Female Form with Flowers... 5 Abstract oil Paintings and an International Award Winning Poem by artist Patrick John Mills

Tenderness. oil on canvas. 14 x 18 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $500

Artist: Patrick John Mills

Upside down Heart. oil on canvas. 11 x 14 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $400

Artist: Patrick John Mills

Female form with flowers. oil on canvas. 10 x 12 inches. Price: $400

Artist: Patrick John Mills

Blank Canvas. Oil on canvas. Jan 2012. 12 x 16 inches. Price: $400

Artist: Patrick John Mills

Flowers in her Garden. oil on canvas. 14 x 18 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $500

Artist: Patrick John Mills

Yesterday was a big day. I managed to complete four paintings. I just sit around at the kitchen table. Painting. Drinking tea. Taking it easy. Isabelle (my daughter, 8), had a friend over. They were playing in her room. I would make them some food. Listen to them play. And I would just sit and paint at the kitchen table. It was a great day.

After dinner, Isabelle and I read a book together and then watched a movie. After the movie, I put her to sleep. That was magical.

Later that night. past 11 pm, I kept painting. While talking to a friend, I managed to paint another painting.

This morning. After I made Isabelle pancakes and maple syrup... I clean up the dishes. She wanted to watch a movie. So I painted another painting. Why not.

I have not had to clean my paint brushes in weeks. Why... they are always wet, and I simply keep painting all the time. It is great. I am really on a roll. It is so nice to bust out all these small paintings. I think I have managed to complete 18 works in around 10 days. So I have to go to the Art Supply store and get some more canvases.

Here is a poem I wrote 15 years ago. It is my intention to share my poetry... to help communicate the ideas expressed in my paintings.

Titled: Portrait

Canvas

naked and white

I want to undress you

under the black night

in pink tenderness

Everything is accepted in excess

There are no accidents

only possibilities not fully explored

I want to eat

your tulip legs

your eye lashes

your bleeding flower

To peel you skin

like a mandarin

To floss your veins

between my jagged white porcelain

when the night falls

when the day breaks

I have nothing if I don't have you

I want to pretend you're my mother

when I decorate my walls

when I throw you in my closet

Until the next time we kiss

I want to lie in pieces of you

waiting to undress your naked and white flesh.

written 1996 by Patrick John Mills

Four New Paintings + plus a poem (award winning poem)

In the last three days I have been painting a fair amount. I managed to complete the below four paintings. They are all pretty small in size. A certain amount of energy is building up inside me... so I will have to paint a larger painting very soon.

My mind is pretty blank for words. My mind is thinking more in images and in color. When I am more focused on painting... words are reduced. And poetry becomes more distant.

But I would like to share a poem that I wrote after my father died 19 years ago.

Titled: Without you

When I was young

I saw my reflection

smile in the sun

And I'm getting cold

out here

I'm getting colder

without you

Children gettin' older

I'm gettin' colder

without you

If you see my reflection

in the sun

Pull your dreams out

of the sky

Kites are blowin'

in the sky

and my soul is sailin'

out there

And I'm getting colder

I'm growing older

without you

I'm getting colder

without you

hold me

hold me

hold me again

hold me again

hold me

hold me

again....

Written Summer 1995

Blown Away (II). oil on canvas. 12 x 16 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $400

Red Chair, She Flower. oil on canvas. 12 x 14 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $400

Blank Canvas. oil on canvas. 12 x 16 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $400

He paints her flowers. oil on canvas. 14 x 18 inches. Price: $500

Love Me Do

Inspiration came one morning out of a clear blue sky earlier this week. What is love and how do we tell someone that we love them? There are many ways but what occurred to me is that we explored this mystery as children, in particular, as epitomized in the ritual of giving Valentine cards. We give gifts, as well, but it is the card idea that has taken over my psyche.

Valentine cards, all lace and romance, were hot items in the 1800's and came as regular folded cards but also as postcards. With mail delivery three times a day and on Saturday, too, this was love email of the times.

Cards became more commercialized in the late-1940's and were trotted home with the weekly groceries come early February.  These large 1/4" thick booklets, the same size as a scrap book today, were sold in the dry-goods section of the local groceteria. Those on card-stock were punched-out along perforations while others had a thick outline and were scissored from the pages.

Seen from today's standards and idylls of political correctness, these missives, signed or anonymous, stuffed into flimsy envelopes, and surreptitiously dropped on the corner of each classmate's desk, contained outrageous sentiments, suggestive poses and absurd premises.

This is what I will be presenting for the I Love You show, the content and look of vintage valentine cards,  a suite of pop art installation that illustrates the way we used to say, I love you.

(To read the captions more clearly, please click on each individual photo.)

Painting and Poem (International Award Winning Poem)

Blown Away. oil on canvas. 14 x 18 inches. Jan 2012. Price: $500

artist - Patrick John Mills

I wrote this poem in 1994. I was very lucky to have it published, won several prizes, got some money. It was selected as one of The Best Poems of the 1990's by The International Society of Poetry - The Library of Congress in Washington DC. I received a Silver Award or something. It was a long time ago. The poem is far from being my favorite work. But I felt it relates to the painting I completed two days ago. So I wished to share the painting along side the painting.

I have never really taken poetry too seriously. With so many spelling mistakes. And with such a hard time reading books.. .the words move around a lot.

I love words. I really enjoy the basic, simple, direct expression of words. Painting is for the eyes. Words are for the mind. Art is for the Soul.

Does she rip the skin off the animal

Does she eat the flesh off the livin' creator

Does she hear the rain drops

Do her fingers smoothen out the ruffles in her dress

Does her heart fill your glass with wine

Does she electrify you

Does it feel like she is trying to crucify you

Do you feel like you want to die by her side

Doe you want to climb inside

Does she cry at the birth of day

Des she resurrect your dreams

Is she one by day

and two by night

Is her hair blowin' in the wind.

written by Patrick John Mills 1994.

Published in Garden of Life and some other books

Library of Congress ISBN 1-57553-004-2

Received: Editor's Choice Award, - (written Summer 1994)

also won two other Awards.

Why do I Paint?

Good Night. oil on canvas. 14 x 18 inches. Jan 2011. Price: $500

Flowers Die. oil on canvas. 12 x 14 inches. Jan 2012. Price $400

Why do I paint?

This is a question I am asked more than once. Another question I am asked is, "Patrick, you already have so many paintings... why do keep painting?" One of my favorite questions that I am asked is, "What are you going to do with all these paintings?"

All these questions translate to... This person does not understand. Perhaps they are trying to understand why I paint as much as I do. The other possibility is that they cut me down. They think I am nuts, crazy, wasting my time, and should get a 5 - 9 job.

My daughter as me the other day.... Daddy why do I paint, you already have so many paintings?

So I replied. "Isabelle do you like playing with your friends, do you like watching movies, do you like playing with your Barbie play house? Isabelle I love painting. I feel like a child eating tons of candy on Halloween night. If I never sell another painting... I would still wish to paint. Just like I love eating candy. I love painting."

I feel very blessed. My 5 - 9 job is not a job. It is my life. It is more 12 - 12. All day. Every day. No evening and weekends off. I feel so blessed. My life is my life. No job. Just Art. But yes sometimes I wish I could have vacation from myself. Smile.

When I was younger. 15 years ago I was hardcore broke. But I was happy. I felt freedom. Nothing really mattered. Fuck it. Balls to the Wall. It was not easy. I lost weight (15 - 17 pounds). No much money for food. I did not care. I felt like a suicide bomber on a mission. And it was a rush. The energy inside my veins was pure. Yes I lived on skid row. I lived in a communal living space below the Lucky Lodge Hotel, with three heroin addicts, and a guy with Aids. Cockroaches infested the kitchen. But every morning I would wake up. And paint. When I left Vancouver I got on the plane (one way ticket to England). I left 400 paintings behind. What happened to them... ?

Now I am 39 years old. I have a big house. One of the largest art galleries in the city. I have a triplex rental investment property. My 5 - 9 job. My life. My Art. Things are good. Hard work as paid off well. So again... What are you going to do with all these paintings?... my reply. Who fucking cares. When I am dead. I will know that I lived. I had fun. It was great. I lived a great life.

I have never done drugs, never smoked a cigarette, not even tried coffee. Yes I have had beer, and gotten drunk. I just love painting. It is sunshine. It is water. It is a clear blue sky.

Yesterday I completed two more paintings. One in the morning. I painted while having breakfast. And before lunch I managed to complete one. And after Isabelle was asleep I managed to complete another painting before I went to sleep. Good day.

Vincent van Gogh (Sunflowers), Henri Matisse (Red Studio), Rembrandt van Rijn (Self Portrait).

Love is Blind. oil on canvas. 11 x 14 inches. 2011 - 2012.

2012. New Years day. This is the year that the world is going to end. 2012. But the more we move forward the more things seem to stay the same.

Last night I was working on a small painting in my kitchen. I was about to watch a movie. But a fellow artist and friend (Daniel Nadeau) stopped over to say hello. So we had tea and painted together in my kitchen.

Ten days ago I moved my oil paints into my kitchen. It is the first time I have painted inside my home is 15 years or so. It is so nice to sit down, in a warm place, relax, drink tea, and have a toilet near. Having a toilet or bathroom is a pretty massive thing. It can get pretty complicated without one.

While painting I was thinking about some of my favorite artists: Vincent van Gogh (Sunflowers), Henri Matisse (Red Studio), and Rembrandt van Rijn (Self Portrait). Vincent's Sunflowers holds a significant stage in art history for it uses a yellow background with a yellow foreground. Vincent's love for yellow inspires me greatly. When you look back at Rembrandt and his use of browns.... and then Vincent's love for yellow.

Color is so important. Henri Matisse (Red Studio). Red paint. A painting all about red. As artists we need to think about our love for color. Our love for art. And I wished to thank these artists for inspiring me so much.

Over the Christmas holidays I had many large canvases made. So there will be many paintings. For the past two months I have been dreaming about Red. The blood inside my heart... Red. Red. And more Red. I will paint a RED painting very soon.

Henri Matisse (Red Studio)

Rembrandt van Rijn (Self Portrait).

Vincent van Gogh (Sunflowers)