Pictures from road trip inspired artist’s latest creations
A trip through the Great Plains of the United States had a big influence on Edie Marshall’s latest artworks, which depict snapshots of scenery she took while riding as a passenger.
Her art series Terrain is the result of an image journal log from a month-long road trip in March 2013. Marshall’s trip began in Winnipeg, before heading south to North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and up to Montana.
Randomly shooting images using her iPhone, Marshall took more than 1,500 pictures throughout the pilgrimage. Most of the photos — taken from the passenger seat — depict the passing countryside, although some shots include excursions into towns, cities, historic sites, an aquarium, hiking trails, parks and roadside vistas. Upon returning home, Marshall began translating the digital images into paintings. She eventually created 1,008 lushly rendered oil paintings over a two-year period. Her art series was first featured in Regina in 2015, followed by Regina Beach in 2015, Weyburn this past spring, Moose Jaw until Jan. 5, 2020, and then up to Humboldt. Those paintings are now on display at the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery (MJMAG), which held an art installation opening on Oct. 10. The evening also celebrated the works of artist Russell Mang, whose paintings show the Wakamow Valley from different angles and some prairie shots from around Moose Jaw. Marshall talked about her artwork before the start of the opening ceremony. “Scrolling through all the little thumbnails (on her iPhone), I liked the sequence and the patterns that were happening. And I thought about it, ‘What if I painted this?’ And decided I would do it,” she said. She initially created 1,000 paintings but made eight more so she could form panels 42 inches by 60 inches in size. Those panels were then combined into larger frames 120 inches by 120 inches in size; the larger frames are composed of six smaller panels. “I enjoy the colour, I enjoy just making marks with the brush and I enjoy the texture and the lusciousness of paint,” Marshall laughed.
The process to create the small paintings was interesting, she continued. She made them all quickly, but then faced the challenge of what would happen with the next picture and how she should compose it. “It also took me back to that time to where we were at those moments. I’d say, ‘Oh yeah, I kind of remember the spot,’” Marshall said, “even though the photograph was random … I just enjoyed all the different changes in the landscape as we travelled.”
With a laugh, Marshall admitted that while she didn’t have any particular favourite painting, there were some she enjoyed better than others. She loves the vivid colours of the pictures from Arizona since the water there was a beautiful colour. She also likes the pictures of snow from Montana and Saskatchewan. Marshall added that every picture except one is of something outdoors. The only picture she painted of an interior scene was from her hotel room in Santa Fe, New Mexico.