Sunday, June 8, 2014


"standing in the centre of the midnight garden", 16"x20", acrylic paint on terraskin paper, vintage textiles, mounted on wood panel., 2014

years ago i came across images of vita sackville west's white garden. although it is pleasing in daylight, it is magical in moonlight. this was the inspiration for my latest piece. i'll submit it for consideration for the annual members show at the newfoundland and labrador craft council gallery.

Saturday, May 31, 2014






yesterday i visited the cloutie tree for the first time since last december. it's in a very exposed area,open to the strong winds coming over the mountains or off the ocean. but i was still amazed at how much "fraying" had taken place. most of the chiffon strips were reduced to the tiny knots where i had tied them to the tree. the words had floated away. only 4 words were left: heart, joy, laughter and complete. the tree is leaving me a strong message...

Thursday, May 22, 2014




i've spent the past week sorting and discarding and re-arranging and cleaning and painting my studio. last night i finished it off and this morning i start with a blank canvas.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014


the older i get (and yes, another birthday is coming up this week), the more i think about my ancestors. particularly the women. what do we share? what strengths and weaknesses? and what am i passing on? this piece is about two of my ancestors in particular. emma louisa (my great great grandmother on my father's side,) was a young aristocratic protestant british girl who fell in love with with a catholic irish soldier and immigrated to the wilds of northern ontario. what we do for love... and agnes, my great grandmother on my mother's side (in the photo) from edinburgh, scotland, widowed at a young age with three children and started up a shop on high street. agnes also died young and my grandmother took over the shop and the care of her two young brothers when she was only 16. this piece is about these women.their strength and fragility. the women who made me.

Friday, May 16, 2014


i'm delighted to announce the arrival of my new website! http://www.shawnohagan.ca/ thanks to the very talented matthew hollett (www.matthewhollett.com) who, with ease and insight, gave me everything i needed.

Thursday, May 15, 2014



some major changes happening in the studio this week. it was a long dark winter and i'm craving light. so yesterday i had a beautiful large efficient window installed to replace the old slider. today i hope to start painting the studio a crisp white and will get some soft track lighting in.then i will let out a deep breath and get to work. in a couple of weeks time there will be apple blossoms and honeysuckle just outside my window.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014


                              deconstructing a lovely piece of vintage french lace

Monday, May 12, 2014


                beginning with big decisions and small steps in "midnight garden".

Saturday, April 5, 2014


                  no more heat  20"x20"  acrylic paint, vintage textile, stitching on terraskin paper mounted on wood panel, 2014

after weeks of stitching, i finally finished this latest piece.it's about this winter. the coldest, windiest,snowiest, longest winter i ever remember.

Sunday, March 9, 2014



                                                     more light.

Saturday, March 1, 2014


                                                      personal constellations. harmony.

Monday, February 24, 2014

you are here now




my submission to the upcoming newfoundland and labrador craft council show "nesting".
vintage textiles, embroidery

Friday, February 7, 2014

it's taken me a few days to gather my thoughts about my 4 day trip to halifax and get caught up with what i left at home. every time i leave the island i come back richer. i absolutely love travel and would do a lot more of it if i could afford it. 
for 2 of the days i basically didn't leave the hotel/convention centre. 

i had 3 of my new paintings hanging in the gallery@acts (part of the atlantic craft trade show). mornings were spent at presentations by 5 gallery owners/museum curators from across canada and one from new york city. and in the afternoons we had the opportunity to meet one on one with them for critiques of our work and more information gathering. with all of their combined experience, i came away with some rare nuggets to think about.
the rest of the time i ate wonderful food. visited art galleries and shops. and wandered.



Wednesday, January 29, 2014


i haven't transported paintings for years. 20 years ago i had some wonderful crates built. they travelled a lot. over the past 15 years i've been working mostly with textiles and there is an ease at shipping off or travelling with textiles. for years i thought about getting rid of my crates - giving them to someone who will use them, but it never happened. so, this, the smallest one has been dug out of the basement, freshened up and will be put to use tomorrow when i fly to halifax.

Monday, January 27, 2014

yesterday the weather here on the west coast of the island was unfit. rain, freezing rain, very strong winds. so i gave the day over to starting a new "personal constellation" piece. this one is "harmony". it will be a combination of textiles and painting.
my "personal constellations" are my guideposts at this point in my life. what is important to me. what i need and cherish.
3 other "personal constellations" will be on display this week in halifax, nova scotia at the gallery@acts. this gallery space is set up as part of the atlantic craft trade show and will highlight fine craft from the 4  atlantic provinces. the craft alliance has invited gallery owners and curators from the usa and canada to give workshops and one on one meetings with the participants. i think i'll learn a lot.

balance  24"x30" acrylic paint and textiles, 2013

Wednesday, January 22, 2014



if i only worked in one medium at a time, my life would be a lot easier. but where's the fun in that? i have been attempting to set up my studio for painting.
and trying to keep a clear corner and work space for textiles. i've moved all of my yarn making production into the spare bedroom, and although cramped, that's working well. 
i need to get a couple of yarn orders finished off before i leave for halifax next week. so yesterday my painting studio reverted back to  a space for painting knitting needles and assembling the knitting kits. 
this morning i'll re-arrange again...

Thursday, January 16, 2014


i have been a painter most of my life.gradually, over the past 15 years i've switched almost entirely to textile work - quilting, rug hooking, knitting and crochet, dyeing, felting, spinning, embroidery. a combination of many of these. this past summer i started painting again and my newest work combines painting and textile practices.
my studio has mostly been for storing supplies and preparing my fleece for my handspun yarn. most of that has now been moved to a spare bedroom and my studio is reverting back to a painting studio. to celebrate my "return", i asked for this easel for christmas and it arrived yesterday. perfect. light but sturdy and flexible. in a few weeks i'll be getting a larger window installed and a bank of good lights. ready to go...

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

in late october i began a month long craft residency in gros morne national park, newfoundland. heading up to woody point (where the artist's house is located) i came up with a project. i wanted to do something that i would leave in the community. i also had just been diagnosed with osteoporosis in my spine and i wanted to pay attention to that. recently i'd come across the ancient celtic tradition of the "cloutie tree". "cloutie" is the scottish word for "cloth" and cloutie trees can still be found in parts of scotland, ireland and west coast england. these "wishing" trees were always located beside a well or a brook. if you had a health problem, you would take a piece of cloth, dip it in the water, place it on the part of your body that was sick and hang it on the tree. overtime the cloth would fray and your body would heal.




i chose a tree in a meadow at the edge of town. an old plum tree. with the most magnificent view of bonne bay and gros morne mountain. every evening i would embroider a body part onto a piece of cloth (usually chiffon). sometime during the next day i would walk to the tree, dip the cloth in the nearby brook, place it on my own body and then hang it on the tree. i began with my own body, then my family's bodies, my friend's bodies. every day the weather was different and the feeling was different. sun and rain and wind and snow as the the weeks passed - october into november.    

 i then began on the earth as a body. what does the earth need to make it whole and healthy? air and sun and rain. joy and laughter and compassion. friends who visited me in woody point added their own "clouties"
on the last day of my residency in late november i went to  the tree at dawn and hung the last "cloutiie"
in early december i returned to woody point, and in the middle of a snowstorm, i visited the tree. all the cloth was wrapped in on itself. keeping warm. i'll see it again in the spring.

Monday, January 13, 2014



      after pretty steady work for the past two years, i have finally finished my chakra piece.
a couple of years ago in florida, i picked up a dozen simple vintage linen napkins . around this time i was also beginning to have some medical problems. so i decided to start a project that would help me concentrate on my body. i wanted to do this work without pressure. without a time limit. with no other goal in mind. i loved working this way. each piece took a few months to complete (while i worked on other art projects). the throat chakra stalled for 6 months which makes sense because i have trouble with my thyroid.  i hand dyed each of the napkins to correspond to their chakra colour. i researched the location, the meaning, the symbolism of each chakra. i tried not to be too literal, but instead "feel" my way into each chakra. each piece includes applique, embroidery, stitching, beading.


root

sacral

solar plexus

heart

throat

third eye

crown

Friday, January 10, 2014

                    in the space between the snow squalls we are seeing the sun...

Thursday, January 9, 2014




what is keeping me warm

                                 
         the heat from my house  20"x24"  embroidery, stitching, applique on hand made felt, 2012

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

on this first day of a new year. where the world is white. i have begun work on my 7th  and final chakra piece. the crown chakra. bliss