Thursday 18 July 2013

Creative process - Kathleen Black


It is wonderful to get some insight into an artist's creative process--Kathleen Black has been so generous with the thoughts and inspiration that went into two of her new pieces. 

"Weald Grace", 36"x36", acrylic, 2013

In Kathleen's words, "My husband and I went to Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island this spring and explored some of the trails and streams nearby. What a lovely and truly cathedral place it is. The day was overcast with some rain and mist, not warm but not cold. It glowed with a wet luminous green and yellow light. There was not a lot of light but so much of it everywhere.The trees do appear to be columns. The carpet red,  blue water and shadow and green velvet moss. I could live there."

"Green and Red Wood", 40"x40", acrylic, glass beads, glass stringers and resin, 2013

"This is an image of some trees off the hiking path walking up Mt. Douglas on Vancouver Island. Again overcast with mist and some rain. Glass stringers simulate the rain.  Glass beads hang onto the edges of everything. This adds not only to the texture but shines, glows, disappears in some light to appear again with a different light.The trees are very textured and come out from the canvas. The purple gray shadows in the birches remind me of parisian light on a cloudy day. The birches push forward and the red woods and cedars stand so firmly in most of the painting."

Our photos give just a glimpse of the complexity of these pieces; full of light and colour, and glimpses of transparency.  The air itself is a presence in Kathleen's work.