I first visited the Arctic in 1975 and have returned many times to paint. Three journeys have been by sea, travelling from Greenland across Hudson Strait to the Arctic Archipeligo, visiting many of the places AY Jackson, Lawren Harris and Fred Varley visited on their Arctic journeys.
This panel was painted in the fog on board ship while cruising through the Savage Islands in Hudson Strait. There was no choice but to honour the weather that determines all things.
It is an existential journey into the mind to experience the vast exposed, bare and honest expanses - and delicate nuances - of the Canadian Arctic landscape.
It is a truly inspiring and grounding journey for me too. My Dad introduced me to the Arctic through his paintings when I was a youngster, he took me there as a young woman to share his love of the North, and his (and our family’s) long connection with A.Y. Jackson began in the Arctic when they met there in 1927.