BOOK  COVER  ART

1641 Sailing To New France
The subject is an approximation of the ship that transported Guillaume, Michelle and Jean Pelletier to what is now Canada. The wave action showing the constant force forward in the water to the right, along with the tilt of the boat into the slow onward goal, is important to the work's presentation.

Baltimore Schooner
The vigorous brush strokes show gradations in the depth of the water by their applied pigment. Just as they do in nature, the sweep of the clouds and the rake of the mast do complement each other, with the lines becoming evocative of movement and speed. Detail and colour become secondary to the visual story of movement.

Storm's Break III
With a complete freedom of form and curvaceous patterns, it is in the context of the symbolic reference to sun, sea and sky, that an objectivity has been added - to that which is normally abstract. This painting is one of a series of six sided works, each varied with dissecting colour. As a book cover, the reference is to chaos put into an organized pattern, within the story line.

Lone Arbutus
The lines of the landscape and sea swing in broad sweeps across the picture, and are framed by the tall curving arbutus tree. This leads the eye into the break of the storm itself, allowing one to experience the contradictory nature of two simultaneous weather systems - as a visual experience from the Gulf Islands on BC's windswept and beautiful coast.

Oceanic Sunset
Here all is poetic invention, as a painterly transformation of the actual. The goal was to capture the play of light that seems unreal, being that of the sunset at a moment when the sun dominates and floods the clear sea air and sky. The composition centres on the waves as they as they direct the eye to retain that focus. The painterly style called Mannerism, with its overemphasis on a direct mode of expression is evident. As such, it is painted with sentiment revealed by slight distortions or exaggerations of the subject matter - the first in a seascape series with a repetition of style.

The View From The Road In
A painting of Lacombe, Alberta, this piece was nostalgic, sketched and painted in 2003 at a 40th year high school reunion. The composition is based on oblique lines, ascending from left to right by way of the clouds. They are adroitly played against balanced lines, which continue along the road's path through the centre of town. This aspiration to measureless distance adds the gravity of poetry and it includes an evocation of that often referred to as "Big Sky Country".  Originally titled "The View From The Road In, Was Also The Road Out", it is evocative of youthful traveling Hwy #12 from the artist's former home town of Clive, Alberta.

Vulnerable
As a companion work to "Singular Sorrow" shown below, in this later work the composition itself portrays a symbolism. The  cover design gave an opportunity to vary the second composition on towards minimalism, which was largely influenced by observing the paintings of Matisse. The two works, like many of the others shown here, are 16" X 20".

Dreaming
The painting is after the style of Pablo Picasso found in "The Dream", painted in 1932. It is used for the cover of the music from the film comedy of "Robbie Phallic McKinnis", now being completed and listed under "Filmscripts". 1932 levels of communication  with art were somewhat interesting, as was the era quite liberal. .The composition uses the perception of both a profile and a full face, along with the body distortions of two separate linear forms. As insinuated by the painting, the comedy scenes written for film encompass sexual content as the subject of their hilarious songs, however, the actual comedy is focused on the games with words within that scope.

Singular Sorrow
The woman seems to be floating with achieing an evocation of a slow movement - with the use of a  minimal number of lines. As an evocation of an emotion, this work has been a favourite.