Gibsons artist Nadine Sallinen is devoted to nature-art painstakingly composed in layers of pastels and she has brought many fine examples to her exhibit, Creative Expressions, at Gibsons Public Market.
You’ll see a range of subjects, from elk to fox, and cherry blossoms to zebras, in striking detail, which can take quite a while to accomplish. But for Sallinen, creation is meditation.
“I like spending my time just zoning out and just relaxing, calming down in front of my easel,” she said in an interview. “I do this at least two or three hours a day, every day.”
It can take six weeks or so – more than 100 hours – to complete a 20-by-30-in. original in pastels on sanded paper. “I do a wash of under-layer first of pan-pastel with a sponge applicator,” said Sallinen. She’ll add two or three more layers in different pastel mediums. “And then the final layer for detail is done with [pastel] pencils.”
The outcome can be so finely wrought that in some pieces, it’s almost photographic. That’s not an effect Sallinen is trying to create, it’s just a result of her passion and technique. “I really love detail,” she said.
Sallinen works in other media too and has brought some examples of works in ink and watercolour. The show also features smaller giclée prints and giclée-on-canvas versions of some of the original paintings.
Typical of Gibsons Public Market art exhibits, there are dozens of works on three walls on the atrium level along with several more upstairs in the Coastal Room.
Creative Expressions runs until Dec. 9.
