Between Cities
A new series reflecting on loss, memory, seasons, and journeys
I have been spending much time in the studio working on a new series of landscapes. The images are based on photos, sketches, notes, and memories of the drive between Ottawa and Montreal, which I did so much of over the year that my mom was sick. While there were many different layers of that year’s experience that I could choose to represent in the work, it was the feeling of watching the seasons pass by along the road that I kept coming back to as core to my own personal story.
A healing journey through art
This body of work is more deeply personal for me than capturing the houses or moments seen on neighbourhood walks. While those pieces capture the things I value or notice day-to-day, this series tells a more significant part of where I am in my own journey. The process of making this work is a way for me to reflect upon and move through this experience.
Given that the back-and-forth took place over the course of a year, the pieces will capture the many different moods, weathers, colours, and light of the seasonal landscape.
Looking back, it is almost as though 2017 was a period of high-receptivity, where everything was exceptionally vivid, and I noticed many small moments and details. I’m not sure if it’s often like that when going through something as emotionally-intense as the illness and death of someone close to you.
While this series is based around a very personal story, I hope that the scenes are captivating to anyone who sees them. I think they can be appreciated on many levels – as simply a beautiful landscape, or as a more deeply personal reflection on personal loss.
I have found that so often, it is small moments: a sense of place, or a fragment in time that is what we remember of a larger experience. I find, for me, it is often the non-literal, very personal things that will best capture the feeling, memories, relationship, or person. The resulting paintings are almost like a key that activates the senses and takes you back into the memory or experience. I talk more about this here.
I have found the process of working through these memories and creating these pieces to be wonderfully healing. It is a way for me to own this part of my story and to say, yes, this happened, it was meaningful to me, and this tells a part of my lived experience.
It is a way for me to own this part of my story and to say, yes, this happened, it was meaningful to me, and this tells a part of my lived experience.
The process of creating the imagery
I’ve been digging through sketchbooks and jotting down memories as they come to me. I have a dozen or more ideas for images and have been creating each as it comes forth naturally. I find going with the flow, rather than trying to force any one image, has worked best for me.
I begin each piece by creating a drawing/painting of the scene, digitally. I know the finished images are to be printed as screenprints – which are hand-printed one colour layer at a time – so I am building these digital files up in layers.
When I’m happy with the image, I move into the studio. This involves a process of mixing ink colours, preparing the screens for printing, cutting paper, and making tests by hand. This stage can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on the image.
So far, I have found that it requires great care to capture the nuances of the landscapes in a way that lives up to the feeling that the memory brings back for me. Seeing them get closer and closer to capturing the most important aspects of my memory has made it worthwhile.
Once I have a test print I’m happy with, I move into printing a small batch of final prints – a process that takes about two days. At any given time, I have a few images at various stages of this process.
So far, I have found that it requires great care to capture the nuances of the landscapes in a way that lives up to the feeling that the memory brings back for me. Seeing them get closer and closer to capturing the most important aspects of my memory has made it worthwhile.
The stories behind the first images
This moment was late-fall, with its yellowed grasses, bare trees, and rainy-day fog. It has a wonderful atmospheric quality:
“Roadside Fog”, Between Cities series. Hand-made screenprint on paper.
On this particular day, I remember my mom asking how the drive was going, and I replied that the bare trees and wintery expanses of sky were simply beautiful. Then, I took the photo that this print is based on, to show her when I arrived at the house:
“Winter Grasses”, Between Cities series. Hand-made screenprint on paper.
There are many farms on the road between the cities. This piece captures the crisp clarity of a wintery dusk, over one farm to represent the many that have blurred together in my memory:
“Dusk Farm”, Between Cities series. Hand-made screenprint on paper.
There is a grand hotel on the outskirts of Montreal. Last spring, there was massive flooding here in Quebec and I have a surreal image in my mind of passing their formal gardens under water. This image was pieced together from memory and photo references I was able to find after the fact:
“Flooded Gardens”, Between Cities series. Hand-made screenprint on paper.
Bands of verdant highways in mid-summer:
“Green Highways”, Between Cities series. Hand-made screenprint on paper.
The paintings are almost like a key that activates the senses and takes you back into the memory or experience
Reflecting your own personal story in art
While this series is based around a very personal story, I hope that the scenes are captivating to anyone who sees them. I think they can be appreciated on many levels – as simply a beautiful landscape, or as a more deeply personal reflection on loss.I hope that sharing them and the stories behind each piece allows you to reflect upon your own lived experience – on grief, healing, and on the importance of acknowledging your personal stories and carrying them with you as you move forward.
If you have a personal story that you’d like to capture in a finished painting or print learn more on the Custom Paintings page, or get in touch. I’d love to hear your story.
The pieces in this series are available as limited edition prints (sets of 10 each). International shipping available.
A reflective essay about the role of art-making in my life, about creating this series, and about loss, and healing was published in the Creative Countryside journal.
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