Uppercase is a fantastic creative magazine that I subscribe to and which has regular calls for submissions. This challenge was to create a Poetic Self-Portrait:

Through colour, pattern, texture, personal motifs and symbols, text and language and other creative expressions, how can you depict your “self” in a portrait? What makes you, you? How can you communicate who you are and tell your story in an artistic, poetic and positive image?

The inspiration for my self-portrait came from my extensive jewelry collection, accumulated over decades. Nothing describes me more than my love for things quirky and unique, colourful, larger than life and fun! I’ve worn every one of these pieces (some I wouldn’t be caught wearing now—the nose and mouth brooch!). A few of these “jewels” are treasures that belonged to my mom, others from my travels, and others found during my life-long love of shopping in vintage and craft boutiques.

I was delighted when my submission was accepted and appeared as one of the featured portraits in Uppercase’s Issue #47.

For Mom
Acrylic on Canvas
April, 2020

When I mix paint on a paper palette for a painting, I keep the mixing sheets for re-use in a future composition. Sometimes the mixed paint blobs are so interesting, they are almost their own work of art. At a minimum, through “blob collage” they inform the subject or background of the new work, often purely through shape, texture and colour. The blobs may be left “pure” as they were originally mixed, or completely transformed through overpainting or painting into. Each new painting has its own direction and the results are always somewhat of a surprise.

I submitted this piece to Uppercase’s weekly “All About You” email newsletter., and was pleased when it was one of the featured works in the July 5, 2020 issue.

Beacon
Acrylic on Canvas
July, 2019

Created at a weekend spiritual art retreat.

The Three Snoutkateers
Oil pastel on paper
March 2021

Uppercase’s companion publication Little U had a call for illustrations of our favourite childhood teddy bears. This is my submission.

Meet The Three Snoutkateers, favourites among the stuffed piggies that I started collecting in my early 30s.

(left to right)
L’il Fricchle is an original Steiff piggy from Germany and when I first met him, my heart exploded with love for his sweet disposition. Bubba is my alter ego and he always makes me laugh with his silly and amusing narrative. Penny has travelled with me to Outback Australia, Mexico, Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland and the British Isles. He’s a real trooper, having lost an eye when—horrors—a dog named Boo had his way with him. Yes, I sleep with these guys!

Collage is something I absolutely love but have drifted in and out of over the years. With the drift and shift of life that the pandemic brought, I found myself embracing collage again.

Clockwise from top:

I’ve Got Alligator Eyes For You, 2020
Self challenge: tear four random pages from printed design samples and make something.

Channeling Ed T. , December 2020
Mixed media
Repurposing an artist colleague’s paint mixing palette and collaging it with materials from a printed sample.

Marathon Man, 2020
The road ahead will be long if your focus and your feet have minds of their own.

A personal project encompassing my photography and writing from a seven week vacation in Australia.

Hard cover book produced through Blurb.com  

A personal project featuring my photography from a North Sea cruise

Hard cover book produced through Blurb.com