Watercolours

2000 – Painting is largely a right-brain exercise. However,

in my interpretation of a Zoltan Szabo painting, I found

that to create the shadows of the trees (revealing

them by wiping out the blue), the left brain had to

come into play, and I felt almost schizophrenic as I

shifted back and forth to assess the results. It was

quite an experience!

Painting is dancing with chaos. (Melanie Circle)

Midnight Moonlight

2000 – I imagine this scene could be reminiscent of many

places, but my interpretation of a Szabo work takes us

back to a spot on the Yucatan Peninsula near the Mayan

ruins of Tulum. The Caribbean is very clear and a lovely

turquoise blue because of the white coral sand.

Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside,

On the mountains... But all this is unphilosophical to the last degree...

When thou canst at a moment's notice retire into thyself.

(Marcus Aurelius)

Tulum Vista

2000 – I really enjoyed painting this – brought back

memories of our many camping trips into Mexico.

Especially welcome on a cold, dull February day when I

could imagine just relaxing in a hammock for an afternoon

siesta in the warmth of a shaded, scented Mexican

garden.

Sometimes when looking through my pile of drawings, I find an image

that awakens in me a passionate desire to inhabit it, as though I were

to feel more at home in it than in myself. (Jean Hellion)

A Mexican Garden

2001 – Because we live in central Ontario which is relatively

flat, I have always been impressed by the grandeur of

the mountains. When my eyes are drawn up to their

peaks, my spirit is lifted higher as well, and it must be

wonderful to awake and see them from your window

first thing in the morning.

A heightened sense of the observation of nature is one of the chief

delights that have come to me through trying to paint.

(Winston Churchill)

Misty Mountain Morning

2001 – Although it was late in the spring, Skyline Drive in

Glacier National Park had just been cleared of its final

snow the day before. The air was so crisp and clear,

we felt like we could see forever and this vista opened

up just as we neared the top of the Continental

Divide.

You are not copying nature, but responding to nature in full

awareness, to the way nature expresses itself in that object.

(Frederick Franck)

Montana Springtime

2002 – This is painted from a little book I found in the

library. Many times during our walks near the lake we come

across scenes much like this where the beauty of nature

is enhanced by her creatures. In 2006 we began to see

these lovely Trumpeter swans spending some time in the

Narrows in front our home on their way south in the fall

and how lucky is that!

People mistakenly think that art is about nature, or about an artist’s

feelings about nature. It is instead a path of enlightenment and

pleasure, one of many paths, where nature and the artist’s feelings

are merely raw material. (Wolf Kahn)

Taking Flight

2002 – One of the magical sights in Nature is that of the

Aurora Borealis as it shimmers over the starlit northern

night. A friend of mine who used to live in Dawson

Creek says that some nights she could actually hear

the music of the Northern Lights.

This image was used in Seed of The Cosmos found in ‘Our Stories’

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same

horizon. (Konrad Adenauer)

Night Glow

2002 – The sound of rushing water in a woodland stream helps

me anticipate the coming spring. The air will warm, trees

will soon leaf out and the stream will slow to a murmur,

but for now the anticipation is all there is, and it is

enough.

Nobody is painting from nature… Painting is painting and you cannot

copy nature. Yet without nature there is no painting. Even abstract

painting cannot exist without it. (Yossef Zaritsky)

Spring Cascade

2002 – The inspiration for this painting came from the web.

I felt that the intricacy of nature’s roses on one side of the

painting and the delicacy of the man-made lace opposite them

created balance, the state we try to achieve in our lives.

This image was used in Insight Across The Borderlands, found in ‘Our Stories’

Creativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and

draw a spark from their juxtaposition. (Max Ernst)

Lavender Lace

2002 – The eyes see the object, the brain registers “flower” and

the emotions - using the hand as an instrument - interpret it.

It may not be a ‘true’ representation (like a photograph) but

rather, artistic license to paint what one feels about what one

sees –one of the many joys of painting.

If the eye watches the hand, this would enable the marks being placed on the

page to receive the proper guidance, but the results would be memory and

destroy the potential of drawing the reality. (Lorne Coutts)

Gladiola

2003 – Early morning sunrise, so quiet, no one here but me and

the loon I can hear in the distance. A beautiful beginning

to the day, a time to reflect and give thanks.

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of

the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror

of the universe, the speculum of all creation. (Chuang Tzu)

Sunrise Solitude

2003 – Probably our favourite camping place on the west coast

of Mexico. Keith is enjoying one of the spectacular sunsets we

see there and often there’s the added bonus of dolphins playing

in the ocean in front of us, showing their joy of life in spinning

leaps.

This image was used in What Bernie Saw, found in ‘Our Stories’.

Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great

Magic trick of human existence. (Tennessee Williams)

Chacala Sunset

2003 – Reminiscent of docks in fishing ports along the

coasts of North America, I had fun following the example

of Zoltan Szabo and letting the colours flow where they

would. However, I hope I’ve conveyed the essence and

you can smell the fish and hear the lapping of the water.

Seeing is polysensory, combining the visual, tactile, and

kinesthetic senses. (Robert McKim)

Fishin’s Done

2004 – This house overlooks the beach at Zipolite.

There must have been interesting times constructing

it, as the hill on which it sits is much higher than

depicted here.

Not only does it catch whatever ocean breezes are

available, it commands a view of the whole length of

the nudist beach and its occupants must see some very

‘revealing’ sights.

The vistas of possibility are only limited by the shortness of life.

(Winston Churchill)

Zipolite Beach House

2004 – For quite a while I’d wanted to try portrait painting and

who could be a better subject to start with than one of our

grandsons, Sawyer. Due to circumstances, he will stay forever

this young in our hearts and minds.

The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there

hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.

(Pablo Casals)

Sawyer

2006 – We were ‘just looking’ in June 2004 when we visited our

local animal shelter but apparently this beautiful animal was looking

too and luckily, she chose us. Our lives have been enriched ever

since by the devotion and love she shows and her qualities of

gentleness and intelligence are amazing.

In the white man’s cities, there isn’t one single place where there is silence, peace.

One single place where one can hear the leaves rustle in the spring and the whirring

of an insect’s wings. Maybe this is because I am a savage and I cannot understand….

What will happen to man without the animals? It would be the end of living, and the

beginning of existence. If all the animals disappeared, man would die of spiritual solitude.

Because everything that happens to the animals can affect men. Everything is related.

(Chief Seattle)

Lady

2011 – Similar in colour, temperament and close in age,

these two are the best of friends, even to sharing the

same sleeping cushion at night. Now that another winter

is coming, we’ll all be sharing the warmth and light of our

cozy fireside.

Animals are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

(George Eliot)

Lady & Remedy - Deep Meditation

2011 – This is Remedy. She came to live with us 16 years ago and

seems to like it here. When searching for a name for her, we

remembered reading about Rupert Sheldrake’s wife, Jill Purcell,

naming her cat Remedy because when she felt low in spirit, just

cuddling the cat and feeling the vibration of her purr would make

her feel better. And our Remedy does the same for us.

A work of art requires the presence of two spirits. The first is the spirit of the

subject matter – the second, the object or thing that the work is based on –

Nature’s spirit. (Robert Genn)

Remedy

Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site

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