Vivid Alliances: Kawartha Hay Rolls
Each day for the duration of Vivid Alliances, now on at the Westland Gallery, I’ll pair and post a painting detail with a piece of original prose
Click the link at the bottom of each post to see the full painting within the whole collection!
Kawartha Hay Rolls ~ Acrylic ~ 20×30″
There’s this barn off Mill Line road set shyly back from the road, in behind a tall spruce hedge and a crooked split rail fence. A small rolling field washes up from the fence to the barn’s fieldstone foundation, a small dusty lake of August froth. I skirt the fence, and tiptoe in, tousling the Queen Anne’s lace along the hemline, shaking out buzzing bugs and rattling seed pods. I’m pulled in to where I know I have no clearance to wander, by an ethereal light that burnishes the edges of each body in this rolled hay installation. Late Summer Ontario Afternoon Sun blithely working the tops of these rolled bales with gold leaf, no one but me to see this mastery of light divinely hewn…
Is it just for joy
That it shines this way?
sol lucet omnibus
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Vivid Alliances: Water Prayer
Each day for the duration of Vivid Alliances, now on at the Westland Gallery,
I’ll pair and post a painting detail with a piece of original prose
Click the link at the bottom of each post to see the full painting within the whole collection!
Water Prayer
In that there is nothing to overcome
or to resist against, or hold sorrow for in the dark
because the thing that shapes and names it
is purely reflection
Nothing is held here in the stream
The prayers that write and undo the stream
move you in the same manner
write and then undo you
a handful of water holding the moon
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Vivid Alliances: Shoreline Discourse at Big Bald Lake
Each day for the duration of Vivid Alliances, now on at the Westland Gallery,
I’ll pair and post a painting detail with a piece of original prose
Click the link at the bottom of the post to see the whole collection!
Shoreline Discourse at Big Bald Lake
I’m tracing the edge of where the lake wanders up to the shore
As I watch, it pokes a finger of reflective inquiry into the reeds
around my shins, then waits
As in any conversation where give and take occurs
my wading deeply into the nuanced whys and what abouts
amid the comings and goings of theoretical speculation
causes a complicated shadow play
so I am careful that I am listening to hear
and not to prepare my answer
For your drawing is already perfect
and the telling of it as it is
a gift
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Vivid Alliances: Resurrection Moss
Each day for the duration of Vivid Alliances, now on at the Westland Gallery,
I’ll pair and post a painting detail with a piece of original prose
Click the link at the bottom of each post to see the full painting within the whole collection!
Resurrection moss is a type of plant that hibernates in times of stress, most often due to a lack of moisture. In Southern Utah it occurs in profusion on the red rock of the area, making the cliffs appear ‘dirty’ in its dormant state. Then, when it comes into contact with moisture it blooms vividly and lushly within a matter of moments. The emerald green against the red rock is a verdant sight to behold.
My dearest and I spent our winter break hiking the area and witnessed several of these blooms as a result of an uncommon amount of precipitation. We had an astonishing time climbing and hiking among the rocks and cliffs and watching them change before our eyes. Expansively illustrated AHA moments spent witnessing the earth breathing.
Immersed in the fulsome silent presence of those red rock cliffs, we realized that wherever we are, we need to make ever more space for breathing and mindful being. To create favourable conditions for bloom and growth to keep happening.
We likely all could do better than to just meet the most basic conditions of our lives. We need to get outside more, stretch out frequently to connect, reach inside to grok our selves more fully, do more to inspire our own resurrection moss bloom…
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Vivid Alliances, Sky Notes
Each day for the duration of Vivid Alliances, now on at the Westland Gallery,
I’ll pair and post a painting detail with a piece of original prose
Click the link at the bottom of each post to see the full painting within the whole collection!
Sky Notes
What I noticed, looking up
was an understanding of how things were
there. It all made sky sense
Until casting down and across this moving water pool
a different story told my eyes
I wasn’t wrong about you
but neither
was I right
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Vivid Alliances shows up on TV
Vivid Alliances promises to be a
“brilliant and joyful exhibition exploring colour and abstraction”.
It will be on exhibit at The Westland Gallery beginning March 7.
I hope you’ll come and be part of the wild colourful dance!
Curious about my process in this series?
Want to know about Vicki’s unique pouring process?
Erica Dornbusch and Vicki McFarland: Vivid Alliances
March 7th – 25th 2017
Reception: Thursday March 9th at 7:00 pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday March 15th at 7:00 pm
Westland Gallery
156 Wortley Road
London, ON
N6C 3P5
t: 1-519-601-4420
e: info@westlandgallery.ca
Related Images:
VividAlliances
Resurrection Moss
(WIP) Resurrection Moss, acrylic 48×60″
Resurrection moss is a type of plant that hibernates in times of stress, most often due to a lack of moisture. In Southern Utah it occurs in profusion on the red rock of the area, making the cliffs look ‘dirty’ in its dormant state. Then when it comes into contact with moisture, it blooms vividly and lushly within a matter of moments. The emerald green against the red rock is a verdant sight to behold.
My dearest and I spent our winter break hiking the area and witnessed several of these blooms as a result of an uncommon amount of precipitation. We had an astonishing and expansive time playing outside on the rocks and cliffs. I couldn’t wait to get back to my studio to try to paint what I was seeing and experiencing.
Except, Welp; life was right there on our return and while I’ve had a couple studio days in between Life Stuff, they somehow weren’t the days of inspired brush dipping I envisioned… nope not. I felt boxed in and dried up on the small canvases I already had going and the new ones felt tight and restrained. Where was the space and tone that we’d been living in and I’d rushed back to relay? Not here in these pieces…. ha ha
Continue reading “Resurrection Moss”