Feeling the 'strong draw' of Alberta Vistas

It may be too familiar to many of us, but both Linda O'Neill and Hilary Prince find something new and fascinating in each vista they paint of Alberta.

O'Neill and Prince draw upon the Alberta landscape for their inspiration, but in dramatically different styles. O'Neill's work looks photographic from far away, but on closer inspection, it disintegrates into a fury of short brush strokes. Prince, on the other hand, takes a cue from the abstract painters who were working here when she arrived from South Africa in 1979. Her paintings of Alberta's skies rely on broad swaths of colour to effectively capture the atmosphere.

O'Neill and Prince talked to The Journal about what continues to draw them to the province's vistas after 20 years, and why they feel landscape painting is important.

Hilary, why did you choose to paint the Alberta landscape to begin with ?

I came here in 1979 and I was painting abstract paintings. I switched to landscape in about 1980 because I just felt a connection with the land, the place itself, and to paint the landscape was more connected to my feelings.Growing up in Africa, we spent a lot of time going out into the bush, and it was not unlike Alberta in some ways--big space, big sky. It's an emotional attachment, and so, as I got more attached to Alberta, I just thought I wanted to make that switch (to landscape painting).

The abstract painting that was going on here did influence me, particularly in terms of going big. People were doing big "colourfield"paintings so that enabled me to try to get big, too.

Linda, you moved to Guelph, Ont., from Edmonton some time ago, but the Alberta landscape still figures prominently in your work.Why do you continue to use it as a study ?

I lived in Alberta for a number of years and my work as a landscape painter, my formative years, were working "en plein air" painting-- working in Alberta, the Edmonton area and Calgary and travelling around. And it's the subject, the landscape, the Alberta landscape in particular, it's just beautiful. It really has a strong draw to me, very emotional power.

Both of you shy away from using landmarks as a focus or making the images them-selves photo-realistic. Why ?

Prince: I would like you to have a feeling of what it was like on that particular day at that particular time, fairly specific, without getting too illustrational or descriptive. But to give you a sense of place, that's important to me. In that regard, Linda and I are both on the same page.

O'Neill:I do often work from photographs when I'm not in the landscape. I used to paint on location, but that's not convenient most of the time, so I have quite a large image bank that I draw from. I think for me it's really important to connect with a sense of place and how things really are, how things appear, so you get the strong sense of nature. There's always room for play, and I don't want to be so locked in with the detail you become a slave to it.

What do you hope visitors take away from your work ?

O'Neill: What I think of a particular place in my memories, in my association, might be very different from what somebody else does, so each person, each individual person, brings something to the work.

Prince: I'm surprised how many people have said to me, "I've never looked up at the sky till I saw your paintings, and now I look up and I see your paintings all the time."And that pleases me. It's almost like a landscape doesn't exist until an artist puts it down on paper.

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VISUAL ARTS PREVIEW:

Alberta Vistas: Hilary Prince and Linda O'Neill

Showing at: Scott Gallery, 10411 124th st.

Until: June 16

Info: 780-488-3619