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Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent

Natural Affinities: Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent

As a Canadian artist deeply connected to the rugged beauty of my homeland, I find myself inexorably drawn to the works of Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent. The artistry of these two painters has had a profound influence on my own creative journey, inspiring and shaping my unique painting style. Harris’s ability to distill the essence of Canadian landscapes into mystical abstractions resonates with my soul, while Kent’s romantic realism kindles a sense of longing for untouched wilderness. While they may have worked in different styles and contexts, their works share striking similarities, revealing natural affinities between the two painters. In this blog post, we will delve into the artistic journeys of Harris and Kent, examining their contrasting styles and analyzing the common threads that bind their masterpieces.

Art has the extraordinary power to capture the essence of the world and transport viewers to different realms. In the realm of landscape painting, Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent stand as giants, each leaving an indelible mark on the art world.

Lawren Harris: Mystical Abstractions

Lawren Harris, a prominent member of the Group of Seven, was renowned for his abstract and spiritual interpretations of the Canadian landscape. His paintings often depicted rugged mountains, icy glaciers, and vast stretches of untouched wilderness. Harris possessed an uncanny ability to distill nature’s raw power and transform it into something ethereal.

Harris’s works, such as “North Shore, Lake Superior” and “Mount Lefroy,” showcased his affinity for simplicity and abstraction. He employed bold lines, geometric shapes, and a restricted color palette to capture the essence of the subject matter. The resulting images exuded a sense of serenity and mysticism, evoking a profound emotional response from viewers.

North Shore, Lake Superior – Lawren Harris 1926

Rockwell Kent: Realism with a Romantic Touch

Rockwell Kent, on the other hand, was an American artist whose paintings encompassed both realistic and romantic elements. His artistic journey led him to various locales, including Alaska, Greenland, and Newfoundland, which greatly influenced his subject matter. Kent’s works portrayed expansive landscapes, seascapes, and the human figure against majestic natural backdrops.

Kent’s paintings, such as “Moonlight, Winter” and “Monhegan Night,” captivated audiences with their meticulous attention to detail. His command over light and shadow, combined with a rich color palette, brought his scenes to life. Kent’s romantic sensibilities infused his work with a touch of nostalgia, inviting viewers to contemplate the vastness and beauty of the natural world.

Moonlight Winter – Rockwell Kent 1940

Natural Affinities and Common Threads

Despite the differences in their styles and geographical influences, Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent’s works reveal surprising commonalities, suggesting a natural affinity between the two painters.

Both artists shared a deep reverence for nature and sought to capture its sublime qualities. Harris and Kent depicted landscapes that inspired awe and contemplation, inviting viewers to connect with the grandeur of the natural world. Their paintings transported viewers to remote and untouched locations, offering a respite from the modern world’s hustle and bustle. They both also embraced a sense of spirituality in their work. Harris’s abstract compositions and Kent’s romanticized scenes transcended the physical realm, hinting at something greater and more profound. Whether through Harris’s simplified shapes or Kent’s ethereal lighting, both artists infused their works with a spiritual dimension, elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Harris and Kent possessed a keen eye for composition. Harris’s bold lines and geometric forms provided structure and harmony to his landscapes, while Kent’s meticulous attention to detail created balanced and visually captivating scenes. Both artists had an innate ability to arrange elements within the frame, leading the viewer’s eye and creating a sense of visual poetry.

Where Icebergs Roam Free – Brandy Saturley 2016

Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent, despite their unique styles and influences, shared a remarkable bond through their artistic explorations of the natural world. Harris’s mystical abstractions and Kent’s romantic realism offer distinct but complementary perspectives on the power and beauty of nature. Their works elevate the landscape to a spiritual experience, where nature becomes a source of awe and contemplation. Through their mastery of composition, use of color, and ability to capture the sublime, Harris and Kent have left an indelible mark on the art world. Their legacies continue to inspire artists, like myself, to seek the inherent beauty and spirituality in the natural world and share it with audiences worldwide.

June 10, 2023

Painting with Lawren Harris

Art Career, Artist Process

Painting with Lawren Harris – putting myself in the forefront

Lawren Harris is considered one of Canada’s most prominent painters of the 20th century, known for his distinctive style that captures the essence of the Canadian landscape. I am a contemporary Canadian painter, and one of the many artists who have been inspired by Harris’s work. I have created a number of paintings, that pay homage to Harris’s artistic legacy and also make a statement about putting Canadian women artists in the forefront. These pieces are about representation, inclusion and achievement in the Canadian Art world. I am painting with Lawren Harris.

I want to talk about four paintings I have created that reference Harris’s ‘Baffin Island (1931), ‘North Shore, Lake Superior’ (1926), ‘Mountain Forms (1926) and ‘Sun and Earth’ (1945), respectively. In these works, Harris depicted the rugged and majestic Canadian landscape in a stylized, almost abstract way. Using bold colors and geometric shapes to create a sense of the landscape’s essence. My paintings similarly capture the essence of the Canadian landscape, but with their own unique style and perspective.

My use of bright, bold colors and geometric shapes is reminiscent of Harris’s style. I also add my own personal touch by including myself in the forefront of the painting, along with other elements and symbols that represent contemporary Canadian culture. I have spoken about the influence of Harris on my work, his paintings have inspired me to explore and depict the Canadian landscape in my own way. I have also spoken about the importance of paying homage to Harris and other Canadian artists who have paved the way for contemporary painters in Canada.

I have taken inspiration from Harris’s distinctive style and used it to create my own unique vision of the Canadian landscape and culture, while also paying homage to Harris’s legacy. Through my work, I am adding to the rich and diverse tapestry of Canadian art, continuing the tradition of artistic exploration and innovation that Harris helped to establish.

Here I will discuss these four paintings by Lawren Harris, and how they influenced my comment on the current culture and conversations in Canada.

Let Your Backbone Rise, 2016 – Brandy Saturley

This was the first painting where I used a painting by Lawren Harris as reference for the background of the painting. The background shows a segment of the painting, Baffin Island, painted by Harris in 1931. My career at this time was rising as I had just booked two public gallery solo exhibitions in the province of Alberta, the shows were retrospective shows of my paintings about Canadian culture and landscapes over a period of five years. I have painted myself into the painting wearing my red military style coat and wearing my the white gloves usually associated with handling artwork. My hair gathered into a formal french twist, facing the landscape boldly with arms raised. Running down the outside of the back of my coat a backbone is visible with vertebrae running outside the coat and over the spinal area of my back. I am definitely making a statement about the time in Canada, and my time as a rising woman on the Canadian art scene.

Baffin Island, 1931 – Lawren Harris

“I paint myself into these paintings because I suppose I am looking for myself in the world.”

With Hearts on Our Sleeves, 2017 – Brandy Saturley

The second painting I created with a Lawren Harris reference features a self portrait facing the viewer. The background of the piece features an abstract snippet from the Harris painting, ‘North Shore, Lake Superior’ from 1926. In this painting the ‘God’s rays’ of light through the clouds put the focus on the figure in the foreground. The year is 2017 and I made this painting while my public gallery retrospectives were moving from a gallery in Edmonton to a gallery in Calgary. In the self-portrait I am wearing a Hudson’s Bay toque and a plaid shirt (the symbol of the blue collar Canadian worker) The shirt features a heart sewn on the sleeve, with sleeves unrolled and folded backwards I am making a fist. Here I am channeling ‘Rosie the Riveter’ in my pose and gaze, though I am holding my fist tightly with head tilted down like a prize fighter.

North Shore Lake Superior, 1926 – Lawren Harris

“What Harris did in painting this mountain and it subsequently selling for millions is make it possible for someone to acquire and carry this landscape wherever they roam.”

A Landscape To Go, 2017 – Brandy Saturley

The third painting with Lawren Harris is a little different. Rather than placing myself in the foreground and Harris in the background, I have placed myself in the background and I have extracated the most famous Harris landscape in the foreground. ‘Mountain Forms’ painted in 1926 became the most expensive Canadian artwork ever to sell at auction in 2016 for a whopping $11.21 million. Mountain Forms, is a renowned painting of Alberta’s Mount Ishbel in the Sawback Range of the Rocky Mountains in Banff National Park. In the painting I am holding the painting in cupped hands as I examine it closely, again dressed in my military style red coat. The lake below the mountain runs off my hand. I am examining the landscape, holding it in my hands. When you are in the Rocky Mountains of Canada you are dwarfed by the gargantuan size of these mountains. What Harris did in painting this mountain and it subsequently selling for millions is make it possible for someone to acquire and carry this landscape wherever they roam. I was also thinking about how many hands this painting has moved from during it’s time on Earth. An examination of the Canadian art market, and injecting myself into the conversation.

Mountain Forms, 1926 – Lawren Harris

“As I begin inheriting pieces from my Ukrainian grandmother I am finding that I too have culture, woven with arts, crafts, symbols and stories.”

Dochka Rising, 2023 – Brandy Saturley

With this fourth and most recent painting the Lawren Harris painting and period I chose to reference is from his abstract period. ‘Sun and Earth’ painted in 1945 features simplified forms of sunrise and mountains. Again I have put myself in the foreground, only this time I am looking up casting my gaze upwards. My face is dressed in shadows casting stripes across my face and hair. On the lower portion of hair you see symbols and pattern from weaving my Ukrainian grandmother made, passed down to me by my mother. At this time in my life my parents are aging fast and things are changing daily. My mother who was my earliest mentor in art and life, is now requiring our care. I am feeling the need to take time and connect more deeply to my cultural roots, which includes Ukrainian, British and Canadian. Growing up in Sooke on Vancouver Island I spent time with Indigenous friends and family members. I always felt that those with Indigenous heritage were lucky, they seemed to have a real connection to their culture and cultural stories, that I did not feel to my cultural heritage. Growing up in Canada I felt like I had no culture, and now as an adult I realize I do, and this realization has come from watching and learning from our Indigenous cousins. As I begin inheriting pieces from my Ukrainian grandmother I am finding that I too have culture, woven with arts, crafts, symbols and stories. I am also affected by war in Ukraine and moved by the stories of the people and the immigrants to Canada. As my career and work as a Canadian Artist continues to ascend, the depth of my work grows with renewed excitement and explorations across Canada.

Sun and Earth, 1945 – Lawren Harris

“in a way I feel like I am having a conversation with Harris even though he passed before I was born.”

Lawren S. Harris Self-Portrait, 1932

Lawren Harris and Brandy Saturley are contemporaries painting in different times, in a way I feel like I am having a conversation with Harris even though he passed before I was born. Harris is known for his landscapes that showcase his love for the Canadian wilderness, while my paintings are more focused on the exploration of identity and culture. While we both use painting as a means of expression, our works are vastly different in terms of style, theme, and technique.

Harris’ works are characterized by sharp, clean lines, bold colors, and a geometric approach to composition. His paintings are heavily influenced by his interest in theosophy, a spiritual movement that sought to find universal truth through intuition and mysticism. His work is often described as “spiritual,” with the landscapes he painted appearing otherworldly, with a sense of transcendence.

On the other hand, my paintings are more fluid and organic, with a focus on the human form and its relationship to culture and identity. My work is often marked by vivid colors and layered brushwork, giving my paintings a dynamic and almost tactile quality. I often explore themes of gender, ethnicity, and national identity, with a focus on the social and cultural dynamics that shape our understanding of ourselves and others.

While both artists are celebrated for their distinct styles and contributions to Canadian art, their work represents very different approaches to the medium of painting. Harris’ landscapes are an exploration of the natural world, while my paintings are a celebration of colour, human culture and diversity. However, despite their differences, I believe both of us share a deep love of our country and its people, and our work continues to inspire and engage audiences around the world.

March 31, 2023

Iceberg Paintings

New Paintings

Paintings of Icebergs That Capture the Spirit of the Landscape

At the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, in the Photography wing of the museum you will find some gems. One such gem is a photo of two men resting near an iceberg during the Terra Nova Expedition to Anatarctica, led by Robert Falcon Scott. The photograph by Herbet Ponting was taken in 1910 and makes me think of Lawren Harris and Rockwell Kent iceberg paintings. Painters, explorers and photographers have been drawn to these glacial giants for hundreds of years. Paintings of icebergs will always reflect more than the ethereal beauty of these essential landscapes, for what they capture is more than just a landscape, they capture something that gives and sustains life itself.

Capturing the spirit of the landscape, transcendental and other worldly. These original acrylic paintings collage together landscapes, people, nature, shapes and vivid colours. Weaving new visual stories on canvas that have a distinctly Canadian pop art style. I have been drawn to the works of Lawren Harris from his Group of Seven period, but also love how he evolved his work into more abstract realms with the Transcendental Painting Group. When it comes to colour play, I often think of ‘Squares with Concentric Circles’ by Kandinsky. maybe this is where the circles are coming from in my recent work.

When I decide on what I am painting, I begin with a central character. Whether that character is a mountain, a moose, or a human matters not, I’m looking for a starting point to my visual story on canvas. These days I rely heavily on intuition to guide me, and even I discover things within my work years down the road, that I did not see when I was creating the piece. I think this is what makes great art, the ability to see new things in the work for years to come. With the heat rising here this summer, and little to no sign of icebergs off Twillingate, Newfoundland, known for it’s famous ‘Iceberg Alley’, I felt compelled to tell a visual tale about icebergs. My contemporary take on landscape paintings of icebergs. Beginning with a painting that features a woman in a bikini, between two icebergs. A polar bear seems to be flying as he leaps from iceberg to iceberg. This is, ‘When Polar Bears Fly’.

The second painting about icebergs features a trifecta of bergs, three sisters of ice on the ocean. A woman in a tilley-esque hat, and red coat, scans the horizon for bergs as they continue to evade her view. This is, ‘Looking for The Bergs’.

These paintings of icebergs are the two most recent in a body of work that captures the ‘spirit of the landscape’ – these paintings offer visual stories of the landscapes that inspired the art. Here you will find paintings with iconic Canadian imagery such as mountains, oceans and icebergs; set against vivid and playful backgrounds that are sometimes otherworldly. These original acrylic paintings collage together landscapes, people, nature, shapes and vivid colours. Weaving new visual stories on canvas that have a distinctly Canadian pop art style, the vision of a Canadian artist known as the ‘Iconic Canuck’.

Watch behind the scenes video of these paintings in process, a peek inside this iconic Canadian Artist’s studio.

July 19, 2021

Mountain Paintings With People

Inspiration, New Paintings

Paintings of mountains: beyond the Group of Seven

I remember the first time I saw a painting of a mountain, I was about four and it was hanging on our wall. It was a painting by my grandmother, a minimalist palette of blues to grey and white. Heavy oils and palette knife scratches. Then a decade later I had my first experience with paintings of mountains by Group of Seven founder, Lawren Harris, these were much softer looking mountains, they had a modern feel.

Even though I could appreciate these Canadian landscapes, I had not yet fallen in love with the mountains. Perhaps growing up on an island, where beaches, ocean, and rainforests were my backyard, I never really thought about mountains much.

I recall my first time putting on skis and taking a bus to visit the only ski area on our island, Mount Washington was further North than my hometown of Victoria. Still not a mountain lover, those slopes had my attention as I was first learning to ski down hills.

Even family trips through the mountains from BC to Alberta were lost on me, maybe it was the fighting with my sister, and the weird things my Dad would do and say, not unlike the National Lampoon Vacation films.

It really wasn’t until about 2010 that I really fell for the mountains. Driving from BC to Alberta to deliver paintings to a gallery in Canmore. In winter, these mountains take on a whole new persona, draped in glistening blankets of shiny ice and snow, with the odd bit of rock peaking its way through, these mountains now became animalistic. These mountains were watching me, as I was staring into their folds of shadow and light. It’s as if these mountains were people, and I wanted to paint their portraits. So, I began to paint the character of the mountains and I began to add humans, sometimes staring, and often having silent conversations with these behemoths of the landscape.

Fast forward to my most recent painting, again I have positioned people in the landscape, with the mountain looking on, because sometimes we see mountains and sometimes they see us.

This is ‘The Kiss’ (love in the Rockies)

April 26, 2021

The Art of Collaboration

Collaboration

The Art of Collaboration: Inspired by Famous Art Collaborations in History

There I was, a young artist beginning art college, excited about all the possibilities of art and romanced by the stories of famous artists’ lives and artists of the past. As a Canadian artist the most famous artist group is perhaps the Group of Seven, created and led by Canadian landscape painter, Lawren Harris. Assembling a number of Canadian painters into a group or club, Harris managed to direct the aesthetic of the group and create the ‘aesthetic of the North, the aesthetic of Canada’. Though not truly a collaboration, the group did create an outcome of a group effort, much like a collaboration achieves. They showed us the art of collaboration.

Back to that art history class. Art history classes begin with the ancient, European Art, which mystifies and romanticizes the artist life. Ancient art and specifically paintings were based on technique, craftsmanship and knowledge. Fast forward to the 1950’s and early 60’s of the New York City art world, a movement which challenged the traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular and mass culture. This movement included many artist collaborations, which saw artist’s paint together and even on the same canvas, imagine two artists painting in opposite, yet complimentary styles, on the same canvas. Inconceivable!

Most famous is perhaps the collaborative pop art meets street art paintings of Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat, where a famous Warhol took a less famous Basquiat under his wing and painted together on the same canvas in his studio. Even though some critics didn’t appreciate Basquiat and Warhol‘s relationship — some claiming that Basquiat was a fame-hungry leech trying to ride on Warhol’s reputation while others stating that Warhol was an opportunist who was using Basquiat’s talent for his own ends, the truth seems to show that the relationship was genuine, if fraught with frustrations. Whether intentionally exploitative of Warhol or not, it is true that the young Basquiat felt deeply for the man, and created masterpieces with his idol.

Fast forward to artists in Canada in the 20th century, and one in particular, Douglas Coupland. For his major solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2014, ‘everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything’. Often incorporating everyday materials and objects such as plastic lids, children’s toys, pencils and books, Coupland’s work and installations require a collaborative effort with everyday people, asking them to participate through collecting and sending him items to include in his pop culture creations.

Collaborative art is an interesting phenomenon, I mean we are artists, we are very independent with singular signature visions of what we want to create, so how can visual artists collaborate? If you look at the musicians, collaboration is important in their process and often better when one or more are together, such as the case with Lennon and McCartney and the Beatles. Collaboration made these artists better and stronger as they riffed off each other and pushed each other forward. Prior to the establishment of formal artistic training schools, the close bond between artists was often forged in the studio or the gallery. The sense of camaraderie – as well as competition – between artists presented opportunity for them to learn, and steal, from one another – collaboration can create better art through outcomes you cannot control.

So what is collaboration in terms of art? is it teamwork? The key difference between teamwork and collaboration is that in teamwork, a group of people perform their individual roles to contribute to the achievement of a goal whereas in collaboration, all individuals are partners that share work as well as ideas and insights to achieve a common objective.

In the footsteps of past artist collaborations and famous artist collaborators I came to create two collaborations in art. The first began in 2014, shortly after I visited the Douglas Coupland exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The People of Canada Portrait Project, a collaborative portrait painting project, between myself and everyday Canadians. Through photos submitted by Canadians, I paint portraits based on the stories they share with me about their lives as Canadians.

For the project, I used social media and the internet as a tool for connecting to a diverse audience of subjects. I never know what photo will grab my attention and you never know what the backstory will be, but the photo has to ‘grab’ me, I have to be invested in the subjects I will paint. The original images selected as reference points for portraits are displayed in a stream on the project’s website (Peopleofcanada.ca). Through interviews, process photos, and short films the original subjects of the photographs become part of the project’s archive, material for future excavation into how people define themselves as Canadian. By choosing their own photographs, my subjects participate in their own self-representation. Yet they also cede control as I invent a landscape intended to amplify the relationship between the people and landscapes depicted.

As this Canadian portrait project continues to grow and evolve, the project guidelines I set forth in the beginning have also evolved, because of the collaborative experience.

The second collaboration I am currently working on, is inspired by the tradition of landscape painting in Canada, and the Group of Seven. In 2017, I began collaborating with another Canadian painter, based in Calgary, Alberta. The idea: paint mountain peaks on the provincial border of Alberta and British Columbia (the border that divides us as artists) Painting mountains on the continental divide, the painting begins in one artists’ studio in Calgary, and the painting is completed in the other artists’ studio in Victoria. Inspired by famous collaborations of art history past, such as Warhol and Basquiat, Johns and Rauschenberg, and Rivera & Kahlo – this was going to be interesting as in our case we live 1059KM apart, a 13 hour drive and a ferry boat. Each painting rendered in brushstrokes from each artist. Each painting a collaborative effort and celebration of two styles, creating a new language, expressing a combined love of the Rockies. Beyond the borders of the paintings, and beyond the borders that divide two provinces that have been locked into a political battle over a pipeline. Moving us beyond the borders of our differences, and bringing us together, over art. In honour of Group of Seven luminary, Lawren Harris, we selected a name under which to paint, and the Mountain Forms Collective is born.

The art of collaboration is truly one that requires patience, an openness to learning no matter your level of experience and expertise (leave your ego at the door) respect of your collaborators, working as a team to achieve something bigger than yourself, the creation of a new community in which to grow and propagate your ideas and the unique experience of creating something important, together. For if it is important to you, it is important to make it heard in any way you can conceive!

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley

May 15, 2019

Re-framing landscape painting

Inspiration

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

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.

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.

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.

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

March 2, 2018

Georgia O’ Keeffe’s Hawaii

Artist Process, Inspiration

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.

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.

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.

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

December 13, 2017