How do you get to know a new place?
I love getting to know somewhere new – and reconnecting with familiar places – by walking (new collection sneak peek, below!)
Walking is nearly always how I get to know a new place. It allows me to experience it in different light, weather, moods, and seasons. I notice its people coming and going, its homes as their lights turn on for the night… its birds, water, and trees as they skip, tumble, and flutter in the wind. I inhale the air and listen to the sounds. I see the things that are new, that have been abandoned or become run down, the ghosts of things long gone…
Each place has so much to share, when you pay attention – and each one has its own unique pulse. I file all of this away in notes, memories, and sketches, because it is an essential part of creating new work.
Whenever I paint, I take myself back to the feeling of that place and I do everything I can to hold onto that feeling as I paint. This creates a rich mood that is both evocative and true – not always necessarily in the sense of literal accuracy, but in that the painting captures a truth of the experience that I hope comes through to you, when you see it.
It’s the best way I know to say, look, this is what I saw… can you feel it, too?
Whenever I paint, I take myself back to the feeling of that place... This creates a rich mood that is both evocative and true… in that the painting captures a truth of the experience that I hope comes through to you, when you see it.
Painting plen air
I spent much of the fall out around the neighbourhood painting en plein air. Having moved here just last year, painting outdoors was a way for me to get to know my surroundings – and to gather inspiration for a new series of paintings.
It was a challenge to paint in the rapidly changing light and weather conditions. I definitely flipped my paints into the sand a few times and, once, even had to grab all my things and scurry back mid-painting as the tide came in! 🫣 (Let’s hope no one saw that one! 😂)
But, the race-to-the-finish feel was exhilarating, too. I created dozens of these urgently scribbled thumbnail studies that somehow have the ability to take me right back to the moment, which has helped enormously when creating the pieces for my upcoming collection.
Each place has so much to share, when you pay attention – and each one has its own unique pulse. I file all of this away in notes, memories, and sketches… it is an essential part of creating new work.
New collection sneak peek…
The sky over the ocean is often wonderfully tempestuous with ethereal beams and glowing areas of light. I have been expanding upon the themes I encountered while painting coastal skies into a series of seascapes and coastal houses – all from around the little village of Broad Cove, where I live next to the Atlantic Ocean on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.
I have been pouring so much of myself into creating these new paintings to share – and they’re SO close to being ready. This will be my very first collection of original art for sale!
I’ll be releasing a THREE pieces EACH WEEK in February and March (2024). Every WEDNESDAY, you will get to see the paintings of the week along with the story behind each.
The first piece to be shared from the collection is called Raincloud with Ocean Pools (below).
Raincloud with Ocean Pools. Gouache on watercolour paper.
Why did I name the collection New Horizons?
This collection is about arriving in a new place, feeling more than a little tossed about by life’s twists and turns. It’s about falling asleep to the distant sounds of the ocean, and waking to a gentle quiet.
Moving is a messy business. Treasured, useful, and no longer wanted objects – as well as experiences, memories, and losses… are all jumbled together in piles and boxes. It takes time, but gradually you sift through, finding new homes for things and letting go of what no longer aligns.
There is an overgrown patch of land to clean up. Gardens to dream of. An old house to turn into a home – one that fits how you spend your time, where you like to sit, how you like to create…
This is the process of the unfamiliar gradually becoming familiar… The patterns begin to emerge and, along with them, a renewed sense of self – and of possibilities ahead.
It becomes a daily habit to walk down the road, through the village, along the beach, and out past the breakwater. Slowly getting to know this new place with its salty coastal air, expansive skies, and long stretches of horizon. Relishing in the quiet. Hearing just the snuff of seals, the chatter of birds, the rhythm of water tumbling by, crashing onto rocks, or lapping up onto sand.
It takes a few years of getting to know the light, weather, and seasons of a new place before they turn into patterns. This is the process of the unfamiliar gradually becoming familiar. The patterns begin to emerge and, along with them, a renewed sense of self – and of possibilities ahead.
* * *
I’m so looking forward to sharing these new paintings with you every week.
THE NEW HORIZONS COLLECTION is a series of twenty-two original paintings. They capture the beauty and variety of the light and weather of the coastal landscape I now call home.
As original artworks, they are truly one-of-a-kind!
If you love one, I hope you will collect the painting for your wall, so it can give you that same feeling over and over for years.
