The colors and shapes and joy of nature and the outdoors bring me joy and peace. In this world where the news fills our views with so much pain and discord I feel fortunate to live in Canada and enjoy a good life. I want my artwork to provide a place of respite and pleasure in the shapes and colors and images I express in a variety of mediums. My latest adventure has been into alcohol ink exploration. I was attracted by the vibrant colors, the fluidity and unpredictability of the medium as well as learning how to control it to create abstract as well as realistic expressionist work.
About Francis Friesen ▽
Creativity of all sorts and love of nature have permeated my life since I was a child.
Creativity has been an integral part of my life from early on spanning a broad range of mediums and expressions. However, it was not until mid-life that I decided to go back to school to get a formal art education with a quest to broaden my ability to express my experiences in a more meaningful way. Every season of life with its joys and its struggles are all part of the journey that gives life meaning and purpose. I find that as I enter the senior years of my life that I am more aware of the complex matrix and the perpetuity of life. In my art I endeavor to express the influences in my life of what I observe, what it has been, what it has become and what I hope it will be.
Over the years I have worked in oils, watercolor, and clay, mixed media, Acrylic Gouache and most recently Alcohol Inks.
Some of theThemes in my work have been in nature, florals, fertility, and life-roles.
In 1995 I graduated from Art College, became a grandmother, learned the computer, turned 50 and acquired a passion for fly fishing and fly tying.
Over the next 20 years the sport of fly fishing influenced my art in all it’s various aspects ~ entomology, fish, flytying and nature that accompany this field. After working on a painted commission of 50 intricately detailed fishing flies I went looking for a new adventure in my art. Abstraction was not something I had really explored for myself. So I went researching. I came across some work in a new to me medium – Alcohol Inks. I was fascinated by the vibrant colors and the fluidity of the inks and since then I am thoroughly enjoying the exploration.
In my 50’s I developed a passion for fly fishing and fly tying . It awakened my love of nature , introduced me to fish and entomology related to fishing. This fascination found it’s way into my art work in the way of mixed media, using paint, crayons, image transfers and textured mediums to express the world that I loved.
Most of my painting life I have used Acrylic Gouache. I like the smooth texture of the paint and I find it is conducive to creating thin layered washes to change the hues much like watercolor except the washes are permanent. I can add texture with modeling paste of other mediums for variations.
At one point in my art life I did a lot of large watercolor floral paintings. I have loved flowers and gardening so it all fit togther well. As I got into fish art I found the fluidity of the paint lent itself well to painting fish in their watery surroundings.
