The world of art can be a challenging one, but for Arlene Webber, the sky is the limit.
Webber's intricate miniature paintings of vast skies and Prairie landscapes adorned a display in the Enjoy Centre last weekend at the Glow Festival's indoor market, featuring Edmonton's Makers Keep.
Webber, who grew up in Sturgeon County, paints landscapes from her memory. Sometimes, she will paint beaches, sometimes mountains, but most often she captures yellow, rolling fields and tall, dense clumps of trees. In some paintings, the clear night sky twinkles overhead; in others, vivid cloud-swept blues stretch across the canvas.
"All my work is all based on my memories," she said.
Aside from being a walk down memory lane, Webber's paintings have another important purpose. Painting the fine detail work and small canvases that have become her hallmark also keeps the self-described "differently abled" Webber (known as Miss Arlene to her friends) able to use her hand.
"I had a stroke 20-some years ago, and just recently now that I'm coming up to 60, my hand is starting to atrophy," she said.
"One day, I picked up the paint brush I found in my kid's old high school stuff."
Taping the brush to her hand, she began to paint.
That was a year ago. Now, Webber's work – some sitting on frameless canvases and some peeking out from cleverly painted porcelain frames shaped to look like cameras – is getting a ton of attention. She was recently commissioned to paint more than 50 original pieces for the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science Conference, and the paintings she had on display at the market last weekend were getting snapped up quickly.
She credits her daughter, Katrina Petryshyn (who owns Makers Keep), for inspiring her to show her paintings to other people.
"I was hiding it – I didn't show people what I was painting, until I got caught one day," she said.
"Then I thought it would be a nice novelty to kind of showcase my paintings ... I started my rehabilitation last November, and then got into this where I'm painting and people are buying my work. It's crazy."
While she plans to be at the market this weekend, she had already gotten several custom orders.
"I don't know when I'm going to have time to do those," she said with a grin.
How it's made
Webber goes through a lot of tape.She uses tape and elastic bands to get both paintbrush and hand into the positions needed to create the images she wants. In some cases, she uses different parts of her hand.
She also discovered that the smaller the detail, the harder it is for her to do.
"The smaller I paint, the more torturous it is and I have to then use my fingers more," she explained, noting it can take her four to six hours easy to paint one small canvas.
She points to one with a starry night sky, with people around a Christmas tree, set against a cold Alberta winter.
"All these are with a pen – all the stars, and the people. I think I just get so damn stubborn."
Another depicts a straw field.
"I'll make sure I get everything in, stroke by stroke – just be patient. Really, honestly, it's so I don't have to wear my (hand) brace again," she said.
Webber's paintings are sold exclusively at Edmonton's Makers Keep marketplace.
