“Magnetized”

“Magnetized”, with its vivid colours and gestural brushwork, manifests feminist-theory, anti-colonialist, contemporary and spiritual discourses. It was painted using acrylic paint and charcoal on 36” x36” stretched canvas.
The concept for this painting was guided by both my artistic statement and the research I conducted about the location of this setting on Go Home Lake, Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada.
On a spiritual and maternal level, I wanted to capture the strength, beauty, and resilience of the pink granite rocks that dot along Go Home Lake and also to articulate the nurturing qualities of the White Pine or “pinus strobus”, Ontario’s provincial tree. White pines are considered by the Indigeneous peoples as the grandmothers of the forest.
As a first step, I used a photo I took of this landscape for a reference and then started to paint with acrylic paint to enhance the painting’s contemporary feel. To articulate my concept and to display the magical nature of this land, I chose an approach of abstraction in my brushwork and a contemporary palette of acrylic paint and charcoal. I wanted this palette, which includes neon pink, to emit a visceral and emotive response from the viewer.