Mixed media on panel: Japanese paper, drypoint, relief, stencil, acrylic, oil and wax.
The drawings in this suite refer to John Parkinson’s 1629 book of garden plants found in England, Paradisi in sole Paradisus Terrestris, recognizing them as escapes naturalized in Canadian fields. Where Parkinson’s first garden manual describes the name, the place, the time and the virtues of newly collected and native specimens, my images re-present what is familiar. I re-use my repertoire of historic pattern stencils to echo the growth and form of the plants identified. Colour in this work comes from a synaesthetic response to the recognition of the plants in Parkinson’s monochrome woodcuts. A further return to the garden/field is evoked by the aroma of beeswax that emanates from the work.