There’s a certain cheerfulness to be found in all of Frances Alty-Arscott’s many watercolour landscapes. Even the sombre images (in which the viewer can nearly sense the stillness in the air of a birch grove) still have the painter’s trademark subtle but festive colours to brighten them up.
It all comes naturally to her. You could even say that she was born into the world of being a visual artist.
“My family has always been involved in the arts,” she said. “My mother and grandmother were musicians, my grandfather owned an art gallery and I have several uncles who were also artists.”
She has a style all her own though. Her mountains are ghostly giants. Trees are either spindly and bare-leaved or so bushy with foliage that only a splash of yellowish-green or reddish-orange over the whole of the branches is necessary.
The artist is constantly inspired by the breadth of beautiful nature scenes across our great province. With nary a creature to be seen, we are left to absorb the silent majesty of the Rockies and boreal forests through her eyes, sometimes in larger format acrylic paintings.
“The Impressionists have been a major inspiration for me. In my acrylics, I have been interested in the brushwork and colours of Van Gogh. In fact, in the fall of 2012, I travelled to Amsterdam specifically to see the Van Gogh museum and found it inspirational. My watercolours have also been influenced by two great Canadian artists: Rita Cowley and Dorothy Knowles.”
It could be argued that she has the delicate sensibilities of Cowley and Knowles but the boldness of palette of Van Gogh. It’s those colours that stand out like fireworks on her canvases.
“I am primarily a landscape painter and my focus for many years has been on northern Alberta landscapes. It gives me the opportunity to explore my interest in colour. I try to capture the incredible Alberta landscape in an innovative and colourful way.”
Her work can be found in the art rental and sales galleries at the Art Gallery of St. Albert and the Art Gallery of Alberta, as well as Edmonton’s Daffodil Gallery and Rowles and Company, the Candler Art Gallery in Camrose and most recently the Bay 12 Gallery at Pigeon Lake.
Alty-Arscott has also been an art teacher for various age groups, from elementary to post-secondary. She currently instructs courses at Grant MacEwan University and through the City Arts Centre, and is available for artist in residency work.
Visit www.altyarscott.net for more information on the artist and galleries of her paintings.
