Sylvia Blashko
painter of landscapes, plant forms, reactions to global warming abstractions
Edmonton Alberta

Artist's Statement

 Everyone loves a garden.  It is the open invitation to the outdoors and it affords our minds and souls a period of relaxation and reflection.  It is about belonging  and being a part of living things.  It is here in our gardens that the changing seasons and the cycle of life are most acutely felt.  It is here that a multitude of delightful plants can be brought together into a picturesque whole.  The combining of colour, the consideration of form, the  appreciation of texture and rhythm all contribute to making the garden a harmonious space.  There is no reason to view the garden and its diverse plant life as subject matter for Sunday or women painters only or that it is not for the serious painter.  Look to Monet, Van Gogh, Matisse and O'Keefe.

My own lush and beautiful garden is a work in progress and is often the subject of my work as are the nearby woods and ravine.  I enjoy both the randomness and  the careful orchestration and above all I enjoy the minute detail and great variety.  Sometimes the work is about what is underfoot in the woods and at other times its about particular plants which have big personalities.

Working in my garden gives me an opportunity to think and it is here that my vision for my paintings evolves and crystallizes.  Being immersed in nature forced me to observe it as well and over time I've noticed subtle changes occurring as the climate warms.  It worries me that this is happening on a global level. 

I've researched this frightening phenomenon in the writings of Rachel Carson SILENT SPRING,  Maude Barlow BLUE COVENANT, Timothy Flannery WEATHER MAKERS, and Nobel Laureate Al Gore  AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH as well as in the profound words of Alberta's Dr. David Schindler and Nobel nominee  Sheila Watts Cloutier of Canada's north who at present is writing about  the right to be cold.  Of course, CNN'S PLANET IN PERIL and the series BLUE PLANET can't be ignored.  The information is so chilling that many of my gardening as well as painting practices have changed.  Artistically, it has given me a parallel subject matter.

 My most recent show entitled Butterfly Effect seemed to be a radical departure from previous work.  However, to me, it was a natural organic progression from observing nature and taking in all its details to noticing changes, some very subtle, occurring in this environment.  I used images of paper shapes; some torn, some crushed, some shredded, and some folded origami style.  These painted paper shapes are a metaphor for weather effects.  Weather in and of itself is ephemeral but its effects are often very real.  Really, who can see carbon dioxide  or the jet stream?  Both though have a great influence on our lives.  The work that resulted is experimental and was very emotional for me to do.