What is my muse?
I am inspired by colour and texture. I love juicy brightness and unexpected colour and I’ve had a connection to nature since childhood.
When I was a kid I was fortunate to grow up in a place where there was a lot of undeveloped prairie and woodlands that I played in. I would often “run away” from home to the woods, dressed in greens and browns so as to blend in with them. I wanted to be part of them. These days, my art is about exploring my connection to nature. I more and more deeply realize that although my childhood wish was to be a part of it, and the truth is, I have never been anything else. We are nature.
With my art, I want to deeply delve into the “personhood” of nature, for lack of a better way of expressing that. I want to converse with her, listening, allowing her to speak to me. I want to be a voice for her via my paintbrush, expressing her messages, stories and images. I also want to become deeply aware of her awareness of me.
When I go sit on a beach or in the woods and tune in; I become aware of being a part of what I am sensing not only as an observer, but also as an integral element of it… I am one vibrant cell of a wholeness.
Our planet is dying. The earth is on fire, literally and figuratively, due to the actions
of humans as we greedily and mindlessly rape and pillage her. Perhaps we have not been intentional, so much as ignorant in what we have done/are doing. My wish is to be a conduit for healing the rift between humanity and our Mother for all of our sakes. The damage we do her is done to us. The umbilical cord that holds us to her is fraying with our actions.
I paint mostly in abstract expressionism, seeking to express the essence of my
subject rather than the particular physical details. The colours I choose are those
that attract and excite me. While we usually think of grass as green and the sky
as blue etc., I paint the colours that I “see” which are more about the soul or spirit
of the subject.
If you look deeply at anything, you will see more than the surface colour. There are usually shadows or layers of other colours where light hits it, where reflections occur. It delights me to exaggerate or embellish them. This is to make the point that there is more to see and consider than what we have been
trained or taught to see. Our planet depends on us switching up our views and opening our minds to consider other than what we have known.
I am grateful for my Residency at Lotus Gallery, for the opportunity it has provided me in exploring and deepening my identity as an artist. It has given me the space in which to challenge myself to identify who I am as an artist and why I paint what I paint. I have felt supported and encouraged to trust my muse and put the work out there.
The recent Resident Artist’s Show was a wonderful and educational experience for me. I hope to be a part of more shows in the future.
My art is available for purchase through Lotus Gallery. I am there doing live art every Wednesday. I am also showing my work and doing live art at the St. Albert Art Walk on the first Thursday of every month throughout the summer.
Artist of the Month
A Letter From Denise Van Domselaar