Beth Hiscox

The source for my work is the land.  I have found great renewal and solace in the power, strength, and beauty of our prairie landforms.  There is a rhythm to the shapes and colours that echo the rhythm of the  seasons, and of our own lives.  It is the vastness of these primordial lands that enables us to locate ourselves within the context of eternity.  It is this vastness and these rhythms which I attempt to pursue in my work.

I like to work in series, and have recently completed a body of work that was based an area of Manitoba, called the Pembina Hills.  Over the years I have enjoyed exploring the three Prairie Provinces.  I travel with my watercolours and my acrylics, and when I find an area that takes my breath away, I stop.  I take many photographs, paint a quick watercolour, acrylic, do a drawing, often having a  little picnic.  It is a wonderful way to spend a summer.  Back in my studio, I use these materials as a starting point for a larger work.  Many of my larger paintings are not site specific.  I surround myself with dozens of photographs, drawings and paintings.  I often combine elements of several photographs or sketches, and at some point painting takes over - I feel free to take great liberties as I am not aiming for geographical exactitude, but rather for a feeling.  Colour excites me.  I may rely on the actual colours that are present, but use them with more intensity as I wish to convey the vitality and strength of the land, and express my personal response to it.