A new artist on the Coast, CJ Woods, is showing her work at WOW Gallery in Sunnycrest Mall, Gibsons, and its sister gallery, One Flower One Leaf (formerly the Landing Gallery), in Gibsons Landing. She began her work in art for a specific reason – to help defeat chronic depression and anxiety. It helped.
Though she previously painted in oils, she moved on to what is termed spray paint art – not graffiti, but paint that swirls together or fades from one colour to the next to give an otherworldly effect. Her abstract work is done using fluid acrylics.
“You can’t be a perfectionist with this style,” she told Coast Reporter. “You can choose the colour palette and work in a certain way, but you don’t have control.” You never know how the painting will turn out, which is an exercise in letting go for a perfectionist.
Dutch artist Annemarie Ridderhof gives lessons via You Tube demonstrating various techniques. Woods has learned from these and experimented with her suggested additives, such as hair oil or silicone, to create different effects.
She signs her work on the back to give the viewer the opportunity to hang it as they see fit – it may be upside down by some opinions, but that doesn’t bother her. As she stares at a painting called Nighttime Shoreline, she notes that what she sees in the image might not be what a viewer will see in it.
Woods moved to West Sechelt from Ontario two years ago and has come to know the arts community through her participation in Coastal Art at Trail Bay Mall in Sechelt. This gallery of local art is run by the artists and members take shifts to talk to the public and sell their work.
