Susan Tooke at Elm Street Studio

Kej Woodland

2011-12-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

Kej Woodland (acrylic on canvas, 36"x 60") interprets the damp mossy woods of October in Nova Scotia. The patterns of the leaves drift across the trunks of uprooted trees, the ferns turn golden with the shorter days, and grasses lose the strength to stand upright at the end of the growing season.

Cove at High Head, Lower Prospect

2011-11-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

Another spot on the High Head hike is this incredible cove, filled with rocks tumbled into spheres by the tide. As the tide rises, a spout of water is forced through the granite formations, lending itself to be christened by Richard and me as Spittle Cove. It is also the location of one of my early paintings entitled "Fifteen", after my daughter, Amy, who posed as a figure in the landscape. 27 years separate these two paintings.

Inlet at High Head

2011-11-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite hikes is the High Head Trail, Lower Prospect, NS.
Near the beginning of the hike, a stream courses through rocks, just stepping stones at high tide, but as seen here at low tide, a trickle of water is trapped until the surge of the next tide releases it.

Inlet at High Head, acrylic on wood panel, 36" x 48"

Waterfall

2011-10-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

A waterfall within a damp ravine of the rainforest in Goldstream Provincial Park, BC, I worked from a study done on site. By further simplifying and abstracting the image, I drew the lines of movement and the exaggerated angles formed as rock and trees collapse toward the forest floor.

Motion Activated ( Page One)

2011-10-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Veronique MacKenzie (dancer/choreographer), Lukas Pearse (sound designer) and I have been working on a collaborative project involving movement, animation, and sound, with each of these elements responding and interacting with the other. Last night at Nocturne in Halifax, we presented our explorations to the public. A truly absorbing and expanding experience, working with these two great professionals in other disciplines. Thanks to Richard Rudnicki for help with set up, take down and photography. Here are some images from last night.

View of crowd at gate with one of the projections above.

Looking down Granville Street with projection down the block.

Lukas Pearse, with his complex technical setup was the master puppeteer.
At 9, Lukas went off to another gig, after instructing me on how to run the sound, blend the videos with the live dance.

View from Granville Street with all three projections.

All of the projections were manipulated from a master

control program installed on Lukas's computer.

Veronique MacKenzie provided live movement for the grueling
duration of the performance. She was captured on infrared cameras
and her choreography interacted with the projected animations.

My view for the night, Lukas' hand on the controls,

Veronique performing, and the crowd at the gates.

Daybreak/lily pond

2011-10-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

A lily pond at midsummer: how do you paint this subject without the cloying sweetness that florals often have, and yet maintain the feeling of 'pond'? The dominant blue green suggests a gentler landscape; in the stillness of dawn wet grasses and lily pads balance in damp air and pond water.

Tidal pools at Pennant Point

2011-08-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

The south shore of Nova Scotia -- the spruce trees clinging to the rocky ground, the tidal pools left behind amid the worn granite of the shoreline. My solo exhibition at Gallery Page and Strange continues through August 26.

Transformation: New paintings by Susan Tooke

2011-08-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Please join me Friday, August 5th between 6-8 p.m.

Gallery Page and Strange

1869 Granville St.

Halifax, NS

B3J 1Y1

902-422-8995

www.pageandstrange.com

Susan Tooke

Transformation

August 5 - 26, 2011

Opening August 5th from 6PM to 8PM - Artist in Attendance

Susan Tooke is a Halifax artist with a rich background in art making. The first twenty years of her practice focused on social realism, with photographic reference and precise representation. This led to ten years of book illustration during which time she created a number of award winning picture books for various national publishers.

In 2009 Susan traveled to Sable Island. "Frustrated with the limits of my realistic style, I began to abandon realism for a more expressive abstraction of the landscape, using it as a point of departure for work based on my emotional response to the energy of the environment around me."

The result is very powerful and emotional works representing our familiar landscapes. Evocative of Anne Meredith Barry, the skies are electrified and the colours jarring. At first glance the paintings make you think of the emotion in the work of Emily Carr, or early panel paintings by the Group of Seven. This work is really embracing, full of energy and love for our beautiful province.

Preview: http://www.pageandstrange.com/susan_tooke/gallery.html

Susan Tooke has been a practicing artist for over thirty years. Susan holds a BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia and attended NSCAD University in 1996. McLean's Magazine named her book Full Moon Rising one of the top 12 Canadian Picture books for 2002. Susan has a staggering number of awards including Best Children's Book of the Year, Atlantic Bookseller's Choice Award, the Lillian Sheppard Memorial Award for excellence in illustration and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in Book Illustration. Selected artist by the TD Canadian Children's Book Week National Tour (2005), Susan's work is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Parks Canada, The National Library of Canada and St. Francis Xavier University Art Gallery.

Rocks near Crystal Crescent

2011-04-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Patterns formed in rock stressed by the elements, the Nova Scotian South Shore is pounded by the North Atlantic. In various stages of deconstruction, and construction, the landscape is most dramatic where sky, sea and earth meet.

Herd at Pond, Sable Island

2011-02-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

My trip to Sable, and friendship with Zoe Lucas has moved my studio painting into fresh ground with room for imagination and experimentation. Discovering the feeling of a place, and examining my own emotional response while experiencing an environment has led me to a new way of seeing the world.

Summer on Sable Island

2011-02-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

Richard and I spent a week on Sable Island in August, 2009. While there, we spent all of our time painting the landscape en plein air. This was to be a pivotal experience for me.. I was pressed to find a way of expressing the landscape in a more immediate way. Working on illustrations for Free as the Wind, written by Jamie Bastedo, Red Deer Press, I came to know Zoe Lucas. Her friendship has opened up the world of Sable Island to me, and I am grateful for this.

Old pilings/Fundy mud flats

2011-02-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

Large canvases are crowding the studio. Enormous skies, open views are demanding space. So much action above affecting the earth, the earth reflects the activity in the sky, the sea pulling back and rushing in--the Fundy shore near Great Village, Nova Scotia.

Red Canoe

2011-01-31T15:11:00.000-08:00

When I was in Goose Bay, Labrador, at the Arts Festival, I did get out briefly into the country. The red canoe, stashed above the tideline, the driftwood angled against the solitary stone, the November snow and far shore made a lasting impression. The silence of winter.

Cloud and Fundy Mud Flats

2011-01-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

My latest in expressive landscape painting. The dynamic movement of the tides in the Bay of Fundy near Great Village, Nova Scotia is a subject of epic proportions. The sky and the water of the bay are constantly changing with the ebb and flow of the ocean as it is funneled into the valleys of the stream beds and rivers. The challenge is to paint this energy.

Winter field near Enfield

2011-01-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

Richard and I were driving on the highway, when we decided to take the back roads. The land was covered with snow, the stubble poking through the icy crust. An isolated farmhouse stood on the hill against a late afternoon grey sky. There was something iconic about it as it stood on its pedestal of last summer's cornrows. As I painted, the feeling of the land and enormous sky enveloped me. I was drawn into the universe by the mystery surrounding the old homestead.

Diamond Island-Five Islands, Nova Scotia

2010-10-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted, but here at Elm Street Studio, we have not been idle! We had a wonderful time with the Studio Rally Weekend, and have even more plans for the upcoming year. Meanwhile, I would like to share one of the pieces just finished based on my plein air work on Long Island, this past September. Lines of energy, surging power of the tides and the brilliance of the light made for a wonderful painting experience. Come by to Elm Street for a studio visit.

Elm Street Studio with this summer's work...

2010-08-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

Richard and I have been painting up a storm lately. We would love for you to come visit us. Much of the work is either plein air, or based on plein air work here in Nova Scotia.

Port Joli Plein air

2010-08-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Just back from a wonderful week on the South Shore painting plein air with artists Richard Rudnicki, Joy Laking, Nelson Hubley, Bruce Gray, Heather Crout and Bev Hubley. The sculptured coastline, summer cloud formations and turquoise ocean all combined to give us a perfect week. (Not to mention, all participants were great cooks!)

My landscapes are inspired by reality, but take off from there, without colour limits, embellishing form with patterns and line.

paintings from Great Village

2010-06-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

Richard and I had the good fortune to spend several days at the end of May in Great Village at the Elizabeth Bishop House. In such an atmosphere of creativity, surrounded by the aura of the great poet, we explored the landscapes of the Fundy Shore. Working back into the plein air paintings created on site, I have completed 12" x 24" studies; two are posted here.

Rocks near Prospect

2010-05-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Plein air painting... wonderful with the surf crashing, gulls crying, wind blowing and drying the paint!
Richard and I drove out to Prospect and found a spot on the rocks a bit out of the wind. Sentinel rocks were all around. One formation looked like Moses' tablets dropped in awe of the ocean view.
My paintings are inspired by the landscape, but I have put aside literal colour for a brighter, more expressive pallet. This is very freeing for me, and also challenging, as I am developing a new style for my studio work.

Spring grass Sable Island

2010-04-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

The horses of Sable Island are so much a part of the landscape--as much as the sound of the wind and the sting of the sand always in motion. Memories of the gulls crying and swooping down over the land and sea, of the salt in the air and new growth, new life.

2010-04-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Following the well-worn paths of the horses, I am led to a freshwater pond near the West Light. Floating in gossamer tissue are the bones of a seal. The horses graze serenely in the distance, the breeze blows the grasses. (details of 'Seal Bones/Sable Horses)

Back to painting and back to Sable Island

2010-03-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

It took a while to get my mind around painting, and working in a new style developed while painting on Sable Island and down the South Shore... Old work off the walls, fresh look in my space only. Here is a detail from a Sable Island landscape I am currently working on. The horses are one element more spiritual in feel of this sand wind and water place in the North Atlantic. What a privilege to experience it.

Chorus line of Vs

2010-02-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

I have been here at Banff for about 10 days. Veronique MacKenzie and Lukas Pearse are here working with me. It has been wonderful working with these two dedicated artists. We seem to be overcoming obstacles and getting on with the project which is starting to come together. I have been going back decades to my days at the New School in New York, where I was immersed in animation of the stop motion sort, plus painting under the camera. In the photo you see some of my figures which I am working with... miniature Vs have a life all their own.

Banff-Amazing

2010-02-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

It is indeed wonderful to be here. Today, along with my studio work, I attended the open studio event for resident visual artists. I had lunch with MoJo Anderson, I went to a fabulous concert by a string quintet and several other musicians... I am beginning to understand what Banff is. It is a place where artists from all over the globe come together to exchange ideas.

Fabulous...

finding my way around

2010-02-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

My first full day here at Banff. Today is a holiday here...something called Family Day. Much of the facility was closed, so I happily went out for a longer than expected hike, first into the town proper, then up a mountainside on a trail spotted with elk droppings. Obviously well-used by these animals. I kept one eye on the trail and with the other I kept a lookout for any critters. Ravens were flying about and the occasional snowflake fluttered down through the still air. I came to a fabulous look-off into the valley below and up the side of Lookout Mountain. Returning to the Centre, my route took me past the practice studios for the musicians...small huts, really, and you could faintly hear their music through the sound-proof walls. From another direction the sound of an aria in a pure soprano voice. An amazing place.

In Banff

2010-02-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

After an early rise, a long flight and a long drive, I am at the Banff Centre. I will be working for the next two weeks on Motion Activated, a multi-disciplinary art piece with Veronique MacKenzie and Lukas Pearse. I am diving back into animation, a practice I was studying 33 years ago, before I became a painter. Here is a view from my window...

Hard to believe...

2010-02-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Looking out into the back yard of bare branches and crusted snow, it is hard to believe the transformation that spring brings to our garden. Seeing Richard's photo, I can smell the fresh scents of the flowers and feel the soft breezes of the gentler season to come.

Up Home at The Centre for Craft and Design, Sydney, NS

2010-02-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a wonderful few days in Sydney for the occasion of the opening of Up Home at the Centre for Craft and Design. I spent several days working with the sixth grade students at Harbourside Elementary. They did a wonderful job writing and illustrating special memories. Their work is on display along with the original illustrations and text from Up Home by Shauntay Grant, published by Nimbus. Her Honour, the Honourable Mayann E. Francis, ONS, DHumL, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia opened the show with a moving speech. The exhibition was made possible through partnerships with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs, African Nova Scotia Service Provider Network and the Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Board. Thank you all and thank you, Kris Webster and Carol Beaton.

Flash animation

2010-01-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

Another challenge-- Learning the Flash program to animate segments of dance collaborating with Veronique MacKenzie and Lukas Pearse. Off to Banff to do some serious studying.

Port Joli painting

2010-01-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

Last summer, Richard and I were painting plein air on the South Shore. Fabulous time and a breakthrough for me with my work. Sitting high on the rocks at the Seaside Adjunct, the wind carrying the cries of the seals to us as we painted.

The City Speaks in Drums: cover image

2010-01-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today I put the final touches on the illustrations for my next book with Shauntay Grant and Nimbus Publishing called The City Speaks in Drums. I have been working on this in one form or another since last July... a long haul, but I am happy with the illustrations. Once again, I was working with members of our community on this book based in Halifax, following the adventures of two boys as they explore the city.
Thanks to Dante and Chris, two very patient young men, and the stars of the book.

Richard at the easel

2010-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Richard Rudnicki and I share our painting studio. It is a pleasure to be able to look up and see him deep in thought, working away at his latest painting. Here he is painting an illustration for Groundwood's upcoming book on Viola Desmond. We are lucky, in that this would not be possible with just anyone! It is good to have a second eye ready to comment when needed.

Nude with Owl

2010-01-10T13:00:00.000-08:00

Nude with Owl is roughly based on "Odalisque" by Ingres for the positioning of the model, painted from life. For the past five years, I have been practicing life drawing/painting and became interested in the nude as the subject for a series of paintings, deriving the settings from dreamscapes and local landmarks. Several of my other paintings from this exploration are set in the Public Gardens.
I am eager to get back into this work following completion of my last few illustrations for The City Speaks in Drums by Shauntay Grant.

Night visitor

2010-01-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

My studio painting has lately been influenced by my interest in symbolism and dreams. My dreams are particularly vivid, often threatening and anxious. This is not completely a bad thing, as they are remarkable in themselves and the source of potential imagery. The owl is a creature of the night, often known for wisdom, but also connected to the underworld and death. The penetrating stare of the owl. The eyes that can see into the depths of darkness. The head that can turn almost 360 degrees to follow and discover. The flight on silent wings. All of this in a creature full of mystery and primeval associations.

"Spoons" Rudnicki

2010-01-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Now, for all of you who wonder how we manage to make ends meet, here is Richard working hard to supplement our income. Well, actually, he is posing for The City Speaks in Drums. Great job, Richard! We swooped down on the Public Gardens, and Richard demonstrated his technique learned from a quick lesson on Youtube. We left in a flash right after hearing a child say "Look, Mom! He's going to play the spoons!".

natty dreads

2010-01-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

It is harder than it looks, but Andrew manages to "whip air to the beat" with some advice from a passerby... another detail. Models are very sympathetic, lending their personalities to the creative process. Behind, sitting on the bench, a local celebrity helps support the pigeon population, wings mimic the flying dreadlocks.

the man on the bench

2010-01-02T13:35:00.001-08:00

Starting to post, and finding that people know, people recognize this fellow intent on his crossword outside the public library. I am interested in dissecting my paintings, finding small parts that become a passage unto themselves. Capturing the fleeting moment, holding it in your hand, in your mind's eye, then returning to it months later to examine it once again.