September's Art Adventure

Moody Birches, 11"x14", acrylic on canvas, Rattlesnake Point, (c) Renee Fukumoto,

Imagine the experience of staying in a cosy cottage with a couple of good friends, in an enclave of fellow artists who rapidly transform from strangers into a family of encouragers and defenders. Imagine packing up your travel art gear, boarding a boat and motoring out to a rocky outcrop or an insland quilted with moss and forested with silvery trees to perch and paint what you see from the heart. Going beyond mechanically recording and learning to interpret with your heart and the colours on your palette.

Being set apart that way, six hours from home and the responsibilities that home entails, was a
uniquely freeing experience. There was only the lessons, locations and paintings of the day, each day. Feeding ourselves, and the enjoyment of each other's company over wine and art became the order of the day. It was a beautiful thing.

I could talk about technique and tools but I think the more important lesson has been to follow my heart, my gut, my instinct (however you want to express it) so that the expression of my visceral response is what is recorded on the canvas. Each painting is an exploration of both external and internal landscapes. Perhaps this is why they seem to have resonated with collectors so strongly.
It was surprising at first, the way the red dots began to show up, but now I think I get it.

Collectors are free to see their own emotions, their own memories and spirit reflected in these paintings. It is not the photographic rendering of the location but the colour-infused responses that speak to the heart that uplifts and reinforces joy, peace and happiness. And who wouldn't want that reflected back at them from their walls?

~ Renée