MARILYN STRONGITHARM
Do people who have an artistic bent see the world a little different? I think so. Details and Colours.
As a young woman in Toronto, and again when I moved to Vancouver Island in 1973, I decided fabric would be my medium of choice. I had my own store in Yorkville (Toronto) in the early ’70’s, and another when I moved west to Gaston in the late ’70’s I sold my work and many other artists'work. I made a living at this, but sometimes lost my “Art”.
I worked with Circle Craft Co Op from 1973 for many years, on the Board and as a co-ordinator for many of our shows. After 30 years of fun, exhilarating and tiring production, producing wonderful pieces, and selling them around the world, I knew I needed a change.
I am now mainly painting in acrylics, and still Detail, Colour and Pattern are what drives me. I am retired and having fun, and production is no longer an issue. Experimentation, creating, and sometimes destroying are all part of the process.
I have taken some fabulous workshops and been inspired. But I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up!!!!
A personal style?? I don’t think I have one. I am still having fun. I know I’m not a landscape artist (can’t do trees), I love painting old cars and buildings sometimes very detailed and sometimes very vague. Seeing a picture in a small detail, or seeing a pattern in a larger vision, I try to convey how I see my world.
What is my greatest extravagance? Don’t think I have one…but maybe wine or my garden…or wine. I don’t think buying canvas and paints an extravagance, but then,
neither is wine, so……
If I could live anywhere on earth, where would it be?? In Canada, and specifically Vancouver Island - in other words right where I am!
What is my Idea of happiness? What makes me happy is people and my relationships with them. I am a very people person, but I also love to lock myself in my studio alone and sometimes create and sometimes destroy, but always enjoy!
What is the quality you most admire in a friend? I think it would be honesty, but also a good sense of fun.
