flood – heatherdawnfineart

Over the past years I have come to the realization that a painting is not just something captured on a board or canvas to look at. It is the experience that the artist has encountered, it is time which the artist has captured and held still onto the surface in order to be revisited over and over again. A painting to inspire, or stir up one’s emotions or speak out against tyranny…or simply is beautiful to behold are all meaningful and historical pieces ensuring perpetual discourse to as many souls as possible.

A painting or any other art work is antiquity, fleeting moments that are stilled and preserved for years to come.

This is a piece of the artist, drawing snippets and morsels from their life experiences that has brought them (me) to that particular point in time. What value can we place on that?

This is a session that I had with a beautiful young lady named Leah. She is a nurse who works for Pure North S’ynergy Foundation http://www.purenorth.ca/ she works so hard, most often at the homeless shelter http://www.theseed.ca/ starting in the wee hours of the morning in order to help the vulnerable before they head out the door for the day.

Leah is also co-founder of an orphanage called Darja Foundation here is the link. https://www.facebook.com/darajafoundationinc?pnref=story http://www.daraja.ca/

Daraja means bridge in Swahili, isn’t that lovely? Isn’t that what life is all about bridging relationships between fellow, flesh and blood human beings? 🙂

I met Leah at Pure North (which is another story for another time but please read about them, the founder of this program is a very generous and caring man Allan Markin) and have had the pleasure of spending time with her creating our artwork.

Leah lost all of her art supplies (among other things) in the Calgary flood that happened in 2013 and that is why she comes to paint with me at my studio. She paints her artwork while I paint her. We spend our time working and listening to music while we get to connect and share our experiences in life.

This thing called art has brought me in touch with a lovely young lady who has blessed my life.

Thank you Leah and thank you to all of you who stop by and take the precious time to read and comment.

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http://homestudio1.com/

The new painting that you see below is titled “Trees at Night”; it is done with thick painterly strokes using a palette knife and brushes. Take a close look, the colors are deep and lush, mimicking gems, they are alive with rich, vivid pigments.

There was a flood that caused a lot of damage in Calgary last June. [see link below] One place that is still affected is Bowness Park.

Bowness Park was one of our favorite parks to go to on a weekly basis; they were hit hard by this flood. I was at the park one night while there was still snow on the ground before the flood; I was taking photos of the trees. I shone my headlights into the trees to see what effects it would have in my photos, this painting is inspired from those photos.

I have fond memories of Bowness Park and those times were special to me because it was a place where I could go to have some quiet time. We would often walk the paths and there were sections of the park where we felt as though we were not in the city….almost.

There will be many more paintings to come from the inspiration and impact that Bowness Park had on me and my family.

Painting this yesterday was very freeing for me. I have been in somewhat of a holding pattern lately because I desire to go out and paint but it is not always possible, especially right now with the weather being so cold. Hopefully one day soon I can take the Westy Van out to do some plein air painting from it with the heat on.

Style: Impressionism

Oil on panel

10″ X 12″

Available.

Contact: Heather at homestudio1@shaw.ca for pricing, questions, requests or commissions.