Artist Statement:
Nature has always been a place of refuge and inspiration for me and is often where I like to paint, in the mountains, forests and by the ocean. Most recently, however, I have found a new refuge in my colours, placing them with emotion onto the canvas in gestures large and small.
These oils or acrylics on canvas are a journey that I take with my brush as exploration of what may offer sanctuaries of well-being. The relationships and transitions that occur through the colour movements transform the white canvas into a landscape I desire to visit and reflect on. By not specifically painting the landscape as a subject, I endeavour to echo the vibrant spirit that moves within, finding new places of joy and peace.
Biography
Jane Appleby is an expressive Canadian painter, born in the Czech Republic, and currently living in Burnaby, British Columbia. She immigrated to Canada, with her family, as a refugee in 1969, and was encouraged by her late architect father to draw and paint from a young age.
She has taken courses from many artists over the 25 years she has been painting professionally, and learned how to paint expressively while painting En Plein Air. Painting outdoors challenged Jane to work quickly and with lively brushwork in response to the natural landscapes she frequented. She continues to work into abstraction on location as shown on her Youtube Channel: Jane_Appleby_Art.
Jane also teaches workshops to various art groups, including The Okanagan School of Arts and West Van Arts Council. She has written and published a book on painting titled “The Purposeful Brush”, where she inspires the “artist in all of us” with her words and artwork on each page.
Jane received a Biology Degree from Simon Fraser University and later furthered her studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, completing a Fine Arts Technique diploma in 2013. Although she excelled at drawing, she found composition and colour studies the most enjoyable.
Jane predominately works in oils and acrylics but often uses watercolours and pens to capture certain “gestures” of the landscape before starting a larger work. She likes to use a variety of brushes and palette knives of varying sizes, selecting new colour combinations for each work. She also uses certain tools to lift paint away while it is drying and then adds layers of transparent and opaque paints for exciting effects. Jane allows the colours to flow and mix freely on the canvas while considering the movements and details that may add interest. The emotional brushwork and colour movements express her connection to the mood and spirit of both the external and internal landscapes she paints.
Many of Jane’s “Lyrical Expressions” of the landscape have been featured in gallery exhibitions in British Columbia and as far as Madrid, Spain and Milan, Italy (UnFair Milan – April 2022).
The paintings in this show are abstracted landscapes that express elements collected while painting beside the ocean at Galiano Island, in British Columbia’s forests and in the snow-capped mountains. The daily walks she takes with her dog, Laika, at Burnaby Lake and Burnaby Mountain also make it into her work.
Find out more on her website: www.janeappleby.com
The Plaskett Gallery is open 1 pm to 4 pm Tuesday to Friday and by appointment. It is also open before all shows and during intermission.
