PORTAPIQUE, N.S.
Joy Laking is ready to share artwork inspired by a visit to Portugal, as well as by sights nearer to home, with the public.
Her newest work will be on display during her annual autumn open house.
“I was in Portugal for two months, in the spring, and I had a great time there,” said Laking. “I painted every day.
“The main reason to paint in an unfamiliar place is to come back with fresh eyes. I had never been to Portugal before, and when I came home again everything was kind of fresh.”
She captured images from Portugal in 20 watercolour paintings.
“I loved the combination of higgledy-piggledy houses and the water,” she said. One of my favourites is the man mending nets and his dog sleeping beside him.”
Her work was included in three exhibits while she was in Portugal.
One painting done in Nova Scotia, ‘Evening in Prospect,’ captures a village at nighttime, in the spirit of Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’
Laking recently completed a two-foot by four-foot acrylic painting of Parrsboro for the ’10 Days in October’ celebration. It will be in her studio for the open house.
To create the painting, she worked outside, in the cold, for four days, followed by three days in the studio. The painting depicts the salt marsh, with autumn colours developing, along with old village houses and geese overhead.
Laking also spent time during the summer working on a long-term project, a book that will show Nova Scotia through an artist’s eyes. This year she painted in an area north of the Cape Breton Highlands, Annapolis Royal, Sherbrooke and Canso. The book will include both images and writing, and she expects it to be completed next year.
The open house, at the Joy Laking Gallery, 6730 Hwy 2, Portapique, takes place Oct. 13, 14, 20 and 21, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
More information can be found online at http://www.joylakinggallery.com/
