history together goes back to the Sunday School Nursery class at St. Saviour's
Church in Toronto. Our respective families had British roots and naturally,
we were raised as Anglicans. A reality that still informs our lives.
Sheila stepped out of the rat race a number of years ago and began a passionate encounter with paint and canvas. I love her work. It speaks to the gypsy in me.
Her use of colour reminds me of the covers on the wonderful books my Grandmother Jinks' Aunties used to send me from England. The books contained many stories of families travelling in wooden caravans and having wonderful adventures.
Sheila's images evoke the folk art I saw on those embellished gypsy caravans (always pulled by spunky ponies). They are, to me, naive and yet very strong. Like the proud, powerful creations that reveal the heart of the nomad. The simplicity of the images is deliciously spiced with her witty and often droll commentary printed on the canvas using ancient printing type.
Sheila has graciously shared two of her images for this spot. These are two favorites of mine but you can see many more on her website. I asked her to provide a little 'back story' for each painting.
Heart Vintage Longing
This piece is about my love of the heart (no pun intended) visually and spiritually/emotionally and my love of all things vintage. The vintage refers to how far back the longing goes....
Dog and Friend
'Dog and friend' is inspired by the fact that for many years my partner and I had our dog Rosie and we also had a bird (cockatiel) named "deva" . They really got quite close over the 7 or so years they cohabited. We have pictures to prove it!! The dog would be sleeping on the couch and deva would fly over and land next to her and sleep too.
To see more of Sheila's work go to www.http://sheilanorgate.com
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