A colourful remedy for the COVID blues
“Most of my paintings are inspired, on some level, by family, friends, experiences,” says Sandee Ewasiuk.
Her latest paintings offer a joyful remedy for the COVID blues.
The well established Hamilton artist and art teacher has been exhibiting for more than 25 years. A prolific painter whose imagination never seems to flag, she excels at humans, birds and animals captured in succinct colour-filled moments and narratives.
Some of her paintings have been sparked by her travels, others by various causes she has embraced. Last year, for instance, she created a series of paintings of marsupials and raised about $10,000 for Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organization. And now she’s working on All Things Magical.
“I wanted to paint a series and I was having a bit of a block,” she says. “I talked to my son about it and he advised me to think of something that I would really be passionate about painting, but to keep it wide open. So I came up with All Things Magical, because I felt that then, I could paint almost anything.
“And I needed the images to be uplifting, as I would be sharing them and I hoped it would be my small contribution to lift a spirit or two during these difficult times.”
“Road Trip” is one the paintings in the series. The female protagonist was one of Ewasiuk’s daughters who had recently got her motorcycle licence, “much to her mother’s chaspread grin,” she says.
The daughter was planning a road trip to Newfoundland. Ewasiuk has painted her sitting on a motorcycle, sporting kneehigh boots, gloves, helmet, goggles — and fishnet stockings. She has one hand on the throttle, ready to rev up. Her braids fly out, hinting at movement.
Three Canada geese sit in the red sidecar along with some flowers. They seem quite happy to ride, rather than fly.
“I’ve always been fascinated by motorcycles with sidecars. They’re like a piece of art in themselves,” she says.
“Our three children are out across Canada. In the past year and a half we’ve taken road trips to all of their places, helping them to move or for other reasons. Hence the Canada geese.”
Some of Ewasiuk’s paintings begin as sketches.
“There are times when I have an idea and need to work it out on paper first, like ‘Road Trip,’ but other times I start with a painted background and see where that takes me.”
“Up the Creek without a Paddle,” Ewasiuk says, began as a painting of wildflowers that she planned to hang outside her house to brighten up the street. The wildflowers evolved into a whimsical scene of one woman, a raccoon perched on her head, an owl, a fox, a hare and a bear, all crowded into a canoe. Fish jump around the canoe.
“The painting started to guide me. I’ve have been canoeing and kayaking for about 30 years, so I know how amazing it feels to be sitting in a canoe in the wilderness. I have a real love and respect for the human-wildlife connection, which I’m sure comes from my dad.
“I knew there had to be a bear, as that had been on the back of my mind since my daughter in B.C. had shared information about the Spirit Bear. The rest fell into place, bit by bit.”
Animals without humans take centre stage in “Foxes by Moonlight.” A mother and three kits, all with serious faces, look out at us. Their tails are linked in the foreground and provide a kind of protective barrier between us and them.
“I love painting and paint most days,” Ewasiuk says. “Do I tear my hair out over a painting? Absolutely. That never changes. I guess that’s part of the challenge. That’s what I tell my students, anyway.”
Regina Haggo, art historian, public speaker, curator, YouTube video maker and former professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art.