For Cassidy artist Gail Johnson, colour can have a sort of taste.
Well, not taste exactly, she said. She’s not a synesthete (a person who’s brain can interpret one sense, like sight, as another, like taste). But when she’s painting, there’s an intuition for Johnson about where a colour is needed.
“I’ve taught a few classes up at TOSH (The Old School House Arts Centre in Qualicum Beach) and (students) will say, ‘Well how did you choose that colour?’ Well, it just felt like orange over there. I just needed a hit of orange.”
Paying attention to this sort of intuition is integral to Johnson’s art. Though perfectly capable of achieving very fine detail (having had some training to create medical illustrations), Johnson’s work is representational, nearing to the impressionistic, she said.
Some of her latest work is now up at TOSH (122 Fern Rd. West), showing Island landscapes as well as floral pieces ranging from large to small.
The key to her work, she said, is strong composition and strong colour in an effort to energy.
Asked why she’s tended away from highly detailed work, Johnson said “I think I really wanted to convey much more a feeling of energy and a sense of place.”
That feeling or place is inspired somewhat by where she lives — in a remote area, and with a history in market gardening.
“My palette is quite like the earth,” she said. “Very earthy, related to the colours of vegetables and fruits and things growing.” Johnson said her style evolved into an expression of what it felt like living close to the earth. “This style sort of evolved, kind of like your handwriting.”
Essential to that style is a certain liquidness of thought.
Johnson’s process is to have an idea and then first create a very loose sketch, perhaps using come photo reference for the shape of the logs on a beach or the way the water meets the sand. “Then I just let the rhythm and the feeling of where the painting is going to go, I just loosen up and let go with the composition. And then I come in with colour, and the colour is completely intuitive.”
Some of Johnson’s inspiration also comes from the Group of Seven, and E. J. Hughes, though Hughes’ style is very scripted and detailed.
“I don’t have a problem losing detail,” said Johnson. “I probably keep more detail than I need, but I can always get rid of it. That’s the beauty of acrylics, or even oils. But acrylics are so forgiving, you can change your mind in an instant. I call it liquid thought. Paint is like liquid thought. Think something and then you just change it, and it’s different.
“Painting is just an incredibly magical experience. Frustrating sometimes, yes, but magical a lot of the time. And when it works, there’s nothing like it,” she said.
“I find that the paint takes me on a journey, and I hope that people enjoy it.”
Johnson’s work is at TOSH until Sept. 1. For more info, go to www.theoldschoolhouse.org.