The first Canadian case of the novel coronavirus was reported by Health Canada on Jan. 25, 2020, in a Toronto man who had recently travelled to Wuhan, China. On March 17 Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency in response to the emerging pandemic. The initial shutdown was to last 1 month. Realizing that for 4 weeks I would be staying at home, I looked for something to do.
What came to mind was to paint. In the fall of 2019 I volunteered to reproduce a Mark Rothko painting for the set of the play "Red". I’d never done a large painting, mostly 8 x 10. I chose to reproduce Rothko’s White Over Red at 4ft x 5ft (hanging above left) and enjoyed the experience. I would try another.
The result was “Big Blue”. I was happy with the painting and imagined I could do this over and over and never get the same thing twice. But that could happen later. I decided to experiment with other colours.
As the weeks went by it became clear more people were getting sick and the shutdown was extended to mid July. I continued to paint.
Around the fifth painting I began to think of showing them. Research indicated you should have at least 20 paintings for a solo show, so I set a target of 30.
By the end of September I had 30 paintings so began looking for a venue and found Mackenzie Hall. The initial exhibition was set for late November 2020, but another lock-down was looming. The show was postponed until mid January, then again until early April, then late May.