Jill Paris Rody said her inspiration for her paintings comes from her love of trees and nature.
Paris Rody said her work will be on display and for sale at The Gallery at Qualicum Art Supply (206 W. First Avenue) until mid-November
Paris Rody said her signature and her name is important to her.
“My dad was well-known in his community. He was probably the one that gave us such a love of nature and trees,” she said of her father who was a forestry major in school.
She said her dad was always talking about trees and nature and protecting the environment, and it became an important part of growing up for her.
“I still feel that way, even more so the older I get, the more I treasure all the beauty that we live in,” she said.
Born in Oregon, and now living in Campbell River, Paris Rody has called the Island home for 40 years. In her time living on the Island, Paris Rody said the local scenery has become one of her biggest inspirations.
She said most of her pieces that are on display at The Gallery are locations that she visits and knows very well.
Because of her familiarity with the locations, she can play around with lighting and colour.
“Having painted it several times, then I can start adding background,” Paris Rody said. “How would it be on a day when the sun was just at a certain angle, so then I use my imagination to inject some of those ideas.”
Some of her pieces, she said, are even the same tree, but from a different angle or during a different season.
“It’s very inspiring once you start on something, you get to know it and then you want to explore. That’s when the creativity comes it’s when you get to know something, then you can expand on that and use your imagination a lot more.”
For the past few years, Paris Rody said she has been working with a simple palette of six colours, and from there she said she mixes her own colours, such as greens, violets and oranges.
“You can see most of my pieces work well together and it’s because I use the same palette all time,” Paris Rody said.
Within her simple palette, Paris Rody said she has a warm and cool series she uses.
“For certain greens for instance on a warm sunny autumn afternoon, your greens are going to be much more olive looking, but in the cool of the winter, and even early spring, your colours are all really bright and crisp.”
Paris Rody, who works primarily in acrylic, said she started working in acrylic in 1965.
“It was a very new product to the general public at that time,” she said. “I was pretty much self-taught in that regard.”
It was her mom, Paris Rody said, that found out about acrylic paints. Paris Rody said her mom had seen the new product, which didn’t have a toxic odour like oils, at a hardware store.
From then on, Paris Rody said there was no turning back.
Paris Rody said her parents were big supporters of her creativity growing up, and she said the encouragement from them helped with her confidence in art.
To find out more about Paris Rody, her work, and her classes, visit www.jillparisrody.com.