Thursday, January 25, 2007

Painted Boxes - uniquely Canadian Artwork by Celetine

First, a bit of an introduction. I'm not Celetine - I'm her daughter Z. who is setting up a blog for her.

My mother is a senior citizen who who has begun painting after a long hiatus. For as long as I can remember my mother has painted, and then eventually she just stopped. Recently though she started to pick up the brushes, and switched from oil paints to acrylics. After spending a few years doing small paintings, Mom suddenly started to paint boxes.

Why boxes? Well, there is a lovely practicality to them. Not only do you end up with a lovely box - but a beautiful painting too. She started with a few small boxes. Tiny enough to only hold a few precious items. Eventually she started painting larger boxes too.

Mom is now in her 70s. She doesn't let arthritis stop her from painting. In fact some of the work she is doing now is better than much of the work she's done before. Except maybe those landscapes she painted back in the 1970's. Those were pretty amazing.

Mom has traveled the world. Literally. India, USA, England, Ireland, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico... all over. She has settled in Canada now, in Toronto and taken back to painting these lovely boxes.