Elissa Cristall Gallery - New Exhibition

LESLEY FINLAYSON

Sorting Ground: Pender Island 2014 new paintings and drawings

Postcards from Pender Island #3, 2013, acrylic on board, 5” x 7”

front cover: Pender Island Paintng #1. 2014, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"

Š 2014 elissa cristall gallery

LESLEY FINLAYSON Sorting Ground: Pender Island April 3 - 26, 2014

elissa cristall gallery

2239 granville street, vancouver, bc v6h3g1 canada www.cristallgallery.com

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Forward In the fall of 2013, I was invited to set up my studio in a friend’s cottage on Pender Island. I was familiar with the garden from a previous visit and instantly had ideas for the work I might produce. A garden can be seen like a canvas; defined by a wall or fence, the garden presents a series of parameters within which to work. A garden in autumn is particularly poignant. There is a powerful atmosphere of decay and death and yet always a glimmer of what will regenerate.

There is an excitement working directly from life, and as I mature, I am even more dedicated to the process of working en plein air. I’ve long felt an affinity for the post-war work of artist Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979), for example, who worked extensively from his garden. He developed a vocabulary unique to the interpretation of his own landscapes, which resonates with me.

I am not drawn to botanical accuracy, but rather, picking out exquisite visual relationships. A West Coast garden, overgrown as this one is, provides endless textural colour and linear relationships, which change constantly as the day progresses. I begin by drawing. The drawings provide the sorting ground, allowing me to focus on the most interesting relationships. Common white plastic garden chairs suggested conversations and lives lived and were a contrast to the chaos of the surrounding foliage.

Living with my paintings and drawings on Pender Island over a period of time was ideal. I could contemplate them as if looking through a window frame, from the outside in, reflecting on the captured light and space, editing and developing as necessary.

Lesley Finlayson, 2014

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Pender Island Painting #2, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 36” x 36”

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Pender Island Painting #3, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 36” x 36”

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Pender Island Painting #1, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 36” x 36”

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Pender Island Painting #13, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 36” x 60”

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Pender Island Painting #12, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 36” x 60”

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Pender Island Painting #5, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 15” x 30”

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Pender Island Painting #7, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 15” x 30”

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Pender Island Painting #4, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 15” x 30”

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Pender Island Painting #8, 2014 Acrylic on canvas, 10” x 20”

Pender Island Painting #9, 2014 Acrylic on canvas, 10” x 20”

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drawings Sorting Ground: Pender Island Drawings #1 - 5, 2014 Pastel on paper, 22” x 30”

Drawing #2

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Drawing #3

Drawing #5

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Drawing #4

Drawing #1

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Postcards from Pender Island #2, 2013, acrylic on board, 5” x 7”