life in the moment | artist sTorY BY annE BEaTY phoTo BY sErgEI BELsKI
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soul Painter Artist is careful to follow rules of light
16 airdrielife.com | fall 2012
airdrie artist Kathryn zondag treasures time with son Christian, 16 months
aking her home on the Prairies, with the fantastic sunrises and sunsets as inspiration, a love of all things ‘light’ comes naturally to Kathryn Zondag. “Alberta skies are just incredible,” says the Airdrie painter, “and what I like to do is I like to play with light.” Currently, Zondag’s artistic focus – her “heart and soul” – is seascapes, using as reference thousands of photos she has taken over the years. She also incorporates into each painting her favourite colour: “That Caribbean turquoise blue, I can’t shake. A tone of it is in everything that I do.” Each painting is unique, with a glorious luminescence, yet while the finished product may look quite romantic, it’s Zondag’s technical side that has helped her in creating a realistic scene. “I work very hard to make my work as technically real as possible,” she says.“There is a science to it. There are certain rules of light that have to be followed.” Even when Zondag is viewing artwork other than her own, she can find herself spending hours in front of it picking apart the lighting and technique, figuring out why it works (or doesn’t). “You go in and out of creative mode and analytical mode,” she says of her artistic left-brainright-brain dynamic. For Zondag, the analytical mode comes naturally. Her father was an engineer, her husband, Sid, is a project manager with a tech company and she herself has spent several years as a financial professional. But her creative side is also readily apparent. “I’m always looking for the better side of everything,” says the self-professed eternal optimist. “I want to look at something that’s beautiful.” Growing up on Vancouver Island – first in Nanaimo and then on an acreage only three blocks from the ocean – Zondag pursued her love of art from an early age. Painting since she could hold a brush, she points to Hawaiian artist Christian Riese Lassen and his work with light as a huge influence on her style. Although she calls herself a “poor imitator” of nature’s splendour, she is nonetheless always trying to capture that ‘perfect moment.’ “It’s that glow,” she says.