Bobbie Crane always has at least four paintings on the go at once.
This allows the self-taught Lac La Hache artist to keep her work fresh and productive, she said. If she runs into a roadblock with one she can switch to a different subject. The variety of her art is represented in her new show at the Showcase Gallery An Artist’s Muse.
“It’s an eclectic showcasing of the art that I do. There’s going to be florals, wildlife, landscapes and a few other paintings that no one has seen,” Crane said. “I want to show how diverse I am in regards to the different genres I practice in.”
Crane said this year she has chosen to start organizing her work into a different series of different paintings.
Three of these series are displayed in her new exhibit: Wild Birds, In the Midnight Skies and her latest, Inhale Exhale.
Wild Birds is classic Crane, featuring life-like paintings of local birds she’s photographed. She said animals have always held a special place in her heart and are the focus of most of her art.
“My art career has basically focused on trying to capture the essence of wildlife and their habitat,” Crane said.
In the Midnight Skies was inspired by Crane’s painting Starry Nights, which she donated to the South Cariboo Health Foundation last December. It depicts the foundation’s Starry Nights fundraiser below a beautiful painting of the night sky. The stars she painted in that piece inspired her to do more nighttime paintings, one of which is featured in An Artist’s Muse.
Meanwhile, Inhale Exhale is a series of landscape paintings Crane just began this year. She was inspired to step out of her comfort zone after taking a landscape painting workshop run by the Canadian Federation of Artists. The series’ first painting, also named Inhale Exhale, is on display now in the gallery.
“It focuses on scenery in the Cariboo-Chilcotin and all the reference photos for that were taken while I’ve been kayaking on B.C. lakes over the spring and summer,” Crane said.
Crane’s show is on display now until March 7 at the South Cariboo Business Centre. She said the month of February is the perfect time to show off her art before she gets into running painting classes throughout the spring and summer.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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