NEWEST MAJOR WORKS

“GILT HARBOUR”

OLD PERLICAN HARBOUR SERIES, 12”HX36”W, GLAZE OIL ON CANVASED PANEL, FOR SALE

There is a certain kind of summer evening in Old Perlican, when the world feels magnificent. The world is a magical gold. Every sunset is different – with very different colours and different patterns, lighting and structures  - depending on the exact evening. The best sunsets come after not so perfect days. There must be significant clouds through the day. After an overcast, very cloudy or rainy day, Old Perlican is rewarded with the sun peaking brilliantly beneath the cloud to give the day a glorious ending. On special evenings, it turns the harbour to metallic gold.

“STUCK - BUT JUST FOR A BIT”

OLD PERLICAN HARBOUR SERIES, 24”Hx36”W, GLAZE OIL, CANVAS ON A CRADLED PANEL, FOR SALE

In the spring in Newfoundland, Old Perlican Harbour fills up to the brim with ice pans that float down on currents and winds from the Arctic. Each small member of the ice flotilla is a mini–iceberg, complete with enormous, looming, underwater structure of solid ancient ice. Each piece of ice is an utterly unique sculpture, God-made with the most beautiful composition of forms, curiously coloured in subtle tints of purple and turquoise. These exquisite wonders float aimlessly, wafting in and out of the bays and harbours, unpredictable in length of stay in any one spot. It never ceases to amaze me how the harbour can be empty and a few hours later be full of ice pans. It is roulette… they might stay a week, a few weeks, or longer - or not at all. The stakes for fishermen are treacherous if the ice pan movements are misjudged. The harbour, in the meantime creates a fairly safe haven for boats and their crew to wait them out.  It takes a lot of optimism, prudence and patience to play out this game of roulette that the pans and weather play. With any luck, the bounty of fish waits too, on the other side of the risk.

"CRAB BOAT IN ALL ITS GLORY"

OLD PERLICAN HARBOUR SERIES, 36"HX48"W, GLAZE OIL,CANVAS ON A CRADLED PANEL, FOR SALE

I just simply love the water and the colours. How many colours can be in water, reflecting beneath a white boat? And how beautiful, diverse can the colours be within the white hull of a boat?

 This work-horse of a boat defies its humble stature, juxtaposed against the racy and slick ripples of water; it elegantly dances with light and colour by means of its radically modified hull. It might be practical to alter the form of the side of your boat to make hauling lobster pots easier, but who would guess you would be creating such beauty by doing it? And there is the paradox, right there.

FINALLY - THEY’RE HOME

OLD PERLICAN HARBOUR SERIES, 11”HX14”W, GLAZE OIL, CANVAS ON A CRADLED PANEL, FOR SALE

I just love the huge red buoys on metal sticks that sometimes grace the shore of Old Perlican Harbour. They are the markers with anchors for defining the fishermen’s territory out in the ocean. When grounded, and piled with the rest of the fishing equipment, they look like giant flower arrangements with odd yet beautiful flowers, organically placed amidst the mundane and the backdrop of the spectacular North Atlantic sky.  The florescent red and the colour qualities of iridescent mauves and blues were complicated and rewarding challenges for me.

 I painted this because it is a very unusual source beauty. However, when my neighbour in Old Perlican saw it, she exclaimed “Kathy, when I see this, all I can think is: Finally – they’re home. I am always so relieved at the end of the fishing season! When I see this, I know they are home and they are safe for a few months again now”.

“FISHERMEN GATHERING”

OLD PERLICAN HARBOUR SERIES, 32”HX28”W, GLAZE OIL, CANVAS ON A CRADLED PANEL

Although the sunsets take your breath away in Old Perlican, the most vital part of the harbour is definitely the people that frequent the boats, the docks, parking lots, roads and fish plant of this busy, busy hub.  The people ebb and flow seamlessly into the many various social structures that co-exist within the shelter of the port. Weather, water and fish news, jokes and gossip pass like rapid-fire batons from crew to crew, family to family, captain to captain, neighbour to neighbour. It is an ancient version of the internet, really - reliable for keeping all news instantly up to date and all connections flowing like well-greased lightning.

“FLOUNDER FISHING”

TRINITY SHORE SERIES, 16”Hx20”W, GLAZE OIL, CANVAS ON A CRADLED PANEL

Childhood in Newfoundland in some ways was not much different from my own. I spent mine catching things. My fondest memories of my childhood are of the being in and around the water at Boshkung Lake, north of Toronto, at my grandparents’ cottage. What was under the water kept me spellbound, all day. I kept a bucket of water on the beach, ever-ready for the day’s catch.  As I stood knee deep in the gentle waves, toes anchored to the hard sand bottom of our shore, no polliwog, minnow or frog escaped my intense pursuit. I am taking care of my daughter’s puppy today.  Dried leaves that have escaped being trapped in the shrouds of snow are targets of his childish game of hunt as well.  

As these boys make game opponents of the flounder, resting benevolently at the bottom of the harbour in Elliston, they hone their primal instinct to hunt – instinct that will perhaps serve them so aptly as the Newfoundlander men they will become. Children would count on becoming fishermen, for hundreds of years. What will our radical changes to the environment in the oceans allow our current generation to do?  Can we as a worldwide society be adequate custodians of ocean health and our fish supply? There is nothing that can be taken for granted now. The only assurance is paying careful and abiding attention to research and following up with pro-action - responses at every level, immediately.

"POWERS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH"

HEAVENS SERIES, 24"HX24"W, GLAZE OIL,CANVAS ON A CRADLED PANEL, FOR SALE

I am mesmerized by the spectacle of nature. There are infinite details within details within details that pull me in and hold me in rapture. The design paths are endlessly detailed – like looking into a moving kaleidoscope. I can visually barely hang on - barely compute. This sublime experience of God’s world that occurs for me is what I try to speak of in my artwork. I am sharing what is most sacred to me – the humanly connective experiences to our Maker that are available for the taking, if I am open enough to them. The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory. These I encounter, revere and delight in whenever possible. They are incomprehensible in magnitude, and yet I can perceive them somewhat, in my most limited human way, if I make my heart and eyes and talents available to them. Human powers are very limited, but the resources of the Force who made us are infinite, nearby, available and will open up - like breaking clouds - to authentic human openness. This has been my most sacred experience.

"TUCKED IN AT DANIEL'S COVE"

TRINITY SHORE SERIES, 30H"X40W", GLAZE OIL, CANVAS ON STRETCHERS, FOR SALE

I was fortunate enough to have reason to go to Newfoundland in January, and experienced some winter in this beautiful harsh land. I was struck by how the house in this painting pulled me into this incredibly foreboding landscape. I am compelled by the paradoxical dance in Newfoundland of the relentless harshness of nature and the proportionally relentless human nurture. To me, this painting speaks to that. There this house sits, tucked into the shore, cozy and feeling safe against its wild, blustery and bone-chilling environment. It sits perilously on this hill, with only a single wire connecting it to the rest of civilization via wind-bent poles. Is the light on the porch lit by the sunset or by a light in the front of the house?  The house pulls me in, either way. I am caught by its welcoming human spirit.