Deborah Marshall
Since moving to Calgary from Ontario 4 years ago, I have been inspired by the bright colours of acrylics and the use of palette knives in my art here. I love the textures that palette knives create on canvas complimenting the rugged mountain landscapes and beautiful vistas of the West.
As a student at Calgary School of Art, I have had the opportunity to create art with many talented people in classes with teachers Danielle Bartlette and Alice Helwig as well as a number of workshops at the school.
Carol Milne
Carol Milne paints in acrylic medium. She is originally from Toronto and has lived in Calgary for almost ten years. Although she had a professional career as an occupational therapist and raised four sons she has always pursued art in her spare time through continuing education and by exploring a variety of mediums. Since retiring four years ago, she has been able to spend more time pursuing art. She paints a variety of subjects including landscapes, animals and flowers with a realistic or abstract focus. She has developed a distinct style where colour is a dominant theme.
Marie Manon Corbeil
I am Marie-Manon. I grew up in a small village in the Laurentians.
Growing up my father painted as a hobby. There was always an unfinished canvas and brushes in the living room. I was introduced to painting in my teens but somehow life got in the way. I can say I really only started painting approximately 10 years ago and, like my father, only as a hobby.
In 2010 I moved to Calgary, Alberta and pursued the development of my hobby by studying art at the Calgary School of Art. I enjoyed taking classes and those I enjoyed the most involved painting Abstracts and Nature painting.
My art progressed enormously under the coaching and encouragement of my dear friend Danielle Bartlette who is a Contemporary Art Instructor and fabulous Calgary based artist. The subjects of my current paintings are predominently abstracts with a strong preference for painting aspens as well as pure abstracts. As my technique evolved, so did my results. My hobby has now evolved into an absolute passion.
My favorite mediums are acrylic paint and modeling paste. I like to introduce other elements such as lava, acrylic ink, gold and silver leaves and even occasionally elements of nature as they add interesting texture and feature to the art.
I am at peace with myself when I paint and I trust that the enegy flow transcends into my paintings. I am extremely proud of my paintings and pleased to be able to share them with others. I hope you enjoy looking at my collection.
Claire MacDougall
I was born and raised in Calgary and have always had fun drawing and painting. Art was probably my favorite subject in grade school and luckily while taking degrees in design and architecture there were many opportunities to continue ‘my art classes’ by sketching and painting with pencil, conte, ink, watercolor and felt pens.
More recently, I have discovered acrylics as a painting medium and I do enjoy the limitless possibilities it has to offer. I find that abstract painting can complement the more exacting creative processes, of building design and production.
This group of paintings is exploring various themes in the abstract – landscape, cityscape, building facades, interiors, and just explorations of colors and shapes. I have used my own experience to draw from for reference, as well as photographs and studying other artists’ works.
Sandra Thirlwell
When I grow up I want to be an artist.
Now, years later I don’t want to grow up
But I still want to be an artist. I work, I learn,
I grow, I play….. And here I am!
My mantra: Learn, explore, create, play, experiment and laugh.
My Goal: be fearless
My creative journey began 11 years ago when I took an art class with mentor Sharon Williams. I was hooked. Moving from watercolor to acrylic mediums has lifted me to more playful and experimental work. Delving into abstraction gives me a sense of abandon which often fades as one ages. I hope when others view my work it generates an emotion to color, shapes and memories of days gone by or experiences forthcoming.
Mandy Donovan
Mandy Donovan, British; past student at Goldsmiths College, London. Took up painting again after 30 year gap. Loves to reinterpret the scenes surrounding us.
Nicole Roche
Nicole Roche was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1983 and currently lives and works in Calgary, Alberta. Nicole works primarily in the medium of painting, but also enjoys being creative with computer graphics and media. Nicole completed a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communications in 2010 and graduated with honours from a diploma program in New Media Production and Design in 2008. She has been a student at the Calgary School of Art for two years and is continually trying her artist hand in acrylics and oils creating contemporary abstract paintings. Nicole finds inspiration in learning and collaborating with others.
Emilia Saint
Who am I? A somewhat new and somewhat old artist who loves to try different approaches to art and is interested in exploring and learning.
Why do I love art? My love for nature and the amazing array of colors that surround me has thrilled me for as long as I can remember. I am making the time to attend classes, learn as much as I can and paint for the sheer joy of it!
Allyson Thain
I am an abstract acrylic and mixed-media artist from Calgary, AB.
I love art. I love to look at it, I love to touch it, I love to create it.
I grew up in a small village in rural Alberta surrounded by many artistic people. One of them was my mom. Her “studio” was an easel behind the sofa in the living room where she painted with oils. To this day, the smell of turpentine reminds me of my childhood.
As far back as I can remember, I have always been drawn to abstracts – the pictures, and the feelings they evoke are truly individual for each person.
Since hanging my first abstract painting of the South Saskatchewan River at age 5 in my parents’ living room gallery, I have never stopped creating.
I have worked with many different art forms and mediums over the years – drawing, papermaking, bookbinding, lampworking and watercolors –and I always return to painting abstracts with acrylics. In the past my focus was always on precision, working small formats, deriving comfort from the exacting detail.
I challenged myself to be more open and free in my painting approach.
And – I have never looked back. I have discovered the freedom of working on a larger scale, and just letting go – allowing colours to flow and swim across the canvas in amazing patterns. I feel uninhibited, confident and like a little kid all over again.
I enjoy the exploration, knowing that the creative process is what keeps me most alive.
Helen Newsome
Helen Newsome is a Canadian artist living in Calgary, Alberta, although she is a snowbird, spending 4-5 winter months in California each year. Born in Connecticut in the United States, she emigrated to Canada in 1968 to go to school. After school, raising a family, and working 20 years in Human Resources, she came to art as a calling late in life, after retiring. “I sort of stumbled into painting almost accidentally, and discovered a well of passion for creating that still surprises me”.
Since starting in 2012, she has pursued painting and drawing almost obsessively, taking classes and workshops constantly. “Sometimes I feel like an ‘art glutton’, never satisfied, always wanting more.”
As you can see from her gallery, she runs the gamut from abstract to representational art, oil and acrylic, mixed media and charcoal, etc. She loves it all.
Aradhana Parmar
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In my current work as a painter, I strive to embrace a disciplined rejection of focus. My practice thus has a nomadic quality, rejecting territorial constraints yet remaining grounded in traditional, cyclic relationships to time and terrain. I seek to elude out-dated categories like “landscape,” “abstract” and “representative” by moving between them freely, sometimes even incorporating degrees or elements of each coming led in the same work.
Qualities like colour and material, sheen and brushstroke propel my practice. My explorations in linear or quadrilateral gestures sometimes result in lurid fields or plains and technicolor enclosures. Sometimes I use dripped paint to superimpose new layers of markings, which smooth over or rear ground the prior, painted terrain, proposing a contrasting fluid, nomadic way of being. Cultural materials and memes erupt and flower at key moments—a flurry of Eiffel Towers or a herd of baleful, statuesque Indian elephants. These cultural forms are interconnected; even when out of sight, they remain in mind, as though perpetually just beneath the painted surface.
