In My Past Life

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My fascination with the human form didn't begin while studying massage therapy. It was Renaissance painters such as Leonardo DaVinci who first inspired pre-school aged me back when I thumbed through the pages of our Encyclopedia Britannica in the loft library of our big old farm house. It was these masters who first showed me the beauty of the human form in a way that even this five year old could plainly see. And then there were the pages of impressionists and abstract artists who took all that came before them and pushed the traditional artistic boundaries. It was all so exciting! I wanted so badly to do what they did.

It was a couple decades, a child, some ducks, a few gardens, a small business, many painted canvasses, and a tiny artisan built caravan in the woods before I paired my fascination and skills in 2008 to paint the series of images that became Immediate Landscapes. These oil paintings explore the human body as land forms from the perspective of the model in a modernist, figurative painter sort of way.

Attending a cadaver lab as part of my anatomy training allowed me to join the worlds of anatomist and artist. While in the lab I couldn't help but imagine what conditions the early doctors and anatomists conducted cadaver dissections in. Although very permeating, I was grateful for the modern day use of fomaldehyde on these lab coat and latex glove days in the lab.

Now looking at the work of DaVinci, I see not only the delicacy of his artistic hand, but also the accuracy of an anatomist. Certainly the in-depth attention to anatomy and physiology required for my training has deepened my interest in the human form, but my paintbrush currently lies idle.

Completing this series was made possible thanks to the photographic talents of Jennifer Armstrong, who captured the perspectives of the body for me to paint from. Please take the time to visit her website gallery of incredible moments that she has captured on film.

If you are interested, a printed copy of the Immediate Landscapes series is available for viewing in the Oceanside Wellness Centre waiting room.

See you in the clinic.
Dana

Immediate Landscapes

Convergence
Oil on canvas 20"x20"

Study for Surface
Oil on canvas 16"x16"

Study for Erosion
Oil on canvas 16"x16" 

Study for Shift
Oil on canvas 16"x16"

Study for Fracture
Oil on canvas 16"x16"

Study for Fold
Oil on canvas 16"x16"

Shift
Oil on canvas 20"x20"