SONJA MORTIMER OCA, CFS

"The semi abstracted landscape paintings are inspired by the infinite variety and combinations of twigs, bull-rushes, wild flowers and flowing grasses observed along rural side roads and park walks.

No version of feral ‘gardens’ fail to interest me. The inner dialogue while painting is trying to reconcile both encroaching development and the vastness of agricultural lands. The natural surroundings we come across daily have a voice that speaks volumes about its persistence and resilience.

I have adopted the iPad as my sketchbook and use the camera and assorted applications along with traditional materials to flesh out my compositions. I translate the digital image onto paper then canvas, taking into account the unique properties and challenges of converting light, colour and texture, from a digital format to canvas and acrylic paint.

Ultimately it is intuition and mood that guides my creative process. A painting is complete when it expresses my initial response and the emotional connections I have made to my surroundings".
 
Sonja Mortimer is an Ontario painter, collage and mixed media artist. Mortimer is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, York University's Fine Arts program and a former Visual Arts Specialist/teacher for the Peel District Board of Education. She is also a member of the Colour and Form Society. 
Mortimer began working with watercolour, then progressed to ceramic relief sculptures, porcelain masks and jewelry. Her clay pieces were featured and marketed in galleries and shops throughout Canada.

Mortimer returned to painting and focused on her rural surroundings. Her landscape themed paintings have grown increasingly layered in materials and meaning. That meaning is grounded in a fascination with structure and space, whether natural or man made. “The subject matter of my art is essentially landscape reinterpreted, altered or transformed. It continues to evolve in medium and style”, says Mortimer.
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Her paintings often reflect an inner dialogue trying to reconcile both encroaching urban sprawl and the vastness of agricultural lands. Mortimer reminds us that the natural surroundings we come across daily have a voice that speaks volumes about nature’s persistence and resilience. It is that push-pull that infuses Mortimer’s work.


Artist Website – www.sonjamortimer.com
Instagram – @sonjamortimer.art

WINTER RED – Acrylic