As fall approaches, I am back in my studio painting from some of my recent summer travels around the world. I have to say, I was most inspired by the landscape of Iceland and I am so passionate about this latest series of work!
Stay tuned for more pieces on the way!
My newest series is in progress – and I have to say- I think it is one of my favorites!
These works are exploring a new subject for me but continuing on my exploration of cloudscapes.
This series of cloudscapes is a continuation on from my most recent work, which referenced the sky in abstract variations of color and texture. This series aims to create a gateway of space for the viewer to travel into a surreal world of clouds and sky through a shaped canvas called a Tondo.
The Tondo is an Italian word for a circular painting or relief. This style was popular during the Renaissance, but can be found in art history since antiquity. In the renaissance, the Tondo portrayed a window into a three dimensional space. Often it was used to depict mythological, classical or literary themes. Today, the term shaped canvas is particularly associated with certain works created mostly in New York after about 1960, during a period when a great variety and quantity of such works were produced.
Artists such as Frank Stella, Damien Hirst, and Tomokazu Matsuyama have used this unique shape to depict the object-like nature of art.
The challenge with this shape of canvas is that it has no axial orientation, leaving the artist to be in a constant state of shifting and changing its position. The Tondo shape is the perfect shape with a link to art history as well as recognition for the minimalist painters in the 1960s whose work has influenced so much of today’s contemporary art world.
This body of work aims to challenge the conventional rectangular shape of landscapes today, and entangle realism and surrealism. Through referencing artists such as JMW Turner, I aim to look for the awe in the weather patterns of the sky, and expectations of change in the clouds. By referencing artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, and Frank Stella, I shift the focus from capturing the realistic aspect of the cloudscape to one of layers of abstraction and nuance.
Acrylic on Canvas 19″ x 28″
-Acrylic on Board 12″ x 12″
Elemental Sky features the work of Samantha Williams-Chapelsky. As a departure from her Juicy series, Elemental Sky incorporates TerraSkin – a stone based paper as the ground of acrylic washes mixed with alcohol sprays. The title “Elemental Sky” describes the natural landscape, and the movements of clouds over the horizon line. Samantha documents this shifting movement of the clouds and weather patterns with gestural brushwork, in thin washes of acrylic paint mixed with alcohol. Through this exhibition, Samantha aims to capture the landscape not as a mimetic depiction, but as a gestural interpretation of the movement of the land itself, and its ever-fluctuating subtleties of the natural landscape.
This show runs November 18th to December 12th. We hope you can join us for an opening reception on November 19th (5pm to 8pm).
Clouds in the Field 24″ x 36″ Oil on Board
The fall time has certainly come in with spectacular colours! I have been enjoying my days of painting outside as often as possible- before the craziness of the winter season arrives.
I have set up my most recent exhibition, Documenting at VASA Studios in St.Albert. This exhibition opens October 1 at 6 pm and will run to the end of October. It is the culmination of over 80 paintings that “document” my day to day travels.
I am also working on my series for my solo exhibition at the Daffodil Gallery in Edmonton titled Elemental Sky. This pieces are created on a calcium carbonate based paper, and have a unique finish to the paintings.
Stay tuned for new and upcoming workshops, events and exhibitions by joining my mailing list!
Elemental Sky features the work of Samantha Williams-Chapelsky. As a departure from her Juicy series, Elemental Sky incorporates TerraSkin – a stone based paper as the ground of acrylic washes mixed with alcohol sprays. The title “Elemental Sky” describes the natural landscape, and the movements of clouds over the horizon line. Samantha documents this shifting movement of the clouds and weather patterns with gestural brushwork, in thin washes of acrylic paint mixed with alcohol. Through this exhibition, Samantha aims to capture the landscape not as a mimetic depiction, but as a gestural interpretation of the movement of the land itself, and its ever-fluctuating subtleties of the natural landscape.
This show runs November 18th to December 12th at the Daffodil Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta. I hope you can join me for an opening reception on November 19th (5pm to 8pm).
