Artist: Brent Laycock
Title: Tranquil River
Image Size: 24" x 16" As Shown (Multiple sizes available - select size options above)
Edition: Standard Limited Edition to 200
Medium: Fine Art Giclee on Canvas
Artist Statement: The majority of my paintings are landscapes. Although I have experimented with many other forms and subjects, it is the interaction with the land that continually fuels my interest. Perhaps this passion comes from my background as a farm boy or perhaps it comes from just living where the sky, mountains, prairie and water have a continual impact in my perceptions. In the landscape I see the spiritual connection between ourselves and the divine. I only hope to transmit some of its power to uplift the soul.

Painting is really about understanding and feeling. The expression of feeling becomes a balancing act in which I attempt to give the work some life through spirited brushstrokes but still exert enough discipline over composition to give the piece unity. I like to allow accidental things to happen with the movement of the paint and brush so that the piece begins to take on a life of its own. After this rather loose and chaotic stage of carefree painting, I then face the task of bringing order and enough clarity to the composition to allow the viewer both an emotional feeling and some understanding of the subject.

With some work, especially the watercolors, I will paint outdoors use the real shapes and colours of the landscape. I do not finish the painting on site; however, but take it into the studio where I will work on it without reference to the subject matter. In this later stage, the solution of abstract design problems is my main concern. I hope that each painting will work on two levels; one making a statement about the subject matter, and the other working as a successful abstract composition.

It is often challenging to juggle the demands of representation with the needs of abstraction. Sometimes, viewers will notice that they can see the subject matter when they stand way back from the painting. They wonder how I painted it when I had to stand up close to it. I try to convince them that the painting can be enjoyed close up when one tries to understand and appreciate the interplay of small details in an abstract way.

I learned that music is often a very abstract form of art where the elements derive their meaning from the way they interact with each other. This is what I endeavour to do with my own painting. I see them as musical compositions where the rhythms, repetitions, melodies and movement are all involved in making a harmonious statement. Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre Weigle Educational Publishers