“A self-described maximalist, I delight in curating and composing-and
big, bold colour always foremost in the process.
“what was she thinking” started off as a collection of pretty vintage
dresses in a colour palette of primary colours and patterns.
Through the process of arranging and placing the figures I recognized
an inference of inquiring, searching or is it interfering and meddlesome!?”

“Detailed observation of the natural world and the changing seasons is the constant theme in my artwork. This piece, Inside/Outside, Butterscotch Days, was inspired by a long walk one early Spring day. The snow was melting, the sky was a crisp, ultramarine blue, and the newly exposed earth was the colour of butterscotch. I love these early spring days, including the smell of the awakening earth with the promise of what is to come.

I challenge myself to include multiple points of view in my compositions, and in this case, I combine an interior and exterior scene. The landscape is paired with the painting of a cozy cup of tea in one of my favourite blue and white tea cups, together with a branch of a pussy willow collected on an earlier stroll. The viewer is invited into a range of experiences from a landscape, to an interior, to a botanical specimen, almost like a video laid out within the two dimensional picture plane. Inside/Outside, Butterscotch Days captures a mood, an experience, and the passage of time.”

“Kathleen Dawson’s “Inside/ Outside, Butterscotch Days” presented an
interesting challenge for my pairing. My imagination was piqued with the “inside/out” theme. As my collage work, aka the “encyclopedia of Kay’s mind”, comes from an extensive collection of ephemera with emotion, particularly nostalgic in nature, I was motivated to curate a mix of images, patterns and textures, creating a theme of exteriors to interiors and back again. A simple, classic monochromatic colour scheme of black and white with a suggestion of colour is the essence of the vintage scenes and fashion that contrast with the composition of shapes and lines. In the home, out in the garden... stepping in or stepping out... interior or exterior, finished with a touch of pink.”

“I responded immediately to the colour and wit of Kay Gregg’s “What was she thinking?” piece, for the Pairings Project. I decided to follow the sense of humour, whimsy and strong colour palette of Gregg’s piece and began my own work through collage. The process began by cutting up one of my larger oil paintings in a similar colour palette. It felt very freeing. The layering of imagery and strong shapes followed naturally through piecing together other elements of my own works, and Japanese papers.
Combining imagery, and techniques, whether through collage, painting or drawing in my own more detailed work has always been part of my own art practice. I felt a creative relationship with Gregg’s work and have found the Pairings Project a joyful learning experience. I have felt re-inspired in my own art making as a result of connecting with the work of another Melt Studio/Gallery artist.”