Marijean Harris

At university, I specialized in Visual Arts and Art History, graduating with a bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. After my degree, I studied Graphic Design and worked as a graphic designer for many years, painting when I could. Lately, I have been able to concentrate on painting full-time.
Growing up and living in rural Ontario, Canada, I am inspired by my surrounding landscape. The abstraction of landscape interests me, and I love to express the feeling of the natural world, the sense of freedom of wild open spaces, and the drama of big skies, mountains, cliffs, forests, and water, all recreated on canvas. I seek a balanced composition with thought given to color, line, tone, texture, and shape. I build up the canvas surface with mixed media textures made of scratches, impasto, paint removed, added, and or scraped, accentuated with lines, marks, gestures, and collage.
I want my paintings to reflect an emotional response to the natural environment and my sensory experiences. My paintings share the rhythm and force that I feel and see in the landscape, as a type of visual poetry that engages the viewers' imagination.