Anomaly Series

A386 Token II (shell)

A386 Token II (shell)
8x10" acrylic on board
private collection

The woman is reaching behind her, listening to the shell of her past. The past whispers to her like a receding tide, almost overwhelming her with memories, and clouding her vision in waves. But she is already looking outward, glancing ahead with luminous vision. I believe she is pushing the past away, ready to approach her future, clean and unburdened.

A379 Visage One (bolt)

A379 Visage One (bolt)
12x12" watercolor on canvas
$90

Like a bolt, the flow of your world, the way you perceive your world, can change. And you are changed.

Anomaly Series

A378 Missing III (wolf)

A378 Missing III (wolf)
8x10" acrylic on board
$60

Anomaly Series