Recent Works (part 2)

'Crossing the Narrows (Trinity Lake)'    (24" x 24" mixed media on birch panel)

                'Women in the Wilderness' II    (48" x 24" mixed media* on canvas) 
                     

'Among the Stillness of Land'    (53" x 59" mixed media on canvas)

'Breathing Space (Fire and Water)'    (48" x 60" mixed media on canvas)

'Blue Passage 2'    (30" x 30" mixed media on canvas)

'Spirit Wind 5'    (24" x 36" mixed media on Canvas)

'Tree-line 3'    (24" x 24" mixed media on birch panel)

'Salvage 2'    (30" x 30" mixed media on canvas)

'Red Aubade'    (18" x 24" mixed media on birch panel)

'Pilgrimage 3'    (36" x 48" mixed media on canvas)

'Breathing Space 4'    (24" x 24" mixed media on birch panel)

'Salvage 2'    (30" x 30" mixed media on canvas)

'Wildcat Lake Journal  08.91'    (40" x 30" mixed media on birch panel)

*mixed media - image transfer, acrylic, graphite, pastel, gold leaf, ink

Recent Works (part 1)

A mini gallery tour...

'Upstream' (36" x 48" mixed media on canvas)

'Wildcat Lake Journal 08.92' (72" x 36" mixed media on canvas)

'Float (Silent Woods)' (24" x 24" mixed media on birch panel)

'Sugarhouse Revisited' (24" x 48" mixed media on birch panel)

'Woman in the Wilderness' (48" x 24" mixed media on canvas)

'Into the Woods (Split Yellow Light)' (30" x 60" mixed media on canvas)

'Lake-of-Bays' (24" x 72" mixed media on canvas)

                                  'Point Me to the Skies' (48" x 48" mixed media on canvas)

                             

'Cloister Light' (53" x 59" mixed media on canvas)

small works triptych 

'Crossing the Narrows' (24" x 36" mixed media on canvas)

'Passage (Aperture 2)' (53" x 59" mixed media on canvas)

Summer Workshop!

'Art and the Creative Spirit'

      A one-day workshop for artists, dabblers, beginners and seekers

                   (With some art, food, drink, and a walk in the woods)

                            Saturday August 15 2015        9 am - 5 pm


This workshop is for those seeking a fresh approach to their art. 

Whether a new beginning, a personal journey, a desire to start a body of work, or a hope to overcome artist's block, this is a time to nourish your creative spirit. Explore ideas and concepts in art in a contemplative rural setting. Play with materials and try out new ideas in a positive, cooperative and supportive environment.

We will experiment with art materials through a variety of drawing and painting exercises, (with an emphasis on 'process' rather than 'finished product'), embraced by quiet and meditative surroundings.

We will embark on a group nature walk, through our 90 acres of cedar and maple woods, fields and wetlands, collecting found objects and photographing as desired. This will provide a starting point for each to draw, literally and figuratively, from the landscape's simplicity and beauty, and infinite colour and texture.

Each will then have an opportunity to create a large mixed-media work, incorporating collage materials, acrylic paints, pastels, graphite, ink, found objects, and gold leaf.

Energy-efficient home/studio 20 minutes east of Peterborough, Ontario

During this time, a demonstration on the 'Image Transfer Process' will allow all to learn, step by step, a printing method used to incorporate photographic imagery into mixed media works.

There will be time for silent contemplation, meditation, and individual study throughout the day, (with a selection of readings, music and poetry from a variety of secular and faith traditions and cultures), as well as time for group conversation and idea sharing.

Whatever your spiritual roots, (or lack thereof), all are invited to feed their creative spirit, foster a contemplative attitude, and create positive change through this day of artistic expression and discovery. 

Anne Renouf

Includes beverages, snacks and a light vegetarian lunch with wine

                                                     $100.

         * To register - anneromainerenouf@gmail.com

THIS ABILITY!

"Every child, every person needs to know that they are a source of joy; 
every child, every person, needs to be celebrated. 
Only when all of our weaknesses are accepted as part of our humanity
can our negative, broken self images be transformed."
                                                                                                     -Jean Vanier

         My happiest teaching moments are at The Art Gallery of Peterborough.
              Here, I get to make beautiful art with a group of adults with
               developmental disabilities and other exceptionalities.
                            The studio is a place of joyful sound.

                             Everyone works to their own ability.
                                  And everyone's light shines.

We have been exploring self portraits. 

The first day of this exploration, each person was photographed by a window. 

Each person lit by the clear February Ontario north light. 

The next week, (after the photos were downloaded, cropped, made into prints, enlarged on a photocopier), we cut them in half, (each person choosing which half to use, where to cut), and mounted the half-photo onto a board.

Then, each person drew their other half.

Some needed a bit of help. Some dove into it with great interest. 

Some just drew what came naturally.

Here are some of the results.

Standing before you. 

With confidence.

Transformed.

"...whose beauty beats and shines not in its imperfections, but overwhelmingly in spite of them..."

                                               
                                                                                                 -Annie Dillard

New Year's Resolution - More Leafy Greens!

                             Okay.          OKAY.        O.K.A.Y.!!!

                      More leafy greens. More leafy greens.
                     Yes, we are having MORE LEAFY GREENS!



                     So, we are eating more leafy greens. And this is the best:

                     Here's what we do...


                    Anne + Doug's More Leafy Greens


                   1 bag washed spinach, (or spinach, swiss chard, kale combo)
                   3 slices bacon, in 1" pieces (omit for veggie version)
                   3 whole walnuts, cracked open
                   1 - 2 cups sliced mushrooms
                   8 - 12  small blue cheese cubes

       Open spinach and scatter into a beautiful oval serving dish, about 12" x 18"
       Cook bacon (if using) in a small cast iron frying pan and set aside
       Fry walnut pieces in the same pan (about 3 mins) and set aside
       Cook mushrooms in the same pan (about 5 mins) and set aside


    Five minutes before serving, scatter bacon, walnuts, mushrooms, blue cheese over spinach.
    Heat about 6 tbls maple syrup in the frying pan
    Pour over spinach, (dispersing evenly) followed by about 6 tbls cider vinegar and 6 tbls olive oil
    S + P to taste

    Let sit for a few minutes

    Present this beautiful dish to the dinner table, (amidst the oohs and ahhs)
   Toss well and serve.

Figuring Out - Outing the Figure

                    For me, a figure work is, at least in some way, a landscape.

                               It is, after all, set in a place and a time.

                 It's about the painter's technique, thought process, mood, skill...

Not just a figure.

But a part of its landscape.

As well as a representation of the human figure, it's about the space around it. 

Place.

Time.

Colour.

Light.

It is about me as a painter and where I am when I paint it. 

But equally, it is about you as the viewer.

And where you are when you see it.

And the space in between.

Trinity Lake

                          Two hours north of us is this beautiful place.

We canoe here October 10 2014, the latest in the year that we have ever, (in our many many times here over twenty-five years), paddled these waters. 

It is a cool 7C, and as we approach these rocky shores, I am for the first time ever, wearing mitts while paddling.

I am researching a body of work entitled 'Trinity Lake'.

Trinity Lake.

(Not its real name.)

A place which gives me strength, feeds me, makes me delirious with happiness.

I now have so much to work from, to draw from, to think on.

A prayer, a song, a work of art.

The day has refreshed my soul.