"When We Dreamt of Paradise"

The past 18 months have flown by (yes - it’s already been a year and a half since we moved to the country!). There were a lot of practical things to take care of, some big plans to be started, and a lot of steep learning curves. As a result, other things - like making new art - didn’t happen. This didn’t bother me as much as I would have expected, and I think it’s because everything else we were busy doing is part of a big long-term art project. So art is still happening around here, just at a pace that’s hard to see from the outside.

But there is one new piece. It started in August, almost exactly a year after we moved here. It took a couple of months to become itself, and then I made the first edition in October. “When We Dreamt of Paradise” has just had it’s public debut as part of the Art Gallery of Bancroft’s Annual Juried Exhibition. It was a beautiful show, and I was thrilled to have this piece included.

This is the first piece I’ve made that features our own property as the setting. This is our new back yard; the piece of forest we’ve been entrusted to take care of. The land we have entered into a relationship with.

“When We Dreamt of Paradise”, 36x36”. Limited edition of 10. Click here to view in shop.

As well as the image of our forest, this piece includes about half a dozen other image layers. A couple of photographs of flowers that I took while visiting Monet’s garden at Giverny in the fall of 2019, an underwater image that I took while snorkeling at a friend’s cottage, fairy lights, and the magical sparkle from an orgonite pyramid.

I love the colours. I love the light. I love how somehow it manages to simultaneously be one of the most realistic and one of the most abstract pieces I’ve ever made. I love how it feels like a “happy place” envisioned in a guided meditation.

Here are a few of my favourite details from the piece..

To me, “When We Dreamt of Paradise” represents a return to LIFE.

HOPE.

JOY.

Perhaps the most exciting part about this piece is that I didn’t originally design it to be art to hang on a wall. I designed it as part of the sleepover immersive art installation that we’re currently working on, which will hopefully be ready for visitors late spring or early summer of 2023!

It speaks of daring to build the life you dream of. Daring to believe before seeing.

What does this piece say to you..?