Rose Marie

Rose Marie

This work, “Rose Marie”, 2019, is a 20” x 24” mixed media on 3” birch cradle panel.  It’s part of a series called Modern Life, which looks at the dichotomy between advertising, optics, and ‘glam’ of the the late 1940’s and 1950’s, and the reality beneath.   Post WWII society was moving in a new directions, with advancements in technology, and a lifting of rations and harshness of being at war.   It was also about luring women out of the workforce and back to the home, with the promise of fabulous new appliances, lipstick colours, and other shiny things.  It was an ebullient era, with the war over, and hopes high.  

It’s interesting to look beneath the surface though, to the many layers of how many decisions we make every day, how many documents, papers, and other items we use, some precious, and some throw-away (passport vs. bus ticket).  This is why the paintings from this series have so many layers, almost all beginning with vintage sewing patterns, maps, and vintage text.

The paintings also have elements of nature in them, as we are surrounded by the natural world, and it influences so many aspects of our lives.  The antique and vintage paper is of course made from trees, as are the panels that they’re painted on.  “Rose Marie”,  includes dried flowers, birch bark, albino peacock feathers, liquor labels (The Balvenie 12 DoubleWood, and The Glenlivet, Kentucky Straight Bourbon), vintage sheet music, including “Rose Marie”, vintage sewing patterns, handmade Japanese papers, and several gel transfers from vintage magazines, amongst other shiny things.  


Tangled Destinies

“Tangled Destinies”, 2019,  is both an artwork, and the title of my upcoming solo show at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, Ontario, Canada.  

They both explore the passage of time, and how what was once a sacred or precious document, object, or similar, is discarded, and has now found its way into a narrative and a new life.  

This artwork started with a beautiful antique box I found at an auction, in the basement of a pastors house.  It already looked as if it had lived several lives, and the size of the openings were challenge at first, as they were much bigger than the printers trays and boxes I had in my studio, but ended up being wonderful to work with.  The wood piece on top has been waiting in my studio for about 10 years, hoping to find a perfect home, and now she has.


The theme took a long time to come together, as with most of my work.  Other than commissions, there isn’t usually a finite vision as to what will evolve, it’s a journey through my collections, with influences from what is going on in the world, and what finds its way into my life at the time.  Sometimes I’m drawn to a certain patina, or image the ephemera has, and it ends up reinforcing the overall narrative in an uncanny way.  The work starts taking a direction of their own at some point, and I almost feel as if I have a partner in the creative process.  This one was no different.

After testing out many different placements of the larger objects, the work begins of figuring out the backgrounds.  With so much to choose from, it’s fun to find interesting juxtapositions, and this speaks to how we are intertwined in time and space.   See if you can spot any of these items….an antique beet seed package, 1890’s ads,  Black Diamond mandolin strings (D string), and a headless horseman. Antique playing cards from Prague. Antique money behind the Greek statue, seashells, vintage Bingo, antique dolls (whose eyes open and close when vertical or horizontal).   Antique receipt (lion graphic), vintage milk bottle caps, handmade clay baby face, vintage ticket for May 24 in Toronto, mortar rounds from WWI, Vimy Ridge.  Shell casings, antique Monopoly houses from 1936, vintage and antique metal soldiers from various cultures, fossils, pearls, RAF WWII button clasp, vintage metal tank and rocket, vintage plastic eagle from Baltimore, Monkey shoulder monkeys from scotch bottle, a lock and key, crayfish from Christian Island (Georgian Bay, Ontario),  vanilla extract bottle, food stamps, vintage domino piece, antique key, 1940’s women’s advertising labels, wooden ruler, metal advertising pins, 1890’s train ad, antique children’s book passage, rusted washers and bolts, vintage typewriter and compass, and so much more.   



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