Susan Tooke at Long Branch Studios

The Barrens, Mt. Uniacke, acrylic on canvas, 4' x 4' The parklands of the Mount Uniacke Estate include trails through Acadian forest, wetlands and the barrens.  The trails wind through woodlands, sometimes with deep undergrowth.  However, along the Barrens Trail the woods are dominated by red spruce.  The survivors reach above the unsuccessful fallen trees whose trunks and branches create a pattern of white bones across the forest floor.

Bog Trail, Cape Breton Lately, I have been working on paper, creating pieces for the Paper show at Gallery Page and Strange.  The show opens on Friday, February 15, 6-8 p.m.  To quote the gallery: "This exhibition is focusing on paper. We bring elements of the artists studio into the gallery so you can see parts of the process too. Sketch books and initial works on paper are on display to give you a sense of what really lies behind the artworks that you love. Not only is it fascinating to see the history of a work of art, it is beautiful. This exhibition is fantastic for a new collector. Works on paper will be available and often cost significantly less than a fully realized canvas. Work on paper in a private collection loans a sense of sophistication and deeper appreciation of what it is an artist does." Hope to see you there!

Three Totems, 5' x 4', acrylic on wood panel October in Cape Breton is spectacular... even when rainy and wet. Richard and I hiked each day, sketching, painting, and immersing ourselves in the landscape.  On one of the trails on Mount Grenville, St. Peter's a clearing in the woods held three ancient trunks in varying states of decay. They seemed to be watchers with a stoic dignity, at the edge of the forest; echos of the old-growth, with grasses and brambles forming a quilted covering for their roots, still anchoring them to the earth.

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.