Naming It
Martin Batchelor Gallery 2011
“A song of the rolling earth, and of words according,
Were you thinking that those were the words, those upright lines?
Those curves, angles, dots?
No, those are not the words, the substantial words are in the ground and sea,
They are in the air, they are in you.”
Walt Whitman, “Song of the Rolling Earth”
This series of work takes inspiration from place and family. Before I began working on the paintings I imagined applying text to landscape. Text being my granddaughter Lily’s first words that bubbled out in a wonderful series of sounds, home-happy-honey and more recently narratives like, “Oh No! My carrots aren’t working!”
But when I travelled back to the Cariboo gold mining town of Wells, BC it was the place that directed my work and Walt Whitman’s Song of the Rolling Earth seemed especially significant.
Most of the landscapes in this series are of tangled willows and grasses observed last November as the first snow arrived in Wells. A few paintings, “LA #1” and #2 are from walks along the marshland boardwalk in the Langford area.
Lily continues to inspire, her words are substantial and like the place that I love never leaves my mind.
LA #1 (Langford Area), 18”x72”, acrylic on canvas $2100 SOLD
LA #2, 18”x72”, acrylic on canvas
$2100
Dark Energy, 18”x72”, acrylic on canvas
$2100
Deep Into It, diptych (2 panels) 18”x72”, acrylic on canvas
$3500
First Snow, Diptych (2 panels) 18”x72”, acrylic on canvas
NFS $3500
More Than Just Gold, 18”x72”, acrylic on canvas
$2100
Silent, triptych 1’x2’, 2’x2’,1’x2’, mixed media on canvas
SOLD
Fire Pit, 8”x24”, acrylic on canvas
SOLD
More – Honey, 16”x16”, acrylic on panel
$350
Home, 16”x16”, acrylic on panel
$350
Happy, 16”x16”, acrylic on panel
$400
My Carrots Aren’t Working, 16”x16”, acrylic on panel
$350
Poppy Without A Plan, 2’x2’, acrylic on canvas
$450
Snow Code, 4’x4’, acrylic on canvas
$2500
