Harry Stooshinoff

Intimate scale

Mypieces are small because an intimate scale encourages maximum intuition, freedom and experimentation. Each piece is completed in one sitting lasting no more than two to three hours. The work is both abstract and figurative, with no inherent contradiction between these sensibilities; one inclination supports the other. I live in the rolling countryside of the Oak Ridges Moraine, an ancient landform located just north of Lake Ontario. The paintings are made on a daily basis and are emotive impressions of my wanderings around home base, a range of about 50 miles in any direction.

I work primarily in acrylics in a quick authoritative manner, always trying to keep the process fluid and the touch lively. Suggestion is valued more than elaborate description. My aim is to keep the process as alive and self-sustaining as possible; this means that surprise in method and effect is actively sought at every opportunity. Predictability leads to boredom, resulting in decreasing energy for the task, which must be avoided at all costs. I alternate between various methods. I’ll often paint on location on small panels from the front seat of my car. I also take long walks and drives daily and make tiny very quick sketches from which to work later in the studio. Collage is often employed in early stages to create bold composition and surprising colour effects. While most of the pieces are based on observation of the landscape, a portion of my output is more abstract and based not on what the eye sees, but on internal workings of mind, memory and emotion.

North Sky, acrylic on watercolour paper, 23 x 30½ cm (9 x 12") I walk during summer evenings when the air is still and the light is often surprising and transitory. It is a shock to know that each passing visual moment is distinct and not repeatable. This leads to a constant desire to observe the landscape closely each day. On this evening I emerged from a canopied side road to witness a brilliant, active sky. One challenge was to prevent the extreme darks in the middle ground from deadening the space. There are a few colour transitions, only one value step lighter, in the very dark areas to remedy this.

Lake Ontario, West Beach, acrylic and collage on paper, 28 x 38 cm (11 x 15") I spent a cold, blustery winter afternoon walking a Lake Ontario beach. However, this collage came afterward using no actual visual reference. An artist is much more than an eye— emotions, thoughts, memories, associations, all form a complete internal experience that can be addressed to create a work. Coloured sheets made from leftover paints from previous work sessions are cut and glued. Shape arrangement and the emotive aspect of colour carry the work. Acrylic paint is applied sparingly over the collage in the final stages. Elements of abstraction play an important role in all my paintings.