Artist Brenda Hurley to Have Debut Solo Exhibition at Co.Lab Gallery
By Sidney Ulakovic
“You can really lose yourself in it,” says local artist Brenda Hurley of the process of creating her latest collection of abstract impressionist landscape work, Abstracted Whimsey. The series of oil paintings is scheduled for a gallery exhibition at Co.Lab Gallery & Arts Centre this September.
Hurley has had a lifelong interest in art, and dabbled more seriously in painting once she retired. “It all started with [a] weekend session I took with Stephen [Krasemann],” Hurley says.
Coral Whimsey
It was during these sessions with Krasemann, and later sessions with award-winning Canadian landscape artist Gordon Harrison that Hurley began developing her artistic eye and technique, eventually landing on her own style. Hurley’s artwork has been featured in group exhibitions through local artist collective Group of Stephen, but Abstracted Whimsey will be her first solo showcase.
Hurley says the paintings in this series were completed over the last two years using the wet-on-wet technique, sometimes referred to as alla prima painting—an Italian phrase meaning “at first attempt.” With this technique, the paint is continually applied to still-wet paint on the canvas, resulting in the need to complete the painting in one session. Hurley says the process allows her to live in the painting, losing herself in the work as she operates on artistic instinct and allows herself to embrace improvisation.
Crisp and Bright IV
The paintings themselves are bright and colourful. “I do them in the colours I want them to be,” Hurley says, adding that she often begins each piece with a magenta underpainting, giving the paintings that whimsical, almost surreal quality. “They’re busy scenes,” Hurley says. “There’s something going on in every little corner of the painting.” While Hurley uses the canvas to its full potential, each piece leaves little moments for the viewer’s eye to rest, whether it’s a peek of the sky behind the foliage or sight of wildflowers amongst the depths of evergreens.
“I’m doing it for the joy of it,” says Hurley. “Playing with what I see and envisioning it in a colourful, playful, whimsical sort of way.”
Through the Trees
Abstracted Whimsey will open the evening of September 20 and run until October 2 at Co.Lab Gallery & Arts Centre. To stay up to date with Hurley’s work, find her on Facebook and Instagram.
