Some good news! Three paintings accepted to the Society of Canadian Artists

Pleased to say, three of my impasto oils have been accepted to the Society of Canadian Artists 2022 Open International Juried Exhibition. These three pieces will be on display online, and available for purchase from March 15 to June 15, 2022. [Inquiries at: exhibitions@societyofcanadianartists.com]

These are smaller works, 10×10″. I enjoy this small format because of the scale of the marks in relation to the size of the image. You can scale up this effect of course, but you have to work with larger and larger tools and amounts of paint, and it can become unwieldy. As well, there’s a hidden benefit – the small paintings are easy to ship anywhere in the world!

These three are some of my favorites from a three year long experiment with impasto painting. By which I mean, working with a knife and hand-mixed pigments. (Oil + marble dust + cold wax medium.) The paintings operate simultaneously at two levels – the ‘pulled back’ view, which represents the landscape, and the ‘close up’ view which becomes a complete abstraction of color and brushstroke.

That could be said for any hand made work of art, but I feel the duality is a focus here.

The physicality, or sculptural quality of the paint surface is something we simply don’t have in digital or printed works, or even with my first love – watercolor.

I very much hope I’ll have a chance to return to this kind of painting soon. I’ve been working on other projects lately. These impasto oils are quite a commitment! The extended time to dry, means you have to dedicate space on the wall for three to six months. I had literally run out of wall space for a time there, though I have been able to pack some of these away recently. I’ve used chemical dryers in the past, which does speed things up, but I found myself feeling ill from the fumes, even when working with fans and open windows – and in fact, this becomes a problem in Canada – for a lot of the year you don’t really want your French doors open :) I’ve painted with fans and heaters running, but after a while that just starts to feel silly.

I hope you’ll stop by the national society’s online show. < Follow that link!

The paintings will be available from March 15th to June 15 at a special reduced price, ($250.00 Cdn) in support of the Society of Canadian Artists.

And of course, you can see a selection of the best of my original oils on my gallery site MarcTaroHolmes.com, or flip through work chronologically on my Instagram @m.holmes.art.

Thanks!