The Naked Silo

11" x 17", watercolour, 1997 Red looks really weird in jpegs and on the Internet in general, so this painting (as most do) looks much better in person. I wanted to play up the vengeful expression on her face by making the black and red areas flat, but the red ended up looking kinda like velvet, which is a pretty cool conceptual contrast if you think about it. The gun is actually a water pistol I've owned for many years and it showed up later in this painting  (and maybe a few others --I don't even remember anymore).

22" x 15", watercolour, 2001, private collection I made this double portrait of Alfred Hitchcock by combining two B&W photos (from magazines) of the master director. I flipped the one showing his very famous profile (it actually had a bird atop his head!) so that the main portrait (which I colourized) could "peek" out from inside it. I wanted the background to be grey and moody, sort of evoking his films, and the foreground bright and celebratory (and, I suppose, idolizing him, what with the golden halo), paying tribute to this master of cinema. My favourite Hitchcock film: Vertigo .

This year, Picton, Ontario was one of the dozens of cities and towns around the world playing host to the 23rd annual International Festival of the Stick , and Small Pond Arts was where it was based. We set up a Museum of the Stick in our barn and my contributions this year were three drawings of musician Tony Levin playing the Chapman Stick . To further the pun, I used lipstick, which I found to be similar to oil pastels, but much creamier. I used nearly an entire stick for just three drawings. Lipstick Levin (1, 2, 3) 17" x 14", NYC Retro Red Lipstick on Bristol board, 2010 The Museum of the Stick at Small Pond will be up for a few more months for those not fortunate enough to be able to make it out to Stickfest on 12 September.