Welcome to my web site. I invite you to view some of my currently available artwork in the gallery and I welcome your comments and questions which can be forwarded to me at swartz@quadrant.net. Biographical information about me can be found in About Marvin. If you are interested in purchasing one of the paintings, please check out the order page.
My paintings often reflect a fascination with water in the landscape
and I am intrigued with surface reflections and the effects of light
and color. Besides water, the ever changing prairie landscape has
become a favorite subject. Both water and the prairie are featured
in my 'Life-Lines' project, a series of oil paintings documenting the
history of the Saskatchewan River ferries, past and present.
During the construction of this web site I decided that it was important to share with you why I paint and what my paintings are about. The task proved to be quite hard since there are no simple answers to these questions. This dilemma forced me to seek out and understand my own artistic roots and relevances. I also investigated why other artists create and whether I fitted into that world. The information that follows is a culmination of what I have discovered about myself as an artist.
Musings of an artist
Who I am
In 1995, at the age of 41 and after several years of taking art classes and attending workshops while pursuing a career in agricultural biotechnology, I decided to take a leave of absence from science and devote myself to the making of art. Many friends and coworkers including my supervisor questioned my sanity. Today, they are some of my greatest supporters.
I have been interested in art since I was a child and I have always been intrigued by color. I can remember in the fourth grade being enthralled with the cans of poster paint kept on the counter at the back of the classroom. Unfortunately, art was only one of my many interests in school and when the time came to make career decisions, art was not my highest priority.
It was not until the completion of a second university degree, a marriage, and a move from southern Ontario to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in the fall of 1981, that the urge to take formal art instruction began to manifest itself. It would take another 10 years before I continued my formal art education. My first solo exhibition came to fruition in 1996 during a visual arts festival featuring landscape art.
Besides painting I have always had a keen interest in landscape photography and developed a fascination with capturing the many moods and forms of water. The properties of water are unique. Water is essential to life, is a source of relaxation and rest, and facilitates the reconnection with one's inner self. I love to swim as well as spend time near water, escaping whenever possible to the river, a nearby lake, or to the seashore. Moving to the Canadian prairies as well as travelling abroad have also heightened my awareness of the importance that water plays in our world and the increasing scarcity of potable water.
Water in the landscape has become a central theme for much of my painting. Water is a very elusive subject that can reflect and distort images, and be transparent, translucent, or opaque. I have become intrigued with capturing images of reflections on a water's surface. I am particularly fascinated by the abstractness of images which results from the interaction of light, color and motion. The treatment of water by the French impressionist painter Claude Monet as well as by Canadian landscape painter Tom Thompson and the other artists of the Group of Seven has been very influential in my art making.
Why I paint
The act of painting brings me intense joy, the feeling of being alive, and serves as a buffer against the triviality of daily living. There is a feeling of connectedness and harmony between my emotions and my mental and physical energies when I paint. I become oblivious to my surroundings, concerns, and the demands of others. Time passes quickly, and hours feel like minutes. Unfortunately, sometimes I become obsessed with art making, thinking about it constantly, often to the exclusion of those around me.
There are times when my subconscious exerts control over the paint brush in my hand as it flows across the canvas. I watch as an independent observer as my hand darts from the palette to the easel ungoverned by conscious thought. What emerges during such moments is always my best work. It is so exhilarating when my conscious mind regains control and I am able to see what has been created.
Although art is very much a private activity, to me, painting is very much a means of communicating with people.
About my paintings
Only rarely do I paint a landscape that I have not visited. While many of my paintings are done in the studio from photographs, I try to paint on site when time and weather conditions permit.
Oil paint is my favorite medium, with its rich and flowing texture and its slow drying properties permitting reworking of the surfaces. When travelling I carry along oil pastels and watercolors. If I am not painting or sketching, my camera is busy recording images for future works back in the studio.
I have come to appreciate the magnificence of a landscape unscathed by human activity. For many, it is an escape from the pressures of civilization, a place of rest and relaxation that allows one to restore one's soul. The world's remaining pristine areas are threatened by the demands of civilization both as a destination for recreational purposes and a source of resources for the world's burgeoning population. Our manmade pollutants and garbage further endanger the fragile ecosytem upon which we all depend.
My artwork is very much about the landscape of the natural world. It also represents a very personal viewpoint. I aim to capture the elements or qualities of a vista that arouse my mind and touch my soul. What those elements are is hard to define. The quality of the light, the mood, and the atmospheric quality are elements that may trigger my emotions. The composition of the subject matter in a vista is of critical importance. The landscape must energize and empower me before I can commit myself to a painting.
I aim to share the splendor of nature with the viewer and bring delight and joy. I would also like to think that my paintings communicate my concern about the fragility of our environment.
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