Made in Banff

Bull elk visiting the Leighton Artists’ Colony at The Banff Centre. Photo: Janice Tanton.

Every­one gets in a rut. Hav­ing the oppor­tu­nity to take a vaca­tion, or a phys­i­cal break from your reg­u­lar work cycle enables you to have a new per­spec­tive on things. Yes, there is a sense of com­fort to hav­ing ‘every­thing in it’s place’ in your own home stu­dio, but there is some­thing to be said for shak­ing it up, expand­ing your hori­zons and get­ting into a new space to cre­ate and imag­ine the pos­si­bil­i­ties pre­vi­ously unthought of.

For me, I lit­er­ally “get out­side” and paint when I can, tak­ing the oppor­tu­nity to explore the Rocky Moun­tains and Kananaskis Coun­try — lit­er­ally in my front and back yard. That’s an “ele­gant solu­tion” to a one-day res­i­dency.  A great way to observe and appre­ci­ate nature and cre­ate some­thing new.

For a more in-depth exam­i­na­tion of the process or project, there is noth­ing like leav­ing my comfy home stu­dio and dri­ving a half an hour down the road to the Leighton Artists’ Colony at The Banff Cen­tre. This January/February marked the fourth res­i­dency period I’ve been for­tu­nate enough to enjoy in this cadil­lac of artist’s res­i­den­cies. I feel very lucky. Continue Reading →