The paintings were done at different times and are part of series which were achieved earlier, sold or given to auctions for research.
“Sunflowers” were painted on location, near Sainte, in Charente Maritime, France. “Sand Dunes” incorporated desert sand from Egypt, mixed with acrylic and nepheline gel to create the right texture. Ile de Gorée is an island directly across Dakar, in Senegal. It is a UNESCO site and was colonized by the Portuguese and then the French, during the slave trade. The Island has preserved its colorful colonial houses. They inspired many paintings including this “Gorée Quartet”, which was rendered using acrylic and nepheline gel.
“Burgundy Motion” and “Copper Motion” were done at a workshop with Lila Lewis Irving and are very spontaneous acrylic gestures, full of movement.
“Le Coquelicot”, “Oiseau de Feu” and “Wind whirl” are in fact my first collages and they incorporated gauze dipped in acrylic with textures, pigments and swirls of paint.
The cave painting series started with encaustic renderings on paper, during a workshop. They were then mounted on board and papyrus from Egypt was added to create the effect of cave walls. Acrylic was then applied to unify the images.
“Queen Elisabeth I” is a collage done for the theme competition of the TAP show 2010, for the first time at the Queen Elizabeth building, in Toronto. Elizabeth the first reigned for 45 years in 16th century England and was a remarkable woman. A copy of the Queen’s portrait was attached to a board and a mixture of Japanese papers (including painted ones) were used to create the dress, which was then decorated with pearls.
The “Primavera” series was done in April 2013, inspired from Spring in Toronto. A texture of glass beads was used for background and acrylic paint and natural pigments were applied. Then Washi papers were torn and used to imitate the plants emerging in the woods.
The “Bouquet” series, inspired by a special bouquet received from a close friend in fall 2013, is made up of glass bead underlying texture then painted with acrylic.