Music

Old Acoustic, Acrylic on Canvas, dyptich, 72” x 36”, 72” x 36”

When I was taking photographs in St. John’s music store, I snapped one of this older gentleman perched on a stool, trying out one of the guitars.  Later I merged it with another image, to create Old Acoustic.  It got rejected from the Burlington Art Centre’s juried art show and I could not understand why?  I was new and did not know the ropes.  I was so mad, I thought of spraying “WANTED” on top of the entire thing, like a graffiti tag.  It has not been shown since. 

Red Piano, Mixed Media on Paper, 40” x 48”

This is part of the Woman, Women and more Women series and was a quick work on paper, rendered from a live model.  I added the piano keys later as an after effect.  I like the colours.

Trombone Sonja, Acrylic on Canvas, 24” x 14”

It was neat to see my daughter play the trombone as early as grade 6.  This is a portrait of my daughter Sonja playing the trombone.  sold.

Nice Set, Acrylic on canvas, 40” x 48”

Paralleling breasts, these drums stare at you.  They were part of KISS, an exhibition of musical instruments.

Whale Music, Acrylic on canvas, 72” x 48”

This grand piano was so big that I could not get all of it on the canvas, so I cropped it.  I really liked how it resembled a whale once it was completed.

G Guitar, dye, acrylic, ink, paper, charcoal, conte on paper, 40” x 48”

This is also an up close shot of my friend Garth’s guitar.  He made it from scratch, sanding and finishing it like it was his “baby”.  It was very well done and you can see the engraved ivy on the stem.  I have two of these which hang above my bed but I created five in total.  The long narrow one sold to the Winnipeg Folk Festival Organization on Bannatyne.

Sean Ashby, Acrylic on canvas, dyptich, 36” x 72”, 36” x 72”

Garage Cafe had a musician play in their venue several times.  He had played for Sarah McLachlan and was branching out on his own, much like me at the time.  I took several photographs of him, then designed a very long diptych for Garage Cafe’s entrance way.  The painting has several photographs of Sean and his band.  I think there are three of his guitars in it and four images of him playing.  This sold to a patron.

Drum Trio – tall, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 24”

I cropped a drum set and put three canvas’s together to paint this series of three.  Two of the three sold.  One was donated.  The thing I like about these abstracted instruments is they have a subject matter but are broad enough to be placed in any space.  

Festival du Voyageur, Acrylic on paper, 40” x 48”

Taken from the archives, I combined a Festival du Voyageur playing the pipe organ, Sierra Nobel and Michael Peters.  Initially this was created for the Garage Cafe where I had an exhibition.

Golden French Horn, Acrylic on Canvas, 40” x 48”

One time I went into St. John’s music store on Portage Avenue and took several photographs of musical instruments.  After, I cropped them and made paintings of sections which caught my eye.  This one is a very colourful application of paint and glaze.  It sold quickly from the Cre8ery Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Duck, Acrylic on Canvas, 24” x 24”

The rusty saxophone peaks out of the blue sky, peering ahead.  Just like a goose-neck duck wandering through the reeds, this saxophone bellows a great call.  I took photographs of my son’s tenor saxophone and placed it on the edge to look phallic.  It is also an example of how I like to blend sexual imagery into musical instruments.  This painting was part of the United Nations Year of the Forest Juried Exhibition held at the Burlington Art Centre and was adjudicated by my old professor, Art Green.

Baby Grand, Acrylic on Canvas, 48” x 48”

As part of a series of acrylic paintings depicting musical instruments, I transformed this baby grand piano into a colourful, harmonic diptych.  Playing with glaze, she layered complementary hues to create shadow and depth.  Just like the Italian masters, the musical song was a hit!  It won an honourable mention in the Burlington Juried Art Association Spring Exhibition at the Burlington Art Centre.  There was absolutely no black used in this painting, only the opposite hues layered.