Libby Page Paintings

My arboreal love affair began over a decade ago in France where I was enthralled and comforted by the architectural majesty of the plane trees vaulting over the Canal du Midi. I was reminded of cathedrals that I loved as a child in England. In forests I always see echos of cathedrals and vice versa. Such weights of stone, or wood, rising gracefully, lifting our consciousness to a different perspective and I find their inherent archaic references grounding. Similar to stepping into a forest or a cathedral the process of viewing art is experiential. I play with the power of colour, consider light sources, work with scale and vary perspectives in order to effect this experience.. Early in life, the wild colours of the Fauve artists taught me that the emotion of a place is often more palpable when the viewer has to do a double take because the colours on the canvas do not match up with their normal expectation of landscape. Liberated by their examples, I use colour freely to enhance this sense of the felt experience of a place. Like stained glass or sunlight filtering through the canopy, I use translucent oil paints to filter the light bounced from the white of the canvas behind, so the source of light comes from within the painting, a technique used by icon painters and the Old Masters. My paintings are windows into nature, designed to offer a place where we can pause from the busy rhythms of life. They are invitations to experience awe, peace, joy, vitality and to be replenished.