Artist Statement

My paintings tell the story of faith, my hope for our planet, and my love of creation. My paintings are a window to my soul. They are often conceived when I am immersed in nature. I live in an Oak Savannah forest adjacent to the Pinery Provincial Park, where I am constantly inspired by the beauty that surrounds me. My holidays are usually spent canoe tripping in the wilderness, experiencing the life of the forest and feeling connected to the earth. 

I have never thought of time as being linear. I believe in circular time, one season following another. I am continually called to the forest to witness the changing cycles and the promise of eternity.  For example, an oak tree begins its life as an acorn, which contains the potential of an adult tree.  The tree has four stages: a young sapling that fights for its position in a forest; an adult giant standing majestic; a standing dying tree that becomes the home of insects and a feeding station for woodpeckers; and then a fallen tree which shelters birds and animals and eventually becomes the soil for the creation of new life. This tree teaches us that life is eternal: spring follows winter and new trees grow from old. As an artist, I seek to capture this divine reality.

Looking upward at a majestic old growth tree is like standing at the foot of the Creator. It makes me feel hopeful for the future of the world.  Through my art I show miracles of nature from a unique viewpoint, and share my belief that heaven can be on earth if we are gentle with our planet and gentle with each other. The Group of Seven often used a solitary tree to symbolize isolation in their paintings of the vast wilderness, which is Canada.  My tree is not a lonely tree, but an individual tree.  There is hope in each tree as there is hope in each individual.  Life is miraculous.

“The trees…are the ‘skin’ of the Earth, for without it there can be no water and therefore no life” (Richard St. Barber Baker, Man of the Trees). Bearing witness to this fundamental truth, my newest series of paintings focus on the magnificence of water. The inspiration for this latest body of work came as a result of countless summers spent canoeing in Algonquin Park. While paddling, I paint water in my imagination. When I put down my canoe at the end of a portage and prepare to venture on, I see the soaring trees circling the lucid waters, and I am inspired by their grandeur and interdependence.  After returning to my studio from my most recent canoe trip, I began capturing nature reflected in water and light breaking the surface into fragments of colour. 

I am not a landscape artist, nor am I a realist painter.  I am an artistic explorer and witness to the phenomenal intricacies that surround us. While nature is the inspiration for my work, sunlight is the primary subject of my paintings. Colour is always the most important element in my paintings. I paint sunlight’s effect on colour, mixing only primary colours.  The white in my watercolour paintings is the bare paper exposed and my greys are exclusively made of complementary colours. My watercolours are created using an original technique of dividing the paper’s surface into jewels of transparent colour that overlap to create more colour fragmentation. This mosaic technique is inspired by my love of Impressionism.  I carry this technique into my oil paintings where I apply fluid watercolour brushstrokes and unique methods to the medium.

When you understand my paintings it will change the way you walk through the forest.

Josy Britton
www.josybritton.com