Spring Breakup

April 6, 2014
by Karen Phillips Curran
acrylic, acrylic nature, acrylic paintings on canvas, art, Uncategorized
0
  Spring is late this year. But today it is raining. The trees are dark, wet; stark against the remaining snow. They are burgeoning, their sap is running, silently. Signs of spring will soon become apparent, but not quite yet. Silence reigns. The rain reveals patches of grass at the ditch. Those blades rise up like a morning yawn and stretch. Finally they are being released from the burden of months of heavy snow. The fields remain covered, still asleep, waiting for their time. It won’t be long now. This rain will help. Soon the water will be rushing to find the river. Its well worn path familiar , changeable, and soon to be surging with life, action, release, towards the flow. I cross the bridge and the river below shows signs of breakup. A dark, meandering streak insinuates itself down the river’s centre. It wandering from side to side, like a drunk. Spring breakup is on its way. Patterns in the ice will emerge like maps of our frozen country, intricate and full of promise. winter dusk 12×24″
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Still Waiting

March 24, 2014
by Karen Phillips Curran
acrylic, landscape, landscapes, riverstones gallery, Uncategorized
0
We Canadians are a weather hardy lot, for the most part…but we are all, each of us, wailing, where is spring, when will it get here…despondent voices of otherwise hardy friends wail at the end of the phone line. I am in my bright warm studio for the day, I scamper about in it moving things from one place to another, pen to paper, paint to canvas…..idea from spark to notation
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New Studio Space

March 20, 2014
by Karen Phillips Curran
creativity, life, light, museum, music, NAC, National Arts Centre, Nature, Ottawa Canada, paint, painting, painting watercolours bermuda, paintings, People, piano keyboard, piano keys, riverstones gallery, scenic, scenic art, selling art, set painting, shadows, sky, snow, spring, Springtown, stream, studio, theatre, trees landscapes paintings, trees landscapes paintings canvas acrylic nature sunlight, undulating, water, watercolour, watercolours, watercolours bermuda
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                                                                                                         Wherever I am I paint, draw and see….I am setting a new studio space in a place far from home. Love drives me there, is my motivation, that, and a thirst for new experiences, new visions, new warmth, new trust, new work….
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A True Artist Eats Her Oatmeal

January 7, 2014
by Karen Phillips Curran
art, Uncategorized
0
I eat my oatmeal from a chinese bowl, with the spoon I made it with…..  
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Xmas Crack

January 5, 2014
by Karen Phillips Curran
art, Uncategorized
0
  Fall has come and gone. Amusing myself is no problem, especially if there is paint anywhere nearby. This is a four foot by four foot floorcloth I finished a few days ago, I call it the Xmas Crack… I am in the studio these days, watching the world move past my window.
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Birch

September 4, 2013
by Karen Phillips Curran
art, birch tree, decoration, faux, National Arts Centre, paintings, Peter Hinton, studio
0
A few years ago now, I painted the set for King Lear at our National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The director, Peter Hinton, had set the play in Canada at the appropriate time period. It was a wonderful rendition of the classic. It was a simple set and included a large faux birch tree. When the production was finished the tree was destined for the dump. With the help of  a few friends I managed to get it out to my property in Springtown. A few days ago it finally found its resting place, alongside my studio! Here it is……it is made of sona tube, foam, and paint, and a little theatrical ingenuity….. 21 feet long/high…      
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Excellent Canadians!

August 13, 2013
by Karen Phillips Curran
art, Uncategorized
0
A little while ago I got to paint a wall at Rideau Hall…our Governor General’s residence….it was my pleasure. The exhibit speaks of our excellent award winning Canadians!      
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summer at last

June 25, 2013
by Karen Phillips Curran
art, Uncategorized
0
First oficial day of summer…daisies dot the yard, long grasses sway in the breeze, bird song iterates morning. I find myself in the studio these days actively searching for inspiration,…working, in series, on undulating keys right now, for the upcoming show in Toronto, TOAE I will be in Booth 136 quite close to Bay Street….I hope a bit of that money rubs off on me….. At this point in the studio there are 22 paintings in various stages of growth. Music pushes the process like a steam engine. I move from place to place, dancing with the canvasses. Its the good news that counts in life.                
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a studio

March 11, 2013
by Karen Phillips Curran
art, Uncategorized
0
  Its morning, even before I open my eyes I can tell by the sound of the crows bellowing nearby. A crisp morning greets me, my arms outside the covers are tingling with a chill. I bring them in to comfort them, I sigh. Then I open my eyes. A gentle morning light greets me. I blink, wanting to clear the sandman’s deposits and gain some focus. “What day is it” I think, Saturday is the answer. Another Saturday, a break in my daily stumble, one of the only days with a regular agenda, I make coffee, read emails, do yoga then trundle down to the Neat cafe to meet with friends from the area. Its been a tradition since the early days of the cafe, all of us wanting to show some kind of support to the new business on the block Burnstown is a tiny village, just a hamlet really. It doesn’t qualify as a village; not enough residents. But the town is full of energy, or it was. It had a community of people who had worked together to make art and life happen in the only way artist can, wild parties, art of many sorts being […]
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snowshoes

March 9, 2013
by Karen Phillips Curran
acrylic, art, blue, cold, ice, on its way, paint, shadows, snow, spring, watercolour, winter
0
  snowshoes I like snowshoes, because given enough snow, you can go anywhere in the woods. My woods are quiet this time of year, no birds, no bugs, no beasts. All are at rest, or have left the vicinity, only to return shortly. Yes, spring is on its way. I cannot smell it yet out here, but I can feel its approach. The sun says its on its way. The light is stronger, richer, and a bit warmer. I follow the deer tracks in circles. Their pathways are well marked in the cedars behind my cabin. Dappled light in every direction draws my attention. Ice blue shadows surround me. Warm yellow light kisses the bark near me. I cannot look up without a tear coming to my eye. I am out here to feel it feel winter without spring. So I can paint it later in the studio. I fill up my senses with it, breathe it while I am in it so I can bring it back later with a paint brush in my hand, and a will to re-create that feeling.
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11 Brydges Rd., Springtown, Ontario K0J 1G0
Tel: 613-433-2758
karen@phillipscurran.ca