Aleda O'Connor

"River Bend"
Oil pastel on Board
24" x 48"
Framed
Signed

Artist Bio:

Since moving to Hamilton in May 2012, I have been documenting the city and its inventory of wonderful residential, commercial and industrial locations. But it was not until Barry Coombs began documenting the urban landscape in the city that I fully embraced this project. The idea of a conversation between two artists’ vision of the same subject, sometimes  the very same places, added particular piquance to the idea. After focusing mostly on rural and maritime landscape for more than a decade, the shapes and colours of Hamilton’s cityscape are a change of direction for me.

All of my work in Hamilton is done in Oil Pastel on wood panel. My approach is similar to drawing, using every imaginable mark-making technique, from layering and cross hatching, to blending and scratching with tools, my fingers and paint mediums.

I graduated in Fine Art from the University of Guelph. I have been working with Oil Pastels on  wooden panels since the early 1990s. Though I was introduced to the New York Ash Can school of painters when I was still in art school, and always admired Edward Hopper, I did not  discover the wonderful pastels by Wolf Kahn until I had begun using pastels myself. His landscapes and use of colour made a permanent impression. For many years I have also referenced the compositions, structure and brushwork in Richard Diebenkorn’s  paintings and  Henri Matisse.