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Thursday 28 August 2014

Gaining Inspiration from a Good Read

I was given an art book by my brother-in-law that had me intrigued. It is called "Painting the Ontario Landscape" and is written by artist Jane Champagne. Jane was born in Toronto in 1930 and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto.

Jane was a "plein air" painter meaning she painted outside on location. She loved to paint the Ontario Landscape especially and she painted primarily with watercolour.

I am an artist who believes there is beauty to be found wherever you are and you don't have to fly to exotic destinations to find it. I also love our Canadian landscape and Ontario has such a variety. I have done numerous sketches and paintings of this landscape but mostly from photos I have taken. I am interested in what Jane has to say about "plain air" painting.




Here's a little excerpt from her book. It really speaks to me.

"It is, as the environmentalists say, the 'primary experience' that counts. For the painter and consequently, for the viewer. Primary experience? Yes. What happens when you get out of your car, stretch, look around, and see, really see, what you're looking at, a landscape stretching out limitlessly, there, bright or overcast, the smell of the fields, trees, the hot earth or cold snow, the feel of the breeze against your face and hair...the total, sensuous, breathtaking experience of being in the middle of a never-painted vista, at a country-dusty crossroads or by a limpid pond, surrounded by autumn colour, or anchored in an escarpment snowdrift, ready to capture on paper in a way that no one else can... that wondrous first impression.
That's what you're after. You look forward to living the experience fully -- and you want other people to see what you're looking at, grasp it, feel the elation, love it, cherish and want to keep whole this piece of earth, this corner of Ontario that next month may be paved, subdivided, turned into a dump, or otherwise taken from you."

I feel like this urge lives inside of me sometimes. I just want to get out there! I just don't, at the moment, have the luxury of dropping everything and escaping outdoors with my art gear.

Currently, I am on vacation in Ontario's North Country and am trying to accomplish that "primary experience". My art gear is here with me and I am doing my best to use it to capture my surroundings.

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