Land scape
Heidi Thompson
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
When I returned to Canada, I found culture was non-existent. I looked for new themes and decided to look within myself. This search led me to a ten-day meditation retreat. I learned Vipassana- an ancient meditation technique of observing sensations. This was Buddha’ s pure technique he taught to his followers. It provides students a path toward liberation- liberation from suffering. The more I observed sensations, the more I experienced my physical molecular reality. The experience affected the way I painted. My themes became non-objective, monochromes of nothing. These works comprised of zillions of tiny flecks, spots, lines woven together into one unified field. When viewing the paintings, you feel a flow of subtle energy vibrations. My Breathing Blue series show examples of these colour energy fields.
I am not a conceptual artist. I prefer being a non-conceptual. I think artists get trapped in their intellects and imagination and miss something even deeper. I keep my paintings void of symbols, associations, concepts, ideas, pictures, allegories, figures and representation. This will help the viewer transcend his or her intellect and experience a different part of the mind. I want my work to mystify the viewer with an inexplicable feeling.
For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected Ochre Energy and October Passion, a couple of paintings from your recent production that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. Your paintings communicate a successful attempt to transform tension to harmony and what has at once captured our attention it ' s their dynamic and autonomous aesthetics: are your works painted gesturally, instinctively? Or do you methodically transpose geometric schemes from paper to canvas?
Ochre Energy and October Passion are comprised of explosive colours and broken shapes. They resemble natural phenomenon like a volcanic eruption or a fiery forest. A permeating light floods through their abstract shapes which helps to unify the separate shapes. The paintings may appear tense because of the jagged forms suspended in space. The paintings may also feel harmonious because there is symmetry, balance and unifying light and space.
I do not make preliminary sketches. Rather, I prefer simply to imagine the final work. I visualize something glorious, uplifting, breathtaking, magnificent, massive, deep, vast or dramatic. I“ see” golden light, peaceful greens, mysterious shadows, uplifting yellows or ethereal blues. I might imagine a field of deep blue space, a vast field of orange vibrations or green veils over blue. Although, I create a clear picture in my mind, the final results are usually not similar. However, if the finished work resembles my original image, I am ecstatic.
Nature inspires my process and is my best teacher. I look to her for ideas. How does she create patinas? How does she erode her surfaces? How do her colours change value and hue as the sun sets? I imitate nature’ s processes with wind, sun, light, water, gravity, erosion and texture. Here are the steps. First, I stretch my canvas then prime