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Artist On The Road

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In The Steps of O’Keeffe – Artist on The Road to Santa Fe

If you have been reading this blog and following my work you know my obsession with Georgia O’Keeffe. It began in youth, intensified when I saw a retrospective of her works at the Vancouver Art Gallery. It then deepened with seeing her work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Now, after many years and more paintings, I am on my way to Santa Fe, do you know the way? Beginning in Victoria, Canada and ending in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we are headed out on the next journey. This trip will take us to the heart of the southwest art world, and one of the largest art markets in the USA, after New York City and Los Angeles. I’m an artist on the road, once again.

Artist On The Road

Cow’s Skull: Red, White & Blue – Georgia O’Keeffe, 1931

Over the years I have painted homage works to many of the greats, beginning with Goalie’s Mask; red, white and Dryden. Known as the ‘Goalie’s Mask Painting’, it is a composition and comment inspired by a famous work by O’Keeffe. When I first saw, Cow’s Skull: Red, White and Blue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, I was surprised at how small it is, as with many famous works, grand in their infamy yet not in their size. Painted in 1931, this beautiful oil painting is visceral and moving, especially when you are close enough to see the scratches of the artists’ brush.

Artist On The Road

Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden, Brandy Saturley, 2011

Tired of the hustle and bustle of city life, O’Keeffe sought solace in the tranquil landscapes of Lake George, New York, and later, New Mexico. It was during her initial visit to the Southwest in 1929 that her artistic focus shifted from urban architecture to the natural wonders of New Mexico. In this particular piece, O’Keeffe captures the essence of a single skull, accentuating its rugged contours, weathered textures, and pale hue. To her, these bones symbolized the enduring allure of the desert and the resilience of the American ethos, hinted at by the striped backdrop. In 1949, O’Keeffe made New Mexico her permanent home, where she resided until her passing in 1986.

Artist on the Road

Georgia O’Keeffe, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, 1968 – Arnold Newman

Georgia O’Keeffe in Maui – Artist on The Road

While Santa Fe is the homeland and final resting place, Maui was another favourite place the artist painted. I discovered a book written by Maria Ausherman from interviews with Patricia Jennings, about world famous painter, and one of my favorites, Georgia O’Keeffe. The book,  Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawaii  , focuses on three month’s in 1939 when O’Keeffe visited Hawaii including Maui, as guest of the Dole Pineapple company as they had commissioned her to paint an image for their advertising campaign. I retraced the steps of O’Keeffe and also came home with sketches and photos that would become a painting, a visual story, of my time soaking up Maui.

Artist on the Road

IAO, acrylic on canvas painting, 2018, Brandy Saturley

Connections with Lawren Harris

After this trip I began to dream about and see connections between the work of O’Keeffe and Canada’s luminary of the landscapes, Lawren Harris. While I have yet to find evidence of their world’s connecting, they certainly knew of one another. I found a paper online by Sara Angel, that explored the possibility of a connection between the two modernist painters. In the spring of 1938 Harris drove more than 3000km to relocate to Santa Fe, which is not surprising as the area is celebrated for it’s stunning landscapes.

Artist on The Road

Natural Affinities – O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams

This exhibition and the companion text, examine the connections and friendship between the iconic painter and landscape photographer Ansel Adams. Produced by The Smithsonian, Natural Affinities examines the friendship of two artists who were attracted to the distinct landscape of the American southwest and were committed to depicting its essence with modernist sensibilities.

San Francisco de Assisi , Santa Fe, Ghost Ranch New Mexico, Georgia O’Keeffe – Ansel Adams

It’s Good to Have Goals

Places I would like to live other than Vancouver Island – Maui, Santa Fe, Maui. I saw this pop up in my memories the other day, thank you Facebook, a reminder that I am on the path that I speak out loud, or at least to Facebook. While I have made my life and career as an artist on Vancouver Island as my home base, it has never stopped me from travelling for my art career. Now nearly twenty years in, I am looking at mid-career and where I would most like to see myself living and painting for the next twenty. Ideally the goal has always been  split between Maui and Vancouver Island, but I have longed to spend time in the high desert of Santa Fe and on some level deep down, I know I will feel at home in this Southwestern landscape filled with vivid Indigenous cultures and colours.

Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II, 1930 – Georgia O’Keeffe

The Time Has Come – Artist on The Road

After years of absorbing the wonderous world of O’Keeffe. Her passionate relationship with Alfred Stieglitz and her vibrating artworks, I am now only a week away from hitting the road to Santa Fe. Beginning in Victoria, BC with stops in Oregon and Moab Utah (serious photography and hiking time) I will arrive in Santa Fe in time for a few margaritas and a whole lot of art to see and create. There will definitely be some museums and a few other surprises.

Canadian Artist Brandy Saturley

On a side road somewhere in the Canadian prairies of Manitoba. Summer 2020 – self-photography Brandy Saturley

The next journey begins in May. Follow along with me on Facebook and Instagram.

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley

Women Painters To Know

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Celebrating the Contributions of Women Painters

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8th to recognize the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It is a day to celebrate women’s achievements and reflect on the progress that still needs to be made towards gender equality. One area where women have historically faced barriers is in the world of art, where male artists have often been more celebrated and recognized. However, there have been many talented women painters throughout history who have made significant contributions to the world of art. In this post, we will highlight some of the women painters we should know about.

Women Painters to know

Let Your Backbone Rise, Acrylic painting, 2016 Brandy Saturley

  1. Frida Kahlo – Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist known for her self-portraits and surrealism. Her work explored themes of identity, gender, and class, and she is regarded as one of Mexico’s greatest painters.
  2. Mary Cassatt – Mary Cassatt was an American painter known for her depictions of the lives of women and children. She was one of the few female Impressionists and her work often depicted intimate moments of everyday life.
  3. Artemisia Gentileschi – Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter who is best known for her depictions of strong and powerful women from mythology and the Bible. Her work challenged the male-dominated art world of the time.
  4. Georgia O’Keeffe – Georgia O’Keeffe was an American painter known for her vibrant depictions of flowers, landscapes, and bones. Her work was often considered feminist for its focus on women’s bodies and sexuality.
  5. Yayoi Kusama – Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist known for her polka-dot and infinity room installations. Her work explores themes of identity, femininity, and the relationship between the individual and the universe.
  6. Leonora Carrington – Leonora Carrington was a British-born Mexican artist known for her surrealist paintings and sculptures. Her work often featured hybrid creatures and explored themes of transformation and the unconscious.
  7. Berthe Morisot – Berthe Morisot was a French Impressionist painter and one of the few female members of the Impressionist movement. Her work often depicted scenes of domestic life and women’s daily routines.
  8. Alice Neel – Alice Neel was an American painter known for her portraits, particularly of people living in poverty and those from marginalized communities. Her work challenged the norms of portraiture and the portrayal of the human form.
  9. Tamara de Lempicka – Tamara de Lempicka was a Polish Art Deco painter known for her portraits of wealthy and glamorous women. Her work was often sexually suggestive and challenged traditional notions of femininity.
  10. Prudence Heward was a Canadian figure painter, known for using acidic colour, a sculptural treatment, and giving an intense brooding quality to her subjects. One of the Beaver Hall Group of painters, she was also a charter member of the Canadian Group of Painters, the Contemporary Arts Society and the Federation of Canadian Artists.

Personally, the portraiture and landscape paintings of O’Keeffe, Lempicka and Heward have made significant impressions on my work as an artist, including this homage to the famous painting, ‘Saint Moritz’ by Lempicka.

Women Painters to know

Saint Kanata, Acrylic painting, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in, 2011, Brandy Saturley

These are just a few of the many talented women painters who have made significant contributions to the world of art. On International Women’s Day, let us celebrate the achievements of women artists throughout history and continue to support and uplift the voices of women in the arts.

Artist and Intuition

“What I capture in spite of myself, interests me more than my own ideas.” The Artist and Intuition.

I have been thinking a lot lately about being and artist and intuition, and how I have become more aware of how much I access the subliminal mind to communicate, where words fail to flow freely from my mouth. While I am of the belief that “inspiration is for amateurs” (Chuck Close) and it is true that “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working” (Pablo Picasso) and that you must show up, every day, be disciplined in your practice, and work even when you don’t feel like working. Every so often we need to birth an ugly baby, and “after a while the muse shows up.” (Isabelle Allande)

Over the past couple decades I have seen foreshadowing in my work, through painting places I had not yet traveled. It could be intuition or it could be attraction. Perhaps because I am meditating so much on the subject or place, the place becomes burned into my subliminal mind. I find myself travelling there, long after I have painted it. I believe that many painters who paint representational works do so because they are painting what surrounds them, they are painting their everyday and they are painting local. This may be why many artists paint local landscapes, urban scenes and still life found in their backyard. They are hyper focused on what surrounds them, and are perhaps looking for inspiration.

stag canada Canadian artist Brandy Saturley

When I was a teenager I used to tear out photos from magazines, I loved the images created by teams of people looking to sell products, enhance a story, and strike a chord. I had a subscription to the International newspaper and would read and collect stories from other countries. I was endlessly fascinated in all that was not in my backyard, in rural Vancouver Island. I wanted to learn anything and everything, didn’t matter what; I was open for learning, experimenting and exploring.

All the places I have painted, I came to explore after the first time painting them, as if I were painting the journey to come. The sentiment from Van Gogh captures the essence of this best; “I dream my painting and I paint my dream”.  I remember one of my first landscapes, painted with canvasses lying on the floor, I planned a diptych that would stretch across two canvasses. The landscape was of Painted Hills Oregon, a place I had never been, but had seen many stunning photos of over the years. Years after I painted and sold the piece, I did a road trip through central Washington and Oregon, ending up at this otherworldly location that takes you back in time, literally. The first time I painted Mexico, was a year before I would travel there, it was on my mind. The same happened with Maui, as I read books about American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and her time spent painting in Maui. Through the subliminal my brain was focusing on these places, my hand was painting them, and later on my body was moving me to these locations, to witness them long after I had painted them into narratives on canvas. There were never any plans, only focus, which lead to plans, which lead to packing bags, camera and sketchbooks; heading towards these destinations. I am painting these places that I have held in my dreams.

diptych painting painted hills Oregon

With my ‘Canadianisms’ series, which encompasses Canadian culture, symbolism and landscape; I too began with painting these stories before gaining first hand knowledge and experience with many of these things. Through reading, watching and seeing; I came to absorb the ideas of these places as presented by others before me, then filtering them through my mind adding my voice to the chorus of knowledge. I am painting these stories that I have lived in my dreams.

inside Canadian artist Brandy Saturley's art studio

Over the past few months, under the global pandemic haze of COVID-19, I have found myself land locked and focusing more on circles and human connection. Whether it is our Vancouver Island ‘bubble’ or our interest in keeping others out, Vancouver Islanders were born for this and in some ways happy for a renewed and concentrated interest in focusing on their own backyard, literally. My paintings of the last few months encompass relationships, romance, passion and isolation. The conversations I am having are more intense, and everyone seems to be dropping the mask, figuratively, and wanting to share the emotional experiences, fears, hopes and dreams for the future.

covid-19 painting modern art

As I continue on, I am going back to photos and writing from these trips of the past couple decades. I am examining them under a new lens, in a world where things are changing rapidly and there is a need for the comforts of the past. As I prepare to launch my third virtual exhibition, in the past three months, I am looking to celebrate a decade of telling stories of Canada on canvas, and produce a new piece which will touch on the current consciousness of my country.

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley

Re-framing landscape painting

Portrait of A Landscape: re-framing landscape painting

Being a Canadian artist means you grow up with the images of Canada as painted by the Group of Seven. Lawren Harris began re-framing landscape painting in Canadian Art, and Georgia O’ Keeffe treated the landscape similarly in her work depicting landscapes. As a contemporary Canadian Artist paintings landscapes, I find myself influenced by these two painters as I re-frame the landscapes of Canada as portraits and using symbolism and figurative elements.

Throughout the history of art, landscape painting has been a dominant genre. It has served as a medium for artists to capture the beauty of nature and to express their emotions and ideas. However, in the works of Lawren Harris, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Brandy Saturley, we see a re-framing of traditional landscape painting. These painters have taken a new approach to depicting the natural world, one that emphasizes the abstract, the spiritual, and the personal. In this blog post, we will explore the works of these three artists and how they have transformed landscape painting.

Re-framing landscape painting: Lawren Harris geometric landscapes

landscape painting in canada

Mountain Forms, 1926, Lawren Harris

Lawren Harris was a Canadian painter who was a member of the Group of Seven, a group of artists who sought to create a distinctly Canadian art. Harris’s paintings often depict the rugged and wild landscape of the Canadian Shield, but they do so in a way that emphasizes the abstract and the spiritual. Harris’s paintings are characterized by their use of bold colors, geometric shapes, and simplified forms. He sought to capture the essence of the landscape, rather than its physical appearance.

In Harris’s painting “Mountains, North Shore, Lake Superior” (1926), we see the mountains reduced to geometric forms. The colors are bold and intense, with the blues and greens of the mountains contrasting with the warm oranges and yellows of the sky. The painting is not a realistic depiction of the landscape, but rather a representation of its spiritual essence.

Harris’s approach to landscape painting was influenced by his interest in Theosophy, a spiritual movement that sought to reconcile science and religion. Harris believed that through his paintings, he could capture the spiritual essence of the landscape and communicate it to others.

landscape painting in canada

North Shore Lake Superior, 1926, Lawren Harris

The Personal Landscapes of Georgia O’Keeffe

Lake George New York, 1926, Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe was an American painter who is best known for her large-scale paintings of flowers, but she also created many paintings of the desert landscape of New Mexico. O’Keeffe’s paintings of the desert landscape are characterized by their bold colors, simplified forms, and attention to detail. Her paintings are not realistic depictions of the landscape, but rather expressions of her personal relationship with it.

In O’Keeffe’s painting “Black Place III” (1944), we see the desert landscape reduced to its most essential elements. The painting is dominated by a large black form that occupies most of the canvas. This form is not a realistic depiction of any particular feature of the landscape, but rather a representation of its essence. The colors are bold and intense, with the black form contrasting with the warm oranges and yellows of the sky.

O’Keeffe’s approach to landscape painting was influenced by her interest in the psychology of perception. She believed that by simplifying the forms and colors of the landscape, she could create paintings that were more expressive of her personal experience of it.

Pelvis with Distance, 1943, Georgia O’Keeffe

Brandy Saturley: dynamic, expressive, and deeply personal, reflecting her own experiences and perspectives as a Canadian artist.

Canadian landscape painting

Brandy Saturley is a contemporary Canadian painter who creates paintings that are inspired by the landscape and culture of Canada. Saturley’s paintings are characterized by their bright colors, simplified forms, and attention to detail. Her paintings are not realistic depictions of the landscape, but rather expressions of her personal relationship with it.

In Saturley’s painting “Balance” (2017), we see a depiction of life perched upon a platter and uplifted by a human hand. The artist suggests the elevation of the spirit through the landscape, and in this case an iceberg with a lone polar bear balanced on the peak.  Idealized aurora skies and a background of bold shapes and colours.  This piece was presented at the Society of Canadian Artists 50th Anniversary exhibition in Toronto in 2019. The painting graced the cover of the exhibition catalogue, now on file with the National Gallery of Canada, library and archives. The painting is not a realistic depiction of any particular landscape, but rather a representation of the energy and spirit of the Canadian north. The colors are bright and intense, with the white polar bear contrasting with the cool blues, magenta and yellow of the aurora.

Saturley’s approach to landscape painting is influenced by her interest in the culture and mythology of Canada. She believes that by using figurative elements, simplified forms and bright colors, she can create paintings that capture the energy and spirit of the landscape.

landscape painting canada

Brandy Saturley talks about how these landscape painters have influenced her paintings

Whether the landscapes, forests and farms of southern Ontario as painted by A.J. Casson, or  A.Y. Jackson’s Georgian Bay, the grandeur of the rocky mountains as imagined by Lawren Harris, or the raw beauty and Autumn hues of Algonquin park as depicted by the People’s artist, Tom Thomson. The Group of Seven burnished the idea of the Canadian landscape onto our brains, seeping deep into our hearts. I was always drawn to the icy blue palette, idealized forms and light captured in the paintings of Lawren Harris. I was always particularly drawn to his paintings of mountains.

As a Canadian painter looking to create my own distinct artist voice on canvas I began to study the works of the world renowned American painter, Georgia O’Keeffe.

Famous for her depictions of New Mexico landscapes and still life of flowers and skulls, I began to find similarities between the mountain paintings of Harris and the landscape paintings of O’Keeffe. Both with their precisionist style, idealized forms, and feminine palettes; my affinity for the works of these two painters is leading me down a new path of re-framing the Canadian landscape in painting.

A landscape as it is, is something to be appreciated, perhaps captured on camera, but nature is perfection and it has never been my interest to paint the landscape as it appears. I am drawn to the details found within the landscape, the story of the landscape is what interests me most, and it is the story I endeavor to tell on canvas. Our connection to the Earth and to nature, this is something I feel in my bones and want to express on canvas.

With this new series of paintings inspired by the landscape I am taking distinct elements of the landscape, symbols of the land and nature that surrounds and re-framing the elements on canvas, in portrait orientation.

I began 2018 having just returned home form a trip to Maui, Hawaii where I enjoyed the rainforest, landscapes and tracing Georgia O’Keeffe’s footsteps on the island. The first painting of 2018 is an homage to O’Keeffe and inspired by Maui and the Iao Valley.

Re-framing landscape painting

I guess you could say I am building contemporary portraits of the landscape, and I am excited to see what comes next.

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley

Georgia O’ Keeffe’s Hawaii

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Georgia O' Keeffe's Hawaii

A good book and a little bubbly to pass the time on this Maui bound flight.

Georgia O’ Keeffe’s Hawaii – Making Art in Magical Maui

About six years ago after my first trip to explore the landscapes and flora of Maui, I discovered a book written by Maria Ausherman from interviews with Patricia Jennings, about world famous painter, and one of my favorites, Georgia O’Keeffe. The book,  Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawaii  , focuses on three month’s in 1939 when O’Keeffe visited Hawaii including Maui, as guest of the Dole Pineapple company as they had commissioned her to paint an image for their advertising campaign. The book had been sitting on my desk and I had yet to crack it open, and with a December trip planned to the island paradise, I decided to pack the book up and read it on the plane on my seven hour flight to the island. It was the best way to begin this second journey and set me up for re-tracing O’Keeffe’s footsteps in Hana and the I’ao Valley areas of the island.

Georgia O' Keeffe's Hawaii

Helicona in Hana, Hawaii – photo by Brandy Saturley December 2017

The book is told from the perspective of a 12 year old girl by the name of Patricia Jennings who had served as O’Keeffe’s personal guide while in Maui in 1939. “Less than three years after O’Keeffe’s visit, Pearl Harbour was attacked. The world suddenly changed and Jennings memories of her time guiding O’Keeffe on Maui sustained her through this difficult period in US History. As long as we keep our stories, friendships, and our art, we will not lose the joy of being alive.” (excerpt from the book, April 2011 NYC)

The story is an entertaining and vivid recollection from the perspective of a child and a famous artist, known for her sometimes difficult nature. Jennings spent 10 days with O’Keeffe and from this experience bloomed, much like O’Keeffe’s flower paintings. Jennings credits her time with the artist as schooling in becoming a more confident girl and woman.

Coming off the plane in Kahalui and breathing in the plumeria laced air, I was ready to let the sentiments and recollections in the book, lead me to the places that inspired more than twenty paintings, including the final piece for Dole.

Beginning with the flowers, I was on the lookout for the Heliconia, which appears on the cover of the book. The flower is flamingo-like in it’s colours and shapes. There are many varieties of this flower, all beautiful, unusual and substantial. I found this particular flower in Hana, on Maui. Hana is located at the eastern end of the island of Maui and is one of the most isolated communities in the state. It is reached mainly via the Hana Highway, a long and winding, 52-mile-long (84 km) highway along Maui’s north shore.  The charm of Hana is the fact that little has changed over the last 20 years. Untouched by the major developments of the other side of the island, the Hana community has managed to perpetuate the small town atmosphere, Hawaiian culture and most of all, its natural scenic beauty. Unspoiled, serene and mystical; Hana is truly Maui’s last authentic Hawaiian place. Polynesians arrived in Hawaii in 500-800 AD and built the Pi’i-lani Heiau temple – the largest in the state of Hawaii.

Lava Bridge in Hana, Hawaii

I then ventured to the rugged lava created coastline exploring one of the area’s red sand beaches, which offers a view of a lava bridge, famously painted by O’Keeffe. It is a significant structure that offers a keyhole view from from a distance. O’Keeffe also painted many of the valleys and waterfalls in the area, most found along the Hana Highway through short hikes from the roadside.

Waterfalls in Hana, from Maui Air helicopter vantage point – Brandy Saturley, 2017

Thanks to Maui Air I was able to get up and achieve an overhead perspective of the many valleys and waterfalls in the area, inducing the one’s that inspired O’Keeffe. From 50ft to 400ft and more, these waterfalls and turquoise pools against emerald green lushness, sets your soul at ease. Breathing in the eucalyptus and the tropical flowers sends you into a foggy headed trance, you find yourself in a place you never want to leave.

I’ao Valley and Needle | Brandy Saturley, 2017

After soaking up the beautiful coast and rainforest of Hana I was excited to explore the I’ao Valley. An emerald and lime green valley in Wailuku and including the West Mountains and volcano. Perhaps the most lush and most green place on Earth. The mountains change throughout the day as their wrinkles or valleys light up as the low hanging clouds pass by revealing their beauty, but only a little at a time.

Georgia O' Keeffe's Hawaii

For Georgia O’Keeffe and Lawren Harris | study for a painting Brandy Saturley, 2017

This trip offered numerous opportunities to soak in the lush colours & shapes and the intoxicating sounds and smells. From eucalyptus to plumeria blossoms, from salty air, to sand – Maui puts you in a trance that you do not wish to leave. I spent a few days at a condo in Kihei sketching on my lush garden patio, listening to birds and watching plumeria blossoms dropping daily to my feet. Breathing in Maui and breathing out my expression of this cinematic place on my sketch pad and canvas. As with any adventure, I am looking forward to seeing what this trip produces in my art. The sketch shown here, which is a study for a future painting, is titled; for Georgia & Lawren – two of my favorite painters and both icons of symbolic landscape painting. Aloha from paradise and thank you Georgia O’Keeffe, Patricia Jennings and Maria Ausherman for the inspiration. What if Georgia O’Keeffe and Lawren Harris met and made art together? A question to answer in my next post.

 

Georgia O' Keeffe's Hawaii

IAO, 48×36, acrylic on canvas, 2022, Brandy Saturley