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I See Darkness (Dear Darkness)

I See Darkness (Dear Darkness); mixed media on cradled wood panel; 24 x 18 (x 1.5) inches; painting surface is birch hardwood mounted to a basswood frame

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Canadians love the darkness. It's a fact! Canadians spend more hours in darkness than any other people. "I prefer the darkness to anything else," says Tara Moon of Carbonville, Newfoundland. "Most nights I don't turn on a single light in my house." Over seventy percent of Canada's population lives in regions that enjoy at least twenty hours of darkness per day for eleven months of the year. In the so-called 'Stygian' regions of the northern Canadian prairies, people live in total darkness year-round. "People around here prefer their kids to be born in the dark," says Gillian Chee Chee from Pow Now, Saskatchewan. "The first thing we do is take them outside and throw them in the snow." Her neighbour, Wanda TwoLongFace, nods her head knowlingly. "It's the only way. In this town, people have to live their whole lives in the dark. I went to school in the dark, I attended college in the dark, I go to work in the dark, I even got married in the dark ... to tell you the truth, that way you get to imagine a more handsome guy." Many Canadians even see darkness as a form of recreation. Says Tara Moon: "To me, there's always been something compelling, sweet smelling and even mysterious about the darkness, like the site of an ancient campfire at the back of a cave. People think it's about not being able to see, but really it's about looking. I often have friends come over just so we can sit in the dark with a few litres of wine and compare the different qualities of nighttime, and the stories it's telling us."

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This painting is part of the "O Canada, O New England" show I'm having this Saturday with my friend Susan at artstream studios in Rochester, New Hampshire.

Comments

  1. good morning DJ, I'm loving this new series of paintings very much - interesting post :)

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  2. my fave.

    i instantly thought of Dear Darkness---PJ Harvey.

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  3. the texture is great and there is a mysterious quality to it.

    have a great weekend ;)

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  4. great painting..love the post too.

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  5. Jeane: thank you!

    Illus Poe: it's never a bad thing to think of PJ Harvey

    Erika: and thank you to you

    Kay: and you!

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  6. LOL! Way to go to confuse the non-Canadians! We love the darkness...

    Your painting immediately brought to my mind the idea of pain and war. I think it's the bandage around the head and the red paint and what looks to be gashes in the wood. It's very interesting.

    ReplyDelete

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