Cactus Flower

Kathy Crabbe. 2012. Cactus Flower. Pencil on paper, 8.5 x 11 inches.Drawing daily has become a meditation of sorts, a way to connect with the natural world and to revel in the sheer joy of process; the process of capturing a likeness. It feels almost devotional in it's purity. But what it really does best, is inform my abstract work, Journey into Intimacy. From studying nature we learn everything we need to know.

Kathy Crabbe, Cactus Flower, photo.

"I often think of artists as Vedic scribes or members of monastic orders, who secretly maintain analog technologies, archaic forms of knowledge and alternative ways of being in the world during times when there seems to be no hope, no alternative. With Occupy Wall Street, we see a slight change to bring these anarchic forms of wisdom back into the world. But as is often the case, we are our own greatest enemies." ~ Erin Sickler, Art & the 99% (Art in America, Jan. 2012)

Migra

Kathy Crabbe. 2012. Migra. acrylic, pastel and charcoal on canvas, 48 x 48 inches. Migra belongs to the Journey into Intimacy Series; an expressionistic, gestural exploration of intimacy expressed through a personal, symbolic language often synaesthetically inspired. This piece takes it name from Santana's song "Migra" (Supernatural Album). Migra also refers to the Mexican border patrol. That's interesting because I recently (twice in the last month) have walked over the border to Tiajuana. To me, this painting straddles several worlds, just as I do, having spent the first 26 years of my life in Canada and the last 20 in the United States.

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