Québec
There is so much wilderness to be found in Northern Quebec, miles and miles of pine trees and rolling hills. It's funny to think that, at times, it's the road signs creating the change in scenery!!! I was drawn to this image with the romantic blues of the mountains and the sense of wilderness, but also the awareness of man's presence. Alison
Every time I see Lac Temiscouata I am in awe of its deep sapphire-blue water against the dark green hills. The colours are so intense and tough to capture in a painting without it feeling too deep of a blue. I had to put the little road-edge marker in the painting - if not for the markers and guard cables, I'd just keep staring at the lake and forget where the edge of the road is. Carol
For years, my husband and I traveled Highway #20 in Quebec in a van filled with three children, a black lab (that hogged the seats) and all sorts of paraphernalia for five weeks at my parents cottage. This section of highway, as it runs along the St. Lawrence River, with the flat farmland and spaced out barns was always my favourite. This particular image caught my eye, not only because of the colours, but because of the train. I have watched the sad decrease in trains traveling through Cape Breton over the past decade, and I miss them. Alison
The autumn colours of the maple and oak trees were amazing this year but, what surprised me and inspired this painting, were the colours in late November after the leaves fell and before the snow came. The brown grasses and multicoloured sapling stems stood out and took centre stage as the fields prepared for winter. Carol
Quebec in November is a land of complimentary colours – rich golds and grey-violets with a some neutral earthy browns thrown in. The I loved the bare sumac bushes that lined the overpass at this stop so I climbed the embankment and painted the view of the Trans-Canada highway from there. Carol
Autumn field began as a painting about the line of trees and ended up being a painting about colour. There are many paintings underneath this one, all with something I didn't quite like. One morning, I woke up knowing I wanted the shadows under the trees to be a blue-purple...... and the rest just happened! Alison
This painting pokes fun at the amount of construction found along the road during the summer season and the amount of construction encountered in Quebec this year was astounding. Anyone who lives or visited Montreal during the rebuilding of the Turcot Interchange will understand and empathize with my choice of subject for the painting location closest to the city. Although encountering these construction zones can be frustrating, the brilliant colours of the signs contrast so dramatically with the greys and browns of the road making the actual image quite uplifting and pleasurable to look at. Carol
I fell in love with all the lines in the photo and wanted to explore that idea in this painting, yet I wanted it to feel easy, so held my long handled paintbrush at the tip, to apply the paint. The mountains certainly have a blue cast as one drives by and the fields of dirt are brown, so along with line, I explored opposite colours. Alison