Flashbacks

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FLASHBACKS

REMEMBER MY COWBOY PERIOD?

In 1976 Bill became a Park Ranger and we went to live rurally and remotely in the Alberta foothills ~ ranch country. The late Helen Wilson, an artist herself, former neighbour and good friend made me welcome, showed me her way of life and taught me much. Watching a calf being born, attending brandings and observing the ways of the cowboy were new, fascinating experiences for this city girl. Helen, her family and livestock provided the reference material for and featured in many of the western paintings I was inspired to create as a result of our five year stay at Chain Lakes Provincial Park, west of Nanton, Alberta.

'Bread Stuffing' Helen Wilson 1984 oil 16" x 20"

I entered my first two western paintings to the Calgary 1984
Stockmen's Foundation Art Show. Peek-a-Boo was awarded best watercolour.

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Spring Delight 1983 oil 20" x 16" SOLD	Peek-a-Boo 1983 watercolour 16" x 20" SOLD

Jackie Chalmers, former owner of Trails West Galleries, and still a close friend today,
took my art to the first of three consecutive Calgary Stampede Western Art Shows.
In her Calgary gallery Jackie hosted my first solo show in November, 1988.

With Jackie, at the Stampede, July, 1986


R-Scar 1985 oil 24" x 36" NFS	Who's Next 1986 watercolour 13.5" x 18" SOLD	Smoky at the Branding 1987 watercolour 14.5" x 19.5" SOLD	Calves by the Creek 1987oil 16" x 20" SOLD

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PLEIN AIR PAINTING

For twenty-five years I had been, exclusively, a studio painter. On September 26th, 1990 I ventured outdoors, walked the short trail to Grassi Lakes, set up and painted this oil in three hours. Back at home I was appalled at it's abstracted simplicity. I didn't like it. I buried it in a closet where I wouldn't have to look at it, I had sufficiently scared myself. It was June, 1992, before I got up the courage to go back out into the field again. Since then, I have come to love this painting and the richness that working plein air brings to all of my art.

MYSTERIOUS DEPTHS
Grassi Lakes #1
1990 oil 12" x 16"
NFS

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Lady of the Lake
1991 oil 24" x 40"
NFS

Grassi Lakes #8
1992 plein air oil 12" x 16"
SOLD

Fireweed at Grassi Lakes
1997 oil 4 x 6 feet
SOLD

Eventually, that first Grassi painting set off a series. Many times I returned to paint at the
lakes and I also created several studio paintings, culminating in a 4 x 6 foot canvas.
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GOING BIG : THE CARIBOU COMMISSION


the original study 1993 oil 15" x 21" NFS	signing the finished painting 1993 oil 5 x 7 feet	installed in the lobby of the Banff Caribou Lodge

It was the Caribou that prompted me to work on larger canvases. Early in 1993, with great trepidation,
I accepted a commission to paint it ... at 5x7 feet. I had never painted anything that big before.
I was surprised to find the only real difficulty was having to continually alter the painting, to please
the designer whose primary concern was that it match the lobby decor. Amazed at how exhilarating
it is to work at such a large scale, I began to imagine my next large canvas.
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INSPIRED BY THE COLUMBIA ICEFIELD

at The Banff Centre Leighton Studios working on
SOMEWHERE to ANYWHERE
Mount Athabasca ~ Mount Andromeda
1994 oil diptych two canvases totaling 4 x 12 feet
purchased by The Alberta Energy Company, Calgary

Over seven years I enjoyed eight stays at the Ice Palace (staff residence) compliments of Brewster Transportation and Tours. The week-long gifts are available to artists, scientists and students of the environment. My complete fascination with Mount Athabasca is what drove me to believe that even I could summit a mountain. Once divulged to Bill, my wish was arranged. In July 1994 we took the standard route. The elevation gain was 5000 feet (1524 meters). Twelve hours later we arrived back at where we had begun. Elated and totally exhausted I looked up at Athabasca and noticed how the mountain appeared utterly unchanged and was gripped with the sense that I would never be the same. But wait, we went again, this time with our daughter Denise. In August 1997 she was dating a guide who took us up the face of the Silverhorn, the meringue-shaped point to the right of the actual summit. Picturing the entire family on the summit, I have this desire to go up once more, this time to include Laura, Adam and Larry.

True, I paint Mount Athabasca over and over, but I do depict other Icefield area scenes as well ...


The Cavell Pond, at the base of Mount Edith Cavell 1995 oil 12" x 24" NFS	Mount Athabasca # 36 2006 oil 24" x 18" SOLD	Dome Glacier and Mount Kitchener 2001 oil 20" x 36" SOLD

please on click thumbnails to enlarge