Artist's Statement

It is what it is... Or is it?

We hear about bodies of work...artists moving from one series to another with a corresponding story of travel, love, strife, unrest. In my case I would have to say that my creative pattern, if you will, is less about bodies of work and more about seeing the world through a familiar lens of soft focus obscura.  My landscapes lack the detail that connects them to a specific place and time. Works like Decision 1, Calm, Illumination represent the human condition yet maintain a vagueness. A painting may seem familiar yet it is not local to anyone in any precise and exacting way. I have always wanted to employ meditation, yet my active (read overactive) mind kept the “spaces” between the thoughts at bay. I would sit on the bench at the lake and wonder, what does the moment of decision look like? The moment where you have weighed all you have gathered in an effort to understand the opportunity. My painting Decision is the moment when you are poised and ready to make the decision – just that moment of readiness... no further.

The painting From Ash is about renewal, about life coming from, out of and after destruction. It conveys harmony and balance with the crackle of energy made real by three-dimensional stippling. From Ash incorporates under-painting, stories under stories, through stories and over stories.

The newest work is the Shroud Series 1-6. It begins with a series of photographs taken in an agricultural setting on Vancouver island. The rhythmic nature of the folds and the various depths and lines, the incredible texture and a certain mystical feeling felt familiar to me. These images printed on canvas and then over painted/overdrawn became sisters and brothers to my other work...sharing a mood--even though the medium was different, the method was the same. The Shrouds are sensual, they are private, and personal – hopefully they will convey very different things to each individual who considers them.

Near and Far and Through the Middle 2 are the juxtapositions in the show. They are very different stylistically from the others although they too celebrate a certain ambiguousness. Through the middle 2 tells a story of beginnings, changes and alignments and endings. It is organic, it is simple, it is many strands, many lives.

My work is mine while I am creating. Once finished, the story is yours.

My work available for sale can be seen at online at www.gallerynora.com.  A historical view of my work can be seen on this site. www.noracamps.com.

Thank you for taking the time.
Nora