Thoughts Behind my Painting

Much of my work since 1980, has been influenced by two places: North Hatley, Quebec and Salvage, Newfoundland. The paintings I did inspired by these two regions do not just depict the land or lake or ocean but rather my feeling being in these environments.

In the Newfoundland series, the land or sea are represented mainly through colour, creating an ambiguous surface, barely revealing the reality beneath. The house, the rock and the boat are my symbols. Through this stripped down imagery, I try to express my own response to the very basic life of the island: the white house built where ever needed, the simple fishing dory, often now unused, and the rock beneath it all. The resulting work is not a portrait of the island but my own personal response to the magic and power of it, using the three symbols as a place to begin to create through colour and line.

The North Hatley paintings began when we built a house in 1982 on the shores of Lake Massawippi.The rolling land of the townships, the vast view of the lake from our house were my subjects. In pastels and acrylic paintings, I tried to capture the light and colour of the changing seasons, especially on the lake, blue and greens changing to orange and reds, then greys and blacks with sun glittering on ice.

In the 1990's, the drive from Montreal to North Hatley inspired a series of paintings I called 'The Bend in the Road'. This is a stretch where the road begins to curve and rise, dip and rise again. I wanted to be a bird flying over it, to see this movement. So looking from above, I painted this view many times, using varied colours, textures and drawn elements to create the road and hills.

Working on the same theme in many paintings seems to be my approach to an interesting idea. In the 1990's, I did a series of paintings I called 'Mountain, Tree and River.' The mountain, the tree, the river or lake are symbols, archetypal, of the journey of life. What began as a clear representation of a tree with a mountain shape above and a line for a river below, became less and less figurative until there was only a circle with a line above and below. Situating these basic forms on a two dimensional surface and making them come alive through the juxtaposing of colour and the texture of the paint, is what engaged me.

In the mid 90's, a family member became seriously ill. This prompted a series of drawings and paintings I called 'De Temps en Temps'. More about this work can be seen in the attached video called 'Painting People in Distress.'

During the years I was painting, drawing was always a big part of my life. Once a week, I shared a model with a group of fellow artists for over 50 years. Working in charcoal, pastels,watercolour or making monoprints has greatly enriched my life and practice.