COLOUR MY WORLD WITH HOPES

Artist: Laura Culic

Medium: Oil & cold wax on wood panel

48" x 42"

Award winning artist, Laura Culic paints daily in her Toronto studio. She studied fine art and illustration at the Ontario College of Art, completing her studies in 1985. Laura has worked professionally as an artist for over 30 years; as an illustrator, a mural painter and a fine artist. Laura is represented by several fine galleries throughout Ontario, and also sells her work directly from her studio.

Laura’s paintings reside internationally in many corporate, private and government collections including the Art Collection of the Government of Ontario; she is an elected member of the Ontario Society of Artists, and is a recipient of an Ontario Arts Council grant.

Awards include Best in Show at the Ontario Society of Artists 139th Open Juried Exhibition, Best in Painting at the 51st Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and the David B Milne Award of Best in Show at the Art Gallery of Bancroft’s Annual Juried Show.

ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings are my response to my deep affinity for the land. My work reflects my profound sense of emotional connection to the mystery and power of the rocky, wild landscape of the Canadian Shield. 

My work is process driven, and whether abstract or representational, images are derived from the experience of many meditative hours spent in this harshly beautiful environment; hiking, swimming, paddling, observing and absorbing. My process itself is an exploration in which each step and each decision is dictated only by the one that precedes it. The course of the painting involves building up multiple layers of wax and pigment using a range of tools and media and mark making techniques, combined and alternating with scraping back to underlying layers. By repeatedly adding and subtracting; concealing and revealing, an environment rich in atmosphere, colour and natural textures gradually evolves, possessing a sense of history and place. This process, I feel, is akin to nature’s cycles of erosion and decay; growth and renewal.