NOCTURNES

I worked on the Nocturne series between 1997 and 2006, initially inspired by wintery prairie landscapes seen during nighttime travels, while visiting my home province of Saskatchewan.

This is the geography in which I grew up, and where I continue to visit family. 

In the vast, sea of prarie darkness, beacons of light shine out from farmhouses miles away, the glow of towns and cities light up the horizon for what seem like days. As the Nocturne series evolved, the inspiration shifted in response to the nocturnal urban imagery surrounding me in downtown Toronto, yet the element that circumscribes every painting in the Nocturne series is light, and the way in which it passes, plays, recedes and shimmers a world view into existence.

 

Using the a la prima technique of loose, thinly applied layers of translucent oil paint to render fragmented images of known and foreign country sides, highways and roadways anywhere, corners of rooms, my goal is to capture a rumination on a geographical soul and place built upon an experiential collection of ephemeral images and sensations....never to be repeated glimpses of unexpected beauty.  

 

The Nocturne paintings were initially small and medium sized works on heavy printmaking paper, then gradually grew into larger works on paper and also medium-sized works on mylar, and eventually grew to be quite large works on canvas.

 

In the Nocturne series, my goal is to capture both a fabrication of and a rumination on a geographical soul or place, without being specific about where it is situated; fragmented images of known and foreign country sides, highways and roadways anywhere, corners of rooms, cities familiar and unfamiliar. The intent of these paintings is to touch upon what I understand to be essential about an evanescent place and time,and that this imaginative leap ignites recognition.