My sister and I applied for and received artist residencies for the month of September, 2018 at The Jennifer Keefe Studio in Newfoundland.

We boarded the ferry at Farewell, departed the mainland, bound for Tilting, a small outport community on the eastern tip of Fogo Island, right at the edge of the continent. Tilting has a stopped time feeling, with traditional 2-storey houses, red fishing sheds, and boats hauled up on slipways.

We stayed in a 3 bedroom former merchant’s house, a comfortable, uncluttered, easy place to settle into for a month. The “back kitchen studio” was a bright purpose-built work space that we quickly organized to suit our needs.

On arrival, we immediately set out on foot to explore our surroundings and within five minutes, were on the trail leading into Oliver’s Cove where pink Fireweed flamed against the pale yellow brushes of Canadian Burnet. Weathered silvery pickets of saplings and homemade gates secured with turquoise rope delineated family garden plots.  The sea crashed, turning and tumbling the rocks at the shore.

Our days took on a rhythm. 

Mornings were spent in the studio, assessing work, finishing pieces, musing and devising new strategies. Afternoons we set out with paints, paper and collapsible chairs in our packs. We’d search out a painting place at Oliver’s Cove Beach, Potato Hole Point, Hurley’s Cove, Tickle of the Head, Pummely Cove Pond or Tom Ryan’s Gulch. Tucked into the lee of the wind we’d begin…. to look, decide, glean, and simplify.

Painting out of doors is all fast and slow. Absorbing and distilling takes time, but a decisive stroke is needed. We wrestled with it. We tried to pin down the light, the wind, the clouds – everything in motion.

We were adrift, and when we returned home to Ontario, we felt slightly wobbly from the angle of Tilting.