Mandart in Bloom at the WAG: Perennial Poppies

The poppy is a perennial player in my painting practice. In the landscape they erupt in communities through disrupted soil, symbolize remembrance, sacrifice and continued hope across continents. For the painter in me, the poppy as subject is a vehicle for colour.

Below you’ll find examples of Poppy themed compositions along with snipits of background information. There are 44 works earmarked for the WAGshop show. Not all are displayed in this post but you’ll find many on the main floor at the WAG Shop to coincide with Art in Bloom 2026. The Mandart in Bloom show continues through till the end of May.

Debutantes, “Symphony and Scentsation” of Sirens Series II, joined @lucy.d.k during the WAG photoshoot choreographed by @Tope_o, coordinated by @shopwag with help from the WAG Associates. Fashion by @hello_darling_co.

Where do you begin I’m often asked.

The painting process is unique to every artist. My work could be described as semi abstracted. In it colour is the vehicle I use to describe a visual  journey, no matter the subject. The result will be a resolved composition that might infer or suggest the idea of a fictional place, a document of where I am, informed by where I am from and the journeys in life and art I’ve taken in between.

I try always to go with the flow. The Sirens Pair above, benefited from a recent trip to the art supply store where a sale inspired the mistaken purchase of fluorescent colours. Less is definitely more when it comes to these additions that I’m now adding to my compositions in small doses.

“Believe in your creative choices. There is no judgement here.”

I’ll often start a new painting by setting an intention.

I select a word sometimes two and inscribe that word into the surface as I prime a canvas or panel with gesso. An intention can connect me intuitively to the surface and provide an additional point of connection for a future client. An intention can also set the tone or direction a composition might take as it evolves. The “Graces”, 3/6 examples shown above, were a series of 16” x 20” panels that began with the combined sentiment of Grace.

“Forge a path beyond the limitations that bind you to what you think you should be doing.”

Painterly beginnings don’t always pan out as we expect so I try to be kind to myself when I make a decision that soon requires another. The “Graces” spent various amounts of time on the paint wall before they became what they were meant to be, as opposed to how I had imagined them. Further proof that creating without attachment to an outcome is preferable.

“Poppies: Ensemble”, 24” x 36”, left. “Sweet Treat: Carnival, 11” x 14”, top right, detail, “Sweeter Treat: Joy”, 20” x 20”, bottom right.

Where does inspiration come from?

I once named a series of spring paintings “The Trespassing Series” in honour of the neighbourhood front flower gardens that inspired it. I love your garden almost as much as I love mine but I’ll take only photographs and I won’t cross from the sidewalk without an invitation.

“Aim to be present, wherever you are.”

The marks I’ll intuitively make on a surface will form layers and grow to become the suggestion of a curated garden or maybe something on the wilder side. There is no formula to follow nor even any advanced drawing, but every painting does begin with a coloured underpainting. The process of underpainting is important as a physical act. It removes the hurdle of a blank canvas and gets the creative juices going. Underpainting in colour also offers an opportunity for visual reactions on the surface as layers develop.

The Poppy as a subject blooms across substrates of all shapes and sizes. Scale is difficult to appreciate on a screen so I hope you’ll make it the the Winnipeg Art Gallery to meet some of these works in person.

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE.

I aim to infer a mood, a feeling, or theme in my work. Those intentions might be inspired by photographs I take or images I collect but I don’t ever seek to replicate an actual place. I’m a painter so I paint without a preamble. My visual notes might recall a gesture or a shape that inspires initial marks that I’ll draw in liquid paint with a thin flippy brush but there is never any pre drawing or advanced planning. Instead I like to dive right in and see where marks on a surface will lead me.

“I am learning to nurture the depths of me with this creative practice.”

A Canadian summer is a time when we get intentional about how we spend our time. The outdoors beckons and so does my garden. Last summer I tossed poppy seeds into a planter that rested at the sunny threshold of my summer studio. There, personified personalities bobbed and bounced at the slightest hint of a breeze. We all know what poppy red looks like but I was encouraged to watch the variety of colours the blooms morphed into during their lifespan. Some of those characters might have found their way into the Petite Papaver Series shown above.

The “Graces”, taught me grace.

Not everything goes to plan or flows as we hope or anticipate on the paint wall. Some days I leave the studio elated only to return the following day to wonder if I should ever have taken off the training wheels.

When trouble shooting a painting that’s gone from sparse and elegant to overpainted, usually in a heart beat, a change in perspective is the remedy I seek.

Scale for one thing is difficult to discern between screens but those same screens can snap a picture at days end that can be really helpful when problem solving. A quick snapshot becomes a reference and a record of a moment in time. It can remind me what I was thinking during my last studio visit and it can also compress the details to make my visual choices moving forward clearer.

“To unstick a stuck add a dose of perspective.”

“Fielding Dreams” enjoyed her modelling debut during the Art in Bloom marketing photoshoot styled and produced by @Tope_o. Dreams were manifested alongside @swishmodels and local creatives, @naemi’s_art, left, @Marvisaileen_, centre, and @genmarcjastillana, right. Fashions: @simonesrose, @maisoncorazon, @lennardtaylordesign, @hello_darling_co, Flowers @petalswest, Specimen Earings @thisilk, Makeup: @paintedbyamira

“Breathe. Be, right where you are, and listen while your soul speaks”

"Fielding Dreams", above, was named in honour of all the long winter nights I dream of my garden in bloom. This Field of Dreams is fictional, made of marks and shapes that gathered intuitively on the canvas. Together those marks have procured a perennial garden that blooms indoors without the weeds or need of watering.

The “Fielding Dreams” triptych will be the largest piece on display during the Wag Shop’s Mandart in Bloom exhibit. Each individual panel within any multi panelled composition is designed to be an independently resolved art work. It might be good to know panels can be purchased as singles, pairs, and as a trio. A triptych notably has five compositional variations. Working in multiples becomes more than the sum of the parts and more fun for me at the paint wall solving visual equations.

The square can be a complex and challenging shape for someone who prefers organic over symmetry. “Sweeter Treat: Joy, 20” x 20”, left, “Passage, 24:” x 24”, right.

And it seems I’ve saved Joy for last. “Sweeter Treat: Joy”, above left, was part of a body of work inspired by an early morning bike ride in cottage country. One past summer I’d followed the lake south before our house guests stirred and came across a small public garden bed doused in gentle morning light. Purple poppies strutted their prime blooms like a peacock attracting a mate in the fertile circle that contained them. Thankfully I’d the foresight to toss my phone into the bike basket. The snapshots I took that morning have travelled with me as more than a memory and inspired several series and commissions since.

“Breathe in the beauty of an ordinary moment.”

If you’ve enjoyed the quotes in this post you might also enjoy my Mindful Moments Affirmation Deck. or my print on demand Mindful Moments Colouring book of Art and Affirmations.I hope you’ll get to take in my exhibit at ShopWAG in the Spring of 2026, If not, let’s keep in touch. You can find me on instagram @mandartcanada or press the subscribe button below to receive my monthly newsletter. There’s absolutely no chance my words will inundate your inbox. I’m a “solo- preneur” who gets to wear all the hats and though I love to write I’m more than likely happily sequestered in my studio, painting.

Did a friend forward this post? That’s a nice friend. Subscribe to receive regular ( but not too regular) updates in your inbox.