MARIE DANIELLE LEBLANC

My love of place and travel are at the root of my work. My travel diary is essential to my process, and is my steady companion wherever I go. Somewhere between a sketchbook, a journal, and a memory book, it is where I draw, write my thoughts, note of the names of the places I go and the people I meet, record the weather, the light, and the time of day. I include photos, textures and images of everything that catches my eye. Whether I am driving on the highway, hiking in the mountains, walking on never-ending beaches, or climbing mammoth rocks by the sea, I gather specific details and deep-felt impressions, my touchstones for the poetic interpretations I will later create in my studio.

Home again, I immerse myself in my memories. I begin to paint the broad stokes of the spirit of each place. As I contemplate the colours, light, lines and energy of a particular location, the specifics begin to fall away until often, it is simply the horizon, the vastness of nature or a solitary tree that continues to resonate, that becomes the focal point of my experience. Working with encaustic ( bees wax ) and pigments on wild cherry wood, I release the vibrant energies of nature through my choice of colours and the physicality of my process. Layered with encaustic medium, my works celebrate the luminous qualities of water, earth and sky, field and forest, landscape and nature. A tree bursting with life, the peacefulness of the horizon in a seascape, or flowers that appear to be dancing in a meadow – each painting becomes a meditation on the limitless beauty of the natural world.

Beyond the factual, beyond the particular, my works grow out of my visceral response to each location compelling me to explore even further – to deepen my connection to my process, the materials I use, my relationship to the world, and my place in it as adventurer and artist.