Canoe paintings – mine and Peter Doig’s

In 2009, when I posted my painting ‘Yellow Canoe’

oil on wood, 12 x 24 in
on the now dormant blog artandperception.com, someone told me about Peter Doig‘s canoe paintings.
Peter Doig, 100 Years ago, (Carrera) 2001

My painting was based on a montage of three photos: a Northwest Pacific canoe, New Mexico clouds, the clouds and their shadows reflected on the backdrop of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

My painting expresses energy and Doig’s painting expresses the unease of drifting.

Quoting Nicholas Serota (former director of the Tate) : Doig’s paintings have a kind of mythic quality that’s both ancient and very, very modern. They seem to capture a contemporary sense of anxiety and melancholy and uncertainty. Lately, he’s gone more toward the sort of darkness we associate with Goya.

Others ‘go more toward’ love and joy.

8 thoughts on “Canoe paintings – mine and Peter Doig’s”

    1. Thank you, Barb, I had been aware of the more obvious emotions but, as you pointed out, its deeper expression is about ‘traveling through life’.

  1. I really love the first one. It looks so unrealistic but so vivid and realistic, a master piece

    1. Thank you, Jonathan. It is so good to hear from you. I hope that you and Fangwen will visit me here in Michigan some day.

  2. Wow! I love the collage of place and image!! Special places in my psyche: New Mexico and northern Michigan!! Yellow boat and reflection so present.
    Moving more toward joy!!

    1. We both have the connection to New Mexico, mine more in the past and yours so in the present.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.