Blog

I do not remember when I met Margaret. It was in 2019 or 2020. She was heavily involved with The Fraser Gallery in Tatamagouche, NS, where the Pugwash Artist Collective had shows every couple of years. She was instrumental in establishing a gift shop at the entrance...

The new show the Pugwash Artist Collective is mounting at the Fraser Gallery in Tatamagouche is called Ripple Effect. As with other group shows, every artist interprets the theme differently. Some look at how external forces impact their work; some consider how one...

Thank god for deadlines. I am not sure I would move from my natural inertia without them. It seems like an on-going dance of procrastinations, avoidances, evasions, all leading to the final drive to produce, sometimes at the very last minute. It is an uncomfortable,...

Thinking about Edges.  The importance and subtlety of a edge in visual art. In my art. Hard edges, sharp as a knife. Places of highest contrast, drawing the eye of the viewer, like using a exclamation mark in writing. A place to focus their attention. The mystery...

I have rarely challenged myself by painting outside. In the past, the juggling of equipment, facing the elements and being overwhelmed by all the visual information, made it NOT my favourite way to create. I always feel scattered, intimidated. Acknowledging this, I...

The idea to go public with work you have created is an interesting dilemma. No matter what you have been anguishing over, be it a series of paintings, a screenplay, a picture book, making art is usually a solitary endeavour. Private. You are in your own world and, for...

I still buy picture books, occasionally for the young people in my life, but more likely for myself. Some I choose for the illustrations. They can be exquisite, moveable art galleries. Some I choose for, what I think, is the perfect balance of words and images. The...

....that leap off the shelf and into your hands. Why do you pick one book over another. Could be the author. Could be the cover design. Or it could be the title. It is so difficult to choose a perfect title for a book. You want it to reflect the content and not...

I find it hard to stick with a book that centres around a character I dislike, cannot relate to or don't care about. These characters, either protagonist or evil villain, don't have to be perfect (preferably not) but they have to have desires and challenges and take...

When I am choosing a book to read, I like to sample the first couple of pages to get a feel for how the author uses language, the point of view, the voice, that kind of thing. In the days I lived in Halifax, I would sit myself down in the back room of Woozles...