ABIGAILS ART JOURNEY
My love of painting really began at my mother's kitchen table. I spent many winter afternoons painting with just craft acrylics on little wood ornaments and bits of paper. As I got older,I began to paint anything I could get my hands on. My dresser, bedroom shelving, chairs and small tables, everything in my bedroom became covered in every colourful pattern and design I could create.
It was also in my teens that I began to use oil paints. I learned how to use them from books I found at the library
(Pre youtube) and a lot of trial and error.
I fumbled my way along with oil paints and at the age of 19 won the "Future promise" award at the Buckhorn Festival of the Arts. The prize was 10 weeks of oil painting lessons at the Art School of Peterborough. I very happily attended.
It was in my early 20s that a shift took place with my choice of medium. I wanted to use a paint with less chemicals because of having young children. Heavy body acrylic paint was the alternative I went with.
That was when my love of acrylic paint began.
I left oils behind me and now in my mid 30s I have not looked back.
A few years ago I broke from the constraints of just trying to paint a landscape to explore the tension between the image and the canvas itself. My current paintings engage with the space between the flat white of the canvas and the colour and depth of the painted image.
This is a way of bringing the viewer along into the creating process with me.
I want the viewer to see the end of the brush strokes where the paint meets the canvas. To have a feeling of connection with how the painting is made. In addition to connecting with the painted image itself.
My inspiration primarily comes from the rural Ontario landscape. I grew up in Youngs Point, Ontario and lived close by as an adult in the Kawartha lakes. Because of this the lakes and woods are close to my heart. I am fortunate to still live in a beautiful area just south of Algonquin Provincial Park in Bancroft, Ontario. One of my favorite things to do is collect ideas for future paintings. Taking time out with my husband to hike in the woods or go for a canoe ride are things that make me happy and help me create new works of art.
I do not believe an artist ever stops learning or developing their craft. I am always learning and being challenged in my artwork. I love that about what I do. I love it when something starts to spark my interest. My mind starts to turn over ideas of how to present and create an image. I never know where a blank canvas will lead me.