Painting
I paint what is around me – downtown Hamilton, nearby landscapes, and the people close to me. For rural paintings, I often work on location, while urban paintings and portraits generally develop in the studio from photographs or video stills.
My impetus to make a painting comes from the everyday physical world - I see something that captures my attention, often mundane but surprising in its beauty. However, once I commit to a painting, it’s the paint itself that engages me. What I paint - the subject - is meaningful, but as the painting develops, the subject becomes less important, and the paint itself and the marks I’m making on the surface of the board, become more significant.
My goal is to paint what I see, but not copy what I see. I am interested in creating a work that is realistic and recognizable, but I am not aiming for "high realism". I try to get at the truth of something, while letting the paint itself be the protagonist in the story. That may be through impasto, visible brush strokes, drips, scumbled layers of broken colour and abstract passages.
Water and reflections are a source of delight and fascination. That might be a swamp, a rainy road, a swimmer, even water in a glass -- any of these are fair game for a painting. While the subjects may seem quite different, for me they are strongly tied together through the paint handling, as the paint itself almost becomes the subject.
Pinhole Photography
About 15 years ago I starting exploring pinhole photography, a medium that suits my crafty and curious nature. The pinhole photography process allows me to make my own cameras, take photos, develop the negatives in a darkroom, and finally make contact or digital prints. Even though the process is low-tech, it’s a challenging art form that continues to engage and delight me.
Frances Cockburn lives in Hamilton, Ontario.