SYNOPSIS S2E12
Tom Thomson and the Canadian Group of Seven were not the only adventurers and artists to fall in love with delicious destinations like Honey Harbour and Blueberry Island.
Listen in to todays episode to Channel the backstory of a pair of cousins inspired by a twilight boat ride through a quintessentially Canadian landscape.

Around every corner in Georgian Bay granite outcroppings, wind sculpted trees and quirky bunkies and boathouses connect generations of families to each other and to their summer destinations.

The meditation is 12 minutes long in this episode. It’s all about gratitude: for invitations to summer cottages and for our ability to be and do. In this instalment of our evolving process we turn our focus inward, we choose acceptance over judgement and give thanks to all the parts of ourselves.

Our travels might take us far and wide but we can always come home to ourselves with a little self care. Find it at 11:44 in the recording only.

“GEORGIAN BAY: AUDIENCE” 36” x 36” Acrylic on canvas, 2021

Thanks for stopping in to share in some of the backstories of my work evolving. Given that this season is trying to focus on presence I have reminded myself to introduce you to work that is presently available.

“Channel and Audience” are the topic of this conversation. This pair of 36” square canvases evolved out of the commissioning process and have been out of sight and out of mind “resting” in a board room at my husband’s office under the heading of sneaky storage.

AUDIENCE Bunkhouse Beginnings 2021. The gesso under layer was joined with some blues to get a sense of sky growing in the background from the very beginning.

My client is a former Winnipegger now living in Ontario. She has been a wonderful advocate for my work and I was very happy to undertake a project on her behalf. This client has a summer connection to Georgian Bay which is a beautiful place to connect with if ever you get the chance. Georgian Bay was made familiar and famous by Canada’s Group of Seven Painters and Tom Thomson who were inspired to explore and define the area during painting excursions in the 1920’s and 30’s.

When my husband and I got married at The Winnipeg Art Gallery we made our vows surrounded by a dozen or so iconic Canadian Landscapes by this group. So technically I could add my Romance with this landscape was consolidated way back then.

This little 16” x 20” acrylic on canvas was part of the Georgian Bay series of 2012

Some years ago our family had an opportunity to accept an invitation to the area and we too fell in love with this ruggedly beautiful landscape. It really is a magical place. Georgian Bay Islands National Park’s website describes it “as the world’s largest freshwater archipelago-Home to boat access native preserve situated where the windswept white pines and granite shores of the Canadian Shield turn to dense, deciduous woodland.”

They don’t mention that around every corner is yet another glorious vignette of bunkhouse or boathouse tethered to, perched precariously upon, or nestled cosily amongst, rocky outcroppings and an oasis of wind sculpted trees.

Our journey to our host’s cottage began at “Honey Harbour”- and yes, that’s it’s real name. It was late in the day when we arrived so the boat leg of our journey turned into a magical sunset ride to Blueberry Island, and no I am not making up that idyllic name either. Seriously there is little wonder this rugged terrain inspired adventurers and artists alike.

“Red Rock” was one of the favourites of that group. I was happy to come across it recently in the office of a client and friend.

My little elf camera at the time almost wore itself out before the weekend had even begun. On arrival at the island our family of four were thrilled to discover we would be staying in a little orange Bunkhouse. The Bunkie straddled a slick curve of granite. It was nestled amongst white pine and was just out of earshot from the main cabin which was perfect in case our rambunctious family got too loud for our generous hosts. Thank you Kevin and Eileen, our family still smiles at the memory of time spent on your island paradise.

These are the intentions that were the beginning of this pair

At home after that family trip I painted a series of smalls which were fun and spontaneous memories of an iconic landscape drenched in summer sunshine and shaped by the elements. In hindsight I am really glad I worked on that earlier series when the visual memories were fresh.

As a side note I should share that despite my best efforts to be organised with my data base of imagery I was pretty upset with myself when my camera card collection, stowed for safe keeping in the pocket of my camera’s cover, accidentally found itself tumbling aggressively around in the jaws of the garburator. I seriously wish I were making this tidbit up.

This new commission brought memories of that lovely weekend back into focus and I was excited to get started on this new request. The subject catered to a landscape my client was familiar with and also took me back to my own memories and experiences with this landscape to draw on despite that unfortunate kitchen kerfuffle.

Deciding if a painting is finished is always a challenge. In fact without looking at the actual finished paintings I will admit that I am unsure which is the finished version. Proof I guess that the composition was working and IK could have rested my paintbrushes at many intersections along the way.

The choices I make for surface and sizes can be deliberate, they can depend on availability and also on the client’s needs. I was glad my client chose a 36” square for this project. The square is a shape I return to often. Jumping between shapes and scales can be disruptive so it was comfortable to be continuing with the rhythm of a consistent shape.

It was the end of my usual paint period so getting this project started took me out to the less familiar paint wall of the bunkhouse at our own cottage in the early part of last summer. My Lake Winnipeg view provides a vastly different landscape to the Canadian Shield of Northern Ontario but I had a water view and time on my hands so the process was all about play.

GEORGIAN BAY: AUDIENCE” Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 36”, 2021

To begin with I focused the shapes and structures of evergreen trees and began building some depth of colour with simple washy marks. I was also experimenting in the bunkhouse at that time, playing with ways to record short videos of my work in process. It might have been kind of funny to witness if you had wondered by and walked in the door during that little experiment.

I am all the staff I have in my Mandart Studio Practice so without a second or third set of hands I was getting creative stacking, propping, and even taping my iPhone to chair legs, beer pong tables, and windowsills. The video mandate included a clear directive. I didn’t really want to appear on camera. Instead I wanted to try to illustrate the process of the work evolving. I’ve posted a couple of reels but some actual training might be an idea. Note to self despite Cathy Heller’s encouragement…“Don’t give up your day job Mand.”

GEORGIAN BAY : CHANNEL Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 36”, 2021

The videos aren’t great but they do give a sense of the brush at work pushing acrylic paint into the primed canvas. I’ll try to add one to the show notes on the blog but if not just know that I usually try to cover the whole surface to begin with. In this case I wandered from that tendency by adding layers of colour based originally on elements in the subject. Layers of colour like moments of memory added up and as I added more fresh canvases to the paint-wall, the project turned into a trio of 3, three foot squares. I was reminded why I prefer to experience a landscape and take my own photographs for visual reference if at all possible. My client’s snapshot was taken in poor light and without any notes or my own contextual reference was difficult to read. Thankfully I have talented techy daughter who worked some Photoshop magic for me that allowed me to get a clearer sense of the location.

add video here

“CHANNEL” Ghost sketch beginnings, 2021. I will often change my mind and begin again. Elements that show through to the surface from the under layers can often inspire me to take the painting in another direction.

In the end this project ended up as a testament to Canadians and their pure and loving attachment to place, particularly the summer landscapes that support and inspire generations of family interactions. I usually restrict myself to a pair of options for a commissioned project but in this case but in adding the third you can probably guess I was having fun with my walk down memory lane. The painting that moved out to that lovely Georgian Bay landscape to take up residence amongst those windswept pines and precariously perched bunkhouses was the one that more closely reflected my client’s lake experience.

GEORGIAN BAY: CHANNEL” .almost finished?

The remaining pair, “Audience” and “Channel” moved onto the back of my cottage for the weekend WAVE events (www.watchthewave.ca) after their sibling moved out east. One of the questions they inspired there was how long does it take to paint a painting? I have to admit I don’t have a consistent answer to that very common question. I tend to work in periods. At the beginning of a painting period the first works start out a bit rusty, I’m a bit tentative with the marks I make as I get reacquainted with the rhythm of the process. I like to compare a painting period to a runner training for a marathon. At the beginning it’s a bit of a grind until you develop a rhythm but once the runner gets through some training and is closer to game day form the movements are easier and more fluid. As I get into a painting rhythm I get more confident with the way I handle materials , I loosen up and get more expressive in the way I apply the paint and also less judgemental about what I am seeing evolve on the paint wall. Less gets to be more.

The pair can be seen hanging out on the back of the cottage during a WAVE weekend.

In the case of these three Georgian Bay paintings the work in progress spent some time at the cottage in the bunkhouse during the beginning of the summer but they also trekked into the city to hang out at the studio on the paint wall where they were finished. During that block of time I was in summer mode at the lake and in between I was finishing a few other pieces. It’s hard to attribute a specific period of time to any one painting. Instead we could probably say they were part of a body of work that evolved over the early summer of 2021.

Spending time on the paint wall in either location lends a consistency of choices that apply to several works painted during the same time period. They might not have been painted as a triptych or diptych but they do end up as cousins because they evolved out of a particular time period together or shared a common subject. “Audience“and “Channel” are definitely cousins and could in a pinch work as a complimentary pair or even hung together as their subject flows in a neighbourly way.

The bunkhouse serves many purposes. It houses overflow guests on busy weekends, WAVE visitors and serves as my summer studio. I like to paint there more than I get an opportunity to do so.

Among this pair “Audience” was the first born. Her presence on the paint wall invited “Channel” into the equation and both pieces returned at one stage or other to the inspiration gathered on the route from Honey Harbour to Blueberry Island on Georgian Bay. They have been listed as favourites by many WAVE visitors but so far have remained as visitors themselves at my husband’s office in “The ZOOM ROOM”. Note I did not say they went to a BOOM BOOM room; they reflect paradise but did not star in Bachelor in Paradise. In the Zoom Room they make a compelling Canadian audience to legal trials in real time where they have inspired others to travel to this magical landscape, hypothetically, during Covid-19 restrictions.

The Bunkie is playing peek a boo in the top left corner of this snapshot taken from the front yard at the lake. The paintball in the bunkhouse, my summer studio affords a view to the action at the lake from a secluded distance tyhgrough the side yard garden. Its a great place to work at play.

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So, this brings us to the end of this week’s episode. If my work or words inspire you please consider sharing the podcast with a friend or writing a review on Apple Podcasts. You can lalso find me on instagram @mandartcanada. type me a heart or say hi there to help the algorithm to see me.

Listen to the full episode of the podcast on apple or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Thanks for joining me. Hope to see you again at the crossroads where action and presence meet.

All best,

Amanda

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