#1101 30x30" cold wax/oil on panel © 2011 Janice Mason Steeves This is my first painting of 2011. The influence of Spain and my artist residency at Can Serrat seems to be appearing in my work unexpectedly. Playing with colour so freely during the residency was inspirational and combined with my interest in layered, weathered and decaying surfaces, I'm heading toward a new body of work. This non-objective work requires that I completely surrender to the process, not knowing from moment to moment where the work will take me. It rides on the back of many years of painting but demands letting all of that go. It is a demanding force, like "duende" . Angeles Arrien in her book, "The Second Half of Life" , says that the 'igniting power of fire that comes from the depths of the human spirit, is known cross-culturally by different names: as duende in Spain's flamenco; verissimo in Italian opera; fado in Portugal; tango in Argentina; sanda...