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I painted this watercolour of a beautiful waterfall located behind Greenwood, Nova Scotia, titled Fales River. The size is 11" X 14" and the image was painted on 300 lb. Arche Ragpaper. All the white of the paper is not white paint but the exposed natural white paper. I love this waterfall and our family used to make several trips just to see and hear its power. Believe it or not, I only used 4 to 5 colours and mostly from a dirty palette pool. It is funny when I think back when I was a beginner that I went out to the artstore and purchased about 18 tubes of watercolours. Embarrassing! Today, I hardly use more than 5 colours and have around 6 to 8 in my collection although I have standbys.  I just wanted to let you know that I am working on my original art illustrations for my upcoming book on my art and explanations of techniques. The drawings, that will be affordable, will be frequently posted in sections: ART FOR SALE, BLOG and DRAWINGS & SKETCHES. They will be drawings, watercolours and small oil paintings mostly fantasy and whimsical subjects derived from my cultural background Mi'kmaq Legends.
ABOUT ART - by Janice Guinan: From realism to surrealism  The Governor General's award in Visual Art is the foremost distinction for excellence in visual art. Mi'kmaq artist Leonard Paul displays his Governor General's Award in Visual Art he received in 1993 from then Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn. Behind him is one of his pencil drawings paying homage to our waterways. In 1993, local artist Leonard Paul received the medal from then-Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn for his renderings of environmental landscapes, rivers and streams. I asked if he would mind posing with the medal as I had never seen one before and was impressed with the humility and immense talent of this internationally acclaimed artist. When speaking of the medal, he reflected with some sadness as his father, Noel, had passed away and never got to see this esteemed award. Paul then showed me a painting of his dad, which is also featured on the invitation to his show soon opening at the MacLellan & Moffatt Financial Gallery at the Marigold Cultural Centre. "This is a quick rendition in oils of my father searching for a heavy rock to be an anchor. The mayflies were so thick that we could not speak or eat lunch, so we rowed to the middle of the lake to have our lunch in peace," explained Paul. "My father introduced me to the pleasures of waterways: lakes, rivers and brooks. He taught me to respect nature and what he carried into the lake and wore reflected unpretentiousness and humbleness. His name was Noel because he was born just before Christmas and he passed away over the Christmas holidays of 1991.This painting was of our last time fishing." Paul's Mi'kmaq heritage and love for people, land and nature is evident in his work. Although after almost 40 years of painting representational art, such as landscapes, he is feeling restless and in need of transition. "I am moving away from realism to depicting native legends done in surrealism from my imagination. My new oil paintings of whimsical stories are a form of traditional storytelling, but without texts to explain them. It is left to the viewer to interpret the story when seeing them," said Paul. The artist's painting style is high realism using a glazing technique, influenced by the 17th-century Dutch Baroque Period especially that of Johannes Vermeer. Paul formally studied glazing techniques at the Rijksmuseum, Mauritshuis Museum in Holland, the Louvre in Paris, and later finished his studies in Berlin, Germany, and Washington. In addition to his luminous oils, he has mastered watercolour, pastel, graphite and pen and ink. Applying various techniques and skillfully using his talents, he breathes life into the written and oral records of Mi'kmaq legends, so people can visually experience them in a new way. He is also writing and illustrating two books. His upcoming solo show will be one of the last to showcase both his realism and surrealism works together. He is also celebrating yet another award, from a national wildlife art competition: The Bruce Williams Memorial Silver Fox Award, sponsored by Ontario's Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc. An invitational event, top wildlife artists from across Canada were selected to submit a study of a silver fox in its natural habitat. Judging came down to three artists and it was three months before he found out who'd won. This award-winning painting, however, will not be in the show because the official unveiling by the institute is not until March 2016. Paul is the featured artist at the MacLellan & Moffatt Financial Gallery for the month of December. Come out on opening night, Thursday, Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m., to meet this phenomenal modern day master. TAGLINE: Janice Guinan is a local artist who passionately believes in the importance of visual art. Her About Art column appears each week in the Truro Daily News. Guinan also writes a weekly column for the Colchester Weekly News. Both can be viewed online at www.trurodaily.com. Contact her at janice@janiceguinan.com. This video was made in 1991 and features Leonard discussing how his art has been affected by everything around him, not only by ancestors and traditions. To watch this film Kwa'nute
Video published 11th May 2015 in which Leonard Paul speaks about his fascination with drawing from a young age and how he is capturing the Mi'kmaq legends in his current work.
The Herald Chronicle Arts Reporter, Elissa Barnard, has written an excellent piece about my exhibition today at the Marigold Cultural Centre, Truro. To read the full article click on "Read More" at the end of this post.
Mi'kmaw artist Leonard Paul is back home with an ambitious new painting project and a desire to spark the arts in Mi'kmaw communities. He was in Calgary for nearly 10 years working as a director of recreation and cultural arts. "I had an epiphany. I said "Why am I doing this out here when I can be back home?" Recently turned 60, he is putting biking and running on the back burner to focus on his painting and he is teaching art at Pictou Landing. He is alarmed by the lack "of progress of the youth going into the arts and I know they're out there and I know there is talent." "We need to have our own First Nations arts council. We should have a performing arts centre where the youth can practise whatever discipline they are in." This summer's arts symposium in Millbrook for Atlantic Indigenous artists and arts practitioners was a good start, he says "When we do get together, a lot of artists don't think they're artists. They say, "Oh, we're craftspeople". I say, "Are you expressing yourself, your emotion, through your craft?" and they say, "Yes," and I say, "You're an artist." Read More.... |
AuthorI am passionate about my art and excited to be able to share my work, thoughts and activities directly with you through this site. Archives
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