Tuesday, December 26, 2017

A New Home


 I've moved! 

You can still read the older posts here, which were a blast to write but for my new work 

follow the links.

You can find me on Facebook at


Teena Marie Fancey Visual Artist

OR 

on Instagram @teenamariefanceyartist

OR

my new website (a work in progress!)
www.teenamariefancey.com 







Friday, September 30, 2016

Teeny Tiny - a summer of small portraits

Merkinde
Merman
Mermen


Sirena

Mermaid
Mermaid's New Hat

Birth of a Mermaid

Day at the Beach

A Crow in her Garden


Fox in Blue

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Printmaking: The Other Thing that I do.




So, for those of you who don't know, I not only love to paint, but I love Relief Printmaking too and have been working on and off as a printmaker since the mid-ninties. I am mostly self taught, but with the help of Michael Roosevelt (Armentrout), who is a master Printmaker, I learned how to design, carve and print blocks made from linoleum, or wood or rubber. For almost a decade, Michael and I shared a work space and shop in Margaree Harbour, NS - a stone's throw from the famous Cabot Trail. That's where I developed a love for printmaking, working  mostly with linoleum.
'Community' Linocut Print by Teena Marie Fancey (Saunders)
Through the years I have made a lot of prints, mostly in editions of 50 or less and I have quite an archive.
'Commuting' Linocut Print by Teena Marie Fancey (Saunders)





Although most prints are black ink on beautiful, creamy Rives paper, I have also done 2,3, 5 and
7-colour reduction prints, made by registering the paper on pins and carving away a little bit of  the block a bit at a time between colours and printing it by hand on Japanese papers. (If you've bought an unframed colour print from me, you may notice there are holes along the top...that's how I have made sure that the inked block printed where I needed it to).
"the Embassy" 
5-colour reduction linocut print by Teena Marie Fancey (Saunders)


In the past few years I have been collaborating with textile artist Shari MacLeod and we have started a small business called Cabot & Rose Handmade Goods. I have used my skills as a printmaker to carve and print designs on fabrics which we transform into our original designs.  Check us out :)
Small Zip Bag by Cabot & Rose Handmade Goods

Every now and then it's nice to work in a different medium. Printmaking is a very non-forgiving art as once you cut into the block, there is no going back and not every print, especially when printing by hand, is exactly the same as the last, so you may notice minor inconsistencies. You also have to PLAN AHEAD and think a little differently. The block's image will print in reverse, like a stamp, and only the  material you leave behind when carving will print...as when you cut, your are removing the surface (think potato printing). I once heard relief printmaking referred to as drawing with a white line.

Painting for me, allows a bit more freedom in the execution. Although I start with a composition idea, or concept or a chosen subject, I almost never draw on the canvas or panel but instead, brush on colour and allow myself see things in the strokes and colours to lead me. I can change my mind anytime and PAINT OVER what I don't like. Although, sometimes after too many do-overs, I find myself sanding off the surface so as to start fresh...they can't all be winners :)

Moving from one medium to another works out the ol' brain and hands in different ways. For more information about any of my work or if you want to see more, please email me at tmfancey@gmail.com










Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Ode to Tuck


Ode to Tuck by Teena Marie Fancey
original acrylic on board, ashes of my dear friend


I wanted to share this piece that I painted for an exhibit that opened a few months ago at Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's NL. The exhibit is called David Tuck: Friends and Ashes. This exhibit featured the work of 28 friends and artists of the late David Tuck's who were invited to remember David who often said he'd love to have his ashes painted into a masterpiece. All of the participating Artists received a portion of David's ashes and were to incorporate them into a work to honour and remember David and his own work as an Artist. My piece is simply titled " Ode to Tuck" and David's ashes were mixed with medium and paint to create the texture in the water, sky, and the fish. For those of you who knew David and his work, I hope you enjoy. I wish I could have been at the Gallery last night to celebrate our friend, but I'm very glad I got to participate from afar.

It was no doubt the most interesting work I've done to date. While I painted, I had David's photo next to my easel. Sometimes I turned him around so he couldn't see the mess I was making with his ashes :( But, he would have loved watching that and I'd like to think he was. Salute, my dear friend.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

"Elle"

Recently I was asked by the organizers of the Cabot Trail Writer's Festival to participate in their Artist's Gallery (10 Cape Breton Artists in all were asked)  to paint a 'cover' for my favourite Canadian book.  I accepted,was honoured to be asked and my painting was showcased along side some really great works by other Cape Breton artists. Below is a little bit about the terrific book I chose as well as my contribution. 
Many thanks to the Cabot Trail Writer's Festival for the challenge and the opportunity to have my work on display at their event.

Title: “Look at me - quatgathoma
Inspired by the book “Elle” by Douglas Glover
Artist: Teena Marie Fancey
Medium: acrylic on wood
Size: 8”W x 10”L


Douglas Glover’s book “Elle” left a very visual impression on me, as did the character.  Marguerite is a young 16th Century French noblewoman who is forcibly marooned on a desolate island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in the Strait of Belle Isle with her lover, old nursemaid and an odd and lacking assortment of supplies. She is a quick witted, intellectual with a taste for sex and the grotesque and narrates her memoir in a ribald and thoughtful fashion. In it she recounts her life, abandonment, quest for survival and coming of age. She describes for us her observations, vivid dreams and spiritual connections to the wildness of the land and its inhabitants as well as the hard lessons she quickly learns as the Eurocentric misconceptions of the Colonists of her time have left her completely unprepared for her encounters in the wilds of the New World, Canada.
I’ve chosen to depict our protagonist in her barren surroundings. Above her is a black and clouded sky. She appears to be mildly amused at her predicament and slightly bored or put out as she waits for rescue or, perhaps, the moment when she will transform, rise up like a bear and show us the wild heart that Canada has given her.




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Thursday, January 29, 2015

A bit of madness....

Cabot & Rose Handmade Goods
www.cabotandrose.com
Here's what's been going on in the studio of late: At Cabot & Rose Handmade Goods (my other artistic venture/adventure) finding inspiration from the writings of Lewis Carroll have led to some fun creative projects to blow off the winter doldrums and get some energy going for our upcoming production work for Spring/Summer 2015. At Cabot & Rose, we're all mad here!
I'm Late!
Assemblage by Teena Marie Fancey
Vintage photo, mica, vintage ephemera, found game piece, found objects, acrylic, needle felted mushrooms by Shari MacLeod.
8"x10"
$125

Needle felted sculptures by Shari MacLeod
www.sharimacleod.com


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Oh Canada! Shout out to Kim Floyd and pea soup lovers,eh?!

It's been a while since I posted an Oh Canada! type post. For the love of all things Canadian, I share with you today: "Pea Soup" by Kim Floyd. Kim is a talented Canadian artist living in Nova Scotia, as well as a dear friend. A child's outfit, a bag of marshmallows, a garden in a park, her children...her colourful paintings of still life, portraiture and scenes are happy snippets of everyday life.


"Pea Soup" was recently being shown at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, NS  in an group exhibit called Canadiana until August 5th and you can now view the exhibit online  on Flicker (click here)  and I believe it is for sale. I hope to be able to post more work by this artist in the future as I am a big fan!