Fundy Tidal: Terroir

My observations of the movement and placement of the debris in the swash zone along the Bay of Fundy inspired drawings of tidal action and the painting titled Fundy Tidal. Tidewrack creates lines in the sand, is tumbled through foam, and, with elements of both natural and discarded litter, performs a rhythmic dance along the shoreline. 

Life on our planet is dependant on the oceans, and the health of that environment reflects the health of the earth.  The energy of the Bay of Fundy, with the highest tides and strong currents, rips kelp from seabeds, erodes cliffs at its edge.  This drama is captured in what is temporarily left behind, only to be erased and rearranged with the next wave.

Fundy Tidal is included in Terroir: A Nova Scotia Survey

Swash Zone III
9" x 5.5 "graphite on 300 lb Fabriano watercolour paper

Swash Zone I
9" x 5.5 "graphite on 300 lb Fabriano watercolour paper

Fundy Tidal
48" x 72", acrylic on canvas
2016

detail Fundy Tidal

                             

detail Fundy Tidal

                             

Trees and Tides

My focus is on Nova Scotia’s environment and the challenges faced in a time of dwindling resources and environmental shift.

With Trees and Tides, I continue to develop ideas concerning these issues.

The old growth forests, sometimes protected, often only existing because of their inaccessibility, provide a glimpse into the past.  New growth and the surrounding resurgence of life offer a sense of what our forests will become.  These patterns of growth reflect difficulties faced with the choice between development and sustainability.

The series Tidewrack is inspired by what is left behind by the tide, a recording of the movement of waves in the swash zone. Small stones, marine animals, plants and debris leave imprints or tracks on the sand, cyphers of activity that remain until the next tide erases, rearranges and replaces them.  I am interested in these temporary placements as a time-lapse recording of the activity of the shoreline.

Gallery Page and Strange, Halifax, will be hosting the exhibition, opening at 6p.m. on October 30. 

Piggy Mountain, Backlands, acrylic on canvas 36" x 48"

Red stream forest floor, acrylic on canvas 36" x 60"

In the dark wood, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36"

Tidewrack, Starrat Beach, acrylic on wood, 20" x 20"

Tidewrack II, Starrat Beach, acrylic on wood, 20" x 20"

Tidewrack III, Starrat Beach, acrylic on wood, 20" x 20"

Tidewrack IV, Starrat Beach, acrylic on wood, 20" x 20"

Tidewrack V, Starrat Beach, acrylic on wood, 20" x 20"

The Backlands


Continuing with my interest in the subject of woodlands, I discovered the Backlands last year. With artist Richard Rudnicki and David Patriquin, professor of Biology, environmentalist, and member of the Backlands Coalition, I came to understand this area as a rare and unique ecosystem just a few kilometres from peninsular Halifax.

works on paper: India ink and acrylic on Fabriano hot press water colour paper, 300 lb.

Tree bones, the Backlands

Golden stream, the Backlands

During the past month, we spent several weeks on Long Island, Nova Scotia. Plein air work encourages an immediate spontaneous interpretation of the landscape.  Drawings are on Fabriano 300 lb. hot press watercolour paper using permanent inks, then toned with acrylic, with additional drawing over the paint, keeping the work lose and free.  Abstraction and pattern evolved.  I have included location photographs taken as reference for possible later studio work.

Wood near Beautiful Cove

Wood with rope

                                       

Rock pool Flour Cove

                                   

Wood with Channel Marker

Woodland near Boars Head Light

Northern Light fog lifting

                    Back to the drawing board 

The joy of discovery, working with ink and acrylic on Fabriano Hot Press 300lb watercolour  paper.  Drawing is elemental to the practice of painting.  The immediacy of the line requires commitment which in turn encourages decisions of colour, pattern, shape.  How do you describe a living landscape?  With energy and life. 

Five drawings: Flour Cove, Long Island, Nova Scotia

 

Woodlands and Watersheds: new work by Susan Tooke, Gallery Page and Strange

          Woodlands and Watersheds:  Gallery Page and Strange                                    April 25-16, 2014

With compositions inspired by woodland streams— nature is abstracted, the energy expressed trough animated line and organized through vibrant colour and form. 

Well known for her illustrations in children's literature, Tooke's studio practice exhibits a more dynamic approach. Influenced by artists such as Emily Carr, Tooke exaggertes and simplifies the existing colours found in nature. Patterns create the textures of the earth to express the "soul" of the landscape.

Blue stream tangled wood 36" x 48", acrylic on canvas

Dry stream bed Fishing Cove Trail, 48" x 36", acrylic on canvas

Near Shannon Falls, 36" x 48", acrylic on canvas

Pot Lake Bluff Wilderness Trail, 36" x 48", acrylic on canvas

Fallen spruce The Barrens, 36" x 60", acrylic on canvas 

Two rocks three logs, Bluff Wilderness, 30" x 30", acrylic on canvas

Stream Acadian Trail, 36" x 60", acrylic on canvas

Dry Stream Fishing Cove Trail, 3' x 4' acrylic on canvas

 Fishing Cove Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands is a fairly gruelling descent of 355 metres from the top of MacKenzie Mountain through the forest to Fishing Cove.  Parts of the trail seem more like dry stream beds, with a tumble of moss and lichen-covered rock, and tree roots.  Using a turquoise underpainting, then drawing with cadmium red, I completed the work with  exaggerated colours, simplified patterns and shapes, building a composition which shows the delicacy and impermanence of the structures.  The natural landscape seems disorganized, but a rhythm, a tension develops as colour and line pull the disparate elements into energetic harmony.