Mary Derrick
Available for Sale
Mary Derrick Biography
I am a self-taught intuitive artist whose alla prima work celebrates skies and great big open spaces.
I paint using oils as I love their flexibility and the depth that I can achieve using them, and yet still paint starkly in order to clearly impress the emotions of the piece through the use of colour, texture, composition, atmosphere and movement. While my paintings use representations of nature, they are of no specific place, but are instead recollections of places and the emotions they inspired. My work has to do with emotions, with the finding of that haven where one can find the solitude, that inner place where one can just ‘be’ . To feel free to express the myriad of feelings and to let them take shape, sometimes calm, and peaceful and even serene, sometimes filled with awe, joy and reverence, and then other times with confusion, angst or rage. We are all human, we feel the full gamut, and in being drawn to a painting can revel in these emotions in our own private solitude, and travel our own private journey.
When I start a painting I have no preconceived idea of what it will be, I let the emotions running through me evolve onto the canvas….My skies are painted using my fingertips, with the rest being painted using various tools such as brushes, palette knives, and spatulas among others.
Each piece becomes its own journey of discovery for me, and I hope for you the viewer.
My work can be found in private homes throughout Canada, and Florida, and in the corporate offices of the Canadian Bankers Association, and at Peterborough Regional Health Center.