6 minute read
Décor: Beach beauties
Bathing beauties and strong women
Friends and family inspire two East Coast artists
BY SHANNON WEBB-CAMPBELL PHOTOS BY STEPHEN HARRIS
Painter Brenda Palmer, born and raised in Moncton, divides her time between Fort Myers, Fla., and Shediac, N.B. She comes home every summer for six months to reunite with friends and family, and spend time in her studio.
“I love the wonderful artists and art in this area,” she says. “We all seem to draw on the local scenery, culture, joie de vivre, and beach ambience for inspiration for our work. My husband and I had our high-school graduation dinner at the old Shediac Hotel. This is truly home; we have a long history here.”
As a summer resident of Shediac (AKA “the lobster capital of the world”) since 1995, Palmer feels at home on the Northumberland Strait, where warm waters meet sandy coastline. The culture is a complex mixture of English and French — language and culture intermingling amongst the fresh salt air and seafood.
Her cottage was originally built in 1937. Palmer and her husband bought it in 1995, and had their work cut out for them. These days it’s a far cry from an old house filled with bats and squirrels. They added a studio addition, with a view of the water, clotheslines, apple trees, and big dreamy skies. It’s the perfect setting for her to paint her cast of vivacious and fabulous femmes.
“I give my portraits personalities and names in my mind as I am painting,” she says. “It helps me to make artistic choices along the way.”
Most of Palmer’s subjects are whimsical women in colourful settings — bathing beauties, French girls all gussied up, ladies with their dogs or cats, and sometimes even birds.
“I am fascinated by the French style,” she explains. “I am a subscriber to Vogue, I love fashion magazines. I love dressing the women I paint. ... I have been following the creative editor of Vogue for years. Grace Coddington is no longer there, but her style is just phenomenal. She put Vogue magazine on the map. I observe the stances and dress of her models and run with ideas from there.”
At 74 years old, Palmer’s work echoes her love of all things feminine. Whether it’s a portrait of a redhead wearing a beret, or a lady in a print dress in a funky chair with full makeup and red lips, Palmer often places a bird on her subject’s head to add a little more charm.
“I love the girlish things in life,” she says. “I am an old girl now, but I still like the shoes, the hats, the purses and the hair. I can work a whole painting around a pair of shoes.”
— Brenda Palmer
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Artist Emily Carlaw, owner of Freckles & Porcelain in St. Peter’s, P.E.I., also adores all things girlish.
Her unique handmade general store is filled with preserves, knitwear, long ivory night gowns, flowing dresses, vintage swimsuits, hand-drawn flower gift cards, rustic charms, pottery, vintage flairs, wooden cutting boards and pegs (that her father made), and rug-hooked pillows by her mother (hooked by Sea Rug Hooking).
“I want to give the essence of Anne. I don’t want to have anything feel touristy. I want you to feel that Anne of Green Gables feel,” says Carlaw. “When I am buying things or bringing them into the store, I think: If Anne were alive, if she was a real person, and she was here today, would she put this in her home?”
The shop tells a visual story the same way Carlaw’s artwork does.
Her penchant for yesteryear comes out in her copper plate hand-tinted watercolour images of vintage dames, romantic botanicals and even “Anne’s Garments.” Illustrations like “Bathing Beauty,” evokes a woman in sunglasses, red lipstick and a vintage swimsuit, or “Bending Over Backwards,” where a slew of dazzling trapeze artists dangle from ropes, or a trio of beauties sip “Elderflower Cordial” at the bar.
“I draw the women I want to be ... Representations of my grandmother, my mother, literary characters like Emily of New Moon, and Anne. Strong female authors or creatives,” says Carlaw. “I love old photographs, books and vintage magazines. The photos are so candid. Not airbrushed. There are women of different shapes and sizes. They look so healthy and happy.”
Ever since she was young, Carlaw wanted to live on Prince Edward Island just like the protagonists in L.M. Montgomery’s novels. At 31 years old, she still feels a kinship to Anne Shirley, a freckle-faced girl who craves adventure, magic, and doesn't quite fit modern society. Despite growing up in small-town southwestern Ontario, Carlaw spent summers on P.E.I. with her family. The gentle landscape, rolling waves, and long grasses that stayed with her.
— Emily Carlaw
After studying fine arts at Queen’s University, and completing an education degree, Carlaw moved overseas to teach fine art in England. Shortly afterwards, she moved to Glasgow, Scotland to work on her art at the Glasgow Print Shop and waitress for a spell. She dreamt of opening a shop on P.E.I.
In 2016, when her visa ran out, Carlaw called her mother Beverly, who said she already inquired about a vacant storefront in St. Peter’s overlooking the bay. Carlaw flew home from Glasgow to St. Thomas, Ont.; she shared a glass of wine and charcuterie with her parents, and went upstairs and drew the logo of what would become Freckles & Porcelain.
Not long after, Carlaw was permanently living in their family cottage on P.E.I. In 2016, she started Freckles & Porcelain in St. Peter’s, which is open May to October, and landed a position as the town librarian.
“I live in St. Peter’s all year round. I moved here on my own. I didn’t know anybody, except my childhood friends. It turned out my friend from childhood opened an antique store next door,” says Carlaw. “It was all kinds of serendipitous.”
