Mary Says .... Practice ;

These words and phrases were created with the intention as Practices  to Live By. I had thought 

I would create 10 images with the 10 Commandments, but I found  the Commandments too  negative in tone. As a Unitarian Universalist we have 7 main principals  and some of them speak 

on more than one aspect of living well . I decided to take the essence  

of these principals to create  10 ideolologies or practices to ponder.  

These Practices can be seen in the sacred space of Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation  at 79 Hiawatha Road in East Toronto, near Coxwell and Gerrard until the end of October 2012.  If you ouwl dlike these image sin your congregation or church 

 please contact me at  laurenanddave@rogers.com 

Swamps and other (not so foreign) lands….Paintings

Swamps are my latest passion.

Look through the bayou

to see tendrils;

Hanging down,

Gnarly plants

Reaching up .

Knotted fingers grappling with your shoe lace.

Schlepping to find

Your foot is no longer attached to your shoe,

Which is Sl-oww-ily

Disappearing into the muck.

Swamps have purpose.

Nothing stops

Or stomps

The Process.

Bile regurgitated,

In . to . new .clean . water

Eventually.

Waves of heat.

Water in the air,

Creating golden mirages.

Ghosts of what once was.

Plants breathing, it in

Moving with deliberation

An agenda only the swamp knows.

Lauren McKinley Renzetti March 21, 2011

Golden Swamp , acrylic on stretched canvas  18 x 24, 2010
$450

Sunset Tree trunk Meets Land, acrylic on yupo paper, 22 x 28 2010
$100

Vast Sky Seen through Swamp Land , acrylic on yupo paper , 2010
$100

Night For-Rest , acrylic on stretched canvas , 24 x 36, 2010
$450

Window to a Swamp , acrylic on frosted mylar 23 x 36 . 2010
$250

Desert- or lack of a swamp , acrylic on bristol board  36 x 60
$180

Swamp Mural , acrylic on bristol board 36 x 60, Nov 2010
$400

Silver Swamp, acrylic on stretched canvas , 12 x 24, 2010
$175

Golden  Swamp Vines , acrylic on stretched canvas 12 x 36, 2010
$250

Tree Series

This series explores  trees  with  a series of  shapes in their branches. 

What if they only had one repeating  shape in their branches like squares, the number 4  or triangles or ovals. I was  influenced by Piet Mondrian's series of tree drawings that were incredibly stylized.This led me to look at other artists and their way with trees. Gaudi in iron work, and Tom Thompson and his gnarly trees in Algonquin Park. THe group of seven filled many canvases with north ontario trees and they revered the spaces between the branches so much that they came first and the sky last... like stained glass, bringing the background into the foreground. 

The trees took on a life of their own when I played with stencils filling in the spaces that the tree branches made by rolling ink into the negative spaces with a stencil. The peacock tree was born.

No two trees are ever exactly alike  and the series has over 200 prints all slightly different from each other. I dressed some in ribbon and sequins. Some have other stamps interlaced or caught int he branches. What you see is a sample. My facebook page has a tree album with more .

All trees are for sale and can be framed .

The trees have 4 sizes  square or 4 trees are 6 x13, 

triangle trees are 6.5 x13, 

oval trees are 7 x13 

and the tree in motion is 9 x13, 

an 11 x17 frame fits best . Without frame $30 with frame $55

enjoy. the trees around you , they are naked exposed in their glory.

Artist in Residence at Unicamp 2012

This past Summer I had the joy of being the Artist in Residence for my 6th year at Unicamp.  The collective group painting a triptych of Dragonflies took the entire summer and was worked on by over 200 individuals. As the season has three main components to it; Kids camp, Family camp and Other bookings I decided to have each panel created by each part of the summer. The flower and dragonfly section (right side)  was worked on by Kids campers and Youth campers. The middle panel mostly by family week campers and the last portion  was completed by  Seasonals (people who stay up all summer) and the last 3 weeks  of the summer  attendees  worked on the left panel. 

A Community  of Dragonflies,  Located on the Summerhill Cabin 40" x 90" 

panel created in the last weeks of August by Seasonals, Staff and Adults  

panel created by attendees of Family Camp

panel created by councillors and attendees of Kids camp and Jouth camp 

Newest Landsats September 2012

These are the latest paintings from my Landsat Series. 

All of these works are on canvas stretched over board and backed with a hidden bracket to appear to be floating on the wall. As Landsats are views of the Earth from outer space they can hang in any orientation that pleases you. 

Uranium in San Rafael Swell, Utah  24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with maps, plastic and other  detritus
$375 

Everglades in Southern Florida   24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with mirror,  metal and other  detritus
$375 

close up of top  centre 

close up of top right of centre 

Chott Jerid of Southern Tunisia  24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with plastic and rusted metal
$375 

close up of lower section 

Forgotten  Canada U.S .  Border   24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with Venus' and other  detritus
$375 

close up of centre 

close up of old thermostat from  top right 

Alamogoro New Mexico  24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with maps, plastic and other  detritus
$375 

close up of centre

Bathurst Island , Northern Canada  24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with  plastic and other  detritus
$375 

close up view of bottom right

Planting Suburbs; Lake Ontario  24 x 24
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with mirror,  plastic and other  detritus
$300

close up of centre 

Straight of Gibraltar   24 x 36
acrylic on canvas stretched over board with plastic, jewellry and other  detritus
$375 

centre of painting