OKANAGAN ART WORKS
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Theresa responds well to painting flowers. Her grandfather was a great gardener and a painter and she probably takes after him. However, she also likes painting landscapes, people, and Okanagan Lake. This is one of her biggest passions. “This is one of the most beautiful lakes I have seen,” she says. “I can never get enough of painting Okanagan Lake. The potential is unlimited. There is a jade green colour in the middle of this beautiful blue lake that is so difficult to match. I have not been able to get that colour right until I travelled to Australia recently. That is where I found the right shade of blue. “I mix and blend about 85% of my own colours. I always taught my students that you will never have a colour clash if you use basic colours and mix this, then each new colour will have some of the same colour in it. For instance, you can get a unity in a juicy red and an Okanagan gold. You will never have discordant colours this way. I like it better than buying colours. “I am a colour junky. Right now I am hooked on red. That is huge in my life right now. It is a colour that makes me feel really good. I like slapping it on.” Apart from slapping on colour, Theresa also likes slapping texture onto her canvas before she starts her painting. In a way you could say she is a frustrated sculptor. “I can’t leave a painting without adding texture to it,” she explains. “It must be an impressionism influence. At a gallery in Italy I saw a massive painting of flowers. They were almost leaping off the canvas, it was done so well. I realized then that is what I want to do and now I am addicted to adding texture. I use a Golden molding paste as it is archival, and literally buy buckets of the stuff. It is so much fun. It is about sculpting on canvas and I really love it. “When it is done, I cannot resist running my hands over the canvas surface. It is that blend of the tactile sensation you get from sculpture and the vibrancy and colour of a painting that gives such an added dimension to how the light bounces off a painting. “ Below: ‘Biking in Italy’, 10” x 10” Previous page top: ‘Clashing Sails’, 24” x 30” Previous page bottom: ‘Coldstream’, 24” x 36” All artworks © Theresa Heinrichs