The meditative and moody ocean is a subject of mystery and wonder—a vast expanse of seemingly endless and infinitely captivating movement, made up of the main ingredient of life. Local artist Judy McLaren is deeply interested in the ocean and its natural features, and the reflective qualities of these bodies of water, and it’s all on display at her new exhibit, Reflections.
“I called it Reflections because I thought every painting has a reflection element in it,” she says, “and it has a double meaning—it’s a time for me to reflect on my life and on life in general.”
McLaren’s latest collection of seascape paintings have been a work in progress since February. After being contacted by Fortune Gallery owner Alison Trembath regarding some smaller acrylic seascapes she had been working on, McLaren decided to continue this theme—but bigger. For the work in this exhibit, McLaren started from a photograph of ocean scenes from Vancouver Island, but the final product is completely different, as she quickly departed from literal representation and dove into her own expression.
“The structure is there, but it’s all subservient to my interpretation and my feeling,” she says.
McLaren has been painting since she was young, when her parents gave her a set of oil paints; her paintings are a testament to her commitment in creating and expressing the beauty of nature.
“I just have to be disciplined about it. I have always been someone who wants to produce something creative every day, and that’s as long as I can remember,” she says. “We’re put on the planet to make the world a little bit more beautiful, and we have to work at it.”
McLaren has always had a deep relationship with the ocean and natural environments (“It’s one of those things that you can look at forever and never quite understand,” she says). She spends a great deal of her time studying the sea and its subtle yet tangible relationships. Through painting ocean scenes, she expresses the eternal yet mutable way of nature.
“It’s ever-changing, and always the same,” she says. “You know what to expect, but you’re always surprised. The light is always a little bit different, the sky’s always different, and that I just find absolutely wonderful. It’s a miracle.”
Through her work, McLaren also expresses the interconnectedness of nature, as well as its boundlessness.
“I think more recently my work has developed into something that kind of wants to unify things,” she says. “It sometimes does away with edges and boundaries, and sees the world in terms of attachment. Sea and sky are one and the same.”
Her meditative moments by the oceanside are an internal journey as well as external—for McLaren, the ocean is her refuge and comfort, as she’s forged a close and strong connection with the features of the Pacific Northwest.
“I am very, very attached to this part of the world,” she says. “I absolutely love the shore. That’s where I go when I need to contemplate things and absorb the joy of life.”
After her diagnosis of stage four breast cancer, McLaren has gained a deeper appreciation of life, seeing each day as a gift and an opportunity to be more free. Her artwork has been affected by this paradigm shift as well, especially in the way she approaches her brushwork.
“I’m really happy with the most recent work I’ve done. It’s more me than anything I’ve done before, because I just don’t give a damn,” she says. “I’ve got a limited time left here on the planet, so I’m just going to paint the way I feel.”
Reflections
Until Sunday, August 18
Fortune Gallery
fortunegallery.ca