Here is a series of paintings you probably wouldn't expect from a primarily landscape artist. You might be wondering what prompted this series... let me explain from the very beginning.
It all started on a rainy day, jumping in puddles with my kids. I was watching a puddle, the raindrops landing and dispersing and carrying the colours of what was underneath them along the surface of the water. It was mesmerizing to watch, so I just stared, absorbing the movement. Later in the studio, I experimented with capturing that motion. It took years to really unfold what drew me initially to that moment... and along those years I picked up other ideas. Everywhere in Canada I went, I looked at the rocks under my feet. From Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains, the colours, especially when accentuated by being under water were surprising and exciting to me. All of these experiences combined to the start of a series that married my love of rocks and raindrops.
Beyond the visual, I began to see more in the ripples of the raindrops. I saw that they represented our larger world in a way that very few other things do. One tiny raindrop lands in a puddle, it ripples out and out, it collides with another raindrop ripple, changing the directing it's going, and that ripple changes another one. In my life, some of my favourite people, some still in my lives, some not, have collided into my circle, and changed the course of my life, who I am and how I see the world in front of me, my outlook and fate. Every raindrop ripple/person in my life has formed the personality and outlook that I have today. Sometimes with everything going on in the world right now, I feel helpless, like what can a little artist in the woods in the middle of nowhere do to change anything? But then I think of raindrops... just my one tiny raindrop of good vibes, of my authentic and honest self landing in this world, this giant puddle... will travel outwards, touching the people around me and the people I know, and hopefully if there are enough of these good vibe raindrops, it will affect our collective consciousness and the world will be a happier and more beautiful place.
Beyond that, I think of music. Every start to my studio day is a cup of good coffee and music. Music is the catalyst, and the caffeine to my creativity. Art is so connected. We inspire each other and for music, for all of the songwriters and performers out there, I am so grateful. Where would we be without music? The soundtrack to so many memories is a song. You can hear a song and be instantly transported to another place and time. Similarly I can touch my brush to any of my paintings and remember what song I was listening to for each section of a painting. It's magic, it's time-travel! So these raindrops also remind me of the reach of music, how the sound waves travel, and the song collides and affects each of us, changing us, and moving on and on.
It all boils down to this... we do affect each other, and I hope these pieces bring awareness to how we are all connected, we are all one.
The Raindrop Series is now complete. I had in mind to do a certain number of pieces in this series, each one representing one aspect of the story, some are so active in their movement, some "dance", some represent the refreshment of spirit, some are "pre-collision" isolated but each reaching out. I completed the very last one, "The Last of the Raindrops" in 2024 and celebrated the end of the series with a limited edition print of it. There will be no new ones created, but I am fortunate right now to sit in my studio surrounded by the last remaining originals in this series. They've come from cities across Canada, from where they were on display at my representing galleries last year, and the remaining unsold pieces will be leaving my studio again on April 15 to be displayed in new and existing galleries in Canada. Collectors from all over the place are currently stopping in to the studio for this rare experience to view them all together in one place, and I invite you to as well. Contact me for a an appointment today!
