Janice Mason Steeves

The Way 20x21" oil on panel ©2018 Janice Mason Steeves There are a lot of us out there who have come to art later in life. My workshops are filled with women (mostly) who are between the ages of 50 and 75 (The baby boom generation). Probably most are between 60 and 75. And what interesting people they are! They bring their life experiences with them to their art––their heartaches, joys, achievements, worries, and gratitude. And they are, for the most part, committed artists. They are embracing art like it's finally their time. It's what they've been waiting their whole lives to do. They come with their souls on fire. "and there was a new voice  which you slowly recognized as your own,  that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do–– determined to save the only life you could save. " The Journey by Mary Oliver  It doesn't matter how old you are if you have passion for ...

Of the Camino  3  20x21"  Oil/earthen pigments on panel In the workshop I recently taught in Spain, I gave a slide show where I presented a survey of my work from the past 12 years of my 35 year art career. I hadn't seen the slide show for a while. The last time I'd presented it was for a talk at a public gallery a few years ago in conjunction with my show.  It's a good exercise to look at the development over time of your work now and again. I realized again how important place is in my work. Place and light. Both. And travel. Of the Camino 1  8x40" Oil/earthen pigment on panel  While I love coming home, I equally love to travel as you might know from my recent introduction of Workshops in Wild Places . I expect my work will continue to grow and change as I travel to the various places where I've organized workshops. Connecting to place is something that's done with the heart. Not all places resonate with my heart. I'm happy to see t...

Iceworks 28 12x30" Oil/cold wax/sand on paper on panel © 2017 Janice Mason Steeves Jon Kabat-Zinn in his book, Mindfulness for Beginners , identifies seven fundamental attitudes of mindfulness, all of which apply to painting. They are: non-judging, patience, beginner's mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go.  Non-judging It's so easy to judge ourselves every step of the way in painting whether we're a beginning artist or a more advanced one. One of my recent students berated herself continuously for two and a half days of my three-day workshop. She was extremely frustrated that her work wasn't going as she had planned, even though she'd only been painting for a year, and was new to the cold wax and oil process I was teaching. I urged her to be more gentle with herself but she seemed unable to stop. Finally, on the third day, when she was totally frustrated and ready to listen, I suggested that she work very quickly, without think...

John O'Donohue  the Irish poet and philosopher, once wrote, “One of the deepest longings of the human soul is to be seen.”        It is truly a gift.  Last Sunday, Gallery Stratford curator Aidan Ware, introduced my exhibition, Gathering Light with these words:  "The work is not only beautiful aesthetically, it expresses a longing we all feel-perhaps particularly at this time of year-as we search for light and meaning and hope.  Mark Rothko once said, 'A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience.' And I cannot think of a better statement to describe Janice's work. You have to experience it. Meditate with it. Be quiet with it. Let it transcend its form and become a spiritual experience. I believe that art can act as a kind of spiritual salve. It can heal as much as it can provoke us towards and past boundaries. It can offer us space for contemplation, elevation, communion. For gathering light." My exhibiti...

Lines of Desire 1368  8x8"  Oil/cold wax on panel © 2013 Janice Mason Steeves  July was a busy month of teaching Abstract Painting with cold wax and oil workshops:  a 5-day workshop at Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts on Vancouver Island, a 3-day workshop in Vancouver and then another 5-day workshop at the Haliburton School of the Arts in Ontario. While I teach the technique of working with cold wax with oil,  my workshops are about painting.   I try to make the structure of my workshops very simple and clear.  It's a step-by-step process, each day building toward the next day.  Five-day workshops add a slowness to the pace that is difficult to create in a 3-day workshop.  It takes a couple of days for students to settle into the process-learning a new technique and then letting go of expectations that a painting should be produced in the first two days.  I think that one of the most important messages I was ...

Silence 2   50x50"   oil/cold wax on panel ©2012 Janice Mason Steeves How can you paint when someone is watching? I am commenting here on the recent blog post written by my colleague and great friend, Rebecca Crowell.   Rebecca can somehow manage to focus on her own work during the painting time in her workshops.  And do some serious paintings too!  She finds this to be  a learning tool for the class and is not at all bothered by the audience. I work in a totally different way.  I am able to demonstrate for my students and experiment in the workshops I teach, but I seem unable or perhaps unwilling to paint in the classes.  While Rebecca views her painting process as a learning tool (and I honour her viewpoint),  I see it in a different light.  I hesitate to paint in my classes, mostly because it is not my nature, and partly because I think it is important for my students to struggle to find their own voices....