6 Day Painting -Work in Progress : This painting was painted with charcoal coffee paint made in my studio from spent coffee grounds on long ago purchased Mulberry paper. In the next couple of months, I will be adding some colour to this scroll with old  long ago purchased commercial inks,    1.5 feet wide x 24 feet long, September 30, 2025.
There is still so much I need to play and experiment with charcoal. And there is so much to be learned about making my own paper from anything and everything, the work continues. This past year has taught me that there is no secret to being an artist or making art, for me it is all about learning by doing and having a disciplined practice. And I am forever grateful to the Canada Council for their support, 

Day 6 : 1 Day and Last Day - The End and The Beginning - 1 year of DE-carbonizing by carbonizing project. Last day of 6 days of painting on one continuous roll of paper. Last of the charcoaled coffee egg yolk paint used. Final painting size -  1.5 feet wide x 24 feet long.
I can't help but see faces in all of my detailed photo documentation. Pareidolia  is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one detects an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none. Pareidolia is a specific but common type of apophenia (the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things or ideas). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

6 Day painting: continuous Charcoaled Coffee paint paper scroll painting. Second last day. Additional use of water colour pencils

6 Day Painting Continued: Change is coming to my daily studio practice for today is second last day in Canada Council Grant 1 year funding. I started this blog almost 363 days ago. I have been exploring and experimenting with charcoal and its endless applications in the studio. This experimentation has  let me to want to explore other art historically significant materials like eggs yolks and whites, soybeans, paper making. It has made me curious regarding the origins of different natural inks and dyes too.

6 Day Painting: continuing 3rd day painting on paper scroll, each day I paint an 18in x 48in strip and roll it up the next day before I start again on a blank section of same roll. this work is about water and the braking up of the ice in the spring or the freezing of the water each fall. It's about change and  how hard change can be.

6 Day Painting and Collaborations with a Stainless Steel Table Top: 2nd day, continuing with wet on wet technique, charcoal coffee paint, Mulberry paper roll, 18 inches x 24 feet.

Day 6 - wet on wet painting with charcoaled coffee paint with egg yolk as binder on roll of Mulberry paper, 18"  x ...............................................................................................................................................................
There are 6 days left to my Canada Council Grant. I am painting a continuous, paper scroll, painting each day, starting where I left off the previous day. Always using my in-studio made charcoal paint. For the past year, each day in my studio has been a learning experience and each day has been a surprise and this has driven my practice. 

Playing with line and form and thinking three dimension-ally

Ode to the world of Graffiti and Arte Povera Movement:
What's a Throw-Up? It's my favourite form of Graffiti (quick and dirty), "Throw-up is a style of graffiti that is characterized by quickly painted letters and shapes that are usually executed in one or two colors. The name "throw up" refers to the quick and spontaneous nature of the style, as the artist "throws up" the letters and shapes in a short amount of time."
https://www.grafftergallery.com/2012/07/ayre-throwup-2009-location-unknown.html
And a Throwdown because the challenge is on, in so many ways these days!

This series of works were painted in one day but had been fermenting in my mind for weeks. I am experimenting with various charcoaled materials which give very different shades of blacks and greys. I was telling my nephew about my practice and he said " You are actually making all your materials! You are going backwards" and then I thought Yes, going  backwards is the only way to go.

De-carbonizing my art practice has led me to explore the idea and logistics of making my own paper. All this ink, paint, and casting materials being made from my own charcoal making has led me to consider the surface I am using to make my marks on. Up until now, my Mulberry paper rolls got shipped all the way across the Pacific Ocean from China. No more. After my stocks of Mulberry paper are depleted, I will use only the paper I make in my own studio. Starting with my neighbours lawn mower clippings and now the highway median cut grasses which are coarser and varied in species than home grown lawn clippings. This leads to so many possible outcomes in thickness and quality of materials. There is so much to learn! And there are so many natural resources all around me to do it with.

These days, I bicycle to work for a 7 am start at Cedar Isle Farm in eastern Fraser Valley. I am influenced by all around me. These days, my art references come from the ground, plants, birds and skies. And I take them all into the studio in the hot afternoons. Summer has its own rhythms, shapes and forms and we make our mark wherever we go and whatever we do.

Collaboration made by hiking boots and front yard Magnolia tree. Marks made by stepping on Magnolia petals.

Collaborations with a chain link fence, rocks and sunlight. These are some daily encounters that influence and drive my mark making.

De- carbonizing my studio, my art practice, my life, by carbonizing everyday consumed items and resources that lend themselves to the process. Toilet paper rolls, soft paper, cardboard made from the Canadian Boreal forest. It is mid June and the carbonizing process in our living room wood stove has ended until cooler times begin again in the fall. So now, I make ink and paint and experiment with casting some of the charcoal.Busy summer in the studio and garden ahead,

Burnt toast as medium and content. edible art. bi·o·de·grad·a·ble practice. carbonizing-decarbonizing the studio. the art of making. the making of art. struggling to comprehend my place in this world.

Eggs and Coffee and a side of toast! 
White paint made from eggshells and charcoal coffee grounds make a rich black ink in these small scale experiments, each circle 5" diameter

Work in progress : Coffee Paint on grass paper experiments, 5 " diameter each

Landscape #1
Cast lawn grass paintings - Experiment #1, fermented grass casting with circle sieve, overlapping edges and drying out in sun. Painted with studio made, charcoaled spent coffee black ink and eggshell white paint. This technique is allowing me to paint on a warped and 3 dimensional surface for I am letting the "paper" dry naturally without weighing down as usual practice.

Landscape #2
These experiments are lending themselves to more 3 dimensional landscapes than I ever imagined. The cast grass paper reacts to the sun and the different binders in such unpredictable ways. It is also an unforgiving method of production for every mark cannot be erased or altered.

Collaborations with the neighbour's lawn mower and the sun. Fermented lawn mower clippings in the sun, blended them and cast with a sieve and or colander and then let the "paper" dry naturally, that is without weighing down and letting it ripple and twist as it liked

1. Bucket of fermenting grass clippings 2. Sieved paper let dry naturally 3. Cast grass in cookie aluminum moulds  4. Cast grass into plastic container lids and cookie moulds

Collections : Fir Cone collected in my backyard for charoaling ink experimentation. Blue Willow Pottery collected for its historical, aesthetic qualities and alternative possible functions.

My backyard fir cones are turning out to be one of the best, darkest and finest materials to play with. The sheer intact beauty of the carbon left behind after charring, is extraordinary. And the fine powder left after processing is also beautiful to work with.

One Cup of spent and charcoaled coffee grounds to make paint with.....

Paintings in Progress, charcoaled coffee grounds paint on Mulberry paper, various sizes

Taking apart owl pellet found in our backyard, to charcoal and make bone black paint.

Deer ribs found on beaches of Haida Gwaii - Various bones found and charcoaled from owl pellets