We asked Gordon why he likes to paint skies, and this is what he said:
What some people get from a belief system or meditation, I get from simply opening my eyes and looking up. I remember looking up since I was a kid at 9, when I started using oil paint. Walking to school, I clearly remember thinking "how I can I paint what's in front of me?" As my mind grew, thoughts became more abstract and life became more complicated, but I could always look up at the sky and connect with the visceral part of me that was 9 or 10 years old.
We all live under the sky and that's one thing that is completely universal. Some people miss the ocean when they move to a city, but what I didn't realize was how much I would miss the sky. Living in Toronto, I looked up and saw slices of it blocked by buildings and it would make me wonder if there wasn't something fantastic just out of view.. It became just another "thing" I had to ignore while living in a fast paced city. Eventually, I just forgot.
When I moved back to the east coast where I grew up, I looked up and saw the drama that played out living at the top of the Gulf Stream. It was as if someone gave me CPR.I've attended 4 art schools and none of them encouraged landscape painting, let alone depictions of skies. What did encourage me in the end, were the people who liked and purchased my work. I realized that this was all I needed to continue, and now 12 years later, the most flattering thing for me has been when someone says, " Ever since I bought your work, I look up. I was driving home the other day and I saw this sky......"
Below is one of Gordon's favourite pieces to paint, s from his current show on display at Argyle Fine Art until September 14th.
Below is one of Gordon's favourite pieces to paint, s from his current show on display at Argyle Fine Art until September 14th.
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| "Between Windsor and Wolfville" Oil on Board 36" x 36" Gordon MacDonald |
