What better way to capture a feeling, a flash of emotion or an unexpected expression than through portraiture?
This month the Ranger Station Art Gallery is full of oil portraits by Vancouver-based artist Angela Burdon.
Much of the work is from Burdon’s ‘I Am…’ series that explores “the journey of painting a likeness.”
“I strive each time to find and recreate the essence and personality of everyone I paint,” writes Burdon in her artist statement.
She recently painted a series of young women around her daughter’s age.
“I see my daughter, when I was her age I wasn’t achieving half the things she is achieving. I see her friends… they’re so much stronger now a days,” she said. “There’s a fierceness about them which I never had, that my friends never had at that age. I tried to sort of display that fierce, independent strength in the portraits, that’s what they are all about.”
| One of Burdon's paintings on display at the Ranger Station Art Gallery this month. |
Born in England but living now in Vancouver, Burdon has been a nurse for over 30 years – something that helped pushed her towards portraiture.
“You see somebody over and over again you develop a bit of a connection. You become quite close to your patients,” she said. “I like the idea of trying to capture a personality or a mood or a strength or a feeling.”
And Burdon doesn’t just paint people. Her art explores the wonder of the natural world with soft, dreamy land and sky scapes – a watercolour slough, a tree canopy or a valley of snowy peaks with a palomino and rider in the foreground.
Another collection of Burdon’s pieces highlight the power and unparalleled grace of equine beauty. The gentle yet intrinsically wild expressions of the horses again displays Burdon’s love for capturing moments of power and beauty with her paint brush.
Burdon’s work has been shown at the Federation of Canadian Artists, the White Rock Community School, Equinox Studios in Seattle, the Vancouver Public Library’s Moat Gallery and the Port Moody Center for the Arts, among others.
Her work will be at the Ranger Station Arts Gallery from October 7- 28. Find more information at www.kentharrisonartscouncil.com.