Artistic Bonds
A mother and son show their joyful paintings together
“I think art should be something that people can smile and laugh at,” Gord Bond says. “Something to make people happy.”
A drummer as well as a visual artist, Gord eventually chose to fully embrace painting.
“My mother is a painter and we’d spend a lot of our free time while growing up drawing characters and scenes at our cottage on Georgian Bay.”
Gord and his mother, Kathy, are exhibiting together in Entwined Inspirations, an exhibition of joyful paintings at the Carnegie Gallery. Gord offers flower paintings, Kathy mostly landscapes. Both artists have tackled other subjects. And both admire what the other is doing.
“Gord has inspired me so much with his unique views on painting. He comes at it with a different mindset and is so fearless in his approach,” Kathy tells me. “I’d have to say he also inspires me in life with his strength and bravery.”
Gord’s style is big and bold, his titles offbeat. In a big oil like “The card reads: Sorry I goofed up,” Gord places flowers in a pink vase on a blue table. He leaves the background dark, focusing all attention on the blooms in the foreground.
Barely controlled energy reigns. Some flowers droop and point downward. Others move upward, both vertically and diagonally. And Gord’s vibrant brush strokes enclose some shapes and break up others. The occasional drips of paint remind us we are looking at a painting, not a mimetic image.
“These paintings are painted completely from imagination,” he says. “To me the flowers are less about flowers and more about piecing together interesting forms and colours.
“I tend to approach my paintings from the perspective of an abstract painter where my greatest interest is in the paint itself. I like moving around paint and creating interesting compositions.”
Another bouquet of varied flowers takes centre stage in “My son picked these flowers from my neighbour.” Colourful shapes painted in gestural strokes surround the blooms.
“During the winter I always feel a pull toward painting flowers because they brighten up the studio and remind me spring is around the corner,” Gord explains. “I usually paint large faces and every once in a while I need to switch things up.”
In a smaller piece like “Is this a weed or a flower?” Gord lets one bloom dominate. He builds up his
paint in heavily textured strokes that move to and from a rich red centre.
Gord says his mother has been a huge influence.
“If she needed to make a card for a birthday, it was an elaborate beautiful drawing, or if she needed to write down directions somewhere, there was always a detailed drawing included.
“When my brother and I were younger, she painted our bedroom. It ended up being this completely over-the-top mural of a castle where each level of our bunk bed had a window out of the castle.”
Kathy, like her son, has been making art forever, having worked as a graphic artist, a muralist and a landscape painter. Her newest landscapes are sunny and serene.
Trees flank a narrow road leading to a blue strip of lake in “The Road to Killbear.”
The sky is big, painted in four levels in different colours. Bits of orange sprinkled about are an inspired touch. While Gord opts for dynamic lines and obvious brush strokes, Kathy builds up her landscapes with soft-edged shapes that verge on the geometric.
In “The Gardener’s House,” she paints the grass and evergreens as a collection of patches that complement the shape of the house.
“My interest in painting landscapes has shifted over the past few years. Currently I’m searching for something that will give me compelling compositions, interesting shape relationships, and strong lights and darks,” Kathy says.
“In the past I had a more romantic approach to painting the landscape. Details and a representative interpretation have now given way to more abstraction.”
Both mother and son would like to paint together more often.
“We have just finished a new studio at the cottage, so hopefully that will initiate some fun collaborations and painting time together,” Kathy says.