Michelle J. LeBlanc 

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

In the tradition of many Canadian artists I often use landscapes as my subject. I deconstruct these, applying the subjective aspects of drawing and painting, bringing the balance of colour, tone, scale, line and movement to the process. I work on canvas, watercolour paper and board using acrylic, charcoal and graphite.
The works are created through a process of layering fields of colour that are then scraped using a “pentimento” technique to reveal the layer(s) beneath. Charcoal lines and more paint are added using a variety of tools once the layering and scraping are complete. The pieces, a mix of fields of colour paired with loose details and precise lines are highly textural and have substance, movement and energy.  While highly personal in some ways the works are also “universal”. The specifics of the works are incidental; it’s the sense of a place or object that is visually rendered and the works become imbued with meaning and reference that allow the viewer to define the pieces based on his or her own experience of landscape, still life and interior space, allows for interpretation, and forces a personal narrative on the viewer.