La Porte Rouge

Title:"La Port Rouge"

I finally got the chance to visit the Maritimes.  Cape Breton, Louisbourg, the Cabot Trail, PEI, Fundy, Halifax, Lunenburg, Peggy's Cove.....well, it was certainly inspirational.  "La Porte Rouge"  (54x54 mixed media on canvas) is my first response to this magnificent, hauntingly beautiful part of Canada.  It is concerned with the vastness, the rough and smooth erosion of the rock surfaces, and the earnest resolve of the original settlers as represented by the colours against the predominantly gray and white background.  The coloured areas come directly from the painted wooden simple vessels and dwellings.  They hold their own against the dominating background.  They bend, but do not break.  La Porte Rouge is just that- derived from a tiny dwelling on the Atlantic shore near Lunenburg, 

angled against the wind, surf and rain, it's brightly painted gables and doors weathered and worn- and more beautiful because of it's story.

Often, abstraction reveals a clearer truth.