JULY ‘23 NEWSLETTER IS OUT
Another month has passed in 2023. What a month it’s been!
Everyone needs a breather from “production” once in a while, so I decided to take June for a reset. (I did manage to complete a commission piece that’s been challenging me—more on that soon!) Over the past month, I’ve spent quite some time journaling rather than creating finished pieces. I’ve shared much of my journaling in this month’s Newsletter. My hope is that in sharing my writing with you, you’ll get a better idea of who I am. As always I’m excited to read your comments!
If you’re interested in seeing these revelations, head on over to the Newletter room!
Greetings Gentle Traveler,
I’m a disabled artist - located in Maritime Canada. Those two elements inform all of my creative work. I can’t escape the constraints of my disabilities, any more than someone could “learn” not to breathe. As to my home … there’s no place in Canada I’d rather live — something I discovered after growing up and living on Ontario’s capital region, the ‘scenic’ mountains of Jasper, Alberta, and 90’s era Vancouver, B.C.. I’m lucky (to some degree) to have experienced living in a wide variety of locales in this country; there truly is no place like the Maritimes.
I work mostly in watercolours - with occasional ventures into markers, pigment pencils, charcoal, and other media. For the past few years, I’ve been concentrating on landscapes - broadly speaking - that run the gamut from scenes in my region, to fictitious fantasy realms of my imagination, to interpreting the vast universe of DUNE - as presented by the amazing Frank Herbert, his inheritors Brian Herbert & K.J. Anderson, and other works. I occasionally dip my toe in the realms of animals, ‘still life’, and human(esque) figures. Like most artists, less than 10% of what I create ever gets seen by the public.
I hope you enjoy journeying with me through my gallery, store, and blog entries.
Very best,
Gryph
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My most successful pieces - creatively and as final products - all started as answers to questions I didn’t know I was asking. For instance, I’d glimpse a grove of trees and be captivated by the sense of security I felt. My piece “Electric Grove” was my attempt to investigate why that grove felt so secure. In my worldview, answers always precede questions.
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ALL of my work starts as something “personal” to me. I don’t tend to overly concern myself with any “commercial” appeal. That said, my hope is that others find value - commercial appeal - in my pieces. My DUNE related series of works and limited collection are excellent examples of when both drives are satisfied.
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There are long and short versions of this😊. The short version is that I bought my very first DUNE novel in 1980 / 81. I had been introduced to Sci-Fi earlier (Asimov), but found his novels to be a bit … tech-heavy … for my teen brain. Once I discovered the vast Universe that Frank Herbert had created, I couldn’t get enough. The competing philosophies, world-building, and character development are beyond compare. Four decades later, I continue to be enthralled by the DUNE-verse and gladly devour volumes (both old and new) each and every year.