My Painting Practice and the Changing Seasons

Lately I’ve been noticing a trend in my painting practice and my colour palette. When we were still deep in the winter months surrounded by white snow and cold, I was craving spring. It started to creep into my colour palette. This is when I created The Atmosphere Collection. I was eager to see lush greens in my landscape, so I created them on paper. A whole collection of them.

I limited myself to a very limited colour pallet of blues and greens and found the experiment quite liberating. The collection was birthed from a demand I had noticed from my collectors for more atmospheric watercolour paintings, and I was happy to oblige. I missed the smell of the forest waking up from winter’s slumber, a good thunder storm, and the mist that lingered afterward. I wanted to capture that in my work. I created 12 original watercolour paintings all from images I had taken in previous years from my local landscape.

Now that Spring is here, I notice that I am craving the warmth of summer and the special, golden light that accompanies it. I am creating a new collection of oil paintings that reflect the warmth and glow of summer. Long grasses, endless paths, and light streaming through clouds. I also love the thick texture of oil paint and the smooth, slippery way it moves across the canvas.

For the first time in a very long time, I’m creating a huge landscape oil painting, and I feel quite liberated in this practice. I typically work from reference photos. So much so, that I had convinced myself I couldn’t create good work any other way. Maybe it’s because oil painting is so forgiving, I’ve been able to completely remove the need for a reference photo and that mindset in my work. I guess it must be because I’ve been painting consistently for so long, that I have landscapes stored deep in my memory.

This time last year, I was releasing a similar collection in Gouache. The Meadows Collection is a series of warm, light filled paintings with tall grasses and defined brushstrokes. It was created during a time of deep uncertainty, great inequality and unrest in North America. My heart was aching for peace and unity. I created tons of small, warm, beautiful landscapes to fill my soul.

It’s interesting how the changing seasons affect my work so deeply.

xo,

Rebecca