Sheila Kernan - [a little bit of] THIS and [a little bit of] THAT

April 16th – May 7th | Winnipeg, Tuxedo

The title of this show is a true reflection of the inspiration for it.

It is a collection of reimagined memories, experiences both past and present, research and future wishes colliding together. In a unique collection where there is a delightful mix of ‘a little bit of this and a little bit of that.’

Like all of us, I experienced a little bit of wanderlust and a desire to explore over this past year. Typically, when I feel this way, I grab my camera and head to the airport for a new adventure. However, I was challenged to create in an unconventional manner and I looked at it as an opportunity to exercise my artistic muscles and grow. For this show, I explored in a wonderfully fresh and unique way by creating imagined experiences from memories. I also found unexpected inspiration from beautiful bouquets of flowers.

Not a single composition from this show exists in the real world. Rather, they were meticulously crafted, cultivated through my use of referential collages made from multiple photographs and sketches.

I hope you wander into the fantasy worlds created through these paintings in the urban scenes, forest waterfall, treescapes, and the energetic crashing waves. Or, enjoy the simplicity and beauty of the colours and patterns in my first-ever floral-inspired paintings.

The diversity in the subjects were both planed and happenstance. A reflection of how I paint. I meticulously plan out compositions. I do colour studies, sketches and renderings. I carefully airbrush, create hand cut stencils and then towards the end I let intuition take over with the addition of textured brushwork emphasizing planned
and unplanned moments. Please pay attention to the physicality of my brushstrokes ethereal softness, hardedges and thick painterly strokes colliding together in multiple layers, alluding to a feeling rather than a specific location. I am trying to capture a true sense of emotion, hinting at memories and creating something both real and imagined making is definitively physical.

Curiosity is my nature and so is the desire to explore. This time my explorations came to me rather than me travelling to them. I hope you enjoy this carefully executed collection.