Category Archives: Recent Work

Fire Escape (Details of Work in Progress)

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Acrylic, ink, pastel on canvas (2024)

Size: w 20″ x h 40″ x d 1.5″

This painting is taking hours and hours but it has gradually revealed itself in depth, texture, rich colour. Not quite finished, as yet.

Into White (II) Extinction

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Acrylic, handmade paper, ink on cradled birch panel (2023)

Size: w 16″ x h 12″ x d 1.5″

Part II of Triptych Into White (I, II, III: Destruction, Extinction, Disintegration)

Extinction

Extinction is the complete disappearance of a species from earth (National Geographic Society).

Extinction: A situation in which something no longer exists (Cambridge Dictionary).

Into White (I) Destruction

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Mixed media (acrylic, wood shavings, metal scrap, fence wire), 2023

Size: w 16″x h 12″ x h 1.5″ cradled birch panel

Part I of Triptych Into White (I, II, III: Destruction, Extinction, Disintegration)

Destruction

Rubble, ash, splintered wood, stone dust, pulverized concrete. What remains after the bombing of cities and catastrophe of earthquakes.

Dragonfly Dance: Young Nereids and the Red-Crowned Cranes

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Dragonfly Dance: Young Nereids and the Red-Crowned Cranes (Detail)

Acrylic, ink, pastel, Japanese paper on cradled birch panel (2023)

Size: w 24″ x h 12″ x d 1.5″

The red-crowned cranes of northeast Asia are known for their beautiful plumage and graceful courtship dances. Here, they are joined by young Nereids practising their ballet steps. The dragonfly, an audience of one, is barely visible at the top centre of the painting. I owe my inspiration for this work to photographers Tim Flach (“Red Crown Cranes Courting” from his Endangered series) and Sarah Waiswa (“Last Act” from her Ballet in Kibera project) — thank you to both.

Nereids and the Ruby Sea Dragon (Detail of Work in Progress)

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Acrylic, ink, Japanese paper on canvas (started 2021, still in progress 2023)

Size: w 22″ x h 28″‘ x d 2″

This is the first of two (or more) baby octopuses joining the Nereids in this painting. I think I am procrastinating about finishing the sea dragons who occupy the bottom half of the canvas, but who’s in a hurry? Unfortunately the sun came out when I had just gotten started photographing, so the top half of the image is a bit obscured in the glare.

Dreaming My Dissolution (Detail)

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Acrylic, Japanese paper, gold leaf on canvas (2020)

Size: w 28 x h 40 x d 1.75 inches

This piece is also known as Sea Change (Fall Rich and Strange) — June 2020 for the full image. That title still holds, but when I looked at the painting this morning the words came to me. The new title is dark, but perhaps letting out the dark allows the light to come in.