April 23, 1990

 I noticed this in an old sketchbook.  Now I am going to see if I can find some watercolours that I painted that day.

Now looking back after all these years, there is something I really really like about them.  Funny, hey?

On the Question of Changing Your Style

 

                        Photo from 'A Life of Picasso The Minotaur Years, 1933-1943' by John Richardson

I was so surprised to see that these portraits of a woman's head (I forget which one it was, maybe Dora Maar) were both painted in 1939.  Look how different they are!  One is a somewhat realistic depiction of a woman with a cute green hat.  We would know who it is if it were a friend.  The other one however is a strange contortion of a head and body, sort of surrealist, and only the people on the inside know who it is intended to be.

Many times I am chastising myself because I keep changing my 'style', if you can call it that.  I go back and forth from a more realistic depiction of a landscape to a minimalist abstraction with only a few clues as to what it is.  For instance, here is a lake that I painted inn 1999:

Chaperon's Lake, 38x54", 1999.

You can see it is sort of an impressionist lake scene with shrubs and bushes in the foreground, then the water of the lake and the view across it.  However, here is another lake that I painted in 1988:

Lake Shapes, 40x50", 1988.

It is so different. There was time to change because they were painted 10 years apart.  But Chaperon's Lake is more similar to the work I did in the 80's when I was first starting out; and Lake Shapes is hinting at what I went on to paint in the early 2000's.  I guess I sometimes I have to remind myself that I can still do something, to reassure myself that I am still me.  And it is actually really boring if you are just repeating yourself.  When you are in your studio regularly you have lots of ideas and you want to try them all.  Many famous artists do it with no qualms at all.  Look at Gerard Richter - his two different styles are extremely apart from each other, all abstract to photographic reality.  

Voices from the Past

Occasionally I will receive a message from someone who has owned a painting of mine for a very long time and they tell me how much they love it.  Twice in the last month I have had such a pick-me-up.

This is one:

     "Switchback View", 46 x 66 inches, acrylic, 1989.

Here is the other:

     "Winter Pass", 36 x 48 inches, acrylic, 1986.

It is extremely rewarding when that happens.

Solo Exhibition at Nikola Rukaj Gallery in Toronto

Several years ago I met Nikola Rukaj  at the retrospective for William Perehudoff’s paintings in Saskatoon.  Later on when I met him at the Toronto Art Fair, Nikola asked if I would like to show some paintings in his gallery in Toronto.  Miriam Shiell started showing my paintings in Toronto in the 1980's, and Gallery One under Goldie Konopny and Sharon Fischtein carried on with that until 2008.  This seemed like a wonderful opportunity, especially to show with a gallery that appreciated the work of a great artist like William Perehudoff.

Now I am pleased to announce the opening of a solo exhibition of my paintings at the Nikola Rukaj Gallery:

You can see the paintings at this link:  PAT SERVICE ABSTRACT LANDSCAPES

"Less & More", exhibition of new paintings, opening May 21st, 2016

This is one of the paintings in my coming exhibition, 'Less & More", at The Gallery/art placement inc., in Saskatoon.

"Turnaround", 2015, 42 x 42 inches. acrylic on canvas


Levi Nicholat, one of the new owners of the gallery,  has written an essay about the paintings, showing an understanding of where I started from in my painting, how I have progressed over the years, and where I am now.  The whole essay is available on their website, but I quote from it here:

"Interestingly, while Service has spent more than a decade exploring a simplified aesthetic, her very recent paintings demonstrate a swing of the pendulum back towards a more lushly impressionistic approach. Features in the landscape are once again more detailed, space is more complex, and there is generally more going on; however, these elements are now contrasted against areas of flat colour and crisp, graphic lines--the signatures of her reduced works. Rather than a return to a previous style, these paintings are actually a complex synthesis of stylistic idioms in the continuing evolution of Service's artistic practice."

Paintings Hanging at the University of Saskatchewan President's Residence

It was a nice surprise recently to learn that two of my paintings are hanging in the renovated residence for the president on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon.  This is a link to the article in the Star/Phoenix newspaper:

http://thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/local-arts/collecting-saskatchewan-u-of-s-presidents-residence-showcases-best-in-prairie-artwork 

The big landscape "Whereas", 55 x 80", was painted in 1994.  At that time I was starting my canvases in acrylic paint and finishing them with oil paint.  I liked to get a big start with the acrylic, but could achieve more subtlety with the colour by finishing with oil.  (Technically, you cannot start with oil and finish with acrylic because the paint would not hold very well.  But as long as you gesso the canvas first, the reverse is fine.) Here is my photo of it:

When you scroll through the video, you will catch a glimpse of another painting I donated to the university, my "Far Out Chickens".  I don't have a proper photo of it, so here is a photo from the video:

This acrylic is 42 x 56 inches and was painted in 1986.  For a few years I had a lot of fun using animals as subject matter.  

Online Catalogue/Essay About The Retrospective "Painting This Place"

                                           1983         "Nocturne"      30x36"            acrylic



The Evergreen Centre has produced an online catalogue for my recent exhibition, with an essay by Gregory Elgstrand.  It is viewable at this link:  PAINTING THIS PLACE .  Please click on  Exhibition Catalogue.
   

Slide Show of Thirty Years of Painting

When researching a selection of paintings for my retrospective at The Evergreen Centre in Coquitlam (opening March 6, 2014 until April 17, 2014), it was difficult to choose which paintings would represent the course of my work.  We selected 16 large canvases which was about right for the exhibition space.  To provide a wider overview,  I put together a slide show with some insight into the fact that you never escape yourself.  The first slide is from 1977 and the last one is from 2013.  Here is the link:  "Painting This Place"

Retrospective Exhibition at Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam

March 6 is the opening date for an exhibition of my paintings at the Evergreen Centre in Coquitlam, B. C.  The curator and I went through three decades of my work to select the representative canvases, 16 pieces altogether, just barely skimming the surface of the many directions I have pursued.  It has been quite interesting to look back and one of the things I noticed is that I have ended up not far from where I started.  The paintings are on my website (www.patservice.com) and here is the show announcement:

Triangle Workshop 30 Year Anniversary

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Triangle workshop, which first took place in Mashomack in upstate New York.  I attended in 1983 and again in 1993. My studio space was on the cavernous top floor of the big old dairy barn and I have vivid sensual memories of the hot dry space.  Other artists were strewn throughout the barns and outbuildings, while the sculptors worked outside.  For lunch, we sat on the grass under the trees and feasted on the tasty food they trucked over from the club house.  (It was an old dairy farm, but converted to a fishing club.)

As a painter of landscape, I revelled in the surrounding scenery with its gently rolling hills and expansive cornfields.  One of the visiting artists, Graham Nickson,  suggested that I set up outside and go crazy with big cans of oil paint :

It was a challenge, but fun.  However the hardest part was getting the cans of oil paint back to Canada. I couldn't pack them with me because they are considered flammable; and none of the courier companies would accept them for shipment to Canada.  Finally, another artist came to my rescue.  Ron Shuebrook very kindly put the box into his vehicle which he was driving back to Ontario, and then put the paints on a bus to Vancouver.  He was a true friend.