Water and Stone

My paintings can be described as mental landscapes. They are not actual locations, where I have been, but my experiences of these places. I begin with colours and the forms emerge.
Over the last ten years, I have repeatedly visited water sources from Lake Erie and the Niagara Escarpment to Vancouver and on to Auckland, New Zealand. In North Vancouver I hike in the Capilano Forest. It has an abundance of waterfalls, rocks and one of my favourite rivers, the Capilano River. After BC, I fly to New Zealand. The similarities, and differences between Vancouver and Auckland always delight and amaze me.
While travellling I take digital photographs of rivers, rocks and vegetation. I hike, bike and kayak in rivers and lakes looking for something that surprises me. Usually I choose a special stone to take home as a reminder of my trip.
On my return to Ontario the contrasts in the landscapes appear extreme at first sight. After a few weeks, I find the renewal that comes with spring in Ontario and on the Thames River, offers up new and similar themes.
Jaquie Poole, 2013