'The Raven' launched in 2007.
VE3LPX in my Amateur radio call sign.
I
have always been interested in art in various forms. Over the years I have
sketched, dabbled with painting. Many years ago I even enrolled in the
correspondence art school, The Famous Artists Course. Unfortunately, work and
family concerns prevented me from completing it. In later years I tried tapestry weaving,
worked with stained glass and recently, glass fusing, and tried pottery. I supported other artists for many years,
working to provide a widely recognized outlet for local artists in the form of
the Sioux Narrows Arts Festival.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t until 2010, after
15years of retirement, that I finally decided to get serious about
painting. A dear friend, Edythe Holden,
a fine artist herself, suggested that I attend the Arts West Artists’ Retreat
at Riding Mountain. While watercolour is
not my favourite media, I enrolled in Joanne Thompson’s course because it was
the only one with vacancies. Joanne is
an inspiring artist and, while I still do not use watercolour, there is more to
painting than skill in handling the media and I learned a great deal
from her and she really started me off on the long road to become an artist.
For the 2011and 2012 retreats I was fortunate to be
able to attend David Garneau’s oil and acrylic workshop. In the following two years, 2013 and 2014, Michael
Boss led the oil and acrylic workshop. Both David and Michael are great artists
and inspiring teachers
While it is difficult to really put a finger
on specific things I learned at the workshops, I always came away a better
artist. Perhaps most important is just spending an entire week with serious artists. Whatever improved skills I learned,
they are at least equaled by the changed outlook and attitude toward art that I came away with.
While I am a long way from being an art
historian, I do spend a lot of time, too much, in fact, reading and studying
what has gone before us in art. I am particularly interested in the way
materials and techniques changes over the centuries as well as 18th
and 19th century European art.
So, what kind of art does all this
produce? Well, it is only recently that I,
very cautiously, sometimes call myself an artist.
One of the important factors affecting my work is the fact that I do not
depend upon it for income. I am retired
and the fine folks that manage the
pension fund keep me in paint and food.
I am therefore free to paint what I want without worrying about sales, a position that younger, and much more
talented, artists than I, would love to be in.
I share a home in Northwestern Ontario, on the shore of Lake of the Woods, the best part of Ontario, with my lovely partner
Anne. We have lived here permanently for 20 years and call our place Raven Ridge after a pair of noisy, black,
rascals that once nested in a tree near the house.
We have a houseboat that we use to get away
from it all, and spend a great deal of time on the water. In the winter we snowshoe on a set of trails
we have made ourselves. My art reflects
this lifestyle. I paint landscapes and have finally come to accept that fate
without too much defensiveness.
While I like the Group of Seven style of
painting, one of my hard won lessons is that it is fruitless to try to emulate
someone else’s style. That leaves me
having to explain in my own terms what my style is, and I must admit that it
hasn’t settled down sufficiently to be able to give you a concise description.
I will simply leave it to you to make your own determination based on the works
I have included here.
I hope you enjoy them.
Lee Paulson, landscape artist
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