Anita McComas

Solo Exhibition: June 3 - July 19, 2023 

I am in a continuous struggle with the inner me, the artist within that wants to create exciting pieces that scream with bold unexpected colors, lots of movement and overlapping brushstrokes, giving depth and excitement to the painting, but at the same time, I strive to create a piece where shapes can be easily identified, and representative of the world around us.  There is conflict here.  These impressionistic pieces lean towards reality with creative exaggerations; I paint every bit of color and energy I can onto the canvas. Pieces that come into being through pure inspiration, very little planning and driven from within with lots of energy, as if there is an urgency in to their coming into existence. I now accept that I have a natural duality, two opposing sides that are actually acting as complimentary forces that balance my creativity. That highly energized expressive side and the need to create a piece that is routed in the natural world.   

This may explain why I am naturally drawn to landscapes, drawing inspiration from Western Canada. After living in mostly cities for a great deal of my life, moving to British Columbia really opened my eyes to that which exists in nature. In exploring the influences in Western Canadian art, I have met and studied with many contemporary impressionists who have drawn their influences from The Group of Seven. I am drawn to Tom Thompson in particular. I see his work almost as an underpainting. A piece that has the nerve to be finished, where others would have continued painting on top toward a more representational piece. I employ some of this simplicity in my shapes and apply myself to painting the negative shapes, yet always reaching for greater complexity. There are never simple colors, or vast expanses of a solid surface.  

I see my work as a statement about our world today, a world that is more complex than the 1920’s world of the Group of Seven. In some way celebrating the natural landscape seems even more important now than it was then. My landscapes are filled with shapes that have overlapping colors (no subtle shading). I use bold, thick brushstrokes or pallet knife with only selected spaces for the eyes to rest. My work is a celebration of the natural world while at the same time reflecting our world today, where it is hard for any one thing to hold out attention for long. There is tension. Movement. Colors bumping against each other. Complexity.