It isn’t the grand, sweeping vistas that appeal to Red Deer landscape painter Susan Woolgar.
“It’s the small working parts of nature: The tangle of grasses, the way water is flowing around a little creek bend,” she explained.
“I am not interested in these perfect, distant landscapes” of majestic mountains or sunsets over the ocean, said Woolgar. “I’m interested in the messiness… Nature has so much to offer in its little parts, its small workings, and that is what I like to paint, at that level.”
Woolgar’s up-close observations of nature can be seen in a new series of paintings that will be exhibited starting on Dec. 8 at the re-launched White Gallery, downstairs at Sunworks.
Many of these 25-30 pieces were completed while Woolgar was doing a residency earlier this month in Blairmore at the Gushul Studio, operated by the University of Lethbridge.
Her latest new nature paintings and mixed-media works edge towards abstraction. Although Woolgar started as a more realist artist, she explained she no longer wants to focus on “superfluous details, but on the essence of a landscape.”
For instance, she explored in deep blues the recessed shadows of Miner’s Creek in Blairmore, and applied a sweep of yellow ochre to depict the way sunlight illuminated wild grasses on the higher bank.
Although her colour schemes remain more muted than that of many colourists, she believes a more expressionist style allows her to interpret colour more personally. However, she doesn’t see herself ever becoming a non-representational painter.
“How I interpret nature now is new, but I am still a landscape painter,” said Woolgar. She added that contemplating the outdoors is very meditative for her,” like a church. It’s where I feel the most connected to the Earth and to my life.”
Central Alberta, where Woolgar has resided for the past 25 years, is still her favourite place to paint, especially around Waskasoo Creek and Dry Island Buffalo Jump.
This show at the White Gallery is Woolgar’s first solo exhibit since before the pandemic changed her approach to her art career. Whereas the Alberta College of Art graduate once taught in-person painting classes for the City of Red Deer community programs and at the summer Series at Red Deer Polytechnic, Woolgar now teaches art almost exclusively online to students around the world.
She also sells most of her art from her Instagram page to clients in Canada and the U.S.
Although the Saskatoon native continues to take a cautious approach to social media, she now has 11,700 Instagram followers.
While the virtual realm has its pitfalls, “It can open up the world if used properly,” she said, helping forge new friendships with other artists from across the globe.
The White Gallery exhibit’s opening reception will be Friday, Dec. 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 4913-50th Ave.